re: CHC Thread | The Struggle is Real | CHC (Wood) @ STL (Martinez) (ESPN)

This is definitely a big early season series on the road against a surging Cardinals team. Bryant seems to be going through growing pains right now. At first pitchers were scared to pitch to him, so he saw a lot of balls on the edge of the zone. Now, the scouting reports are coming in, and he needs to make his adjustments. He'll be fine, no doubt, but I agree with this article that states that Bryant needs to turn on the power surge if the Cubs are going to contend this year.

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To keep that going, the Cubs obviously will need more offensive production. They were 11th in NL hitting and last in strikeouts on Sunday, and have scored only six runs in their last four games.

Surprisingly, Bryant is still homer-less after 54 at-bats, after becoming a sensation in March with a major-league-leading nine homers in spring training. The home run barrage even led to a commercial for an energy drink that ends with Bryant taking a goat with him from Iowa to Chicago.

It's no big deal yet, though quite an anomaly. Bryant averaged one home run for every 11.7 at-bats during his two-year minor-league career, and one for every 11.4 at-bats last year while hitting 43 at Double-A Tennessee and Triple-A Iowa.

Asked Sunday morning if he's anxious to get that first one out of the way, Bryant shrugged.

"I can go the whole season without hitting a home run, as long as we're winning games, and right now we're doing pretty good," he said. "We'll see. I know the type of player I am. It's a percentage. I hit home runs and I'm just due, and (Saturday) I was due for a bad game. It happens."

Bryant went 1-for-4 Sunday with a blooper that turned into a game-tying double, after his four-strikeout performance on Saturday. Maddon isn't concerned about Bryant's mini-drought, and he wants his players to put a bad day to bed once it's over.

"Twenty-four hours can make a huge difference in anybody's life, and in anybody's baseball game," he said.

Bryant is still adjusting to major-league pitching, while facing the daily pressure that comes from being the next in a long line of alleged Cubs phenoms.

There's no doubt he'll be fine in the long run. But if the Cubs hope to contend this year, Bryant has to flip the power switch on soon.

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I'm excited that Grimm is rehabbing. That'll help the bullpen if he can get back in a couple of weeks.

It was disappointing to have Lester, Arrieta, and Hammel this weekend and lose 2 of 3 to the Brewers. However, they were injury plagued, and played more like most expected them to play this year. They aren't nearly as bad as their record.

Here's to at least a split this week in St. Louis.