buy jordan-Cubs don't play like superheroes, but dress the part

ST. LOUIS — To honor Cubs great Ron Santo on his Hall of Fame induction day, manager Dale Sveum asked his position players to click their heels as they crossed the foul line to take their spots Sunday.

"It was downhill after that," Sveum said.

While Santo was being feted in Cooperstown, the Cubs were enduring another lost weekend at Busch Stadium.

They lost 7-0 to the Cardinals, were outscored 23-1 in the series and were 3-for-29 (.077) with runners on base.

Travis Wood (4-5) put the game out of reach early, giving up four runs in the first inning and home runs on back-to-back pitches to Matt Holliday and Carlos Beltran to start the fifth.

"They were pitches I thought were where they needed to be," Wood said.

Apparently not, since they traveled a combined 837 feet.

The rest of the day was just an exercise in futility but ended in levity when the players donned costumes of their favorite superheroes for the plane ride to Pittsburgh.

It was idea conceived by Matt Garza in spring training for the sake of team bonding. Even Sveum got into the act, dressing up as the "Hellboy" character from the movie.

"It's something guys kind of look forward to and talk about, break up the monotony," Sveum said.

Alfonso Soriano, who like Garza wore a Batman outfit, was the only one to admit he was "not happy" about having to get dressed up after losing in such brutal fashion. Pitching coach Chris Bosio also abstained, while Reed Johnson and Jeff Baker were the most creative of the bunch, dressing like Jed Hoyer and Theo Epstein, respectively.

Both walked with cellphones glued to their ears, as the Cubs executives tend to do.

In truth, the Cubs don't have a particularly good record on dress-up day, which traditionally is a rookie hazing thing. Most laugh about it, but it's hard to do after a tough loss

In 2006 in Cincinnati, when manager Dusty Baker and most of his staff were about to be let go, Santo fumed in Baker's office as players donned their costumes moments after Scott Eyre blew a save.

After a loss to Milwaukee in 2009 at Wrigley, manager Lou Piniella blew off a postgame press briefing, and Milton Bradley had a contentious session with the media while Sam Fuld dressed up as Wonder Woman a few feet away.

On Mike Quade's last road trip in 2011, after Randy Wells blew a late lead in a loss to the Cardinals, one player was peeved over a politically incorrect costume he was forced to wear.

Garza said the Cubs' superhero day was postponed once before to give players more time to get costumes. Anthony Rizzo was Buzz Lightyear, Tony Campana was the Flash, and Jeff Samardzija appeared to be Jesus.

Garza said he thought of the idea while watching "The Avengers" with his son. They had a similar costume trip when he was with the Rays, which Garza called "style dress-ups" where the team dressed all in white, or as "intellectuals."

"Guys let it loose, have a little fun," Garza said. "Take a little bit of pressure off. A little bit of embarrassment goes a long way. Gets you out of your own skin a little bit."