Man, they suck this year.

Right about now, many a baseball fan is saying this, as they watch their beloved Chicago Cubs get their butts whooped left and right to start off this season.

In case you’ve been living in a cave this year, or buried in a pile of studying (same thing), the Cubs are currently 0-12 to start off the 1997 season as they go into tonight’s game at Shea Stadium against the New York Mets. This has set the National League record for the worst start to a season, breaking the record of 10 straight opening losses by the Detroit Wolverines way back in 1884 (anybody remember them?). Of course, they’ve got history staring them straight in the face as they fly towards the major league record for the worst start set by the Baltimore Orioles back in 1988 when they started 0-21 (By strange irony, the Orioles currently have the best record in the majors).

But how can the Cubs, the team that this columnist picked to win it all this year, be playing so poorly? Let’s look at a few factors.

For starters, the injury bug has not been kind to the Cubbies. All-Star first baseman Mark Grace is currently on the 15-day disabled list with a hamstring injury, and his absence has been felt at first base and in the batting order, as the three players manager Jim Riggleman has used to fill his spot, Shawon Dunston, Ryne Sandberg and current first baseman Brant Brown, are batting to a collective .182 with 4 RBIs in 33 at-bats. Thankfully, Grace is due to be back tomorrow.

To add insult to injury, Sandberg himself was hit by an errant batted ball while sitting in the dugout during Sunday’s game against Atlanta. Talk about bad luck.

Speaking of hitting from earlier, that is the second big problem this year. Going into Wednesday’s game at home against the Colorado Rockies, the Cubs as a team were batting an horrendous .178. Granted, they were playing against some of the league’s best pitchers, such as Atlanta’s Greg Maddux and Florida’s Alex Fernandez and Kevin Brown, but still, one would figure they could muster a little bit of offense and exhibit some of that power that was shown off late last year. As a matter of fact, the highest batting average of any of the starters is Brooks Kieschnick, who is batting .273. However, he was just called up from Iowa not too long ago.

That was particularly shown off as the Rockies shut them out on Wednesday for their franchise’s first-ever shutout.

How’s that for sucking at the plate. Simply pathetic. Next up in the Cubs’ circle of why they’re not performing up to par this season is their defense. As any coach will tell you, especially if you’ve ever played Little League as a kid, the fundamentals of the game being with defense.

This means decent glove work. Going into tonight’s game, the Cubs have committed 21 errors as a team.

It’s a sad situation to say the least.

However, this columnist will stay faithful to his team. Maybe, though, my former little league can help and give them a game they could possibly win.

Man, they suck this year.

ROB DANIEL is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Zion, Illinois.