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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Outside Chicago
By Mike J.
There's a few things I've learned in my first three weeks in Wisconsin:
- Full-time jobs aren't so bad. I was a bit concerned how well this waking up early every day thing would go, but it's been surprisingly easy so far. I've never had a real full-time job before this (and no, I don't know how that happened), so I'm glad its working out.
- Not having regular Internet access sucks. A lot.
- Corollary to #2: did you guys know Matt Lawton's a Cub?
- As far as the Cubs go, moving to Madison was a bad idea. The day I moved was the first of eight consecutive losses and for a brief moment, I considered returning to Chicago to see if it would make a difference.
Despite what I'd like to believe, my proximity to Wrigley Field makes no difference in the Cubs' performance. If this were the first time the Cubs dropped an inordinate number of games in a row, I'd have been shocked, but as the losing streak dragged on, the optimism I once had waned quickly. The Cubbies have shown some signs of life in the last week, winning 5 of 7 from the 'Stros and Cards, but not only do they have to keep up that pace, the Astros, the entire NL East, and the Brewers have to hit low points all at once.
It's still possible: with the NL West out of the Wild Card picture, two divisions are left to duke it out for the 4th playoff spot. The Phillies, Marlins, Nationals, and Mets will see a lot of each other in the last month or so of the season, and the Cubs will have opportunities to beat Houston and Milwaukee and directly gain ground. I'm not holding my breath, though.
What I have had a lot of time to do is think about how the Cubs ended up where they are. Who's to blame? Dusty? The players? Jim Hendry? A big part of me wants to blame Dusty for the losing streak: managers have been fired for collapses like this before (
even this year), and it's an awfully convenient to pin it on Baker.
I'm reluctant to assign all the blame to him, though, because I'm still waiting for a player to stand out as the team leader-type. When your backup, poor-hitting shortstop is the guy that calms the pitcher down and tries to fire up the team, there's bound to be leadership problems.
So Hendry, then, for not assembling a good team? Surely $100 million could buy a better team than this (it certainly can), but the DL has cost more than anyone expected this year and has prevented the front office from getting their money's worth.
Like everything else in life, the situation isn't black and white. I could be swayed any number of ways on who deserves blame more, but I'm not really interested in that line of thought. It's self-defeating, but that's not the real reason I don't care that much. When you don't see any baseball for three weeks, you're glad to get just about anything. Zambrano's 8 1/3 inning, 10 strikeout pitching performance and thunderous line drive homer on Wednesday might not mean anything come October 3, but damn if I didn't cheer as loud as ever as I watched it in the apartment clubhouse.
I might not hold much hope for the Cubs as we come up on September, but that doesn't mean I'll miss a game if can help it or not be excited by the playoffs and the Wild Card race, with or without my team. That reminds me, I left off an item on my Things Learned List:
5. Baseball, however it comes, is still the best sport out there.
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Beervendors.com
By Mike J.
No, I'm not really back, but in the meantime check out
beervendors.com. It's run by a couple of Wrigley Field beer vendors and they did a really great job. I really enjoyed it and I've added it to the sidebar near the top (beer vendors, after all, are close to Old Style Cubs' heart).
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