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Maddux roughed up; Cubs' skid reaches 7


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SAN DIEGO -- How low can they go?

 

For an organization whose fame is rooted in failure, the current edition of Cubs is doing its best to rival its musty ghosts of misery and mayhem. The only meaningful question now is how horrible they can really be as the free fall picks up speed with no bottom in sight after seven consecutive losses.

 

Even Greg Maddux couldn't stop the pain because he didn't have his usual pinpoint location on pitches. He lasted only 3-2/3 innings Monday night at Petco Park, pounded for seven runs and nine hits in this 8-3 setback to San Diego.

 

A four-run fourth permitted the Padres to open a six-run lead and win their ninth straight. Khalil Greene homered, Mike Cameron added a two-run double and Brian Giles' RBI double finished off Maddux (5-2).

 

''You need to step it up a notch, and I didn't do it,'' Maddux said. ''You know the easiest way to win a game is to shut the other team down. I didn't do it. You'd like to control the first five, six innings and see what happens from there.''

 

The Cubs' offensive futility was best illustrated in the second when Aramis Ramirez led off with a double and continued to show that he is emerging from a slow start. Ramirez went nowhere as Matt Murton, Jacque Jones and Jerry Hairston were retired by Padres starter Chris Young.

 

Jones hit a solo homer in the seventh, when Ronny Cedeno's RBI triple cut San Diego's lead to four. But it was too little, too late, even if manager Dusty Baker saw a silver lining.

 

''To me the worst is over,'' he said. ''Guys are starting to hit the ball good. There's not a whole lot to show for it, but they're hitting the hell out of the ball. We got beat by a hot team.

 

''You can see [the offense] coming. We're in a bad streak in a bad way. No matter what we tried, it didn't work. Everything they tried worked. I'm optimistic, more optimistic than when we came here.''

 

Ramirez drove in a run in the fourth with a sacrifice fly to take the Cubs off the hook for yet another shutout. But this 0-6 journey has them shut out where it counts most and wandering aimlessly as it moves on for another three games beginning tonight in San Francisco.

 

It only took two Padres batters for the Cubs to make their first mistake. After Dave Roberts walked and swiped second, Cameron singled to Juan Pierre in center.

 

Rather than hold Cameron at first with no chance to throw out Roberts, Pierre threw home and Cameron went to second on that misjudgment. Cameron scored on Brian Giles' single to center for a 2-0 lead just three batters into the first inning.

 

As soon as the struggling Cubs fall behind these days, there's an immediate feeling that they won't be able to overcome.

 

''I'm thinking day-and-night on stuff,'' Baker said. ''I have made more notes and talked to more guys than I have in a long time. We'll get it figured out.''

 

By that time, it could be too late, because the NL Central has become extremely competitive. As much as they talk about doing better, they really seem incapable of showing it in any unified fashion.

 

It should be noted that they can well remember the last time they lost seven in a row. It was just last August, when the losing streak went to eight.

 

This is not foreign ground for the Cubs to travel. In fact, they are treading familiar turf in creating more bad memories that will last a lifetime.

 

http://www.suntimes.com/output/cubs/cst-spt-cub09.html

 

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

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Man, these guys look horrible. I remember how the Sox went through a losing streak like this back in 04 and it sucked real bad. But the Cubs should be used to seeing lots of L's at the end of ballgames.

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