This one is coming up early because I won't be around to publish it tonight.

Randy Wells (2-3, 2.57 ERA) vs. Virgil Vasquez (1-0, 3.00 ERA)
Story-lines
The Cubs, a team of destiny.  The Pirates of mediocrity.  The pitchers, Ross Olendorf, a mediocre-at-best 5th starter with a near-5 ERA.  The hitters, a Cubs lineup loaded with super expensive superstars.  The results?  A shut-out with the Cubs being the sad participants.

The other day Rob criticized the team for having three incredibly expensive corner outfielders who aren't producing.  Except he exaggerated, which is apparently against the rules of the internets, which apparently gave readers permission to ignore that the Cubs have three incredibly expensive corner outfielders who aren't producing.

So, sorry, but minus the exaggerations Rob is right. 

With all due respect to those who would go as far as to tell Rob he pooped if Rob claimed he'd peed, Jim Hendry's moves have not paid off.  Even back when he first signed Soriano, Lilly, and Marquis, we called them reactionary moves made by Jim to save his job.  They weren't necessarily smart moves, but they were moves that worked for 2007 and 2008. 

Well, 2009 is here.  Baseball was, is, and always will be a What Have You Done For Me Lately sport.  And what Jim has done for me lately is nothing.  He's made trades that didn't work, moves that have absolutely failed, and signings that have absolutely hand-cuffed the team from taking further steps to try to get competitive.  Rather than nitpick the exaggerations like an annoying mother, why not step back and acknowledge that the Cubs are in a tough situation right now and, yes Rick Morrissey, Hendry is at least partly to blame?

Anyway, it's a moot point if the under-performing Cub hitters step up, but we aren't wrong for pointing out that they haven't and they may not.

Who's Hot
After yesterday's fiasco, we're back on the "nobody at all" kick. 

Who's Not
See above.  Hey, at least Samardzija pitched a scoreless inning of relief in his return.  At this point, after his earlier performance this year, I'm not sold on his big league ability.

Conclusions
Despite the justified worry, I feel confident that any Cubs team from any bad year can take 2 of 3 from this year's Pirates, even when they're playing in Pittsburgh.

As is so often the case with this team, tonight's loss is pretty much completely attributable to the offense--or specifically, the lack thereof.

If I told you a certain "Pitcher McPitcherson" put up this line:

7.0IP, 0R, 4H, 0BB, 8K

Wouldn't you assume the Cubs were facing some sort of well-established ace? That's a Johan Santana line, or a Peavy-in-his-prime line, or something like that. 

I guess, for tonight at least, it's also a Russ Ohlendorf line.

Russ got through seven innings on 93 pitches, 62 of which were strikes. In other words, Ohlendorf was all over the strike zone, for the entire night, and the Cubs couldn't convert. 

Even when Ohlendorf was gone, the Cubs couldn't take advantage of the opportunities that presented themselves later in the game.

In a moment of maximal frustration, the Cubs were unable to capitalize on a no-out situation with runners on 2nd and 3rd in the 8th inning. Soriano struck out swinging on an outside change-up, Fukudome looked at strikes two and three, and Derrek Lee grounded out.

Are Pirates pitchers that good? Maybe.

Is the Cubs offense that bad? Almost certainly.

Go... eh.