Chicago Cubs: Counsell’s comments hint at real, seething frustration amid continuing skid

The Chicago Cubs can’t do anything right at the moment. There’s been no offense at all. And, when it comes to the pitchers, even when one has a quality outing, it’s usually for naught as a struggling pitcher comes up right behind him to cancel out the performance.

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It’s ugly. It’s ten losses in a row, fourteen losses in sixteen games ugly. And there’s no one player to single out for blame. Pretty much everyone has been lousy.

The flatlining offense has been a source of special frustration, however.

Counting their ugly 12-1 loss on Tuesday to the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park, the Cubs have only scored eleven runs in their last seven games and, throughout their current losing streak, are posting a team batting average of just .181. Obviously, scoring just over 1.5 runs per game is just not going to cut it.

Also on Wednesday, a specific weak spot was highlighted as the team went 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position.

Counsell: “It’s time for us to deliver”

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The frustration was enough to almost make manager Craig Counsell come out of his even-keeled demeanor to start holding some feet to the proverbial fire.

“It doesn’t matter what they’re doing,” Counsell said, when asked by a reporter if the team is pressing too hard now. “You don’t deliver every time, but we gotta have some level of production. Pressing? I don’t know. I’m not sure what the answer is to that. The answer is it’s a big-league at-bat with men on base. It’s the at-bat you want in a game. It’s the at-bat you can make a difference for your team. It’s the at-bat you can flip the course of a game. And it’s time for us to deliver.”

Yes. Of course. And while Counsell’s comments were a blanket statement regarding the entire team, they were an appropriately blanket statement because this Cubs offense has been awful as a whole.

All hitting below the Mendoza line

Still, there are some negative standouts in this mass slump.

Dansby Swanson, for example, is hitting .183 on the year and is at the point where even a stellar glove can’t justify a sure out every time up.

Seiya Suzuki, Ian Happ, Moises Ballesteros, and Nico Hoerner are all batting below the .200 Mendoza line in the month of May. Pete Crow-Armstrong is right at the Mendoza line. Even the once red-hot fourth outfielder Michael Conforto has become ice cold, going 0-for-16 in his last six games played.

Of the entire offense, only Michael Busch and Carson Kelly are really pushing their weight and, obviously, that’s not even close to being enough.

The worst part of this Cubs slump is that there doesn’t seem any real way out of it. It’s not a matter of just replacing one or two faltering pieces. The entire crew, almost literally, needs an overhaul. And that’s a pretty tough assessment for a team that was thought to be complete, swimming in depth, and in a position to contend for a championship at the beginning of the season.

As things have developed, one can completely understand the hint of seething frustration underneath Counsell’s comments, even if he’s trying his best to be even-tempered and diplomatic about it all.

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Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-cubs-craig-counsell-slump-swanson-happ-suzuki-pca/