Slumping sluggers causing concern
Two of the Cubs' key hitters are not hitting.
First baseman Derrek Lee was 0-for-4 in Thursday's 13-5 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. For the homestand, he is 1-for-17, and his batting average has dipped to .193.
Aramis Ramirez was 1-for-4, and he's batting only .159 despite a six-game hitting streak. Lee and Ramirez and the Cubs' Nos. 3 and 4 hitters, and if they don't produce, the Cubs are in big trouble.
"We need to get production," said Cubs manager Lou Piniella. "I think if we can do that, everything else will settle down."
It's harder for some players than it is for others to pinpoint what's going wrong.
"I don't know," Ramirez said. "What can I say? We're not hitting. We're not hitting right now."
Lee seems to think it's in the swing.
"My swing is just off," he said. "I'm getting my pitch, and I'm rolling over or popping up. I've got to figure out a way to get out of that."
Lee last homered April 25 at Milwaukee. Ramirez hasn't homered since April 15, and Alfonso Soriano has not hit a home run since April 21.
"We've got to find a way to get out of this slump because I think we're better than what we play," Soriano said. "We've got to keep working and try to figure out how to get out of this because we have a better team than what we show in the game right now."
Not so fast: Assistant general manager Randy Bush is back from a trip to watch the Class AA Tennessee farm club. Cubs people say there are no immediate plans to bring up shortstop phenom Starlin Castro, who entered Thursday with a hitting line of .370/.416/.593 with 7 doubles, 4 triples and 1 home run.
Bush said the 20-year-old Castro is "playing well, learning and having a good time."
Happy anniversary: Thursday marked the 27th anniversary of former manager Lee Elia's tirade against Cubs fans, in which he charged that those who came out to watch day baseball "don't even work."
Cubs crowds have been noticeably under capacity on this homestand, with Thursday's attendance announced at 36,850.
Asked why that might be, shortstop Ryan Theriot said: "People work. People have jobs, I would assume. People were working, and it's the middle of the week. That wind was blowing dust everywhere. I wouldn't want to go sit out there."
This and that: Ryan Theriot extended his hitting streak to nine games. He's 21-for-43 (.488) with 8 runs in the streak... Second baseman Mike Fontenot has a seven-game hitting streak, and he has hit safely in 11 of his last 12 games.