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Cubs waiting for consistent offense

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By Carrie Muskat / MLB.com

06/17/09 7:15 PM ET

CHICAGO -- One of the things new hitting coach Von Joshua noticed from afar is that the Cubs appear to be swinging for the fences. They rank seventh in the National League in home runs, but what's disturbing to Lou Piniella -- besides being 13th in batting average -- is that they've struck out a lot and rank only 14th in doubles.

"In doubles, we should be better," Piniella said.

Joshua has his work cut out for him.

"You know what happens is advance scouts watch you play and the report is that these guys aren't swinging the bats that well and you can go after them, so they can throw more strikes," Piniella said.

Piniella is trying to find the right combination. One move was to insert Milton Bradley into the No. 3 spot to counter Kosuke Fukudome's hitting funk. There's been no problem with effort.

"When you don't hit or score runs, you look a little flat at times, but that hasn't been the case," Piniella said. "We've played a lot of close games. It hasn't been a lack of effort -- it's because we just haven't hit. We've played some nice games defensively and pitched really well. Now we have to see if we can get the bats going."

The Cubs, who close the rain-abbreviated first half of their Interleague series against the White Sox on Thursday, aren't hitting as well as they'd like. A lot of that has to do with the absence of Aramis Ramirez.

"If you had told me that with all the problems we've had, that we'd be 30-30 and 3 1/2 games out of first place," Piniella said before Wednesday's 4-1 loss, "I'd say, we're in a reasonable position."

They are within range of the National League Central leaders.

"I've said we need to stay in contact with the teams in front of us until we got our situation straightened out and we've been able to do that," Piniella said. "Still, we have some work to do. I said I thought we'd be in a nice pennant race second half of the year, and I still cling to that."

Pitching matchup
CHC: RHP Carlos Zambrano (4-2, 3.39 ERA)
Piniella said Zambrano's last outing against the Astros was the best he's seen the right-hander pitch and that includes his no-hitter last September. Zambrano gave up one run on three hits over eight efficient innings in the start, his second since serving a six-game suspension. He did not get a decision. Big Z did not face the White Sox last year, and is 5-2 with a 4.45 ERA in 11 games against them.

CWS: RHP Gavin Floyd (4-5, 4.94 ERA)
Floyd's recent string of successful starts continued as he collected his fifth consecutive quality outing against the Tigers on Thursday. He threw eight innings, allowing one run on five hits while striking out five and walking none. He retired 12 of the first 13 batters he faced and did not allow a run until the eighth. Over his last five starts, Floyd has struck out 36 hitters and owns a 1.67 ERA. After a rocky start to the season, Floyd is beginning to resemble the pitcher he was in 2008, when he went 17-8 with a 3.84 ERA.

Tidbits
No makeup date was set for Tuesday's Cubs-White Sox game, postponed by rain. ... Cubs athletic trainer Mark O'Neal was named to the National League All-Star staff for the July 14 game in St. Louis. ... Ryan Theriot is batting .330 at Wrigley Field, and has hit safely in 13 of his last 14 games. ... Derrek Lee has a 14-game hitting streak. ... Ryan Dempster walked six on Wednesday, the 14th time in his career and first since July 25, 2008. ... Former Cub Keith Moreland will sub for television analyst Bob Brenly on July 10 and July 12 when Brenly takes some days off to watch his son, Michael, play in the Minor Leagues. ... Kevin Hart gave up two runs, one earned, on six hits over six innings and struck out seven in Iowa's 6-2 win over Oklahoma City. It was Hart's third straight victory. ... Andrew Cashner threw four scoreless innings in Daytona's 6-0 win over St. Lucie. Cashner now has a 1.85 ERA. ... Kyler Burke and Ryan Flaherty each homered to help Peoria win its fourth straight game, a 10-0 romp over Quad Cities. Aaron Shafer threw five scoreless innings, giving up one hit and striking out five. Burke was 3-for-3. ... Randy Wells will start Sunday and Dempster on Monday in the makeup game in Atlanta.

Tickets
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On the Internet
 MLB.TV
 Gameday Audio
•  Gameday
•  Official game notes

On television
• WGN

On radio
• WGN 720

Up next
• Friday: Cubs (Rich Harden, 4-3, 4.53) vs. Indians (Cliff Lee, 4-6, 2.88), 1:20 p.m. CT
• Saturday: Cubs (Ted Lilly, 7-4, 2.94) vs. Indians (Tomo Ohka, 0-1, 4.24), 12:05 p.m. CT
• Sunday: Cubs (RHP Randy Wells, 0-3, 2.55) vs. Indians (Jeremy Sowers, 1-4, 5.14), 1:20 p.m. CT

Carrie Muskat is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.