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Astros-Cubs Preview

Sep 1, 2009 - 4:52 AM By MATT BECKER STATS Senior Writer

Houston (62-68) at Chicago (65-63), 8:05 p.m. EDT

The Chicago Cubs spent the past two Septembers gearing up for a playoff berth.

In danger of falling to .500, that doesn't appear to be the case this year.

The Cubs look to avoid dropping to the break-even mark for the first time in more than seven weeks when they play the Houston Astros on Tuesday night at Wrigley Field.

After winning back-to-back NL Central titles, Chicago (65-64) had high hopes for 2009. Instead, it has been one of the biggest disappointments in baseball.

The Cubs were percentage points ahead of St. Louis atop the division on Aug. 4, but have gone 8-16 since to drop 10 1/2 games back of the Cardinals. They are also six games back of co-leaders Colorado and San Francisco in the wild-card race.

"We've got 30 games left," backup catcher Koyie Hill told the Cubs' official Web site after Monday's 5-3 loss to the Astros. "You go up there and play that game, that day. Whether you're 30 games behind or one game behind, you're going to play the same way. Yeah, we're running out of games, but we're still very capable of making a run."

Things have gotten so bad for Chicago, reigning NL Rookie of the Year Geovany Soto - mired in a 6-for-47 slump - was held out of the lineup Monday. Manager Lou Piniella said he is going to give more playing time to Hill.

Chicago has lost two straight and is trying to avoid the .500 mark for the first time since it was 43-43 on July 12, the final day before the All-Star break.

Houston (63-68), meanwhile, snapped a three-game skid in the opener, winning for the second time in eight games.

Carlos Lee hit a two-run homer and drove in four runs to continue his surge at Wrigley. He is batting .346 with seven home runs and 16 RBIs in 13 games at Wrigley since the start of last season

"I just think that I see the ball real good here," said Lee, who has four homers in seven games on Chicago's North Side this year. "If you take a ballpark that you see the ball real good, for me it's here. I hit a lot here."

Lee is 2 for 6 with no extra-base hits against rookie Randy Wells (9-7, 3.06 ERA), who takes the ball for the Cubs.

Wells gave up five runs and five hits - including two homers - with four walks in 6 1-3 innings of Thursday's 5-4 loss to Washington, the second time in four starts the right-hander yielded at least five runs after allowing four runs or fewer in each of his first 16.

While Wells is showing some signs of fatigue, he has had no trouble against the Astros. In two starts against Houston - both at Wrigley - Wells is 1-0, throwing 14 scoreless innings.

The Astros counter with Brian Moehler (8-9, 5.26), who looks to shake his recent struggles against Chicago.

Moehler is 1-2 with a 13.97 ERA in three starts against Chicago this year, getting knocked around for 12 runs over 4 2-3 innings in the two losses.

The right-hander allowed three runs and six hits in six innings of a 4-3 win over St. Louis on Thursday, but didn't get the decision.