BREWERS EVEN SET WITH CUBS, ANALYSIS OF CUBS OFFENSE
 
The Cubs were leading the Brewers 2-0 and the season appeared to be dying. Brewers' fans could sense that the season was collapsing...just like it felt when Pittsburgh swept the Crew in four, just like it felt when Colorado took two of three, just like it felt at the start of the big west coast trip...And just like those times, the Crew bounced back.
 
BILL HALL made a crucial error on a possible double-play ball that opened up the chance for MATT CLEMENT to hit a two-run single. Hall added an RBI groundout in the fourth to make it 2-1. GEOFF JENKINS hit a booming homerun in the sixth to tie the game at 2. Bill Hall then got an enormous jump off of Matt Clement and stole second, then advanced to third when Clement panicked and threw a wild pitch. BROOKS KIESCHNICK added a pinch-hit RBI single to give the Crew a 3-2 lead, and of course MIKE ADAMS, LUIS VIZCAINO and DAN KOLB shut down the Cubs by each throwing a scoreless/hitless inning and giving the Brewers the win.
 
As bad as the Brewers offense has been, the Cubs aren't much better. The Cubs seem to have the opposite problem the Brewers have. While the Brewers need power bats and are decent in OBP, the Cubs have power but lack OBP. The Cubs are 22nd in MLB in OBP (.326) and 8th in SLG (.446), which is a team OPS of .772. The Brewers team OPS is .723.
 
The thing that amazes me is how bad the Cubs offense is. With guys like SAMMY SOSA, DEREK LEE, MOISES ALOU, and then solid hitters like COREY PATTERSON, MICHAEL BARRETT, ARAMIS RAMIREZ (who is hurt), and even a guy like MARK GRUDZIELANEK, you would think this team would score more runs. For whatever reason they don't. The Cubs are 17th in MLB in runs scored. This team needs a high OBP guy on top of the lineup, not a RAMON MARTINEZ or JOSE MACIAS. As my infamous pitching coach JOSH BELOVSKY said my freshman year of college "nobody gets beat on solo jacks". It's true though, it takes an awful lot of homeruns to accumulate a decent total of runs when you have nobody on base.