The Cubs, who suddenly look like someone trying to swim the Harlem River with cement flippers, are a team searching for hits, wins and answers.
All were in short supply Friday night as the Cubs wasted a wonderful effort by starter Frank Castillo in a 2-0 loss to the New York Mets at Shea Stadium. It was the Cubs’ fourth consecutive defeat, their fifth in six games and marked yet another time on this road trip that their bats were almost as quiet as the postgame clubhouse.
“There’s no doubt we’ve got a good team here, but we should be a lot better than we’ve been playing,” said left-fielder Luis Gonzalez, one of only three Cubs who recorded a hit against Mets starter Bobby Jones. “We’re frustrated. We’re professionals and we want to win. But we’re just in one of those streaks.”
As usual, the Cubs keep mentioning how the NL Central lacks a breakaway team. Only the Houston Astros are at the .500 mark, while the rest of the division is best friends with the .400s. Plenty of time to recover, say the Cubs.
But recover when? And how? In their last four losses, the Cubs have scored a total of seven runs and averaged six hits. Jones and reliever John Franco, who pitched the ninth inning, held the Cubs to four singles.
The ugly numbers:
Since his two-homer game May 1, Ryne Sandberg is 3-for-26 and is now batting just .189. He went hitless against the Mets, including an eighth-inning flyout with runners on first and second. The Mets intentionally walked switch-hitter Brian McRae to get to Sandberg and a righty-righty matchup.
Sammy Sosa had an oh-fer night and saw his average drop to .227. Rey Sanchez is batting .214. And no Cub has hit a homer in the last four games.
“Hitting is tough and it can be a fickle thing,” manager Jim Riggleman said. “It comes and goes. This ballclub is going to hit. But you’ve (still) got to win ballgames when you’re not hitting the ball particularly well.”
The lack of Cubs offense came on the same night Castillo (1-4) said he had his best stuff of the season. He gave up just three hits in seven innings Friday evening, struck out seven, walked none, and made just one bad pitch–a third-inning 1-0 fastball that Butch Huskey knocked over the left-field wall.
“One mistake and it cost you the game,” Castillo said. “Pretty frustrating, but it’s just the breaks.”
The Mets didn’t do much damage themselves. But they had Jones, who improved to 3-1 for the season and is now 5-1 against the Cubs. Don’t ask him to explain the success, because he can’t.
“They’re as good as any team,” Jones said of the Cubs.
But like Castillo, Jones brought his A-game to the mound. “Probably some of the best stuff I’ve had definitely this year and maybe the last couple of years as well.”
Just the Cubs’ luck.
Castillo matched Jones out for out through two innings. But in the third, Huskey muscled the ball over the fence.
Not counting the minute-by-minute jet flyovers from nearby LaGuardia Airport, there was little happening at Shea until the seventh inning. That’s when Grace eventually reached third with one out, but was thrown out at home while tagging on a shallow fly ball hit by Scott Servais.
End of scoring chance. Continuation of losing streak.
