Chicago Cubs Week-in-Review: April 9-15

Cubs weekly record: 1-4
4/9 vs. Houston Astros L 3-5
4/10 vs. Houston Astros L 2-4
4/11 vs. Houston Astros Postponed (expected to be made up on July 12)
4/13 vs. Cincinnati Reds L 5-6
4/14 vs. Cincinnati Reds W 7-0
4/15 vs. Cincinnati Reds L 0-1

Cubs overall record: 4-7 (6th in NL Central)

Notable Season Stats (as of Monday April 16):

Derrek Lee: .372 AVG 6 R 5 2B 8 RBI
Aramis Ramirez: .406 AVG 5 R 1 2B 1 HR 5 RBI
Alfonso Soriano: .234 AVG 5 R 6 2B 1 RBI
Cliff Floyd: .276 AVG 29 AB 4 R 2 2B 2 RBI

Rich Hill: 2 GS 2-0 0.64 ERA 14 IP 4 BB 11 K
Ted Lilly: 3 GS 1-1 2.37 ERA 19 IP 3 BB 24 K
Carlos Zambrano: 3 GS 1-2 7.88 ERA 16 IP 11 BB 10 K
Ryan Dempster: 5 GP 0-0 0.00 ERA 2 SV 5.0 IP 1 BB 8 K

Player of the Week: Rich Hill
1 GS 7 IP 3 H 0 ER 4 BB 5 K

Important Fact of the Week: Cubs are 1-4 at home this season.

Lou Piniella

It was only the 2nd week of the season and Lou is already losing his temper.

Postgame comments by Cubs manager Lou Piniella after the Cubs blew a five run lead and ended up losing 6-5 to the Cincinnati Reds on Friday April 13:

-"This guy (Zambrano) is your ace, you got a 5-0 lead with the eighth and ninth hitters coming up, you feel pretty good about that inning and all of a sudden it turns into a six-run inning."

- "What do I do? I pitch him when it's his turn again. What else can I do?"

-"And then I bring in the reliever (Will Ohman) who's throwing 30-to-40-foot curveballs to boot. I can see. I can start to see some of the ways this team has lost ballgames. I can see it. We've got to correct it obviously. ... This game here is one that got away from us that really shouldn't."

-When asked what's not working:
"What the hell do you think isn't working? You see the damn game."

If Lou is going to be this upset in April, how will he act in July?

Carlos Zambrano

Carlos Zambrano has been struggling. Zambrano has allowed 17 hits and 14 earned runs in 16 innings. Zambrano's WHIP (walks plus hits per inning) is 1.75, which higher than the Cubs' WHIP average of 1.14. Zambrano struggled in April last season.

Zambrano in April 2006:
6 GS 0-2 5.35 ERA 33.2 IP 33 H 20 ER 25 BB 38 K 1.72 WHIP

Hopefully he will improve later in the season.

Rich Hill

Zambrano is still the ace of the Cubs, but not by much. Rich Hill has been pitching great and has a 0.64 ERA after two starts. Hill has a chance at making the NL All-Star team and I predict that he will win at least 16 games this season.

Cubs Lack of Offense

So far the offense has been disappointing. This is an offense that could potentially have three players hitting 40+ home runs this year. The Cubs have scored three runs or less in 5 of their 11 games and have scored four runs or less in 7 of their 11 games. The Cubs lack of hitting is one of the main reasons the Cubs are 4-7.