doormats of the national league - no longer!!!!! Champions of The NL Central!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-09-28T22:50:00.000-05:00

Go Cubs Go!

Congratulations to the 2007 Chicago Cubs, the NL Central champs once again. About 24 hours after I and probably many others were really pissed that they got swept, they played up to their potential and beat Cincinnati, which, after the Padres beat Milwaukee again, was enough for them to clinch. I did not like the Lou Piniella signing when it happened. I am happy to once again say that I was wrong. I compared him to Grampa Simpson at times. At times, he sounded a bit befuddled. But he proved me wrong, and he proved he still has it. One huge step down, 3 to go. And any of you who sit by the wall during the playoffs, remember to punch your neighbor if he is about to do a Bartman and try to catch a foul ball that one of our guys could catch.

2007-09-27T19:22:00.000-05:00

Venting

Excus eme while I vent. If the Cubs can't beat a team 20 games under .500 even once, maybe they don't deserve to be in the playoffs. What a disappointing, shitty performance by our "heroes", especially afterthe 3 game sweep of Pittsburgh. I'm really fucking tired of the excuses we're already hearing, like "we couldn't pratice before the game because of the rain". Brenly used that one. Or, "well the Marlins are relaxed and don't have to play with any stress". After 156 fucking games, you guys ought to be ready to win, not get swept. All I know is, if they do end up blowing this, someone has to get fired for this. Hendry, Rothschild, even Sweet Lou, I don't care - someone has to go if they blow it.

2007-09-02T23:14:00.000-05:00

This is for the Puds at Dork Side Baseball

This was a great series win for the Cubs, especially after getting their ass beat on Friday. Today's game was a great win, capped by Derrek Lee's 2 run homer with 2 out in the 8th (or only 4 outs left), which put the Cubs ahead by the ultimate final score of 6-5. This all might not have been necessary if Rich Hill didn't crap the mound in the first inning, causing him to only last 5 innings and give up 5 runs during that time. Same thing happened with Sean Marshall on Friday. It is getting very tiresome watching the vaunted starting rotation only go 5 innings over and over, or barely making it into the 6th (even the $91 million man is doing that more often than not). That is why I personally don't mind the Cubs getting Steve Trachsel back. It wasn't the greatest trade ever but it wasn't bad considering what may have been available. The dorky Puds over at north side baseball (well, a lot of them - quite a few anyway) have been complaining about this trade mortgaging the Cubs future for an old man on his last legs. I don't think Scott Moore and Clay Rapada will come back to haunt the Cubs Besides, if 3 of these clowns could get out of the first with less than 20 pitches, make it to the 7th inning regularly (btw, thank you Jason Marquis), and give up only 1 or 2 runs during that time, maybe Hendry wouldn't have tried to get Trachsel, and maybe many of these same people wouldn't be bitching that Carlos Marmol is being overworked. If you were Lou Piniella, what would you do? Final thought today, the Cubs last 4 wins, 5-3,5-4,4-3,6-5. Not too bad for a team that started out 0-10 (or whatever) in 1 and 2 run games.

2007-07-21T08:53:00.000-05:00

Secrets of the Cubs success

J Hood on ESPN 1000 was asking fans to call in last night to say if they thought it was the management team of Hendry and Piniella, or the players, that were respnsible for the team success this year. Had to pick one or the other. Of course, he then blathered on and on about nonsense, like he usually does. It's obvious to me the answer - it's neither. The answer is c) Lou Piniella pretty much by himself. It took him awhile to change the team's course, I guess like when a ship turns, it takes awhile to change the ship's course. But now it appears to be full steam ahead. Lou's doing something Dusty never understood as manager. He's giving the young guys a chance when they come up and play, and he doesn't have any doghouses, like he said at the start. Itchy Jones is a perfect example. THankfully for us, he's starting to play good at the right time. If Lou doesn't like a player, he forces Hendry to find a way to get rid of him. So far, Barrett and Izzy got launched. All we need is Scott Eyre gone, and it truly will be full speed ahead.

2007-07-21T08:46:00.000-05:00

Barry Bonds

It's pretty obvious that not many people like Barry Bonds, and hate that he's breaking Aaron's record. From what I've seen, it's not his race that's an issue, like with Aaron breaking Ruth's record was at that time. While it's probably the steroids/HGH/whatever thing, that doesn't bother me either. His churlishness doesn't bother me either. For me, I don't like him because of his arrogance when he hits one. Like Thursday, when he hits his first homer, he doesn't just stand there and watch it, he turns, walks about 10 steps while carrying his bat in his right hand, then starts his home run trot. Maybe he thought it might go foul, I don't know. But it didn't look like that was it to me. It's too bad there aren't more old school pitchers that would drill him his next at bat after doing that.

2007-07-11T20:56:00.000-05:00

Phil Rogers - Douchebag or Dildo? You Decide

Just what the fuck kind of stupid, lazy hack job did Phil Rogers crap out today? Below is an excerpt from the beginning of this shitfest:

The Cubs factor lives, barely.Until the bottom of the ninth inning, when Dmitri Young's harmless grounder clanked off the heel of Brian Roberts' glove, it appeared the All-Star Game had turned inexorably when Tony La Russa pushed his luck by putting both Alfonso Soriano and Derrek Lee into action.
The National League had the lead, 1-0, when first Soriano and then Lee went into the game as replacements. But before long, the American League was back in control, as always, with a 5-2 lead in the eighth inning.In the ninth inning, as in the fall of 2003, it briefly appeared the Cubs might turn their sad tradition upside down.

If I recall, the AL took the lead 2-1 when Brian Roberts walked, then Ichiro hit the inside-the-park home run. So according to this asshole's logic, it must be Lee's fault that Roberts walked, and it must be Lee and Soriano's fault that Griffey badly misplayed Ichiro's ball off the wall. I guess somehow Derrek Lee gave up a homerun to Carl Crawford, and Soriano gave a 2 run homer to Viotor Martinez. What a fucking jagoff! But this is a microcosm of the problem with the Trib ownership. The "wonks" in the Tower (as Steve Rosenbloom calls them - "wonk" is a perfect word to describe the sound his column makes when it hits the water in my toilet) exploit Cub fan's loyalty and treat them like crap, and bums like Rogers, Downey and Morrissey don't have to waste the limited brain capacity they have, and then can just come up with another cheap, lazy column about how bad the Cubs are and how stupid their fans are. With a plan like this, it's no wonder those arrogant assholes at the Trib are hemorraging money. Anyway, douchebag or dildo? There is no wrong answer. Phil, you should go back to Texas so you can blow Roger Clemens some more.

2007-07-05T22:00:00.001-05:00

More Like It
The Cubs not only are winning more and closing the gap, but they're winning the games a contender needs to win, the 4-2 games and the 3-1 games. As much as the statheads like to go on about VORP, OPS and such, often it seems like the top teams are middle of the pack in a lot of the stats. Yes, stats are important, but good teams find ways to win when everything doesn't click.

2007-07-01T20:52:00.000-05:00

New quote

I've added a new quote, taken from The Godfather Part 3 (I know - sucky movie). But I thought it was appropriate for the Cubs. This is what made me think of it. A few months ago at a party, two people at the party, a man and a woman were talking near me. The woman happened to ask the man "Do you go to Cubs games at Wrigley?" He said he did. Me, being the smartass that I am, quickly seized the opportunity an asked hime "Ever wonder why?" He said the beer is good. The woman turned to me and said "I suppose you're a Sox fan?" I said, no, I'm a Cub fan, but many times I wonder why I still am. Friday, I was reminded of why, and
this picture on desipio says it all. It's why we watch, and why we go to the games. Wrigley Field is indeed a great place to watch a game, but for me, it's about 1000 times better to go to a game when they're playing well and winning, than it is when they're not. Hell, I can drink beer at home. When I spend the kind of money that the Cubs charge, I want to see a Cubs victory. I didn't see the game Friday but I saw the replay about 100 times. Games like Friday and last Monday are electric when the Cubs win a come from behind walk-off game.
It would have been much better if the Cubs had swept, of course, but they were 1 pitch away from losing the series. The most critical thing about the 2 walk off wins this week is that usually the Cubs lose those kind of games. Nice to see us win those kind. Now as Lou says, we have to keep going.

2007-06-24T01:09:00.000-05:00

Long absence, many thoughts

First time I've felt like posting in a while:

1. I heard other teams did this, and in fact I've seen it done to the Cubs a number of times, but this is the first time in quite a while I've seen a Cub team execute a squeeze plaay as well as they did against the Sox on Saturday. If they keep this up, they could start looking like a real major league team.
2. At this point, the season appears to be over. It's hard to imagine the Cubs coming from 8 1/2 back to catch Milwaukee. According to my Cubs calendar at work, they did go 44-4 in 1906 between mid-June and mid-August. Maybe history can repeat itself. They would be about 75-43 if they did that now. Who am I kidding though? They're more likely to go 24-24 than 44-4, or 20-28.
3. I am amazed at the outcry about the Barrett trade. It is funny reading some of the douchebag posts at the 4 letter website about Hendry trading low. I swear, those jerkoffs over there seem to want to trade every player that does good for tomorrow's promises, and think that they should have held on to Barrett until he started playing better. Who knows how many losses he would have caused by then? What those puds don't seem to realize is that while statistics are key to a player's performance, there are things that don't show up in statistics that you can measure a player's value by. They seem to think fundamentals are only sacrifice bunting. They are also throwing to the cutoff man, not getting caught off base on a line drive, not trying to steal 3rd with your best hitter up, executing rundown plays, and many other basic baseball plays that Barrett and many other Cub players have consistently failed at over the years. If Lou Piniella can get them to play winning baseball by yelling at them and calling them out in the media, I'm all for it. Barrett wasn't the whole reason the Cubs were a bad team, but you have to start somewhere. I liked Barrett, but I like to see the Cubs win even more.
4. I still won't watch a full game until they either get over .500, or the Cubs get into first place.
5. I won't buy a ticket to a Cub game until they play consistently good baseball.

2007-04-15T01:09:00.000-05:00

Thank you, Lou - you too, Rich Hill

I didn't get to see Friday's clunker of a game,but I did see Piniella's postgame tirade. Frankly, it's refreshing to see a manager get upset about a loss, especially the way it happened yesterday. It was tough to read the recap, and I imagine tougher to watch in person. As a Cub fan, it truly is great to see someone declare that things are going to change, and mean it. Too often, the managers became like Baker and just react like "well, what can you do?". Lou doesn't appear to be that guy though. Evidently the Cubs must have gotten the message based on today's score. Also, it sure is nice to have a pitcher not named Maddux who can pitch back to back games and complete 7 innings with pitch counts of 78 and 96 pitches. Why can't big Z do that, and why could Prior and Wood never learn how to do that? If they had, maybe they'd be pitching today instead of grabbing their shoulders in Arizona.

2007-04-07T10:08:00.000-05:00

Decent Start

It looks like so far, while there maay be a few things to be concerned about, there are also some things to be upbeat about. At 2 wins, 2 losses, the starting pitching has been good, except for Big Z's clunker on Opening Day. Especially encouraging was last night's outing by Rich Hill, who pitched 7 innings and only threw 78 pitches. Who knew that not walking batters was a good thing? Also, it looks like the hitting ought to come around in the warmer weather, based on the offense last night, in a 60 degree climate controlled stadium. The best part about this team so far, though is Lou's hands on approach to managing, like his "throw f--king strikes" advice to Ryan Dempster Wednesday night. The lazy, toothpick-chewing slob would never have done anything like that. I have a feeling if the players screw up or do stupid or lazy things, "hands on" might end up being around their throats.

