Game #27: Pirates 3, Cubs 2
In the aftermath of the Cubs’ loss Tuesday night in Pittsburgh, Lou Piniella said he is thinking about making changes in the middle of the batting order.
Aramis Ramirez, who popped up to Pirates catcher Ryan Doumit for the game’s final out with the potential tying run aboard, is now hitting .149 with a 482 OPS and 26 strikeouts against just 9 walks. He looks anxious and uncomfortable at the plate. (To Ramirez’s credit, he did take a walk during a failed 7th-inning rally.)
The Cub third baseman is clearly the weak link in the offense these days, though his infield mate, Derrek Lee, hasn’t contributed much more. Lee, who went 1-for-4 Tuesday night, is hitting just .222 this season and has just one home run in his last 17 games.
Ramirez, not surprisingly, has never had such feeble numbers at this stage in any of his six full seasons with the Cubs. The closest he has come was back in 2006, when on May 4th, he was hitting just .207 with a 701 OPS.
That relatively nightmarish start led to a positive end, however. Ramirez finished ‘06 with a .291 average and an OPS of 912. He also set career highs for home runs (38) and RBI (119).
