Jeff Samardzija vents his frustration by snapping his bat as Cubs lose eighth straight

The Cubs lost their eighth game in a row when they were shutout by the San Diego Padres, 2-0 in the final game of the three game series at Petco Park.  Jeff Samardzija started for the Cubs and allowed one run over four hits and struck out six and walked two batters over seven innings pitched. 

The Shark pitched well enough to win, but the Cubs just couldn't get their offense going.  Manager Dale Sveum said, "The bottom line is we're not getting anything going with the bats."  He reminded his young team to try to have some fun and said, "You have to go out and play like it's Little League."

Samardzija ended the Cubs seventh inning by striking out and immediately broke his bat over his knee to vent his frustration.  "It just felt good to snap it like a toothpick," he said.  Samardzija apparently did the same thing when he was eliminated in the bunting tournament during Spring Training.

Jeff Samardzija broke his bat in frustration after striking out to end the Cubs seventh inning in San Diego on Wednesday (photo from cubs.com)

"Right now, when you start losing games and a lot of things aren't going your way, you're going to see some frustrations come out," Sveum said.  "That's part of the game.  It's OK to see guys with emotion and fire.  Those are guys you want around, too." 

This was a horrible roadtrip for the Cubs in the Golden state.  They were 0-10 in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego.

Tomorrow the Cubs return to Wrigley Field to start a four-game series against the Cincinnati Reds.  Chris Volstad will start Thursday's game at 7:05pm CT and try to earn that elusive first win of the season.  The good news is that Volstad's last outing in Los Angeles was his best one of the season, but it was unfortunate he was matched up against Clayton Kershaw and the Cubs weren't able to come through with their offense.