2007-01-07T23:53:00.000-06:00

Ball Injuries

I noticed this story referred to on North Side baseball about Michael Barrett's season last year, and the unfortunate way that it ended for him. Several people made jokes about Carrie Muskat and how she would probably know what that injury feels like, based on how she looks. When I was reading the article, especially this portion:

The painful foul ball occurred in the fifth inning of the Cubs' game against San Francisco during pitcher Matt Cain's at-bat. Cain was the second-to-last batter in that inning, and Barrett hit for himself in the fifth before he was taken to the hospital.
"It's one of those things, as a catcher, you always have pain," Barrett said. "Not always, maybe, but occasional pain, and it happens frequently, and it'll come and go. ... [This time it] didn't go away."
He suffered an intrascrotal hematoma, and has vowed to find a cup that provides "bullet-proof" protection. Expect him to be touting a 2007 Barrett model this year.

What I thought of was the George Carlin special on HBO Friday night, which was from around 1977 at USC. The last part had his bit on the words you can't say on TV. Anyway, he talked about the word "Balls" and how Curt Gowdy could say " Johnny Bench has 2 balls on him" with no problems but he couldn't follow up with something like "You know, the Reds have had a problem this season with Ball Injuries". I was laughing my ass off watching that (now I have no ass, though since I am a white guy, I guess I never really did), but I kept thinking, "I bet Michael Barrett would not see the humor in this".

2006-11-20T18:38:00.000-06:00

I Am Without Speech

When I first heard about the Soriano signing, I heard it from my brother-in-law,who is a Sox fan, and my first reaction was "Get out- The Cubs signed Soriano?". But it is true. I still can't believe it myself. I can't remember the last time the Cubs landed a prime free-agent. Like the move or not, you can't help but be impressed. I'm guessing it's no coincidence that they make a move like this after Andy McFail is gone.
Also, it looks like the Cubs found their leadoff hitter. 2004-06, Soriano has a .354 obp in leadoff and a .928 ops from *1 spot (.368 and .956 in 2006).
It's a lot of money and a lot of years, but that's what the big boys do. The Cubs have decided to play with the big boys.
Now if they can sign Z to a long-term contract.

2006-11-15T23:29:00.000-06:00

The Rocket's Red Glare

Sine Jim Hendry appears to be spending money like there's no tomorrow (and in his position, I suppose there isn't), here's an idea he might consider if he really wants to roll the dice and go for it all in 2007: Roger Clemens. No matter what kind of an asshole he might be, he can still pitch. Also, I'm sure he would love to play for a fiery guy like Lou Piniella. Without knowing what he made last year, or what kind of offers are out there for his services, here's what I'm thinking: offer Roger a 1-year $15 million contract. If the Cubs make the playoffs, another $1 million. If they make the LCS, another mil. Then, if the Cubs win the pennant, $3 million. Finally, if they do the unthinkable and win the World Series, $5 million. Totals - 15 mil salary, 16 mil if they make the playoffs, 17 mil if they make the LCS, 20 mil if they make the WS, and 25 million if they become World Champs. Go for it, Jim

2006-11-12T15:46:00.000-06:00

Nice Start, Jim

Looks like Jim Hendry got it done with Ramirez and Wood. That means 16.75 mil FA money committed so far. The rotation has Big Z (which will be Jim's next big headache - either another 15 mil or a shrewd trade for multiple pieces of the puzzle - I'd rather he spend the money on Z), Hill (cheap $), Miller (somewhat cheap $) and either Prior (I'd 20% cut him), Guzman, Marshall, or unknown signing. Put some money aside for a good starter or 2, and another hitter or 3, Jim.

2006-11-12T15:39:00.000-06:00

Yabba Dabba Doo

According to this article, Sammy says he never juiced.

"No question about it," Sosa said Friday at his luxurious estate where he was to celebrate his 38th birthday Sunday with an elaborate party Saturday night. "I am clean, and I always have been clean. There has been a lot of speculation, but they don't have no evidence. So you take it from there. They haven't been writing a book about me doing this or doing that."

.

At one time I would have believed it. Jeff Pentland early on mentioned how big Sammy's hands were, which in his opinion meant the power potetial was there. However, when you look at how much larger he was in 1999 through 2003 compared to pre-1999, it is obvious something was up. His head alone grew several sizes. So no Sammy, there is no evidence. Congratulations on getting your system clean before you had to pee positive for steroids. Must have been the Flintstones, huh?

2006-11-09T23:04:00.000-06:00

The Offseason, So Far

While Lou Piniella was not my first choice, it does appear he has an idea of who to pick for coaches, save Larry Rothschild (though this is Larry's chance to prove it was Dusty's fault all along). From everything I've read, Gerald Perry may be what the Cubs need to improve their offense. His philosophy supposedly is to pick a zone to attack, and if it's not there, wait it out. It appears to have worked in other places, so chances are good it will work here. Not only should the Cubs walk more, they should be better at getting into the other teams bullpen earlier in the game. We know that philosophy works, we've seen other teams do it to the Cubs for years.

Since Piniella is putting an apparently good staff together, the focus turns to Jim Hendry. Well, Jim, you'd better get your fat ass in gear. All your B.S. about Aramis wanting to play here, and he still isn't signed. If you let him get away, you better have a helluva plan B, or you'll be strung up at the Convention. Also, nice job of re-signing Wade Miller. Hope it was cheap. Now you should do the same for Kerry Wood. Do that, and you'll still have a ton of money for the Japanese players you covet, as well as Carlos Lee and whoever else you have in mind. No trades, please. Lately you've been giving up too much value for mediocrity. See Juan 4-3erre.

Finally, Barry Rozner mentioned a few mid-level pitchers he thought the Cubs could sign for cheap.

This being one of the worst free-agent crops ever, maybe a team like the Cubs that has so many holes ought to focus on the midlevel free agents rather than toss a ton of money at the so-called big names who might be big busts.

Guys like Miguel Batista, Steve Trachsel, Ted Lilly and Mark Redman might not sell tickets in December, but they take the ball in April and they’re still there in September.

Randy Wolf, if fully recovered from Tommy John surgery, also would fit into that category.

The Cubs needs starts, they need innings, and they need a whole bunch of guys to do it.

I thought the same thing as him when I saw Mark Redman had filed last week, that he could help the Cubs.

2006-11-08T22:45:00.000-06:00

Screw you, Judy

It's been awhile. Frankly, I hven't been interested. Since I've last posted something, Rod Blagojevich has been re-elected governor of Illinois, soundly beating Judy Baar-Topinka. I don't think Rod's a crook, at least no more than any other governor, but at least he's a die-hard Cub fan, and we're the same age, give or take a few months. I would have never voted for Judy, because she's as bad as the others, despite what she says,but she would NEVER get my vote after she said this Sunday

Downstate, Republican governor candidate Judy Baar Topinka suggested that Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich should manage the Chicago Cubs because "they're a bunch of losers too."

Looks like you're the loser, Judy. By the way, it's OK forCub fans to make fun of the Cubs, but not outsiders. Why don't you go get that facelift you've long needed?

2006-10-16T22:36:00.000-05:00

It's official - Cubs hire the wrong guy.

Hendry hires Pinella, or is it Homer Simpson hires his dad, Abe Simpson to manage the Cubs.

While no one goes to my Cafepress shop, I noticed this shop for people who like the move, and this shop for people who don't. I know where I would shop.

2006-10-15T18:19:00.000-05:00

Prediction

I predict, and I hope I am 100% wrong, that if Joe Girardi becomes manager of the Washington Generals - I mean, Washington Nationals, that he will get them into the playoffs before Pinella does so with the Cubs - if he ever does.

2006-10-14T01:30:00.000-05:00

It is silly and kind of sickening to see the MSM all of a sudden suck up
(or suck off) Lou Pinella, now that the Yanks won't be hiring him. I saw
one item in one of the local online papers talking about his 3
championships vs. Girardi's total 78 career wins, so I started thinking "I
know he won in '90 with the Reds. When were his other 2?" and I went
through my memory of all the WS champ mgrs since the Yanks won in 1978.
Other than '90, none of them were Lou Pinella. So therefore, 2 of his 3
championships were as a player. In that case, Mr. only 78 wins can also
claim 3 championships. A few years back, another GM was faced with a
similar decision: Should I hire a manager with 2 championships (as a mgr,
which makes him Lou x 2, doesn't it?) or one with 0 (ZERO for you MSM clowns that place way too much value in that statistic) wins as a manager, but a history with this particular team. In this case, this GM picked the 0 wins guy. If you live in Chicago, you know how that
turned out for Kenny Williams.

That's what really pisses me off about this franchise. Joe Girardi is a golden opportunity to bring the right person in to be manager, and as we knew, Hendry's going to fuck it up, because he has some weird man-love thing going on for Lou Pinella. He/they fall in love with the big name manager, and don't bother to bring in better players. It just proves the Cubs don't give a fuck about their fans, unless it's convenient for them, like when they traded away Sosa and Patterson, or held onto Prior, they used that excuse. When they could do something meaningful for the long haul, forget it. Well, I personally won't believe Pinella is the right choice until I see players wearing Cub uniforms jumping on each other at the end of the World Series. And I personally doubt that will happen.

2006-10-10T23:12:00.000-05:00

Eerie... I find myself agreeing with Jay Mariotti more and more..
Jay is saying the same thing I said the other day, only in hundreds more words....

Please. Cubdom doesn't want Bochy, Lou isn't coming and, last I looked, three other major-league teams are seeking managers, a total to become four if Torre is fired. At least one of those teams, the Washington Nationals, openly covets Girardi, and so might the Yankees, who groomed Girardi as Torre's bench coach two years ago. So don't be foolish, Mr. Hendry. If Girardi fits whatever plan the Cubs are assembling and if he wants the job as badly as it appears -- is there a local TV or radio show he hasn't done in recent days? -- then execute your deed. Announce it later, if need be, but get it done.

Absolutely, Jay. By himself, Girardi won't win the Cubs a pennant - Krispy Kreme Jim still has to put the fork down and get better players - but at least Girardi will be passionate, and force the players to be better fundamentally than Baker ever did.

2006-10-07T00:43:00.000-05:00

Miguel Cabrera

Boers and Bernstein interviewed Matt Herges on their show Thursday around 5:30 pm. Herges, a reliever for the Marlins from downstate Illinois (and Todd Hollandsworth's brother-in-law), couldn't say enough nice things about Joe Girardi. He even disclosed at the end of the season, Miguel Cabrera, who had differences with Girardi in spring training because he came into camp somewhat out of shape, stood up in front of the whole team and, with tears in his eyes, thanked Joe for helping him become a better player. Friday night on WGN Sports Central, Dave Kaplan said he called Joe Borowski earlier in the day and asked him what it was like playing for manager Girardi (they were teammates in 2002). Borowski said pretty much what Herges said and also relayed the Cabrera story. Donut Jim, what are you waiting for? Your interview with Girardi should consist of 2 questions: 1) When can you start? and 2) How much would you like us to pay you?

