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HOUSTON -- When an offensive highlight of the night is a double from the pitcher that didn’t even lead to a run, it was probably an effort not worthy of distinction.

The Cubs have now gone 59 consecutive innings without holding a lead. The last time they were on top was in the fourth inning last Wednesday at home against the Philadelphia Phillies.

In yet another game over the past week where the Cubs’ offense barely made a dent, Alfonso Soriano supplied the only run Tuesday with an impressive home run to left field.

Make that four home runs for Soriano over the past eight games. The bad news is that the Cubs have lost all eight of those games.

Doesn’t it figure that once one of the club’s power bats finally comes to life that everybody else goes into a slide, including Bryan LaHair, who now has one hit over his last 20 at-bats.

And then there is Starlin Castro, who struck out all four times he came to the plate, including once in the eighth inning with the tying run at third base and one out. His 31 strikeouts are now third most on the club behind sluggers Soriano (32) and LaHair (46). He has just four walks, or the same amount as Reed Johnson has in nearly two-thirds less at-bats.

“We just can’t seem to get anything going,” manager Dale Sveum said. “You get a guy at third and less than two outs and you get a couple of strikeouts. We just can’t get anything out of the ballpark. Soriano hit a solo shot but we just can’t seem to get that three-run shot.”

The Cubs are now batting .223 (51-for-229) with 20 runs over their last seven games after batting .277 (54-for-195) and scoring 29 runs over their five-game road trip to Milwaukee and St. Louis that ended last Tuesday.

Only Soriano is delivering now after not hitting a home run over the team’s first 30 games. He has driven in a run in eight of the team’s last 13 games.

“I started hitting homers but it’s not enough to win,” Soriano said. “It’s better to win games. I don’t care about my homers because I know I have been doing that for 12 years. The more important thing is to get a win. I don’t know what we have to do to win one game and hit more. We’re struggling not getting hits so we have to work more.”

Batting in the cleanup spot Tuesday, Soriano had a close up view from the on-deck circle of Castro’s four strikeouts.

“He’s just in his third year in the league so he’ll figure it out,” Soriano said. “That happened to him last year too. He had little struggles. It’s a long season and sometimes you have (struggles) one week or two weeks. But when you get out of your slump you become a better player. I hope when he gets out he will come out hot and be a better player.”

Soriano hopes that by everybody continuing to plug away, the offense can finally get in sync.

“I just try to do my job no matter if we’re struggling or not,” Soriano said. “If you’re young or a veteran, everybody has to do their job. I came here to play and try to do my job to make the team better and try to win.”

HOUSTON -- With two hits Monday, Starlin Castro reached the 400-hit mark in his first 325 games and put himself among some elite company.

Among all major-league players who started their career after 1980, Castro became the sixth fastest to reach the 400 hits, tying him with Alex Rodriguez. The only players to reach the plateau faster were Ichiro Suzuki (268 games), Nomar Garciaparra (302), Kirby Puckett (310), Hanley Ramirez (317) and Wade Boggs (324).

He also extended his personal hit streak at Houston’s Minute Maid Park to 11 games, which is the sixth longest active streak from a visiting player. The Reds’ Joey Votto has the longest run in Houston at 18 games.

CHICAGO -- Not even an ideal hitting day could help the Chicago Cubs on Sunday as they were shut out for the first time this season.

Sure they had scored just one run in eight separate games, but they'd at least avoided getting blanked.

That all came to an end in a 6-0 loss to a dominating Jake Peavy and the cross-town White Sox. Actually it nearly came to an end Saturday, but the Cubs managed to score four runs in the ninth inning to at least make things a little interesting.

With the wind blowing out for the first time this season Sunday, manager Dale Sveum said before the game that some offensive fireworks could be ahead. The White Sox were the only ones to light the fuse, hitting three home runs for the second consecutive day.

The Cubs scored 15 total runs in their just-completed five-game homestand, losing all five of the games.

“You know Peavy’s going to be tough, he’s one of the best pitchers in the league, but with that wind the way it was blowing you thought there would be some contact that would get up in that kind of wind and at least get a solo home run or something,” Sveum said. “We had our chances. We had the bases loaded a couple of times and didn’t do too much."

In the 27 innings against the White Sox this weekend, the Cubs scored in just three of them.

“After going through a pretty good two-week stretch, now we’re on a week stretch of no wins and obviously being swept by the White Sox at home is about as low as you’re going to get,” Sveum said.

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CHICAGO -- A sixth consecutive defeat, a sweep by the cross-town Chicago White Sox and the first shutout of the season all have Chicago Cubs manager Dale Sveum working on the details of a lineup change for his last-place club.

Sveum didn’t reveal too much after Sunday’s 6-0 defeat other than saying that changes are expected to happen to the top three spots in the order. That’s where David DeJesus, Tony Campana and Starlin Castro have resided most of the season, in that order.

