Early in the season it was easily explained away by weather or the rigors of an unusual schedule, or simply the fact that it was early in the season. But as the Cubs' massive home-road offensive disparity reaches four months -- creating more than a .340 difference in winning percentage home and away -- it is becoming a worrisome trend for a team with World Series aspirations.

Maybe now his message has been heard. For days, manager Ozzie Guillen has been using different tactics to try and get his players to understand what's at stake for the final two months of the regular season. More important, what opportunities they have been wasting.

There's nothing like the start of training camp to get everyone pumped up. Take Bears coach Lovie Smith, for instance. He ran through every position on the troubled offense of a year ago, and by the time he was done, he determined he liked it.