As promised, last night Lou Piniella shuffled his lineup against left-handed pitcher Jonathon Niese. Marlon Byrd led off, and scrappy shortstop Ryan Theriot batted eighth. If the Cubs are going to continue to insist that Theriot is a Major League Baseball player, the eighth spot is where he belongs. Except on days when Carlos Zambrano is pitching. Then, he belongs dead last.
But does any of this matter, or are they just crap?
Although it’s early in the season, the Cub offense is already infuriating. They have scored only 53 runs (just over 4 runs per game) on the season. That ties them with the anemic Reds and White Sox offenses for 21st in the league. The Cubs are 17th in the league with a team OPS of .736. They’re 20th in the league in extra-base hits with 37. They are getting no production out of their leadoff hitters, who are a collective .273/.317/.291 on the season.
It’s way too early to be getting annoyed with these statistics, though, right? RIGHT? Aramis will start to hit, Fukudome is good through at least mid-May, and there’s always a possibility that the St. Louis Tire Fire will spread to Busch Stadium II and kill everyone inside.
Despite the sluggish offensive start, most of the Cubs’ clutch stats aren’t terrible. They hit with runners in scoring position (even with two outs), they kill the ball with guys on third and two out. Everything should be grand. But if you occasionally find yourself wondering why the Cubs can never put anyone away, the blame doesn’t lie solely with their bullpen. The Cub offense flat-out goes to sleep when they get a lead. This year, when the Cubs are in the lead, they have a .202/.273/.318 line with four home runs and twelve RBIs. When they’re behind, they have a .273/.331/.487 line with eight home runs and twenty-two RBIs.
Moreover, the later in the game the Cubs get, the worse they hit. In the first three innings, they have a collective .773 OPS. In innings 4-6, it drops to .759. In innings 7-9, it drops to .676.
Rudyball: Quit while you’re ahead or when you’re slightly tired.