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CHICAGO -- The Chicago Cubs' brief two-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies ended in a sweep for the visitors after a 8-7 loss on Thursday.

How it happened: The Cubs mounted a four-run rally in the ninth, but came up a run short. Welington Castillo hit a three-run double and later scored on a hit from Darwin Barney before Reed Johnson grounded out to end the game. Chris Volstad's winless streak continued as he lasted just two innings while giving up four runs to the Phillies. Volstad fell to 0-6 this season with a 7.46 ERA and the Cubs have lost all eight of his starts. Casey Coleman, called up from Triple-A Iowa over the weekend, took over in the third inning and fared much better, giving up a run over four innings. The Cubs started quickly with a run three batters into the game on Starlin Castro's sacrifice fly, but were ultimately kept off balance by Phillies starter Roy Halladay. Castro and Castillo had home runs in the defeat.

What it means: Manager Dale Sveum has given Volstad as many chances as possible, but the right-hander has yet to deliver. After a run of starts where one bad inning ruined his entire day, Volstad was off his game on Thursday from the outset, loading the bases in each of the first two innings. Coleman’s relief outing appeared good enough to earn him a start in five days at Houston, if Sveum is finally ready to make a change.

Outside the box: The numbers on Volstad aren’t pretty. It is the first time since 2006 that the Cubs have lost a pitcher’s first eight starts. They lost Angel Guzman's first 10 starts that season. Volstad also joins Guzman as the last Cubs starter to open a season 0-6. Juan Cruz was 0-7 in 2002. Volstad is now 0-11 over his last 19 appearances going back to last season. The last pitcher to lose more than 10 straight decisions was Brian Matusz, who lost 12 straight decisions before picking up a win in April.

Off beat: On Wednesday night, Bryan LaHair had luck on his side when he reached base after Juan Pierre dropped his lazy fly ball in left field. He had no such luck Thursday, when Pierre made a diving catch in shallow left field on one ball and his hard smash up the middle hit off Halladay’s leg toward shortstop Jimmy Rollins, who threw him out at first base. In the seventh inning he was robbed again by Pierre, who made a diving catch a ball in the left-field corner.

Up next: The Cubs will send right-hander Jeff Samardzija (4-1, 2.89 ERA) to the mound in the opener of a three-game series against their crosstown rivals. The White Sox will counter with Philip Humber (1-2, 5.77) in the 1:20 p.m. start from Wrigley Field.

CHICAGO -- The fact that the Chicago Cubs have yet to be shut out this season could be a statistical oddity, or it could actually be a sign of something much different.

The Cubs might have been 11th in both runs scored (134) and on-base percentage (.309) heading into play Wednesday, but they still have managed to avoid getting blanked. They scored their first runs of Wednesday’s game in the fourth inning on a two-run home run from Alfonso Soriano.

The Los Angeles Angels lead baseball by getting shut out eight times, while the Cubs are one of four National League teams yet to go scoreless.

Whether it’s a run early, or even one late in a runaway game, the Cubs have still scored and the streak is somewhat a matter of pride now.

“We want to be a team that never gives up; we want to be a team that comes together and never shows that we’re down,” said leadoff man David DeJesus, who leads the team in runs scored with 22. “I feel that we’ve done that this year, and we have to stay mentally strong this season.”

Heart and guts are fine and dandy, but it doesn’t always push across a run with two outs and runners on the corners. Is there anything more tangible than that?

“I think one thing it shows is that there is a lot of ways we can score,” said Tony Campana, who has scored 12 runs and has stolen nine bases since being recalled April 21. “We have guys that can get on a run, and we have guys that can hit homers. I think that helps.”

Whatever it is, the Cubs have shown that every day that are good for at least one run, although their eight games of just a single run doesn’t necessarily show a monster offense at work.

It hasn’t hurt that Starlin Castro has a hit in 31 of the 36 games he’s played as the No. 3 hitter, and that cleanup man Bryan LaHair has reached base safely in his last 32 games, while leading the club with 10 home runs.

“We have Bryan LaHair. Yes, he’s hitting his homers and stuff like that, but we’re a scrappy team,” DeJesus said. “We don’t ever feel that we’re out of the game. We feel like we have a good offense. When it starts clicking we have guys who can roll and do different types of things, hit for power, hit for average, steal bases. We have a good mixture in our lineup.”

CHICAGO -- Simply scouting an opponent and watching a little video seems downright amateur when compared to how the Cubs are doing things these days.

The club is taking defensive positioning to a science and it was instrumental in a victory Wednesday.

It might not have been a coincidence that Chipper Jones was the Atlanta Braves batter burned most by the Cubs' quirky infield alignments. The veteran has the most video available on him of any of the Braves batters and the Cubs used it against him Wednesday.

