Cubs' Wells Not Well, Gets Hit Hard In First Inning Again; 6-3 Loss Is Fourth On Trip

Maybe Randy Wells needs a sports psychologist.

For the third time in his last seven starts, he got hit hard in the first inning; the Cubs tried to come back, but after Wells threw a lockdown four-plus innings following the early meltdown, he gave up three more runs in the sixth and the Cubs lost 6-3, losing their second series of the year to Houston and going 1-4 on this road trip.

Yes, that's pretty bad. No, it's really bad. The Cubs had closed to within 3-2 and Mike Fontenot tried to score the tying run on a Koyie Hill double. It wasn't an unreasonable risk, but a perfect relay from Hunter Pence to Jeff Keppinger to Kevin Cash got him; that was the last real chance the Cubs had to score any runs before they briefly rallied in the ninth. Two singles by Ryan Theriot and Kosuke Fukudome brought Tyler Colvin to bat representing the tying run.

Colvin! He's been hot, right? He's being given a starting job, so this is the guy you want at bat? He hit into a game-ending DP on the first pitch he saw; this will probably give Lou an excuse to bench him again.

Aramis Ramirez, after briefly awakening last night, went back to slumber today, going 0-for-3 and letting a key ground ball in Houston's three-run sixth get by him. It was sharply hit, and was credited as a single, but the old Aramis would have snagged that ball. It seems clear to me that he's injured -- Jeff Bagwell mentioned on last night's Houston telecast that he thinks Aramis might have a wrist problem -- so get him on the DL so he can get better.

There isn't a whole lot more to say about this game. WGN had two mistakes on promotional graphics they aired during the game; one they corrected, the other they didn't. The corrected one was for the "Hey Dad, Wanna Have a Catch" charity event at Wrigley Field on Saturday, June 26. The graphic read, "Saturday, June 27". A few minutes later, Len corrected the mistake. The other one was for the Graduation Day events honoring recent graduates on June 17 and June 29. On the bottom it said that participants would "recieve" a certificate.

Guess whoever wrote that needs to head back to school.

The Cubs head to Pittsburgh for a morning (11:35 Chicago time) makeup of last Wednesday's rainout. They haven't won in Pittsburgh yet this year. I'll leave you with this thought, via tweet from Paul Sullivan:

Cashner looks sharp again, hitting 98 on radar gun. Maybe Cash should start in place of Wells on Friday against White Sox at Wrigley.

Andrew Cashner did indeed look great. I haven't been in favor of putting him in the major league rotation up to now... but really, what have they got to lose? Do it.