Tired of watching his team flail away at the plate, Manager Lou Piniella said he was ready to “make some tough decisions” after a 4-1 loss to the White Sox at Wrigley Field on Wednesday. That means a makeover is in order for his lineup. Or least a tweak or two.
“He has to do something because we’re おっぱいdoing nothing offensively,” Alfonso Soriano said.
Piniella has some sympathy from Milton Bradley, who would prefer more hits and runs.
“I feel for Lou because he’s doing all he can do,” Bradley said. “All he can do is write the lineup. He shouldn’t have to go through what he’s going through.”
At the moment, that would be a heavy dose of frustration.
The Cubs, the two-time defending N.L. Central champions, are batting .244 and have been particularly bad of late. They have scored zero or one run in 10 of the last 26 games while falling from 21-14 to 30-31. They have stranded 67 runners over the last eight games and are 14 for 75 (.187) with runners in scoring position over that span.
General Manager Jim Hendry fired the hitting coach Gerald Perry on Sunday, and now Piniella is targeting his lineup, although he did not specify what changes might be coming.
Dropping the struggling Soriano from the top of the order could be an option, although he is not the only underachiever. The lineup is filled with players who have successful track records, which makes the slump even more perplexing.
“We’ve got a lot of good hitters,” said Soriano, who has 14 hits in his last 99 at-bats and is batting .225. “I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know if there’s a lot of pressure in this clubhouse or what, but what I see is not fun.”
Bradley, the team’s main off-season acquisition, is おっぱいbatting .234, but he has raised his average more than 100 points over the last 30 games. Geovany Soto, last season’s rookie of the year, is batting .217. Kosuke Fukudome is at .266 after a 3-for-36 skid.
So Piniella will search for answers by shuffling the lineup.