For those who doubted it ever would happen, let the record show the Cubs finally achieved one of their goals for the 1994 season. They are hitting as well as they hoped-at least for the last few weeks.
General Manager Larry Himes and his staff got together before the season and laid out an elaborate set of goals for the team. Everything from how many bases they wanted to steal to how often they hoped to throw first-pitch strikes.
The goals were evaluated every 20 games in detailed five-page computer printouts.
Through the first 80 games, the Cubs were woefully short of every major goal. The one bright sign was the pitching, which was atrocious for the first 20 games and improved to terrible, then to bad and finally to acceptable in the next three 20-game segments.
Now, with the 100-game report card just in, the pitching is starting to slip again, but the hitting-for the first time-has met and exceeded the goal Himes set before the season.
The Cubs kept it up Saturday night, collecting 18 hits, but that wasn’t enough as the Cardinals exploded for five runs in the fifth and held on for a 10-7 victory.
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For the first 80 games, the Cubs had a disappointing .253 team average, 12 points lower than the .265 Himes set as the season goal.
But from games 81 to 100, the Cubs had a .282 team average, plus a .325 on-base percentage, exactly the goal Himes set.
The defense also improved in the latest grading period, making just 12 errors and tying a team record of eight straight games without a boot. That gave the Cubs 72 errors in 100 games, which projects to 116 for the season, one more than Himes’ goal of 115.
The pitching, though, has started to backslide. If it weren’t for strong performances by rookie Kevin Foster and swing man Jim Bullinger, the team earned-run average would have soared in the last few weeks. Even with Foster and Bullinger rolling along with ERAs under 2.00 of late, the staff ERA for the latest 20-game period was 4.37.
A big reason has been Willie Banks, who had his fifth ugly outing in a row Saturday. He gave up seven runs on seven hits and two walks in just 4 2/3 innings and squandered an early 3-0 lead.
After the 80-game reporting period, Banks was 8-6 with a 4.11 ERA. He led the team in wins and was beginning to look like a solid No. 2 or 3 man in the rotation.
In five starts since, including Saturday, Banks is 0-4 with an 11.31 ERA. He has allowed 50 runners in his last 24 2/3 innings.
Banks was visibly upset when Trebelhorn took him out Saturday, mouthing the words “don’t do it” to himself as the manager walked toward the mound. But Banks had no one to blame but himself.
He had the same problem that has plagued him on and off this year and diminished an otherwise solid season with the Minnesota Twins last year. He tends to lose concentration as soon as he starts giving up hits.
Several times, Banks has pitched magnificently early, even for extended periods, then suddenly collapsed.
He pitched 6 1/3 innings of no-hit ball against the Marlins on May 13 but gave up three hits in the next 2/3 of an inning and had to come out.
Banks took a no hitter into the eighth inning before giving up a one-out single to Kim Batiste and the Phillies on May 30 and had to come out at the end of that inning.
In between, he allowed just two hits in six scoreless innings against the Padres before giving up four runs in the seventh.
Saturday night, he pitched three innings of no-hit ball before giving up three runs in the fourth and four more in the fifth.
“It’s important for Willie to establish some consistency,” said Trebelhorn. “He hasn’t done that lately.”
But neither have the Cubs. Whenever they start to play well, they always seem to find a way to fizzle.