In mid-April, the Chicago Cubs put together a 10-game winning streak and then accomplished the same feat to begin May, moving to 27-12 on the year. Things were good in Wrigleyville, but now they’re bad. One may even say awful.
The Cubbies have lost each of their last four series, but the recent sweep they endured at home to the Milwaukee Brewers, the team that eliminated them from the postseason a year ago, painted about as grim a picture as imaginable.
Chicago was outscored by Milwaukee 19-5 across the three-game series, which included a 5-0 loss on Wednesday in a game the Cubs showed about as much life as a paper towel.
Chicago managed just two hits, had a single opportunity with a runner in scoring position, and committed three errors, and one of those blunders stands out.
In the top of the second inning, Milwaukee’s David Hamilton hit a hard, yet routine line drive up the middle with the bases loaded. All-Star center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong took a somewhat aggressive line to the baseball, hoping to soften the blow and show off his arm with a throw to home plate.
Instead, he whiffed, not even coming close to putting his glove on the baseball, and Hamilton cruised home for a Little League-style inside-the-park home run.
If the Gold Glove winner not being able to field a routine ground ball in center field doesn’t perfectly represent the current state of the Cubs, maybe the error he made on a routine fly ball 24 hours earlier does.
It hasn’t just been in the field where PCA has struggled mightily in recent weeks, either.
Over his last 11 games, Crow-Armstrong has gone 4 for 37 at the plate with 12 strikeouts to go along with just three RBIs.
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While every player in baseball history has and will go through slumps and up-and-down stretches, PCA’s is unique, given his run-in with a female Chicago White Sox fan during a contest on the South Side on May 16.
After being heckled by a fan after making a play during the fifth inning of the team’s 8-3 loss to the White Sox, he was caught delivering a vulgar response to the fan.
“You suck my f—ing d—, b—-,” Crow-Armstrong was heard saying.
The Cubs are 0-4 since PCA’s moment with the fan, and he’s gone 1-for-14 at the dish during that stretch.
Luck has not been anywhere close to being on Chicago’s side so far this season, with injuries wreaking havoc on the bullpen as seven pitchers currently sit on the injured list.
That doesn’t account for the Cubs’ bats turning cold during what is now a five-game losing streak in which they’ve scored more than three runs in a game just once, which was a 9-8 loss to the White Sox.
