32-year old lefty swinging 1B Carlos Pena was supposed to provide a lot of pop in the middle of the Cubs’ batting order, but it just hasn’t happened yet. Pena has played in 25 games for the Cubs so far this year and he is 11 for 70 (.157 avg, .457 OPS) with 3 runs scored, 1 double, 0 homers and 6 RBIs. He has walked 13 times so far this year and that is the good news. The bad news is that he has whiffed 24 times already this year, often looking hopeless at the plate. The Cubs don’t really have a backup plan if Pena doesn’t pick up the pace as Tyler Colvin is also struggling right now. The GM is likely going to take big time flak for giving Carlos Pena $10 million bucks for this year.

The Cubs would love to find a taker for 33-year old lefty swinging RF Kosuke Fukudome. He has played in 65 games for the Cubs this season and he is 51 of 189 (.270 avg, .791 OPS) with 24 runs scored, 6 homers, 24 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. Fukudome came to the Cubs three years ago from Japan with the reputation of being a big power hitter but he hasn’t shown much power in the majors yet. Fukudome has now played in 361 games in his three years with the Cubs and he is 309 of 1,189 (.260 avg, .771 OPS) with 182 runs scored, 27 homers, 136 RBIs and 22 stolen bases. The Cubs really want to move Fukudome so they can give the full time starting job in RF to 24-year old lefty swinging rookie Tyler Colvin. Colvin has played in 67 games this season for the Cubbies and he is 40 of 135 (.296 avg, .945 OPS) with 24 runs scored, 10 homers and 27 RBIs.

The Cubs are leading off with shortstop Ryan Theriot this season but he is off to a slow start. Theriot has played in 4 games so far this season and he is 2 for 16 (.125 avg, .243 OPS) with 1 run scored and 1 RBI. He has also whiffed 4 times already and he needs to cut down on those. The Cubs can’t leave Theriot at the top spot too long if he’s not producing so he needs to get his butt in gear starting right now.

26-year old catcher Geovany Soto busted onto the scene with the Cubs last season as he played in 141 games and went 141 for 494 (.285 avg, .868 OPS) with 66 runs scored, 23 homers and 86 RBIs. This season though he appeared lost and some of that was because of injuries but not nearly all of it. Soto has played in 95 games for the Cubs this season and he is 68 for 307 (.221 avg, .716 OPS) with 27 runs scored, 11 homers and 43 RBIs. The fact that Soto has lost playing time to Koyie Hill shows how far he has fallen in the eyes of the Cubs’ front office.

The Chicago Cubs bats did not show up today as they lost to the Chicago White Sox 5-0 at Wrigley Field Thursday.  The White Sox gained bragging rights this year as they won the season series 4-2. White Sox rookie pitcher Carlos Torres gained his first major league win by going seven strong innings while giving up five hits, with six strikeouts, and no walks.  Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster matched Torres’ performance by going 7+ innings with seven strikeouts and no earned runs but he had no help from the Cubs defense, as they recorded two errors and Dempster had three unearned runs.

Rookie Jake Fox was filling in for Derrek Lee at first base, who missed today’s game for the birth of his new baby boy.  In the second inning Fox flat out missed a pick off attempt to first by Dempster, which moved Chris Getz into scoring position, who then scored on a Ramirez single.  Alfonso Soriano’s error in the 8^th cost the Cubs a run as well.  Soriano turned an everyday fly ball from Pierzynski into a three base error allowing Gordon Beckham to score from first.  Wrigley fans began to boo Soriano who’s excuse was that he slipped on the play, but manager Lou Pinellia thought he just misplayed the ball.  Soriano continues to make excuses for his poor play and needs to go back to the fundamentals, learn how to judge a fly ball, and stop doing that dumb little hop before he catches fly balls.

It was not a good day for Soriano at the dish either, as he went 0-4 with three strikeouts.  It seems as if Cubs fans are growing sick of Soriano and his inconsistent play as he was booed on more than one occasion today.  Fox faired better at the plate, as he had a team leading two hits today, but was easily gunned down in the 7^th by White Sox right fielder DeWayne Wise when he attempted to score from second on a Jeff Baker single.

The Cubs are now 10.5 games back of the St. Louis Cardinals in the central and are six games back of the Wild Card leading Colorado Rockies.  It looks like baseball in Chicago will not be played in October this year with both the Cubs and White Sox playing awful baseball the past month.