National League Central week in review: 5/2/14 – 5/8/14

Apr 27, 2014; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Chicago Cubs pitcher Jason Hammel (39) pitches in the first inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park. (Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports)

Chicago Cubs

Last week: 3-4 (won 2 of 3 v Cards, dropped 3 of 4 in Crosstown Cup v White Sox)

The Cubs managed to salvage the final game of the four-game Crosstown Cup series against the White Sox. They won by a final score of 12-5. What’s significant about that is those 12 runs represent the total runs the Cubbies had scored in their previous five games.

The team enters tonight 13th in batting (.230), 12th in on-base percentage (.300), and 13th in slugging (.359). And when it comes to scoring, they’re 11th in runs per game with 3.91. ALl of those rankings are NL only.

But look at the pitching, too. As a staff, Chicago yields 4.21 runs per game, which ranks them 11th in the NL. That same rank holds true for BAA (.253). The bright spot is that they have surrendered the third fewest home runs (24) in the league. Only the Cardinals (23) and Braves (22) have served up less.

You can’t point at any one thing and say it needs addressed. You can point at Jason Hammel and say “Thank goodness we got him.” Add Jeff Samardzija. They’re excused, I guess.

This week’s schedule: @ Atlanta (3), @ St. Louis (4)