2006-10-04T20:47:00.000-05:00

Sour On "Sweet Lou"

Memo to Jim "King Cruller" Hendry:

Jimbo, You have a most daunting task ahead of you. There have been published reports of who your short list contains. Please re-write it. It should start with Joe Girardi (proven manager who is an ex-Cub, and a catcher, who actually has World Series rings), move on to Ryne Sandberg (unproven manger, but HOF lifetime Cub who has an idea of how to play the game right), and Jody Davis (success at Peoria in 2006, ex Cub who is a catcher). As a last resort, Bob Brenly (ex-catcher, World Series ring as a manager, knows how horrid Cubs were last year and should have an idea on how to fix it). The ex-catchers would be good because they know how to handle pitchers. Sandberg would be good because they would get better at fundamental baseball - or else. What you should not do under any circumstance is hire Lou"Grandpa Munster" Pinella, who is not only older than dirt, but would probably bring back Larry Fraudschild as pitching coach. Just to make it clear, Jim, that would be a BAD idea. Cub fans across the world are scared shitless that you will bring Grandpa in and we'll never be rid of Fraudschild. Please, Jim, make the right move.

Hoping to change the blog name someday, sincerely, Doormats of the National League

2006-10-02T18:03:00.000-05:00

Why John McDonough Might Work Out

While everyone will definitely cheer the resignation of Andy MacFail, certainly, there are many reasons to dread and fear the hiring of John McDonough as the "interim" team president.
Many other blogs and websites have, quite humorously, already hit on the fact that McDnough is the "Evil Lord" of Cubs marketing. Be that as it may, I actually think this has a reason to work for the Cubs. Heres's why:
1 Within the first 5 minutes of the press conference after it was announced he would be the interim prez, he said "it is my singular goal to bring the Cubs a World Series title", which is something that McFail never said during his tenure. He would always use words like "competitive" and "deep into October", but never use the phrase "World Series title"
By that alone, it may well represent a change in attitude.
2.My daughter attended high school with McDonoughs cousin (though he is probably in his 50s and she in her 20s, in some families, that is not an uncommon age discrepancy). Anyway, his cousin and her entire family are HUGE Sox fans, so I imagine family get togethers couldn't have been much fun for John in the last year or so. I know from my family, last Thanksgiving, Christmas, Memorial Day, etc, really sucked when we got together with some of the Sox fans in our family. John is definitely in position to chane that. Hopefully, he hs full
Trib financial backing to accomplish that.
3. He may be the "Evil Lord" of marketing, but at least he's good at his job. Too few people involved with the Cubs have been lately.

This could all be false hope. The Trib might handcuff him moneywise. He might be in over his head. He's not a baseball guy. However, the baseball people haven;t done too good lately. Maybe he'll have the passion to win. I guess we'll find out soon enough.

2006-10-01T16:58:00.000-05:00

Let Me Be One Of The First...

to announce that Andy McFail, aka Moe has resigned as Cubs president. Feel out on a plank, Jim Hendry?

2006-09-28T23:07:00.000-05:00

Too Lttle Too Late

Wasn't that an exciting finish last night? The Cubs, down 2-1 in the bottom of the 9th, got a leadoff homer from Fast Freddie"Boom Boom" Bynum, and then a clutch walkoff single by Hank White, to lift the Cubs to a thrilling comeback 3-2 win over Milwaukee, keeping pace with the Cards, Stros, and Reds for the NL Central title.....
Oh wait, that's right. The Cubs have been out of it since May, so that was merely a meaningless win in the 9th inning by one team that hasn't cared for months over a team that doesn't care by now either. Ho Hum. Well, at least on the desipio message boards, Well, at least on the desipio message boards, someone pointed out that someone seated behind the plate held up a "Hendry Sucks" sign during the 9th inning rally. That had to be worth a few laughs. Kudos to the sign guy.
Andy Dolan at Desipio did a good job wrapping up this putridness, and the fact that we all will be back for more abuse next year. We were talking at home today about how the Cubs will sign overpaid lousy for next year. Personally, I keep coming back for the same reason I buy the same lotto numbers 3 times a week - because if I stop, they'll come up. I I stop rooting for the Cubs, they'll win.

2006-09-28T22:53:00.000-05:00

Jason, Freddie & the Stros

Remember all those Friday the 13th movies, the Freddie Krueger movies, or the Scream series? You know what I'm talking about. The horror movie where the killer/slasher character gets killed about 10 different times, 10 different ways, and yet, at the end of the movie, he's still alive. Stabbed, clubbed, shot, anvil dropped on his head, doesnt matter, he survives them all? Well, the Houston Astros are the baseball equivalent of that. In 2004, they were 7 out in late August until they dusted the Cubs 3 out of 4 in Chicago and went on to win the Wild Card. Last year, they were like 15-30 in May and recovered to again win the Wild Card, and then the NL pennant, losing to the Sux in the Series. This year, they are poised to complete their most remarkable comeback of all. After being 8 1/2 games out 9 games ago, they are now 1/2 game out of first from the Cardinals, who while Houston has been 9-0, they have gone 1-8. Genius LaRussa must be out of his mind by now. As much as I hate to root for them, Go Houston!

2006-09-24T15:29:00.000-05:00

He Better Get His Hiking Gear Ready

I sure hope Mark Prior doesn't get a nosebleed from the climb.

Mark Prior, who has been sidelined with tendinitis in his right shoulder, threw again on Sunday, and hopes to throw off a mound before the season ends. Prior will not appear in a game again this year

I'd cut his salary 20%, without a doubt, if it were up to me. That should get his attention.

2006-09-21T23:00:00.000-05:00

Did I Start My Offseason Early?

No, I just haven't felt like writing anything. Time to catch up somewhat.
First item, as a parent, I know that when your child is hurting or ill, you wish it was you instead, so your child won't be suffering. I imagine Derrek Lee probably feels that way right now. Having seen him on TV (interviews and ESPN's Teammates (him and Dempster)), and having met him at the Equinox fitness club in my building in April (before the broken wrist), I have to say he seems like a really down to earth, nice guy. It truly is awful what his daughter is going through right now, and our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family right now, Derrek. Also, he may not have been the best pitcher, but our thoughts and prayers are with Glendon Rusch for his ordeal.

Now, here's Ask Paul. I espeially liked this one:

"Baker was told most laptops have spellcheck programs. 'Spellcheck?' he replied. 'There ain't no 'ballcheck' out there.'" Then what's Carlos Zambrano doing after every pitch? --Alan Snider, DeKalb, Ill.

Touché, Alan.

Finally, for now, Baker said some other stupid things this week but I can't find any of them. I guess on Comcast Stupid Trib Show with Dan Jiggles, Baker said he wouldn't have done anything different the last 4 years. Go figure.

2006-09-17T21:47:00.000-05:00

The World According To Baker

Dusty cries on Paul Sullivan's shoulder:

When he first was put on the firing line on the 4th of July in Houston, when Hendry said he would evaluate Baker and his coaching staff over the All-Star break, Baker made reference to what he calls "the black box of blame."
To some, Baker was implying the reason for the wreckage of 2006 eventually would be revealed after his departure, whether it was pilot error or mechanical failure, i.e., the makeup of the team.
Either way, Baker believes Chicago sports fans tend to blame the leaders when things go bad, rather than the athletes.
"They don't criticize the players as much as they criticize management and the manager, from what I've seen," he said. "It has to fall on somebody."

You really have to love how Baker won't ever admit he did anything wrong.

Baker plans to write a book someday about his career in baseball. The Cub years, he said, will merit only a chapter.

"I have a lot of chapters on a lot of stuff," he said. "I've always thought about it. Someday I'll write my memoirs, maybe go up to a mountain someplace.

"There has been some stuff that has happened here, some instances and occurrences where the truth was told but nobody really believed what I was saying on a few things. I've tried to be as honest as I can on every subject that has come up. There have been a few times when you took the fall for it, so you just go on, no problem."

What is his legacy?

In his four years in Chicago, Baker has seen dozens of players come and go. With Wood and Prior on the disabled list, Carlos Zambrano is the only player remaining from his first spring training in 2003.

Baker undeniably changed the Cubs' culture almost overnight, helping the franchise ditch its lovable losers image and ushering in a cocky, confident attitude during the sweet summer of 2003.

But as expectations rose and lofty goals went unmet, criticism grew, turning Baker into a victim of his own success. After watching the postseason collapse from a 3-1 lead over Florida in the 2003 National League Championship Series, Baker presided over the final-week implosion in '04 that one Cubs pitcher simply refers to as "the meltdown," followed by two injury-plagued, underachieving seasons.

If this truly is Baker's last dance here, what will be his legacy on the North Side?

The dreamlike season of '03? Game 6? Soap operas involving Baker vs. Sammy Sosa, Baker vs. Tony La Russa or Baker vs. Steve Stone? The injuries? The walks? Neifi Perez?

Baker isn't saying.

"I'll tell you when that happens," Baker said. "I haven't thought about it, really."

No matter what happens, Baker will go down as the only Cubs manager since 1908 to win a postseason series, and one of only two managers since 1945 to bring the Cubs within one game of a World Series (Jim Frey was the other, in 1984).

"That was soon forgotten, very soon fogotten," Baker said. "That was my goal when I got here, for us to win the World Series. That's always my goal.

"Sometimes things are in your control, and sometimes, as much as you hate to say it, things are out of your control. You learn to deal with the things you can control. It doesn't make it any easier. It doesn't make life very pleasant, actually.

"But on the other hand, life is still good. Life is real good."

Well, Dusty, you were paid $15 million to be here the last 4 years. You got your way on just about everything - from getting rid of Sammy, Farns, and others to being left alone by most of the media. You're just mad about the ones who see you as the fraud you are. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out, and don't count on too many book sales in Chicago, especially if you write like you manage.

2006-09-16T01:08:00.000-05:00

In Defense(?) Of Ron Ce

By any standards, Ronny Cedeno has had a terrible year. Going by memory, I think he started off hitting OK, then it just seemed to pretty much go south for him. Apparently, much of his defensive skills went with his hitting, as he seems to make many more fielding and throwing errors than he used to. However, perhaps if he had a more nurturing manager than Dusty "The Career Killer" Baker, and had coaches that could, you know, coach, he might have had a better chance of working through his struggles. Indeed, it sure seems, to me at least, that Dusty is all too willing to throw Cedeno under the bus, as he has made many more comments about Cedeno's mistakes than those of players who should know better, such as "Fast" Freddie Bynum, Jacque "Itchy" Jones, and Juan "4-3"erre. If you believe Baker, Ronny's struggles are the primary reason the Cubs have resumed their expected position as Doormats of the National League. Of course, what organization other than the Cubs would have spent the previous offseason going on and on and on and on about how Cedeno is playing second in Venezuela winter league, only to have it turn out that his "playing second" amounted to not much more than taking grounders there before games, as there is no record of him playing there in any games. Then, when Dunkin Hendry trades Maddux for a 4.5 million no-hit shortstop and has Baker move Ron Ce to second, only to have the new shortstop suffer the inevitable injury as a Cub (is that how Cub players earn their stripes - by going on the DL?), Ron Ce has to go back to short, thereby totally screwing the plan to get him acclimated to second. No wonder the poor guy is so screwed up - who wouldn't be getting jerked around like that? For Ronny's sake, he needs to get away from Baker. For the Cubs sake, that will be accomplished by Baker and the Cubs parting ways on October 2nd. For Cub fans sake, the Cubs won't decide to make one of their cockamamie decisions to trade Cedeno because life as a Cub is too tough, because he seems to have talent. He did good in limited playing time in 2005. I don't see why with a better manager and coaching staff, he can't be good again.

