Can Alphonso Soriano give the Cubs some much needed pop to their lineup during their offensive struggles? Lou Piniella, and the Cubs surely hope so. The Brewers have crept within 1 game of the Cubs, while the Cardinals are lurking right behind (only trailing by two games).
Returning from a broken bone in Soriano's hand, it is hard to believe that he will come out of the gates hitting home runs and being a huge force offensively. I look for Soriano to struggle for a week or two, often looking very bad at the plate at times.
The glaring weakness on the Cubs is that they seem to have forgotten to have patience and plate discipline on offense. Early in the season, nearly all of the players were working long counts, drawing a lot of walks, and getting good pitches to hit when they were ahead in the count. Nobody seemed to have pressure on them since everybody was getting on base with regularity. Since about a week before the all star break, their offense started to struggle and everybody in the middle of the order has started to swing at bad pitches. Trying to be the hero and jerk the ball out of the park isn't what guided the Cubs to the top of many of the statistical offensive categories in the National League.
Not only has their offensive struggle, the Cubs bullpen has imploded on several occasions recently, ruining fine performances form the Cubs starting rotation (most notably Rich Harden). With Kerry Wood out with a blister on his finger, Carlos Marmol has to return to form along with the rest of the Cub s middle relief.
The Cubs second half of the season doesn't get any better, since many of their remaining games will be against the St. Louis Cardinals, and Milwaukee Brewers. Their fate is in the own hands. That is what worries Cub fans the most.
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