text: Poor patience, result - tribunedigital-chicagotribune
  Cubs go 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position, strand 10
  DENVER — With the season dwindling down and their wild-card hopes fading away with every missed opportunity, the Cubs have no margin for error.
  But Saturday's 4-2 loss to Colorado at Coors Field provided a glimpse of what has been haunting them all season.
  "We didn't play good defense," manager Dusty Baker said. "We gave them two runs on defense. Glendon [Rusch] threw the ball good. But it makes it tough when you give them runs, and we had opportunities."
  The Cubs' three-game win streak came to a crashing halt, leaving them 5 1/2 games behind wild-card-leading Philadelphia.
  Derrek Lee went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles, improving to .346. But despite putting up career-best numbers and establishing himself as one of the game's best all-around first basemen, Lee conceded the season would be "wasted" if the Cubs don't make the playoffs.
  Trailing 3-1 in the eighth, Lee poked a one-out double off reliever Mike DeJean and scored on Aramis Ramirez's RBI single. But after a single by Jeromy Burnitz and a walk to Michael Barrett loaded the bases, Neifi Perez popped to short, leaving it in the hands of Corey Patterson.
  On the first pitch he saw, Patterson grounded to second, ending the rally.
  Patterson saw only five pitches in four at-bats, going 0-for-4 and stranding six baserunners. Baker said he has not considered benching Patterson, despite a .214 average since his return from Triple-A Iowa. Patterson believes his stroke is returning.
  Kerry Wood, in his first back-to-back outings, served up a solo homer to Dustan Mohr in the eighth, ending his eight-inning scoreless streak as a reliever and giving the Rockies a two-run cushion. Lee came up in the ninth with a man on, but grounded out to first baseman Todd Helton, ending a 10-pitch at-bat against closer Brian Fuentes.
  The Cubs fell behind 2-0 in the first on Helton's RBI single off Rusch and a bases-loaded error by Walker with two outs. Lawton dropped a catchable fly off Mohr's bat with two men on in the third while bending down to make the play, allowing it to glance off his mitt as the third run scored.
  Although the Cubs asked for a scoring change after the game, the ruling stood and Lawton was not charged with an error.
  "I don't think I had to dive, but that ball was in the lights, so I tried to dive to get underneath," Lawton said. "I definitely should have caught it though. It cost us a run."
  Lee maintained the Cubs are still in the playoff hunt, even though they aren't listed in the wild-card standings in most newspapers, or on sports highlight shows.
  "That's what happens when you're not at .500," he said. "That being said, we're still in it. Obviously, it's an uphill battle, but it can be done."