2006-09-14T18:03:00.000-05:00

Kingmakers

Who knew the Cubs would play a prominent role in the postseason picture? If youl ook at the American League Central before today's games get started, these are the standings:

Detroit 87-59 ....
Minnesota 85-60 1.5
White Sox 84-62 3

Detroit and Minnesota went 3-0 against the Cubs, while the crosstown team went 4-2 in 6 games. Without the games vs. the Cubs, the standings are:

Detroit 84-59 ......
Minnesota 82-60 1.5
White Sox 80-60 2.5

If the teams finish this way, the Sox will be able to complain they had too many games vs. the Cubs. Or, they can be mad that they didn't play better against them. Not too many teams can say that this year - maybe the Dodgers or Cardinals I suppose.

2006-09-13T22:31:00.000-05:00

Thank you, Anthony Casaccio, Wherever You Are...

For being the first customer (not named me) to purchase one of my T-shirts from CafePress, almost a month ago. I really need to check my sales reports more often. I just hope you like it enough not to return it.

2006-09-13T22:03:00.000-05:00

L, W, W, L - what else is new? Oh, the 2 W's

But it looks like things are back to normal tonight. Yesterday, they actually played like major leaguers, and came back from 7 runs down to win against the Dodgers. Too often this year, it's been them giving away 7 run leads.
Anyway, I caught the very end of Sunday's game on the car radio. I thought it interesting that for the game totals at the end of the game, the music intro was Eric Clapton's Cocaine. I'm not sure if 'GN radio was suggesting that for anyone stupid enough to be a Cub fan (like me).
Another thing about the radio broadcasts, where the hell did Old Style find these "comedian and Cub fans"? It would be a good commercial if any of them were actually funny. How about if the comedian said something like "It's a good thing Cub fans don't come to the game armed. After a few Old Styles, there'd be a massacre on the field to match the one on the scoreboard". Or maybe "Cub fans like getting smashed on Old Style. After all, it's cheaper than heroin or cocaine, and not quite as addictive".

2006-09-09T22:54:00.000-05:00

That Wacky Baker......

Is at it again:

Aches and pains: Shortstop Cesar Izturis is close to being activated from the disabled list. Izturis, sidelined with a strained hamstring, could be back in the lineup on Monday or Tuesday.

When he does return, who plays second -- Ryan Theriot or Ronny Cedeno?

"We'll see," manager Dusty Baker said. "Theriot is playing pretty good. We're in the producing business. We'll just have to deal with that when it gets here."

3-17 in the last 20 is producing?

Guzman's problem on Friday was too many fastballs down the middle of the plate. That's too tempting for big-league hitters.

"The solution is, we have to continue to work with our young pitchers and continue to work with them on their control and keeping the ball down and proper mechanics to make a quality pitch," Baker said. "It's on-the-job training for a lot of these guys, and we have to keep training them."

When do you think you and Fraudschild will start, Dusty?

The really shameful thing is that Muskrat and some of the others eat this garbage up like raccoons in a trash dempster... I mean trash dumpster.

2006-09-09T00:12:00.000-05:00

More "Deep" Thoughts:

Which Notre Dame football game this year will Jeff Samardjza get driven into the turf right shoulder first, causing a seperation?

If you were Joe Girardi, would you want to be the next manager of this franchise?

Would anyone?

How is it that Dusty Baker realizes that his pitchers are having problems because of walks, but for his hitters they just "clog" up the bases?

Don't they clog the bases for the other team?

Or is it because his pitchers are "all young"

Is it OK when his veterans walk guys for some reason?

Is it any conicidence that Jim Morris, the player that the movie The Rookie was about, came to the big leagues with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, managed by Larry Fraudschild, and retired less than 2 years because of his shoulder?

Finally, why aren't any of you shopping at my Cafepress store? I think my slogans are funny. Anyone else?

Anyone?

Is this mike on? Hello?

2006-09-07T12:29:00.000-05:00

Piggybacking

Bruce Miles column from today with a few of his thoughts and a few of my own:

•Does Hendry realize that he needs to go out and get not one but two proven starting pitchers this coming off-season?

•Does he also realize that he must think of Kerry Wood (if he comes back) and Mark Prior as bonus items and not givens for next year?

•Do the Cubs now realize that having “athletic” guys is nice and all if you’re putting together a track-and-field team, but what they really need are hitters to hit in a hitter’s park?

•What part of “on-base percentage” will the Cubs begin to understand first?

•Ditto for “slugging percentage?”

•Do the Cubs now realize that if you get enough runners on base via hits and walks (yes, walks), you’ll score a lot of runs and win ballgames?

•Have the Cubs finally figured out why Derrek Lee had “only” 107 RBI last year, despite winning the National League batting title at .335 and hitting 46 home runs?

•Was it because they didn’t have enough on-base-percentage guys on base for him?

If the Cubs pitchers faced Cub hitters, what would be the outcome?

Would the pitchers get the hitters out on 9 or less pitches per inning?

Would the hitters take the pitchers pitches that aren't anywhere close to the plate?

Could the Lemont, IL Little League show them proper fundamentals?

How about the corporate types working out at Wrigley before games?

Could they find some Sr VP of a oompany with a better arm than Jok Jones?

If Baker gets fired and goes home, will he find some 18 year old kid to be Darren because he's got that experience,dude?

2006-09-06T22:16:00.000-05:00

Two balls, one beat reporter

Of all the Cub beat reporters, Bruce Miles of the Daily Herald is the only one with the balls to call Dusty out consistently on his inconsistencies. Witness his story of yesterday's game First there was mention of how the Cubs don't take extra practice before the game to cover things like fundamentals:

The Pittsburgh Pirates did all they could to climb out of last place Tuesday.

Hours before their game against the Cubs, the Pirates commandeered Wrigley Field to take extra batting, infield and outfield practice, something the home team has done precious little of this season.

Then he points out how Baker defends Juan 4-3erre when he does the same thing that Ryan Theriot did last week to incur Baker's ire:

The Cubs came back to tie it with a run in the third, 2 in the fourth and 1 in the fifth. They had a chance to go ahead in the eighth when Juan Pierre singled with one out and stole second base. But Pierre got himself thrown out trying to steal third, and the Cubs came up empty.

Baker carried on for two days criticizing rookie Ryan Theriot about a similar play Aug. 22. However, he seemed to defend the veteran Pierre.

“Well, I mean, Juan is on his own,” Baker offered. “He has a pretty good idea when to run. He didn’t get a real good jump on that ball. On that one he usually gets an outstanding jump. Just a tough night.”

See Dusty, it's your inconsistently unfair handling of your players, not your race, that make most of us hate you.
Finally, Bruce mentions this about Felix Pie:

Pie unhappy: Farm director Oneri Fleita said Tuesday that outfield prospect Felix Pie is unhappy about not being called up from Class AAA Iowa in September.

“He was probably the only guy who wasn’t called up,” Fleita said. “But he’s a good kid and will turn it into a positive, which is what you would expect.

“I couldn’t ask anything more from him the last three or four weeks. And I felt like he’s been a catalyst. He had 15 home runs and 5 this last month when it counted. He wasn’t going to play a lot (with the Cubs). I want to see him get his head together, get some time off and have a great winter.”

Pie will head to Arizona to work with former Cubs center fielder Bob Dernier to work on his baserunning, bunting and the “finer points of the game,” Fleita added. From there, Pie will go to winter ball and play for Von Joshua, the Cubs’ hitting coach at Iowa.

This is actually the best thing for Pie and the Cubs. The Cubs can start his ML service time next season, probably a few weeks into the season, and Pie will stay out of harms' way as far as Baker and the coaching staff ruining him.

All in all, thanks, Bruce, for not being afraid to tell it like it is!

2006-09-05T23:52:00.000-05:00

Come From Ahead

After tonight's 6-5 loss to Pittsburgh, meet your last place Chicago Cubs. It took them most of the season, but they undercame a 7 or 8 game lead to take over last from Pittsburgh. It was kind of funny that Baker got a little pissed at Salomon Torres for celebrating the end of the game last night. If I were Torres, I would have done the macarena after tonight's game.

After this terrible season, it's good to see the Cubs regain their rightful place as Doormats of the National League

2006-09-04T21:50:00.000-05:00

Out Of His Element

This particular post has nothing to do with the Cubs, which may make it more readable. For those of us who work for corporations, there is that idiotic coporate mentality forced on us by the scumbags that generally make up Senior Corporate Management that want us to step out of our element and "challenge" ourselves to do things we would never think to do otherwise. When I worked at Sears in the late '80's, senior management had a hard on for something called Act II, which part of the "training" was having managers go to a corporate retreat and do completely retarded stuff like have everyone tell some secret about themselves,rappel down a wall, or ,and this is the best one, climb up a pole, stand on a round disc at the top, and jump off into a net. Fortunately, the rank and file managment had more sense than senior management did, and most of us never had to to that shit. It's just so typical of the bloodthirsty, psychotic assholes that run companies to cut benefits, freeze or limit raises, and then encourage their "valued associates" to "expand their horizons" and do "exercises" to "prepare them for change", which is just another way of "cutting our throats". Anyway, if your company's management wants you to do something "outside your normal routine", keep this in mind. The Crocodile Hunter was killed doing something outside of his area of expertise, which is crocodiles.

2006-09-03T19:02:00.000-05:00

Which Is Worse, The Team Or The Paper? It's A Toss-Up Right Now

After reading the garbage from Gramps Verdi yesterday, then there's this total piece of shit from Rick Morrissey today , with these dingleberries strewn in:

You would think Baker had been the captain of the ExxonValdez instead of the manager of a foundering, no-talent team.

The same no-talent team that this clown picked to finish first this year.

To say the public anger toward him is disproportionate to his perceived sins would be to say an elephant is slightly larger than a flea.The volume on the criticism is so high now, the attacks so personal that you wonder what the guy has done to possibly bring this on. And if you don't jump on board the Hate Train, there's something not quite right about you. You're certainly not a tough guy. Tough guys chew up people like Baker and spit them out.

His "perceived" sins are many. He's a stubborn, idiotic manager who never understood the concept of putting your guys who are best at getting on base by any means,at the top of the lineup in order that they come up to the plate more than the guys like Neifi, who never met a pitch he didn't like to swing at, who gave guys like Neifi, Jose Macias, and Freddie Bynum WAY more at bats then they deserved, and who was scared to death to give a young guy a chance, favoring giving playing time to known mediocrities. And that doesn't even count how he's decimated the young pitching stars.

If-when—general manager Jim Hendry lets Baker go, it will be a mercy killing. Baker should thank him. He deserves better than he has gotten, from his players and from fans. He deserves his dignity.Could the majority be right and we in the minority be wrong? Of course. There's room for that, at least on this end. But the other side doesn't want to hear a defense of Baker.

There is none.

It doesn't want to hear about a team that has been decimated by injuries. It doesn't want to hear that Hendry's failure to acquire starting pitchers is the true reason this franchise has stumbled the past two seasons. It doesn't want to hear about the misguided decision to give closer Ryan Dempster a three-year, $15.5million contract extension last fall.

