Chicago Cubs: Victor Caratini about to learn the big leagues aren’t fair

Chicago Cubs: With bats cold, pitching under a microscope

The first couple bad starts, I personally wrote off to acclimating to a new team. It takes some time to build the repertoire with a catcher and a coaching staff – so maybe they were just ironing the kinks out.

But, no. We’re now five weeks into the season and, at this point, you can’t look the other way and make excuses. After the team’s lopsided loss to close the recent homestand, Joe Maddon delivered a pretty direct assessment of the Cubs’ performance Wednesday.

"“That game belongs in Lake Michigan with some cement shoes tied around it,” Maddon said. “That was awful.”"

Awful indeed.

The offense, which has struggled the duration of the homestand, was quiet yet again in the loss. Chicago hasn’t scored more than three runs since last Tuesday in Cleveland, when they hung a 10-spot on the Tribe.

And with the bats struggling as they are, bad starts look 100 times worse. Hell, when Kyle Hendricks pitched into the eighth on Tuesday, allowing three earned runs, people were complaining on Twitter. So when your big offseason acquisition turns in bad start after bad start, public opinion is gonna turn real quick.