Maybe there's some road trip in the past where the Cubs played worse all-around. Maybe there's a September road trip that sticks out more in your mind because of the importance of the games. Whatever the case, none of them can top the stinkfest that the Cubs just put on over the last six games in St. Louis and San Diego, especially when you consider the amount of talent this group has.

Let's take a look at some of the numbers that show just how incredibly awful these six games were:

• 5 total runs scored. That's less than 1 run scored per game for those of you that may struggle with math or can't believe what you just read.
  
• A .160 batting average.
• A .074 batting average with runners in scoring position.
• 6 extra-base hits.
• Derrek Lee had 7 of the 30 total hits, and didn't even play in the last game(illness). So take out his hits, and the team has 23 hits over that span, which is less than 4 hits per game.
• 33 runners left on base, including 13 in Friday's game at San Diego where they didn't score a run.
  
• Alfonso Soriano and Ryan Theriot are the 1-2 hitters in the lineup. On this road trip, they went 4 for 45, with no walks, 1 extra-base hit(Theriot double), no runs batted in, and 12 strikeouts.
• If every time you reached 3rd base rather than home plate counted as a run, they still would've only scored 11 runs. That's less than 2 times per game they got to 3rd base.
  

I'm sure there's many other embarrassing statistics out there to show just how pathetic they were in this last week, but I think those examples prove the point.

Yes they're without their best hitter, third baseman Aramis Ramirez, who is out with a dislocated shoulder for likely at least another six weeks.

Yes they faced four very talented starting pitchers in Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright, Jake Peavy, and Chris Young on the road trip.

Yes, Petco Park is the most difficult place to score runs in the majors.

Yes, the Cardinals held the Royals to two total runs in three games in the series after the Cubs played them.

Yes, the Padres came into this last series with a six-game winning streak.

Yes, the Cubs hit the ball right on the nose many times, either right at guys, or even rockets off of the pitcher that bounced to an infielder multiple times. The bounces didn't go their way.

All of those things possibly add up and make a difference, but they're quite far from an acceptable excuse. Even without Aramis Ramirez, this offense should still be very good. It should at least be good enough to get a win or two when the pitching staff allows only 22 runs over six games.

To me, the biggest reason they struggled to score is due to the struggles I displayed of Alfonso Soriano and Ryan Theriot. They make this team go at the top of the order, and reaching base only four times in 45 plate appearance is inexcusable.

When Soriano is hot, he could challenge Albert Pujols for the greatest hitter on the planet. When he's cold, I'd be equally as confident in Corey Patterson hitting a submarine left-hander. It's night and day with him, and right now, he's lost somewhere in a gloomy night.

While Theriot's sudden transformation into Jose Canseco was fun for a week, I feared it would be detrimental to his plate approach in the long run, and it seems that's happened much sooner than I could've expected. As Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine so correctly told us in the 90s, chicks dig the long ball. Unfortunately, Theriot's fallen deeply into that line of thinking and it's not the role for him that best serves the team.

Theriot hit five home runs earlier in the month, but is also hitting just .205 on the month, compared to a .317 average in April. He was a .307 hitter with a .387 on-base percentage last season. He led the National League in singles last season with 154. He hit 22 singles in 82 April at bats, and just five in 74 March at bats.

If he could keep hitting for the power he did earlier in this month, I'd absolutely be all for him keeping up with this new approach. But let's face it, he won't. He's trying to pull everything for power right now, and as a result, his average and on-base percentage are dropping, and he's striking out more than ever before. These are on pitches that last year, or even just a few weeks ago, he'd shoot to right field for a single. He'd get on base for the middle of the lineup, and him doing so frequently played a major part in the Cubs having the best offense in the National League last year. He doesn't need to hit for power, the guys following him in the lineup ultimately will, even though that looks like a far-fetched thought for anybody that's seen them play this last week.

It's obviously not just those two that aren't hitting, it's been pretty much the entire team outside of Lee. These guys will start hitting surely, but when? Maybe a return to the friendly confines at Wrigley Field is just what this team needs, but it shouldn't get much easier facing Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Maholm tomorrow night. Then again, would it even matter who they're facing right now? They had no chance against Joel Pineiro's meatball special last Tuesday.

Regardless, you'd think things couldn't get much worse. Of course, this is the Cubs we're talking about. Nothing should surprise us anymore.


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