They have been, in part Baker's doing, in part bad luck. It seems like other teams are able to battle through injuries where the Cubs just fell flat on their face. I say that's on the manager. Hendry did indeed blow it when his backup plan to Prior and Wood was Rusch and Jerome Williams, and most fans will acknowlege that. Since Dempster saved 33 of 35 last year, at the time it didn't seem like such a gamble. I don't know whether Dempster's free fall was from lak of consistency or lack of consistent opportunities, but it has been brutal. Still, when Dumpster sucked, Baker had other options. Where the lineup was concerned, Baker blew it. When the rotation floundered, Baker and his staff didn't meet the challenge. That's why,Rick, the Cubs need to let Baker go. That's why, Rick, your column is horseshit. Finally, your columns, Verdi's, and most of the other so-called columists and jounalists are why the Trib is hemorraging money. I ould pull better columns out of my ass than you guys could.

2006-09-03T15:32:00.000-05:00

Hans Moellmann

When I read this about Michael Barrett, I thought of The Simpsons Man Getting Hit By Football where Hans Moellman gets hit in the groin with a football and says "Oh, my groin" and just falls over in pain. Anytime a medical term has any part of the word "scrotal" in it, you know it can't be good. I also thought of the scene in "Derailed" with Clive Owen and the guy shaking him down. If you saw the movie, you know what I'm talking about. If not, go to this site and buy it,. it's an excellent thriller that co-stars Jennifer Anniston. Anyway, my best wishes to Mike for a speedy recovery. To say that's gotta hurt is an understatement.

2006-09-02T22:42:00.000-05:00

Senility Sets In:

Old Goat Bob Verdi, who should just shut up and retire, except that he's one of those old fogey sports columnists who everyone kisses his ass because he's old and senile, writes this piece of shit for Sunday's paper. First there's this opening line:

It's always something with the Cubs and their zany fans. Now the fear is that, should Joe Girardi become available to manage here next year, he might be too hot to handle.

You senile old goat, as a Cub fan, I don't care if he personally tells Dennis Fitzsimmons to go fuck himself. I believe he would be the perfect man to manage the Cubs.
Then later on, there's this:

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. This franchise has not won a World Series in 98 years … and you're worried Girardi may be impatient? The Cubs have been polite for a century … and you're concerned Girardi is overly aggressive? You want a manager or a maitre d'? Would you trade etiquette for a pennant?

I don't know who this dumbass is speaking for. I think most Cubs fans could give 2 shits about Girardi's temperment. We can spot a winner a mile away, since that's usually the only way we can see one. The only place I have ever seen anyone question whether Girardi would be the right manager for the Cubs is in the mainstream media reports that state that the Cubs management is concerned about hiring Girardi. I don't think there is a Cub fan that would question hiring him for being impatient and too aggressive. They may have other doubts, but not for those reasons. I myself said months ago,
in a blog I started and quit on months ago (not unlike how our Cubs played in 2006), that Girardi should be manager and not Baker.

2006-08-31T21:45:00.000-05:00

Closing Fast

Back about two months ago, I exchanged emails with Chuck from Ivy Chat about how to actually compel people to read my blog. Chuck was very helpful with his reply (I still don't have many - or any readers - but that's my own fault since I haven't been able to do too much of what he suggested yet), and he was nice enough to link me to his page and give me an intro on July 12:

Timely Newcomer

One James Hall has started a new Cubs blog called Doormats of the National League. While this title goes more appropriately to the Pirates, we'll give him a gimme on this. He does give homage to the greatest Cubs song ever written.

Welcome, Jim. If you can start your venture now with the Cubs as bad as they are and interest in the team waning...

Man, you're nuts.

After the sweep by the Pirates this week, the Cubs are only 1.5 games away from regaining their rightful title. See Chuck, I knew I picked the right title all along. However, I'm sure my wife would still agree with you.

2006-08-29T00:00:00.000-05:00

Race Baiting Part 2

One thing I have always liked about Andy Dolan's Desipio web site is whenever he links to a Jay Mariotti column he labels the link as"Mariotti puts down the doughnut to". Well, surprisingly,to borrow Dolan's phrase and alter it slightly, Jay Mariotti lets Homer Simpson, Chief Wiggum and Jim Hendry steal the last 3 doughnuts in order that he write what may be his best column ever, or at least his best Cub column. I, along with many others, normally don't like Jay Mariotti, but I have to admit he was right on the mark today. Jay hits the mark by calling Dusty Baker out on his use of racism as his excuse for failure as the Cubs manager, and reminds everyone about how Baker has simply been incompetent. I highlighted this part of the article in particular:

But only Dusty opens his mailbag and reads it, perhaps because he can't look in the mirror and acknowledge he has failed. I don't condone the horrible letters, of course, yet I must ask why Baker is perpetuating the same story.

The hardest task for a public figure is to embrace the ordinary world and ignore the random crackpot. Baker hasn't been able to do that, probably because he wasn't prepared for Cubbie angst after a long, warm relationship with San Francisco fans and media. I was subjected to national attention after Ozzie Guillen, the White Sox manager, referred to me as ''a [bleeping] fag'' in late June. My mailbag, so to speak, was a hodgepodge of reaction. There was a fair share of hatred, mostly from Sox fans who defended their maligned manager and weren't sophisticated enough to grasp what Guillen had done wrong. A handful of goofs stooped low and fired homophobic and ethnic slurs. But refreshingly, I found the majority of non-Sox fans to be focusing on Guillen's ignorance -- and questioning why some members of the Chicago media would defend him. If I shared Baker's mind-set, I'd be dwelling on the homophobic slurs. Instead, I'm pleased by the sizable numbers of intelligent people who saw the episode for what it was.

Just as the goofs don't reflect the big picture in the Guillen flap, a few wicked letters don't represent a bigger problem of racism in Cubdom"

"

Good work, Jay Mariotti. Good work, Jay.

2006-08-28T23:50:00.000-05:00

Race-Baiting Part 1

I noticed that in the Sunday Sun-Times, Carol Sleazebag, I mean Carol Slezakk, wrote what was probably the second or third article this week in implying that Cub fans were racist, quoting Dusty Baker, Don Baylor, and several African American players about racist mail and phone calls they received. It's interesting that they talk about the bad times, but they never mention all the times the stadium is full of fans wildly cheering when they do well. I wish these idiots would just realize that if they ever actually won a World Series, they will be the revered forever in Chicago. From time to time I look at several Cub message boards, not once have I ever seen any reference referred to Baker,Baylor, or any African American player negatively due to race. raise. I have however, seen more than a few messages posted questioning the masculinity of certain players, who in most cases, were Caucasian. Would that be a form of reverse racial discrimination, or perhaps sexual discrimination? Maybe Carol can write her next column about that, since her columns seem to be centered around either trashing the Cubs, glorifying the White Sox (OK, the first 2 things are easy marks lately, but she has a track record in this regard), or very shrillly griping about how women athletes are getting screwed over. I would think she should be offended about some of the terms used to describe Mark Prior. I have my own opinion of her, but decorum stops me from writing it.

2006-08-25T22:53:00.000-05:00

Hoo-ray For Hollywood?

I picked up the National Enquirer issue dated September 4 today at the Jewel. Inside, in the Mike Walker All The Gossip column was an item that Bill Murray needs $240 million to buy the Cubs, so he's pitching the idea to Jim Belushi, Dennis Franz and William Petersen to join in. I'm not sure where Walker got the $240 million figure since that seems low. Unless, Murray already has about $240 million (or knows investors that would have that kind of money) and the $240 he needs would bring his offer to close to $500 million, which would seem to be closer to what the Cubs would be asking for in a sale. For all we know, if this item is to be believed (and surprisingly, Walker is right more often than not... just ask him), maybe Murray tapped someone like Michael Jordan, who in the past has been known to be somewhat of a Cub fan. Anyway, no link, since I couldn't find it on their website. But, if you are interested, you can find it at your checkout stand. Anyone has to be better than the Trib.

2006-08-24T20:39:00.000-05:00

Paging Dr. Howard! Dr. Fine! Dr. Howard!

Chuck over at Ivy Chat made me remember that the Cubs doctor diagnosed Aaron Rowand'sbroken ankle as a sprain. His comment:

"Come to the Cubs, make some money for a few years, and have mis-diagnosed injuries cost you $70 million.

Clean this house"

If they do decide to replace their medical staff, I know just the guys for the job:

2006-08-24T20:28:00.000-05:00

Fearless Leader
Interesting item from the Daily Herald

"Wag the dog: The Cubs' baseball staff long have maintained that more night
games at Wrigley Field would enable the players to get more pregame work in
on fundamentals.

But for the third straight afternoon, the Cubs held a fan clinic on the
field. It didn't end until about 3:30 p.m.

Dusty Baker gave a sly and knowing smile when asked if these frequent
clinics impede the work of the team. But he didn't want to get into an
interdepartmental squabble.

"Well, I'm not in charge of that department," Baker said"

It sure is nice to see what you get for your $14 million. You get a manager who won't call out veterans for rookie mistakes (but he sure has no problem calling out rookies for them). He won't get off his seat to argue most umpire calls. He apparently doesn't watch most of his own team's games, at least at home, since he admitted he didn't see the Bartman interference play, he has admitted he hasn't seen plays at the plate, he hasn't seen close plays at other bases, and now, apparently, he won't stand up to the marketing department when doing so would benefit the way his team plays. How exactly does he earn that paycheck, and where do I get a job like that where I don't have to do anything?

2006-08-23T20:47:00.000-05:00

Buddy, Can You Spare A Dime?

Evidently,the Cubs are claiming poverty in their plans to build the parking garage which was key to their getting approval for adding the bleacher expansion. If they have too much trouble finding the money, there are a few homeless guys near where I work who are good at fundraising - like the guy on Monroe who sits there every day and says "Spare some shainge - looove" to everyone. Maybe they could start a "homeless for Cubs" network.

2006-08-23T20:30:00.000-05:00

Dusty-isms

You have to wonder if Dusty Baker purposely says dumb sounding things, or is he just that clueless about how people like me have fun pulling quotes out of context.

"... manager Dusty Baker said. "I don't know what the heck is going on.""

Then, of course, Ryan Theriot provided Dusty with another chance to bag on rookies:

"Monday it was shortstop Ronny Cedeno's ill-advised throw to the plate, which allowed two runs to score. Tuesday, rookie Ryan Theriot attempted to steal third with Aramis Ramirez at the plate and two outs in the seventh, with the Cubs trailing by three runs."That shocked us all," Baker said. "That wasn't a good play."
Theriot was easily gunned down, ending the inning. "

This is why fans are bugged by Dusty. When Theriot does that it's a "young, rookie mistake", but when Neifi Perez ended another loss with a bunt attempt, Baker called it "an agressive play". It's this obvious double standard that pisses fans off about Baker.

