Craig Counsell finally delivered the lineup change Cubs fans have been begging for

The Chicago Cubs were out-hit 16-to-5 in Monday's series-opening loss to the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizen Bank Park, so it certainly wasn't the offense's best performance, but there's a bright spot to be gleaned from the loss: Craig Counsell finally took a hitter who's been struggling for more than a month out of an integral spot in the lineup.

After a scorching hot start that had him putting up Barry Bonds-esque numbers in the early going, veteran catcher Carson Kelly has come crashing back to earth in dramatic fashion. Since April 20, he's slashing just .196/.287/.304 with multi-hit efforts in just two of those 30 games and a total of five extra-base hits.

Cubs move Carson Kelly down in the batting order as struggles continue

With that in mind, Cubs fans have been begging Counsell to stop batting Kelly in the middle of the order. He was regularly batting third, fourth or fifth, despite his woeful performance, and it felt like an obvious change to make, even as the team enjoyed a strong month of May. In Monday's opener in Philly, we finally got that change, as Kelly batted seventh, going 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.

National League MVP candidate Pete Crow-Armstrong batted cleanup in the loss, going 1-for-5 with an RBI double and Kyle Tucker provided some early offense out of the two-spot, smacking a solo shot off Phillies' ace Zack Wheeler in the top of the first inning.

As for Kelly, despite his recent struggles, he's still got some of the best offensive numbers of any catcher in the league, including nine home runs, 24 RBI and a 146 OPS+. It's a testament to just how good he was in the first few weeks of April, when he added unexpected pop to a Cubs lineup that suddenly looked loaded from top to bottom.

With Miguel Amaya sidelined for the foreseeable future, Kelly is going to continue getting the lion's share of reps behind the plate - and nobody is suggesting that he shouldn't. Reese McGuire can give him the occasional day off to help keep him fresh and keep the ship afloat in Amaya's absence. But even if he's in there almost every day, there's no reason he should be hitting anywhere near the top of the order - at least not until he shows signs of life at the plate.