You have to wonder why National League managers keep pitching to Adrian Gonzalez.
The Padres first baseman hit another homer at Wrigley Field on Thursday afternoon, his fifth in four games -- with one in at least each of those games -- to give him the major league home run lead with 14. Gonzalez now has 27 RBIs, which means he has driven in 21 percent of the runs scored by the Padres this season. Last year, he led the National League by driving in 19.3 percent of the runs scored by the Padres.
This season, if you remove Gonzalez (.310 with 14 homers and 27 RBIs) and platoon center fielder Scott Hairston (.337, four homers and 16 RBIs) from the Padres' totals, the rest of the team is hitting .220 with 18 homers and 84 RBIs in 35 games.
Some of the numbers are staggeringly bad. Among those off to horrid starts are catcher Henry Blanco (.150), infielder Edgar Gonzalez (.152), right fielder Brian Giles (.169, one homer), third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff (.214, one homer, eight RBIs) and outfielder Jody Gerut (.235).
CUBS 11, PADRES 3: The score was tied 1-1 in the bottom of the fifth when Padres starter Chad Gaudin (three walks) and Luis Perdomo (one) walked four straight hitters. Perdomo then allowed back-to-back doubles.
The Cubs scored six runs in the fifth and four more in the sixth to complete the sweep of the three-game series. The Padres went 0-6 on the road trip to Houston and Chicago and have lost 11 straight on the road. It's their longest road losing streak since the 1971 team lost a club-record 13 straight on the road. The Padres are 4-15 in the last 19 games.