2006-08-20T21:22:00.000-05:00

Misunderstood

In 1998, the Cubs were having the best season they had in quite some time. Between Kerry Wood's 20 strikeout game, Sammy Sosa's 66 home run season, the 3 game sweep of the White Sox, Brant Brown's streak of Friday walk off home runs, and other exciting games, it was becoming fun to be a Cub fan again. Unfortunately, their pitching faded a bit, and they ended up in a dogfight with the Mets and Giants for the wildcard spot. It came down to the final day of the season. The Mets lost to Atlanta early and were eliminated. The Cubs were locked in an extra inning duel with the Astros who long before had clinched the Central, but were trying their hardest to keep the Cubs out, for the integrity of the game. Finally, in the 12th or 14th inning, something like that, Houston scored the winning run. About 1 minute later, the Giants- Rockies game ended with a walk off homerun. So, if you had the sense to immediately turn on ESPN (or like me, check the AOL scoreboard online), you saw/knew that Neifi Perez was the hero of the moment in Chicago, since his walkoff homer would force a 1 game playoff in Chicago the next night. In what can only be described as a surreal atmosphere, the Cubs won 5-3 and clinched the wildcard spot. A lot of people have disparaged the Cubs '98 season, attributing it to luck, multiple players having career years, etc., but it was still fun. And truthfully, Neify can be credited with "saving the season", while in a Rockies uniform. In 2004, when the Cubs traded for Nomar, after being with the team, he reinjured some leg part. In late August/early September, the Cubs signed Neifi, and he played spectacularly for a week or 2 to cover the gap until Nomar came back. Had they not choked in the last week of the season, the Cubs would have made the playoffs, and Neifi would have "saved" 2004. The Cubs signed him for 2005, and he subbed for Nomar when he tore his groin in April. He started out good, but fell into his career pattern of not walking and too often having 2 or 3 pitch at bats. Hendry re-signed him for 2006, for way too much money for a part time player,and gave him credit for "saving" 2005, which is just plain stupid. Neifi played 2006 the same as 2005 - decent glove, no patience at the plate, lousy OBP/OPS. Dusty compounded the mistakes in 2005 and 06 by overusing Neifi. Today, Hendry rectified the mistake by trading him to Detroit, who needs a backup infielder in the worst way - and they are getting exactly that. Still, give Neifi credit for 1998 and (almost) 2004. He should have been a hero in Chicago, but Dusty favored and overused him to the point where Cub fans reviled him. All I can say now is good luck in Detroit, Neifi. Help the Tigers win the AL Central title.

2006-08-17T20:03:00.000-05:00

By The Way......

I wrote this last week

Oh we do, do we? Two weeks from now, this is probably the headline - Prior Shut Down For Rest Of Year, Career In Doubt.

Not that it makes me some kind of Nostradamus, but I was at least half right. Though, I'm sure there were 10,000,000 who figured out the same thing. It is nice to know Prior wants to pitch in the AFL this fall. Way to earn the big bucks Mark.

2006-08-17T19:41:00.000-05:00

Phil Rogers Is Just Stupid

I knew someone was going to start this; I'm not really surprised it was Phil:

"It's enough to make you wonder—and I've wondered before—whether getting rid of the well-credentialed Baker would be a step in the right direction. A new manager for 2007 won't fix the organization's greatest institutional failing, which is a lack of stability."

No Phil, you dillhole, they've had the same team president since 1995. There's your stability

"But it indeed does appear that the Cubs will get their fifth new manager since Don Baylor left in 2002 and 22nd (including fill-ins) since Leo Durocher had the job from 1966-72."

How did the Durocher era work out for the Cubs, Phil?

"On Wednesday, I asked general manager Jim Hendry if the Cubs' ability to grind for 5 hours 36 minutes in pursuit of a victory that didn't really help them reflected on their manager.Hendry never mentioned Baker in his reply, praising the mix of veterans and motivated youngsters, "a very good clubhouse" and the professional nature of the players. "

Salary drive?

"The closest thing to an allusion to Baker came when Hendry referenced the 18-40 stretch with Derrek Lee on the disabled list."Before Derrek went down [April 19], it was a fun team to watch," Hendry said. "We had a bad stretch where we didn't do anything particularly well for 40 to 50 games."

And who gets blamed for that? Baker seems certain to be the one who loses his job over it.At times the Cubs have seemed disorganized and poorly motivated."

As he should, since it's up to the manager to keep the team together through adversity.

"But they are refusing to fall apart completely, which usually happens when a supposed lame duck is left in the dugout. Baker has led them to an 18-14 record since the All-Star break, despite the patchwork rotation that has had rookies make 16 of those starts. Ryan O'Malley got the 1-0 victory Wednesday in his big-league debut"

Again, these players want to play somewhere next year, whether here or elsewhere. It is in their best interest to put up the best numbers they can.

I noticed all the bylines for the Astros series were by Rogers instead of Paul Sullivan. Sullivan might be a little annoying at times, but at least he doesn't have the Texas bias that Rogers has. It's too bad that the Trib didn't do to Rogers what the Sun Times did to Mike Kiley, then he could have just stayed in Houston and done what he is probably best qualified for, which is judging Texas barbecues (? - I just figure Texas and barbecue go together).

The worst part is if WGN Radio Cub mascot Dave Kaplan had Rogers on tonight, and I didn't bother listening if he was), he'll kiss Rogers' ass and tell him "Phil, you're our guy". Maybe GN can dump him so he is free to kiss Rogers' and Bobby Knight's asses all he wants,while Rogers' kisses Baker's.

2006-08-16T22:23:00.000-05:00

The Rocket Can Dish It Out, But He Can't Take It/Mateo For Carlos Jr. Role

Props to rookie Juan Mateo for doing what the useless veteran Shawn Estes could not do when he tried a few years ago, which is retaliate against Roger Clemens when he was up at bat. After Clemens hit Itchy Jones in the first, Itchy came back his next at-bat and belted a three-run homer. Then when Clemens came up in that the 5th, Mateo hit Roger in the arm. In the 6th, Baker pinch-hit for him with Ryan Theriot, so all Clemens could do was retaliate against Theriot.
Give Baker credit for the line of the day:

"Roger used to be … he threw one behind Jacque early. Roger used to be better at hitting the target.”"

2006-08-16T22:10:00.000-05:00

Texas Baseball Massacre (done by us, for a change)

Certainly, I understand the ramifications of the Cubs winning unnecessary games and what it might mean as far as Dusty Baker returning, and that I know that's a bad thing. But, I have to admit this three-game series with Houston certainly was fun to watch or read about. I checked on Tuesday night's game on and off until right before midnight when it was it about the 14th or 15th inning and figured, ah the hell with it, they'll probably lose, and went to bed. I did some reading, and when I went to putthebook by my work stuff, I checked and I think it was in the16th, and Houston had a runner on 2nd with one out and Dempster on the mound, and I figured then, it'll probably be over in a few minutes when Houston wins. When I got up, before I left for work I turned on ESPN to see if I could catch the score, figuring the Cubs probably lost. They showed the Diamondbacks and the Rockies played 18 innings and I thought to myself I wonder if the Cubs game lasted that long; then they showed that both games went to 18 innings and the Cubs won their game 8-6. Then I red that they were calling this O'Malley guy up to pitch today. So I figured Houston would win about 12-0. I checked the score around 3:30 in the afternoon. Who knew this guy would 8 pitch innings of shutout baseball? Or that they'd win 1-0 an sweep? While in the grand scheme of things it doesn't really matter, sine the Cubs are going nowhere, and it might convince Jim Hendry that the guys are still playing hard for Dusty so he should extend him, still it was kind of fun to see for a change.

2006-08-14T22:29:00.000-05:00

The New 3 Stooges

This picture of the 3 Stooges:

And the 2006 remake:

Hard to tell the difference, isn't it? It would be even better if I knew what I was doing with photo editing, but you get the message I'm sure.

2006-08-13T19:31:00.000-05:00

Dusty Being His Usual Ass Self

I'm surprised I haven't seen much made of this on some of the message boards I look at:

Perhaps that’s part of the reason Baker struck a somewhat defiant tone
Saturday when asked if it would be fair for general manager Jim Hendry to judge
him based on that, along with star first baseman Derrek Lee being out most of
the season.
“You should have judged me long before we got here to this
point,” Baker said. “You should have been judging my last 13-14 years versus
these last 3-4 months. That’s how I look at it. The complete track record means
something.”

It's good to see that Dusty's so grounded in reality. I know at my job, if I started doing a crappy job for the past 2 years, I'd probably get fired. Lucky for Dusty he works for Jim "the Enabler" Hendry.

“Even though Hendry will decide Baker’s fate, Baker said he judges himself on
his complete career, which includes three Manager of the Year Awards.
“I’m not getting fired … my contract just expires,"

If anyone ever needed to know what's important to Dusty, that statement says it all. He's obviously (or as Hendry would say, obvisly) self-centered enough to only worry about his W-L record ahead of developing players for next year, or about whether or not he gets fired. Well, Dusty, Joe Torre got fired a few times, but he has a few championship rings as a manager. Same for Bob Brenly, Cito Gaston, and no doubt many others.

Let's look at Dusty's last 13-14 years. 14 years a manager, 4 postseasons, 1 pennant, 0 WS championships, a WS big time choke, a NLCS big time choke, the other 2 years were 3 and out and 4 and out. Compare that with his counterpart on the South Side: 2+ years a manager, 1 WS championship, 11-1 postseason, 1 Manager of the Year award, WC leaders currently.

I don't know what Hendry has planned, but he should fire Dusty right now. He won't, so the remaining hope is that he and Dusty agree to disagree come October, and he hire Fredi Gonzalez, Joe Girardi, or anyone but Baker.

2006-08-11T17:41:00.000-05:00

Off The Mark

From Bruce Miles' story. As usual, Bruce's article was more illuminating:

"Question: Can you put your finger on anything as far as the inconsistency?
Prior: No. I have some ideas, but I'll keep those private. I'm just not finding the plate, just not being aggressive."

Well, the plate's still in the same spot, Mark. It hasn't moved.

"Question: Health-wise, you're OK, you think?
Prior: Yeah, I mean, it's obviously been a long year. Things haven't beenas great as I would have liked them to be. I've just got to try to keepfiguring things out and just try to get back to the way I know I can throw.Let's try to keep evaluating and move forward."

Actually, things haven't been great at all. Things have flat out sucked.

"Question: Do you think of shutting down for the rest of the year?
Prior: What do you think? You know the answer's no."

Oh we do, do we? Two weeks from now, this is probably the headline - Prior Shut Down For Rest Of Year, Career In Doubt.

I liked this story comment:

"The name of center fielder Felix Pie came up. Pie is playing at Class AAAIowa. Baker seems to have it in his head that the media have been clamoring for Pie."

Maybe Baker is tortured by the voices in his head. We can only hope something is torturing him.

2006-08-10T22:59:00.000-05:00

No More Pie For Dusty

Dusty is a blogger's dream:

"Maybe," Baker replied. "But at .270 … you guys have been talking 'Felix, Felix, Felix,' but Felix has to be the Felix you're all talking about if you're going to bring him up. I'd like to see him do a little more. I'd like to see everybody do a little more. I'd like to see everybody get here not only on name, but on merit at the same time."

Like how Rusch, Neifi and Jock play as much as they do based on merit?
Then there's this:

"Baker is perturbed that Florida is lauded for its talented young roster, suggesting everyone forgets that many of the Marlins' kids were top Triple-A prospects in other organizations before being acquired in trades."

Yeah, like Ricky Nolasco before our knuckleheaded GM traded him and 2 other pitchers for Juan 4-3erre?

2006-08-10T22:54:00.000-05:00

From After Todays Game

Interesting comment from Fraudschild today:

"Whether there's still weakness [in the shoulder] and that's the reason he's under pitches at times "

Would this be the shoulder that there was no problem with in the spring?

