Cubs gutting out road trip

The past 2 games have left the Cubs with a bitter taste in their mouth. The 5-3 losses in consecutive days again showed how the lineup failed to manufacture enough runs. It's looks bad too when the Cubs outhit their opponent 9-6 yet stranded 7 more runners on base. Soriano showed a bit of progress, striking out only once and going 1-for-4 with a run scored. If he'd learn patience at the plate he'd get good pitches in the zone.

Until then the star slugger will continue going through the motions without being productive. Dempster caught the worst end of it in yesterday's game, gunning for his 5th win instead getting shammed with 5 runs on 4 hits in 6 innings while striking out 7 batters.

Lou has to be unhappy with the way the Cubs bats responded in St. Louis. Too many RBI chances they had in the series were wasted. The starting pitching was sharp, keeping it close in every game as the middle of the order seemed to go numb. The fact that Aramis got hit in the wrist and was sidelined hurt the offense too. Carlos Zambrano deserves to get run support tonight against the Reds if he works quick innings and pitches like he did in his last outing. I've liked the work from the bullpen in the past week as well. It's up to the star sluggers to take control and bang out those runs. Hang in there and try not to get discouraged. Let's go Cubbies!