Cubs' swoon starts early with just six wins in May

CHICAGO -- Warm winds blow across Wrigley Field and the ivy that covers the brick walls is a lush green. Summer baseball has finally arrived on the North Side, and the fans are turning out in big numbers.

The Cubs, however, are hardly blossoming. May proved one tough month for a team that three years ago was five outs from the World Series.

Injuries and bad play have produced a stretch of misery and head-shaking bloopers that recall the team's "Lovable Losers" days.

The troubles are all the more glaring because of the White Sox, who won the World Series last season for the first time since 1917 and are fighting for first place in their division this year.

The heat is clearly on Cubs manager Dusty Baker, whose team put together a 6-22 record in May.

"I was in San Francisco when we had to get over the June swoon that everybody talks about. What rhymes with May? The gray May. It's been a bad May," Baker said.

Signs calling for Baker to be fired have popped up around the park and a small contingent of fans tried to organize a protest last weekend.

"You don't do anything about the barbs being thrown at you," Baker said. "I'm doing the best job I can do."

The players are frustrated, too. Greg Maddux, a 300-game winner who started 5-0 but has lost his last four decisions, had words with an umpire over balls and strikes while the Cubs were losing to the White Sox. In his next start, a loss to the Marlins, Maddux took a bat to a water cooler in the dugout.

With NL batting champion Derrek Lee out at least a couple of more weeks this year with a broken wrist he sustained in April, with Wood just back from the disabled list and getting his first win and Prior on minor league rehab assignments, the Cubs are still not at full strength. But their play has been inexplicably poor, even without three key players.