2006-08-10T22:25:00.000-05:00

Between A Rock And A Hard Place

As we all know, Dusty Baker is widely known for being the leading manager in having pitchers at the top of the PAP, or Baseball Prospectus Pitcher Abuse Points, but in his defense, Dusty doesn't always get helped out by his starting staff. Look at Big Z last night. He was at the 70 pitch count in the 3rd with no outs and 2 on, He was taken out after 4 2/3 with a count of 109. Back in 2001, when he was touted as a future star in Vineline, Oneri Fleita made a comment about him having a heavy sinker that would be perfect for Wrigley Field since he could get ground outs early and stay in games longer & be fresher later in the game? It seems like he has become more of a power pitching, strikeout type who gives up a lot of walks, who routinely hits 100+ pitches by the 6th inning, instead of lasting longer into the game because of short innings early. So while it is somewhat correct, and kind of fun, to blame Dusty for abusing pitchers, I don't know that that is 100% fair. If Baker took pitchers out when they hit 100 pitches, often that would be sometime in the 5th inning, which would probably upset the starters since they wouldn't qualify for the win, and he'd screw up his bullpen even more than he does now. So, do you blame Z in this case, and the starters in general, Larry Fraudschild for not getting the throw strikes message clearly enough, or both?

2006-08-07T15:05:00.000-05:00

Hope for 2007?

For those of you /us who can't wait until Dusty Baker is gone and fear he'll be around for 2 more years, at least there is this to cling to.

2006-08-06T20:16:00.000-05:00

Surprise Surprise

It was only the Bucs, but who would have figured the Cubs would win 2 0f 3 after losing Friday, or that Prior and Hillwould actually pitch well enough to get wins?

2006-08-05T01:07:00.000-05:00

Got Them By The Balls

A lot of talk lately is about Aramis Ramirez opting out of his contract after this year and either holding the Cubs hostage for more money, or going elsewhere. While he plainly isn't worth more money, based on his lackadasical play most of the season, he has the laws of supply and demand going for him, as there are few 3rd baseman on the market this offseason, and he is putting up big numbers,though they are all in the last month or so. While it would be a shame for him to get paid more than Derrek Lee, and would kind of be like when Toni Kukoc got paid more than Scottie Pippen all those years with the Bulls, the Cubs could easily come up with the money to meet his demands. Between Maddux not coming back and Kerry Wood's option not getting picked up, there is anywhere between 19 to 23 million dollars saved right there. They could save more money by doing the following:
1. Don't re-hire Dusty Baker. Hire someone like Fredi Gonzalez. That should save at least $3 million,, figuring they probably have to pay Fredi about $1million.
2. As I said on this day, they should either cut Prior's salary the full 20% or non-tender him and see if they can sign him at about $1 million. I don't know the rules, but if they can do that, they can save anywhere from $500,000 to almost $3 million.
If they do all that, they ought to have enough to make Aramis happy - if that's what they want. A dimwitted chimp can figure that out. Unfortunately for Cub fans, he's not the GM, Jim Hendry is. I don't think he can.

2006-08-05T01:02:00.000-05:00

Way To Go

You have to hand it to the Cubs. They sweep the first place team in their division, the struggle to get a split vs. the D-Backs, then make some local kid who, based on his numbers, just isn't very good, look like Randy Johnson. The really bad thing is they got shout out 6-0 with their ace going for them. The odds went up dramatially on a Pirates sweep this weekend, especially with Mary, queen of the DL, going tomorrow. Drink up me hearties, yo ho! And the Cubs get ever closer to being the Doormats of the National League recordwise, as well as blogwise.

2006-08-02T22:16:00.000-05:00

Must Be The Name

With the rainout on Wednesday, I thought I'd "Google" myself for fun. Nowthat's just disgusting, because what I meant was I entered "Doormats of the National League" into Google search and checked the results. I was pleased to see that my Doormats blog was #1, one of my entries was #2, and my CafePress store was #3, out of 245,000 possible entries. I can only hope people search on that phrase, and stop by and read the blog entries, and buy the merchandise. But the purpose of this entry is actually to talk about the #4 entry in the results list, which is actually this website pointing out Pennsylvania historical markers, in this case, the old Baker Bowl. Here is an excerpt from that website:

"And another cloud named William F. Baker hung on the horizon. Haughty and imperious, the former New York City police commissioner became the Phillies’ president in 1913. During his seventeen years at the helm, the Phillies dropped from their position as a consistently competitive club to become a doormat of the National League."

And this :

"The Phillies won their only Baker Bowl pennant in 1915, then played the Boston Red Sox in the World Series. "

Later on, this (which is a bit longer):

"But this shining moment did not last long. Both the team and the ball park deteriorated precipitously on Baker’s penny-pinching watch, which lasted until his death in 1930. Bad teams meant low attendance, and low attendance led to red ink. To meet expenses without spending any of his own money, Baker sold off the Phillies' best players, including two future Hall of Famers. Baker sold Grover Cleveland Alexander to the Chicago Cubs for $60,000, and sent Dave Bancroft packing to the New York Giants for $100,000. To save a little money, Baker had his groundskeeper maintain two ewes and a ram to keep the grass down.
Baker’s disastrous ownership of the team was measured in ways besides the team's poor standings. During a game in 1927, the stands behind first base collapsed when people crowded under the grandstand’s pavilion roof during a rainstorm; killing one and injuring fifty. The city coroner deemed Baker Bowl “the worst constructed place I ever saw,” and ordered it closed for inspection. The press corps dubbed Baker Bowl the “Toilet Bowl,” and the Phillies referred to it sarcastically as “Baker’s Bowels.” Time and technology had clearly passed it by."

I wonder if William F. Baker and Dusty Baker are related? They both have had a similar adverse effect on the teams they ran - William with the Phillies, and Dusty with the Cubs.

2006-08-01T18:15:00.000-05:00

Two Months Of This Mess Left

It looks like after the 4 game sweep of the Cards, things are back to nomal. I think if you want to kill a Cub winning streak this year all you have to do is put Mark "Bubble Boy" Prior on the mound. He sure sucked it big time last night, leading the way to the Cubs losing 15-4. If I were the Cubs, I would cut Prior's salary the full 20%, after the way he stole this year's paycheck. It would be hard to imagine any arbitrator ruling against them after Prior's "stellar" numbers this year. He would have had a case with a quality half season, but with this garbage, after taking 2 months to "heal", he definitely appears to be damaged goods, or if he's not, he sure is pitching like the worst pitcher in the bigs, instead of one of the best. It makes you wonder if he was on steroids, like Jack McDowell alleged, or HGH, or some substance that he can't take now because of the testing policy.

2006-07-31T21:49:00.000-05:00

Too Good For This Team

By now, all of you know that Greg Maddux was traded by the Cubs to the Dodgers (note to Nancy Pender of Fox Chicago, this is only the FIRST time the Cubs traded him, not the second - the first time he left as a free agent). Greg will definitely be the best pitcher the Cubs have ever drafted, even if he technically won't be the best pitcher they've ever had. Both times he was with the Cubs, they let him down, not the other way around. The first time, as is well known, he left the Cubs to go to the Atlanta Braves after the 1992 season. Though the Tribune Co. did their best to spin Greg as a traitor, the opposite was actually true. In 1991*, the Cubs and Maddux had agreed on a long-term deal, only to have Stan Cook* of the Trib spike it at the last minute, because of some technicality he imposed. After the '92 season, Maddux was reluctant to leave, and had been convinced by teammate and friend Mike Morgan to return and sign the Cubs offer, only to be told by Larry Himes the deal was now off the table. So, actually, Maddux was only 2 dickheads away from being a lifelong Cub. Instead, the Cubs showed him. They showed him that they didn't need his multiple Cy Young awards or his quality pitching.

Give Jim Hendry credit for trying to right a wrong he had no part of, even if it was several years too late. He brought Maddux back in 2004 when it looked like Maddux might be the final piece of the puzzle. Unfortuantely, that didn't work out, but not because of Greg. The real tragedy of Maddux's 2nd stint for me, is not that he didn't pitch like the Atlanta Brave Maddux, or that he didn't get the Cubs to the postseason. Though his numbers were not stellar by any means, he made every single scheduled start in his 2.5 years with the team, unlike a couple of highly heralded phenoms that we all know and don't necessarily hold in high esteem any longer. No, the real tragedy is that in Maddux, the Cubs had a pitcher the others could look to as a mentor, i.e., how to pitch economically and intelligently, and it appears that precious few took advantage of it, especially certain pitchers named Kerry and Mark. Maybe had they learn to have a few 8 pitch innings like Greg, they wouldn't have the woes they've had the last few seasons.

Farerwell, Greg. And thanks for the memories.

2006-07-29T21:03:00.000-05:00

Dusty, it's comments like this that make us hate you

Then there was this item online today at Chicagosports.com. You've otta love this quote by Dusty:
""I'm always trying to win games," Baker said. "How many more kids do we have who deserve to be here? How many position-player kids do we have who have done well enough to deserve to be here? Or just because you heard about the kid a lot? I believe in earning it.""
Would that be earning it like Neifi has earned the 2nd spot in the batting order, Dusty? Or like how Glendone Rusch has earned repeated chances to pitch? Did you ever think if you gave a young player a chance, and supported him during his struggles,(you know, like you do with Neifi), it might actually work out well for the team? All we have left to hope for, is that Hendry decides Dusty is too much of a diva to re-hire, and lets him walk.

2006-07-29T02:12:00.000-05:00

A Day Old But Worth Mentioning, Since I Know You All Were As Worried As I Was...

and no doubt were as relieved as me to know that Dusty will be here through the end of the season at least. As I pointed out a few days ago, I think Jim Hendry is beyond rational thinking and just won't break up with his love, because everyone else wants him to. Funny thing Jim: after last year you said "79 wins will never be acceptable as long as I'm here" or close to that. What will you have to say about this year's debacle,whhich is looking like about 65 wins?

2006-07-28T00:03:00.000-05:00

As Ralph Kramden might say "Whoa, What a Surprise!"

Incredibly, the Cubs actually won tonight despite the best efforts of Rich Hill, who apparently could not find the strike zone as usual, seeing as every time he comes to the majors he walks a ton of batters. Ryan Dempster actually got the save though he tried to blow it by fielding a ground ball up the middle, and when he failed it went right to Neifi Perez who stepped on second and threw to first for a game ending double play. See Ryan, when you don't pitch like a spazz, Dusty won't take you out and you don't have to get pissed about not getting the save. It is frustraiting to know they are 4-0 @ home vs. St Louis this year, 7-3 overall, and about 10-40 vs. everyone else @ Wrigley.

2006-07-26T20:02:00.000-05:00

In what bseball universe is this acceptble?
Mark Prior had a no-hitter going when he was taken out of the Cubs 1-0 loss with 2 out in the 6th inning. Big deal. At the time he had already thrown 103 pitches. If you look at most box scores on any given day, the starter is usually taken out somewhere between 85 and 105 pitches, usually somewhere in the 7th or 8th inning. It seems like the Cubs are the only team where their starters routinely hit 100 pitches in the 6th, or even 5th, inning. Yet Larry "The Teflon pitching coach" Rothschild continues to be pitching coach, for whatever reason. Also, this was in the game story:"Prior understood the rationale for removing him, despite the no-hitter, and admitted his hand was cramping up at the end." I guess we have some insight into what his "rehab" was all about.

2006-07-22T22:04:00.000-05:00

Someone is Always The Last to Know

When I was a kid, I remember my sister dated a guy that was a real lowlife scumbag. He literally was Fonzie without the cleaaned up image. He was a greaser droupout who did time in jail, he cheated on her, treated her like shit, and was generally abusive toward her to the point my parents hated him. It took her a long time before she finally realized they were right, and ended the relationship. I'll call him Taylor.

