Good day … hope you have a nice weekend.

1. What Went Wrong for the 2009 Cubs? After winning 97 games last season, the Cubs come into Busch Stadium with a 75-70 record. What happened to them?

First of all, let’s tell you what didn’t go wrong with the Cubs. For example, they had multiple starting pitchers spend time on the DL, and while that’s never easy to overcome, the Cubs’ rotation held up pretty well. They’re tied for third in the NL in Quality Starts (78) and the rotation has the league’s fifth-best ERA, at 3.77. Overall run prevention wasn’t the issue; only four MLB teams have allowed more fewer runs than the Cubs.

Here are the primary reasons for the fade:

* Decline of the Offense: Last season the Cubs led the NL in runs per game, 5.31. This season they’re eighth at 4.47 runs. Six Cubs regulars had a drop in productivity from 2008 to 2009.  The expensive signing of outfielder Milton Bradley was a disaster. Put it this way: last season the Cubs got 49 RBIs in 85 games from Jim Edmonds when he signed on after being released by San Diego. And Bradley, who essentially replaced Edmonds as the lefthanded bat in the outfield mix, has 40 RBIs in 120 games.

Compared to last season, the Cubs dropped from 1st to 10th in the league OBP and 1st to 8th in SLG. They’re down 21 points in OBP and 26 points in slugging.

* Injuries: The Cubs went into a dive during the absence of 3B Aramis Ramirez, who missed 50 games with a shoulder injury. Over those 50 games, the Cubs averaged only 3.86 runs per game, last in the NL during that stretch, and limped to a 24-26 record between May 9 and July 5.

* Road Woes: The 2008 Cubs were tough away from Wrigley Field, going 42-38 for the league’s second-best road record. This season the Cubs are 31-40; that’s the ninth in road winning percentage. They’re averaging 3.92 runs on the road, which ranks 14th among 16 NL teams. They’re ranked 11th in road OBP and 10th in road slugging.

* Outfield Defense: In a word, brutal. According to John Dewan’s Fielding Bible Stats, Alfonso Soriano was a minus 12 left fielder; Kosuke Fukudome is a minus 13 center fielder; Milton Bradley is a minus 5 right fielder. A lot of fly balls or line drives got behind them or between them.

* Bullpen: Kevin Gregg flunked as a closer, which is what you’d expect from a fly ball pitcher who has to work half of his games at Wrigley Field. But the problem goes beyond that; the Cubs’ bullpen has the league’s second-worst walk rate, is 14th in strikeout-walk ratio, and 13th in baserunners per nine innings. The habit of putting men on late in games has created all kinds of headaches in the 8th inning. This is personified in Carlos Marmol. He’s put the first batter he faced on base 25 times this season and that runner came into score 20 times. But when Marmol gets the first batter out, which he’s done 39 times, he’s allowed only two runs in those innings.

There are other factors, of course. This doesn’t seem to be a happy club. The clubhouse mix hasn’t been a plus. What about the future? It won’t be easy for GM Jim Hendry to solve the problems. Catcher Geovany Soto is the only lineup regular who will be under 30 next season, and the Cubs already have a guaranteed $119 million committed to the 2010 payroll. So one of two things will have to happen: (1) a significant increase in payroll by the new owners; (2) find a way to dump salary by trading some combination of Soriano, Bradley, or  starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano. Good luck with that.

2. Albert Pujols, Player of the Decade? It’s looking that way. Even though Pujols didn’t enter the majors until 2001, he’s third behind Alex Rodriguez and Jim Thome in homers (366), second to A-Rod in RBIs (1,104), third in OBP (.428), second to Barry Bonds in slugging (.630). And Pujols is in a great race with Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki for the best batting average in the decade. Right now Pujols has the edge by one point, .334 to .333.

Of course, this depends on what considers the to be the start of the “decade.” Some insist that it began in 2001. So if you want to consider Player of the Decade based on 2001-2009, Pujols would be second to A-Rod in homers (389-366), would be No. 1 in RBIs, and would still be third in OBP and second in slugging. His batting-average race with Ichiro also remains the same: Pujols in the lead, .334 to .333.

 3. Rams at Redskins: Best of luck trying to run Steven Jackson in between the tackles on Sunday in suburban D.C. Albert Haynesworth, the Redskins’ expensive addition at DT, is a deterrent. As is the ageless MLB, former Ram London Fletcher. Last week the Giants tried to run the ball inside only three times and were stuffed for minus 3 yards … the Giants didn’t back off from running, however; they stuck with it for 31 attempts that produced 103 yards. The best way to attack the Redskins on the ground? By going right. The big rookie, RT Jason Smith, loves to maul people in the run game. He is a very aggressive run blocker, as is RG Richie Incognito. Last week when the Giants were able to get their RBs to the perimeter on the right side, they had success. Ahmad Bradshaw got 52 yards on 8 runs to the right; Brandon Jacobs netted 27 yards on 3 runs to the far right side… now that he’s had a game and some full-time work with the offensive line, I think QB Marc Bulger will play better in this game… Redskins QB Jason Campbell is at his best when he throws to the middle; he has a career passer rating of 100 on middle throws. The Rams could not cover Seattle’s TE last week, so the Redskins figure to keep TE Chris Cooley busy until the Rams show they can drape the tight end … This will be a tough one for the Rams, who have to face a Washington team that’s 0-1 and playing at home for the first time. And it’s a Washington team that got upset by the Rams last season at home. Score: Redskins 24, Rams 13.

4. Bernie Bytes: The return of “The Office” is always welcome, but I was more geeked up last night by the season debut of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” on FX…. sorry, because I wanted to like NBC’s “Parks and Recreation” but I’m not feeling it….. Miami’s football team is very impressive; I was surprised how easily the Hurricanes blew out Georgia Tech. The young Miami QB, Jacory Harris, appears to be a special talent … the loss of MLB Martez Wilson is the latest bad break; Illinois is off to a terrible start to the 2009 season. Hope that things improve for Ron Zook … I think we’ll find out whether all of this Nebraska hype is legitimate when the Cornhuskers visit Virginia Tech on Saturday… new Missouri offensive coordinator Dave Yost earned some points by getting the Tigers running the ball last week against Bowling Green when BG started playing a Cover 4 defense. There’s no need to be stubborn and keep trying to pass when you have a talented back like Derrick Washington. The run game then opened up things for QB Blaine Gabbert.

Thanks for reading …

-Bernie