Third-base and infield coach Pat Listach has a backlog of video that can not only give him a player's last 100 ground balls, he can break it down in to where the hard-hit grounders are going as opposed to the soft ones.

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CHICAGO -- It was two years ago today that Starlin Castro made the debut heard ’round baseball.

Castro hit a three-run home run in his first major-league plate appearance against the Cincinnati Reds and later added a three-run triple, with the six RBIs going down as the most ever for a player in his first major league game.

“Hopefully he can repeat that day,” said manager Dale Sveum, who was a coach with the Milwaukee Brewers that day. “Obviously I wasn’t here but it’s kind of a legendary debut.”

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CHICAGO -- Although the Chicago Cubs' Starlin Castro and Darwin Barney have had their share of growing pains learning to play defense at second base and shortstop at the major league level, improvement is beginning to be noticeable.

Making fewer errors is just one dynamic of playing the two most challenging positions on the field. Barney, who has just one error, is in his second season of playing second base after coming up as a shortstop. Castro, with the help of infield coach Pat Listach and manager Dale Sveum, has improved his overall defense despite making eight errors in the Cubs’ first 28 games.

“They are a year smarter in knowing the league, and they are still continuing to work hard every day at improving,” said Listach who also worked with the duo last season along with former third base coach Ivan DeJesus. “Barney has made some tremendous strides at second and Castro -- even though his error totals are up -- hasn’t gotten the call or any breaks on a number of those errors. We admit Castro is a work in progress, but his defense is improving. You can’t go by errors alone. His overall play is more consistent out there.”

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STREAKING

1. Bryan LaHair, 1B: The Cubs’ early season MVP continues to put up All-Star numbers and have impressive at-bats, working the count and hitting the ball to the opposite field. LaHair has been on the Streaking list every week of the season. The Cubs have 15 home runs, and LaHair accounts for almost half with seven, including three last week. His .390 batting average heading into Monday’s game ranked second in the National League as did his .478 on-base percentage.

2. Starlin Castro, SS: The stolen base is the latest weapon that this future superstar has begun to develop. Castro has 11 steals which puts him on pace for 60 this season. Give credit to the Cubs coaching staff, which has worked hard with Castro and the entire team on being aggressive on the basepaths since the start of spring training. Castro once again had a solid week at the plate, hitting over .400 with a home run and 7 RBIs and is batting .345, good for sixth in the National League.

SLUMPING

1. Carlos Marmol, RP: A penchant for using his slider rather than his fastball cost Marmol the closer job for now. A meltdown of enormous proportions in Cincinnati had the coaching staff and Marmol headed back to the basics on rediscovering his fastball grip. He walked seven and allowed four runs in three innings last week and has a 5.59 ERA with 13 walks in 9 2/3 innings this season. On a positive note he had a shutout inning in a mop-up role on Saturday against the Dodgers.

2. Chris Volstad, SP: Winless in his starts since since July 10, 2011, Volstad seems to be a different pitcher with runners on base. Most of his innings have been decent except for one fatal frame per game. Last week Volstad gave up nine earned runs in 11 innings over two starts. He is 0-4 with a 6.55 ERA in four starts this season. Manager Dale Sveum said Volstad will stay in the rotation for now, however a move to the bullpen could take place if he doesn’t pick up his game soon.

CINCINNATI -- The Reds couldn’t be too displeased over getting a respite from Chicago Cubs speedster Tony Campana, who was not in the starting lineup Thursday.

Soon enough, the Reds will have their own base-running menace, as Single-A prospect Billy Hamilton continues to stir up a ton of attention down at Single-A Bakersfield of the California League.

Hamilton has stolen 30 bases in 25 minor-league games, while batting .381 with a 1.027 OPS. He has more stolen bases than any major league team as he comes off a season when he had 103 steals at Single-A Dayton in 2011.

When he arrives, Hamilton will certainly help a Reds club that was 14th in steals in the National League heading into play Thursday. The Cubs were fourth in steals, helped in that category by Starlin Castro, whose 10 steals were tied for the NL lead, and Campana, who has seven steals in just 10 games.

Steals aren’t easy for Castro now, though, as he seems to have opened the eyes of NL pitchers, who are paying much more attention to him.

Castro has been caught stealing four times this season, with three of those coming over the last five games. All four times he has been caught have come in the last eight games.

CINCINNATI -- The Chicago Cubs might be third in stolen bases in the National League and dead last in home runs, but that doesn’t mean there is a correlation in the numbers.

Manager Dale Sveum shot down a theory that the Cubs are running more to compensate for the fact that they don’t have much power.

“I think it’s very important to put pressure on the other team when you can and take advantage of situations to stay out of double plays,” Sveum said. “Slugging percentage does you no good if the guy ahead of the guy who hits the double just hit into a double play. Then you hit the double with two outs and nobody on.

