Watching this game unfold is sort of the equivalent to the old Chinese water torcher (can I say that? That's still okay to reference, right?) . As Tom mentions in the comments below, nothing but first pitch swinging (well, he alludes to it anyway).

So far through 6 innings, the Cubs have seen 61 pitches. I don't care how the rest of the game goes, that is obscene. That is an abomination to humankind. This "pitcher" has more walks than strikeouts on the season, something that is not easy to maintain this deep into the season. He is a special kind of bad. And we currently have 1 run and zero walks. He's one of the worst pitchers in the league. Gah! (mere typing can't convey the rage I am feeling)

The Cubs see 3.6 pitches/AB, the fewest in the league. And hey, guess what, the Cubs are 14th in the NL in runs scored despite being 3rd in homers and 2nd in Slugging. For that matter, they're 8th in BA. They seem to all be capable "hitters," but the name of the game is to not make outs (actually, the name of the game is "Baseball", but you get my point). There is some sort of fundamental disconnect going on when these "baseball people" hate their pitchers giving up walks, but don't see the need for their own players to get on base.

(btw, Tom says many of the same things over at A Season with the Cubs.)

The problem is not a lack of clutch hitting. The problem is not pitching. The problem is not that homers are bad (home runs are not bad. repeat that to yourself many times). The problem is that the Cubs are making more outs than all but two teams. And if a player makes an out, he can not score. Is it really that complicated? I mean, seriously.

Unless something changes (which it won't) the Cubs have no chance of winning more than (maybe) 90 games, and that is going to have to be good enough. The offense is just too bad to get this team very far.