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As I wrote last night, the last time the Cubs lost nine in a row was nine years ago, in 2002. That streak went from May 8 through May 18 and turned a mediocre 13-18 team into a bad 13-27 team. Much like this year's streak, the Cubs scored few runs during that one -- just 20 -- but they also had some really bad pitching, giving up 58 runs. Like this year, the streak involved a sweep at the hands of the Cardinals; the Brewers also swept the Cubs in that one, and if not for an 11-inning win over Milwaukee that broke it, it would have been 11 straight, as the Cubs lost the game after that to Pittsburgh.
They followed that loss with a five-game winning streak, temporarily sparing Don Baylor's job. But Baylor was fired about a month later.
In terms of losing an entire road trip, the longest entire road trip that I can find where the Cubs lost every game was in 1981, when the Cubs lost an entire eight-game trip to Montreal, Philadelphia and St. Louis, part of an overall 12-game losing streak. And in 1954, the Cubs lost 11 straight road games as part of a 13-game trip in June (road trips tended to be longer in those days), and later that year lost 10 more road games in a row, the last 10 of a trip that went for 21 games. That really was routine in the 1950s -- that trip was followed by an 18-game homestand.
But losing an entire road trip as long as this one? Never been done, as far as I can tell, by any Cubs team. This one might do it.
Cubs lineup:
Fukudome RF, Barney SS, DeWitt 2B, Peña 1B, Ramirez 3B, Snyder LF, Campana CF, Hill C, Dempster P
Look! Actual outfielders playing the outfield and infielders playing the infield!
Reds lineup:
Stubbs CF, Phillips 2B, Votto 1B, Bruce RF, Cairo 3B, Lewis LF, Hanigan C, Janish SS, Arroyo P
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Ryan Dempster pitched one of his best games of the year against the Reds at Wrigley Field on May 8, giving up just five hits and two runs, with no walks and four strikeouts. Didn't matter, as the Cubs scored zero runs and lost. Dempster's last outing in St. Louis wasn't very good, but he still has a decent 3.98 ERA since the beginning of May.
That's about all I've got.
Bronson Arroyo gave up seven hits and one run in seven innings to the Cubs at Wrigley Field on May 7. He got a no-decision; that's the only game the Cubs have won against Cincinnati this year. Cubs hitters don't do well against Arroyo in general; they are hitting a collective .199 (31-for-156).
I'm trying real hard to find some positives here, but there don't seem to be any.
Today's game is on CSN Chicago and FSN Ohio. here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.
Baseball-reference.com game preview
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Today's first pitch thread will be up at 11:30 am CDT and the overflow threads will post at 12:30 pm, 1:30 pm and 2:15 pm CDT. If you need more overflows due to extra innings or rain delays, post them in the fanshot section.
Discuss amongst yourselves.