My Favorite Player
By Mike J.
Old Style Cubs is still retired, but I'm starting a new website called My Favorite Player at
http://www.myfavoriteplayer.net. It's about baseball in general, but be assured I'll be giving the Cubs plenty of love. Go check it out!
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Accepting the Inevitable
By Mike J.
This won't come as a surprise to anyone, but its official: Old Style Cubs is shutting it's doors. Here in Madison I don't get nearly enough Cub games (or have the time to watch them) to keep my blogging interesting high enough to post on a daily basis, so I'm calling it quits.
I'll be leaving the site up in its current form indefinitely if you care to browse through the archives, and if that still isn't enough, you can check out my new, not necessarily baseball-related blog at
http://michaeljansen.net.
Thanks to everyone that read Old Style Cubs and commented over the year and few months that we were around, and go Cubbies!
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Shifting Focus
By Mike J.
I've been an optimist throughout most of the season, looking on the bright side without trying to be a blatant homer about the whole thing. However, as Aramis Ramirez strained and stumbled his way into first base in Wednesday's game, the Cubs' already slim chances evaporated. Even with Derrek Lee batting .900 like he did in April and May the Cubs couldn't get far above .500: without Ramirez now, I can't fathom the Cubs putting together any semblance of offense.
So what's a Cub fan to do? There's a couple standard options:
- Speculate on September call-ups. As the roster expands, I expect we'll see Ronny Cedeno and Matt Murton in the dugout. Whether they see much playing time will depend on Dusty's level of delusion that this is a contending team. The funny thing is that if Baker does "give up" and let the young players start, it might remove enough pressure to let the team remember how to play baseball.
- Look forward to the offseason. While the Cubs will have a decent amount of money to spend this winter, there's not many exciting free agents available. Johnny Damon is at the top of a short list, but I'm sure once the playoffs are over the Hot Stove league will be even more exciting than usual.
- Play the blame game. It's finger-pointin' time! All sorts of accusations are possible, but let's start with an easy one: even though Aramis has had an incredibly productive season and was voted to the All-Star team, his unwillingness to hustle cost the team multiple games. Just ignore both of his bruised legs and it almost seems plausible.
In between the common three diversions listed above, I might turn my focus a bit toward baseball in general and look at what other teams actually have a legitimate shot at making the playoffs. For example, during my 3-week sabbatical from baseball, I failed to notice that the Cleveland Indians have made a push and are now tied for the AL Wild Card Lead with Oakland and New York. How did this happen? I think I could name maybe 5 Indians--C.C. Sabathia, Victor Martinez, Travis Hafner...ok, I guess only 3. And that's a damn shame.
I'm making my last trip to Chicago for a while to clean out my old apartment, and while I hate to drag figurative language in this, it will feel a bit symbolic to be shutting the door on the season when I move out entirely. The Cubs could still surprise us in the last month, but if they do, it'll still be too little and far too late. Check back for Cub news as it comes along with playoff race coverage.
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Determining The Outcome
By Mike J.
Ever get the feeling that instead of actually playing a baseball game, Dusty Baker could walk out to home plate, meet with the opposing manager and the umpire, and flip a coin to determine a win or loss for the day? He'd go back and forth between wins and losses regularly with some streaks of 7 or 8 mixed in there every once in a while. Sometimes they'd end up right around .500, sometimes way above or way below.
The chances are pretty much equal that you'll have a great season as easily as a bad season, and just as likely you'll end up mediocre. In a sense, baseball works like this anyway: a couple of injuries and you're down and out or everything breaks your way and you have a great season. While the Cubs were plagued by injuries early in the season and it's useless to speculate if they would have had the same season with a healthy roster, it still seems like they're just flipping a coin to see if they show up for a game every single day.
Last night came up heads, apparently, as the Cubs won 10-1 behind Jerome Williams and a Burnitz grand slam. What's so maddening about this and the entire season is that last night's result will most likely have no effect on tomorrow afternoon's game. I could mention that Mark Prior is opposite Jorge Sosa, but do their splits or last 3 starts really matter? I'd like to think so, but previous experience is telling me no.
Maybe I'll
flip a coin instead.
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Not Long Until Wood Is Shelved
By Mike J.
Dropping a well-played, tight game to the Braves isn't such a bad thing. Atlanta's on the top of their division and while losing never feels good, losing to a playoff team that put Tim Hudson on the mound for all 9 innings is the kind of loss that's acceptable.
Unfortunately for the Cubs, no losses are acceptable at this point, especially after losing two of three to the Rockies to completely undo their efforts against the Astros the series before. Another great Zambrano start was wasted, but the real disappointment comes from Kerry Wood, who gave up another home run, this time to seal the Cubs' fate in the 9th. After looking unhittable in his first 7 relief appearances, he's looking more like the Kerry Wood we've got to know quite well after the '03 postseason: flashes of brilliance separated by the long ball.
The way the team is playing and the way Wood is pitching, I wouldn't be surprised at all to see him shelved and go under the knife before the season ends. I understand that the Cubs need to have the appearance of trying to make the playoffs to try and draw fans, but at some point very soon next year will have to come to the front of the minds of Jim Hendry and Dusty Baker.
Things aren't getting any easier for the Cubs with the Marlins visiting after the Braves leave town, and short of those teams putting on Cardinals jerseys, the Cubs will likely flounder at the plate and in the field for the rest of the week.
Current NL Wild Card prediction: The Florida Marlins.
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