“It doesn’t make any sense when you can take advantage of a situation to just sit there and say ‘I don’t want to run into an out.’”

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PHILADELPHIA -- The Chicago Cubs went into an early hole, then dug themselves out only to watch the Philadelphia Phillies pull out a 6-4 win in the late innings Monday as the clubs split the four-game series.

How it happened: The Cubs came to life in the eighth inning to tie the game 4-4, but the Phillies grabbed the lead right back again in the bottom of the inning on a two-run double from Placido Polanco. Chris Volstad gave up four runs in the first inning but settled down the rest of the way. Rafael Dolis, who the Cubs are trying to ease into setup duties, gave up the go-ahead double. Bryan LaHair tied the game in the eighth in a two-run home run, his fifth, and went 7-for-15 in the series.

What it means: The Cubs continue to be suspect out of the bullpen and any tight game is an edge-of-your-seat ride. The Cubs outfield was shaded toward right with two runners on base in the bottom of the ninth inning but Polanco ripped his hit to the area of straight-up left field that Alfonso Soriano had vacated, suggesting that Dolis missed his spot by a large margin. Kerry Wood returns from the disabled list later this week but isn’t expected to return to his setup role right away.

Outside the box: Starlin Castro entered play Monday tied for the National League lead in steals at 10. But teammate Tony Campana, who has only been on the roster for 11 days, moved closer to catching him. Campana stole his seventh base in the eighth inning and was on his way to another at third base when Castro singled on the pitch. Campana scored easily on the hit.

Off beat: Soriano finally hit one over the wall. Yes, it was only a ground-rule double in the seventh inning, but for the first time all season Soriano got one to clear the fences in some capacity. He still has no home runs, obviously, and the double was just his second extra-base hit of the season. He did end up scoring after his double and the Cubs tied it an inning later.

Up next: The Cubs will send right-hander Jeff Samardzija (2-1, 4.13 ERA) to the mound in the opener of a three-game series at Cincinnati on Tuesday. The Reds will counter with right-hander Bronson Arroyo (1-0, 2.70) in the 6:10 p.m. start from Great American Ball Park.

PHILADELPHIA – Within a struggling offense, the Cubs have managed to put together some bright spots.

Starlin Castro and Bryan LaHair have done their part with impressive April showings.

Castro has not only reached base safely in 19 of his 21 starts the season, he has hit safely in 17 of 21. He also stole two more bases to give him 10 on the season and leave him two away from tying the Cubs’ record for steals in the month of April set by Brian McRae in 1996.

LaHair delivered a first-inning double to score a run and has now reached base safely in a team high 17 games. He has also driven in a run in four consecutive games and seven of his last eight. Then there are his 12 RBIs in his last 12 games since hitting a grand slam April 13 at St. Louis.

It wasn’t all upbeat, though, as LaHair struck out three times after his first-inning double. Despite it, he continues to put up an impressive showing in his first full season in the major leagues.

“He’s been pretty consistent and has done a nice job to this point,” manager Dale Sveum said. “They’re young and some of these guys haven’t faced major league pitching on an everyday basis. You have to keep them from getting frustrated when they face these great pitchers but LaHair has come through against some good pitchers so far.”

Over the winter the Chicago Cubs' main plan for improvement centered around adding more pitching depth, getting more left-handed and playing better defense.

After 16 games there does appear to be more balance on offense and the starting pitching is certainly more fortified in the case of injury.

The one area that still appears below average is the defense. Going into this series with the St. Louis Cardinals the Cubs have made 16 errors. Or a better way to break it down… they are on pace for 162 errors.

In the 2011 season the Cubs were the worst defensive team in baseball, making a major league-high 134 errors, not to mention the botched relay throws and poor positioning around the middle infield, which featured two inexperienced players in Starlin Castro and Darwin Barney. Castro (29) and Geovany Soto (13) had the most errors at their positions in the league last year.

On Sunday Soto made throwing errors on back-to-back plays, begging the question of whether this team has improved in this crucial area.

“We are taking pride in [the hopes] we are a lot better defensively,” Soto said. “We are working our tails off trying to improve in the areas we need to improve in. So I think we have improved on defense.”

One spot worth watching for improvement over the season is first base. Since 2004 the Cubs have had a Gold Glove-caliber first baseman, starting with Derrek Lee and ending with one great year of fielding by Carlos Pena. Bryan LaHair will give you a great effort, but until Anthony Rizzo is ready to be moved up to the parent club, balls in the dirt may not be scooped up like they have in the past.

Nothing says bad baseball to a fan base like a shoddy group of defenders, although improvement at third base and in right field are a nice addition to this year’s club. Ian Stewart and David DeJesus are top-notch defenders.

The jury is still out on the fielders’ chances of helping the pitching staff with better defense with only 10 percent of the season having been played.