Through the month of April, the Chicago Cubs are 0-6 in one-run games and 1-9 in one or two-run games.

Let’s pretend for a moment, shall we. Let’s say that the Cubs win half (not too much to ask is it?) of their one run games. That would give them 3 more victories and raise their winning percentage from .417 to .542. Granted, it’s early in the season, but those close games will come back to haunt you. Let’s keep pretending just for another second. Let’s pretend that I feel good about the fact that the Cubs are “good” enough to be IN one-run games. Ha. No… we’re no longer in the land of make believe. I don’t feel good that the Cubs have been in 10 games (of which they’ve won 1). I would feel good if they could actually win some of those games.

Monday night’s game against Pittsburgh is a perfect snapshot of how the Cubs lose these close games. The Cubs left 10 guys on base. That’s twice as many as the Pirates left on base. The Cubs left men in scoring position in the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 8th innings. If that’s not frustrating enough, the bullpen (Michael Wuertz) comes in and gives up a long ball to lose the game. Rich Hill had pitched a beautiful game, he was just over 100 pitches. Wuertz ended up throwing 9 pitches. If Hill would have stayed in (and assuming he would throw the same amount of pitches) he would have completed 8 innings having thrown a total of 112 pitches. Yeah, that’s on the high side, but for a team in need of some wins, I think the Cubs should take them where they can.