At my last job, there was a guy that was just a total asshole. Every one who had to work with him knew what a useless piece of shit he really was, except for our boss, who thought he was the greatest. I'll call him Jeff. At my current job, there is a guy I used to work with who is not quite as bad, but is in his own right a bullying blowhard who knows far less than he pretends to, and everyone realizes that except for the woman I used to work for (his current boss). I'll call him Larry.

My daughter is just starting out in the working world, and has a coworker who is the same way - unreliable, lacking in the proper job skills, and thought of as useless by everyone except the boss. I'll call her Ramona.

What do Taylor, Jeff, Larry and Ramona have to do with a Cubs blog? Easy. They are to their situations what Dusty Baker is to us. We have all figured out that Dusty is useless, a bully (to rookies and young players), incompetent (Neifi batted 2nd once again today!), lacking in the proper job skills (can't handle pitchers, can't make out a lineup card, doesn't realize that he is in charge and can schedule infield/outfield practice because he is the boss) and probably the worst manager in baseball. However, there is one HUGE problem. The person who can do something about it is infatuated with Dusty even after the collapses of 2003-04 and the failures of the last 2 years. I think Jim Hendry probably figures that the more people say he should "break up" with Dusty, the more he's going to say "never". There really are only 2 hopes:
1) New owners come in and clean house
2) Dusty quits

Evidently there was a bit of a controversy about Baker appearing on this ESPN show. Some people feel this would have been like ambushing Dusty. That is probably true. However, I've become of the mindset, right or wrong, the only way we'll get rid of Dusty is if we boo him every chance we get, whether it be every time he sticks his head out of the dugout at Wrigley, or if we see him at Jewel or Dominick's. And while it's not fair, we probably have to boo Darren too. It seems the only way he'll leave is if he is so miserable in Chicago he won't want to come back. To me, that seems like our only chance.

2006-07-19T23:31:00.000-05:00

Ask Paul

These columns are usually pretty ridiculous, both the person asking Paul Sullivan and Paul's response. Here are some of the "better"ones:
"I recently read The Tribune Co. was having financial problems. I have a plan that could add $85 million to the bottom line and guarantee a sellout. First, the Tribune sends Andy McPhail, Jim Hendry and Dusty Baker packing. The Tribune then holds a press conference announcing that Ronnie Woo Woo now holds all three titles--president, general manager and manager. This reduces payroll by about $6-7 million. The following week the Tribune informs Mr. Woo Woo that the 2007 Cubs will have a $15 million payroll, same as the Marlins and saving another $80 million. They'll probably lose 110 games but fans will be understanding. As an added benefit, Mr. Woo Woo will sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh-inning stretch and at appropriate times bring the Wrigley Field crowd to its feet as he does the famous Woo Woo cheer from the dugout steps. The tourists will love it. Do you think the Tribune Co. would consider such a suggestion?--Walter Muratori, Newport Coast, Calif."
If Walter ever comes to Chicago to watch the cubs in person, I hope someone douses him with beer for this idea -new or "used".

"You want wacky? Let's go back to Baltimore, offer them Mark Prior and Bob Brenly for Miguel Tejada and Jim Palmer. Tejada makes an instant impact and Palmer can come out of the TV booth and close. You were right, we should have shipped off Prior in the winter. --Russ Bradley, Spartanburg, S.C.Thank you, but you all need to apologize to Hendry, who might've been able to pull off a Tejada trade but was probably stunned by the backlash from Cubs fans telling him how stupid it was to trade Prior." If Hendry is making/not making trades based on fan backlash, then we definitely have the wrong person as GM.

"How about Dusty Baker for Joe Girardi and I'll even throw in Glendon Rusch at no extra cost. --Steve Fritsch, Oceanside, Calif.Well, if the Cubs want Joe Girardi, they'll have to do better than trading them Dusty. The Mariners got Randy Winn from Tampa when the Devil Rays got Lou Piniella. I'd say the better idea is Sean Marshall or Carlos Marmol for Girardi." Marmol looks like a keeper. I'd say Marshall for Girardi might be fair. We'll even throw Baker in.

2006-07-18T22:25:00.000-05:00

2 more years for Baker might not be crazy, Phil, but you sure are

Phil Rogers wrote his column today in Chicagosports.com about why he thinks Dusty Baker is the best choice for manager for the next 2 years. I'll bet he got the reaction he was looking for, if the other blogs and message boards are any measure, although, only 56% of the people in the Chicagosports.com poll disagree with him. Personally, I was going to rant and rave about this myself, but I see where Phil is coming from. I think he figures that if the Trib starts firing people based on incompetence, he's following Baker, Hendry and MacPhail right out the door. In fact, if the Trib does that, they'll have to hire almost a complete newsports section staff. But seriously, Phil, why don't you follow your heart and go back to Texas, where you can spend all your time kissing Roger Clemens and Andy Pettite's butts.

2006-07-17T20:53:00.000-05:00

Relity Check for the Donut King

If Jim Hendry harbored any delusions of this team contending for the wild card, the debacle of last night's game hopefully convinced him that that is not going to happen. It's time for him to size up the individual pieces and identify which ones will bring him top prospects, and trade accordingly. As I posted yesterday, Big Z and Derricles are the 2 players the Cubs should rebuild around. If Jim does it right, he can pick up several quality prospects for some of the more sought after players on the team, let them play out the rest of the season in Chicago, promote a few of the top prospects like Felix Pie and allow them to show what they have, and then go out in the offseason and sign some top tier free agents and give the fans, as well as Carlos and D Lee some hope for 2007. By the way Jim, doing it right includes deep-sixing Dustbag the Windbag. Which probably means that Jim won't get any of it right. He'll keep Baker, trade a few guys for minor leaguers that won't pan out, and all 2007 will mean is one more year that Lee and Zambrano won't get to the playoffs.

2006-07-16T21:35:00.000-05:00

At least we got one player:

If Carlos Zambrano isn't the best Cub pitcher (or even all around player) ever, there haven't been too many better. What else can you say about a guy who leads the league in strikeouts, has hit 3 homers and now has stolen a base. For his and Derrek Lee's sake, I hope Hendry can figure out some way to make this team a winner next year, even if he has to spend $150 million on free agents (I know, not likely). Hendry owes it to them, if not the fans, to build a winner in 2007.

2006-07-14T23:04:00.000-05:00

Hollywood Remake

Back in the mid '70's during the Welcome Back Kotter years and before he became a movie star with Saturday Night Fever and Grease, John Travolta made a movie about a boy who had a disease tht was similar to HIV, in that his immune system didn't work and if he was exposed to germs, he could die. The solution was that the boy had to live in a sterile environment. After seeing this in the Tribune today, I am convinced that it is time for a remake of that movie, and I know just the person who could play that role:

1976:

2006 remake:

2006-07-12T19:46:00.003-05:00

Dangerous Times Lie Ahead

As bad as the Cubs have been this year, which is really bad, the rest of the National League has been mediocre to poor. As a result, the Cubs are "only" about 12 games back in the wild card race. Now, in the past, we've seen teams make up near that number of games in far less time than is left. In 2004, the Astros made up a 7 game deficit on the wild card leader in August, to themselves capture the wild card. Of course, it helped out that the wild card leader they made up that kind of ground on was our own dysfunctional Cubs. Nonetheless, it is possible. I just don't think it's possible for the Cubs to do so, given how they've generally ignored fundamentals and omitted things from their game like pitch selection. Unfortunately, given the 4-1 record in the 5 games right before the All Star Break, this is a dangerous time for the Cubs. You just know that Jim Hendry is looking at that, and at the mediocre records of most of the other NL teams, and is thinking that they can get back in the wild-card race. The danger, of course, is that come July 31, they will either do nothing, or make a stupid trade for a veteran so they can get back in it.

All I can say is that Jim, if you're reading this (which I doubt), before you consider standing pat or adding a player or players for the "stretch run", set some standards that the players have to play up to first. I figure the Cubs have about 15 games or so before July 31. If they don't go at least 13-2 and gain at least 4 games on the WC leader (currently the Dodgers?), there is absolutely no point in them doing anything but selling pieces to the highest bidder.

Also, are any of us fans really surprised
that Hendry said that Baker's job was never in doubt? I know I'm not surprised. For whatever reason, Jim seems to have a real attachment to Dusty. I don't get it, since Dusty has proven he was, and is, the wrong manager for the Cubs, but since Jim is the wrong GM for the Cubs, maybe they figure 2 wrongs make a right. Also, Big Z is apparently OK after the ASG mishap with the fungo bat. Prior is supposed to throw Thursday to see if he's OK. Imagine if he'd have gotten hit by the fungo bat? He probably wouldn't be able to pitch again until 2008.

2006-07-09T22:51:00.000-05:00

Shut up, Scott

Then there was this item about Scott Eyre with this quote:
"I think if we keep playing the way we played this series, and if everyone would stop talking about Dusty's job, we could all play and relax a little more," Eyre said. "If something happens, it happens, but if everyone would stop talking about it, maybe it would take pressure off of everyone else."
Listen, jerkoff, maybe if you hadn't made this stupid, ill-advised throw and just ate the ball like you eat everything else, you wouldn't have gotten our star player and chief offensive threat hurt, and we might not be talking about your beloved manager getting fired.

2006-07-09T22:42:00.000-05:00

Sympathy Pains?

Our favorite unhealty sick boy is at it again,, hurting his oblique muscle so he couldn't pitch today. I think its just like husbands having sympathy pains when their wives are pregnant. Prior was just having sympathy pains for Wood's injury.

Or maybe he's really pregnant? No, most pregnant women have higher pain tolerances than Prior.

2006-07-09T22:12:00.000-05:00

"And Now, The End Is Near.."

Or so it might seem after this item about Kerry Wood having a torn rotator cuff wihch says that he is through for the season, and possibly his career, at least as a Cub. As much as many Cub fans like to blame Dusty Baker for Wood's downfall, I still can't blame Baker as much as I do a few others, including Wood himself. Dusty certainly has many faults and there are many reasons that the Cubs should get rid of him, but I don't think Kerry Wood's shoulder problems should be blamed on Baker as much as, say, Hendry, Rothschild or Wood himself. Anyway, I personally hope that the Cubs work out some kind of low-money, low-risk deal with Wood after throwing all that money his way the last few years, so that maybe he can salvage his career as a Cub, while letting Hendry have free agent money to get a good starter next offseason. He does at least seem like a good guy and a good teammate, if not always a healthy one.

2006-07-07T01:25:00.000-05:00

Cubs Wars - Attack of the Bloggers
It looks like the blogger world of frustrated Cub fans has made its way to the mainstream media.
Some of my favorite comments are:
"From Kurtis Evans at Goatriders.org: "... People are speculating that it will either be right before or right after the All-Star break, but they are forgetting that this is Jim Hendry we're talking about. Jimbo wouldn't throw out a week-old, half-eaten donut if it had any kind of sentimental value" Good one, Kurt.

"From Mark Strickler at Viewfromthebleachers.com: "Dusty really perplexes me; I really think there had to be some brain damage at some point in his life."" True that, Mark.

Although I'm surprised he missed some of the comments from Chuck @ ivy chat, or Andy Dolan @ desipio . Both of them have been calling out Hendry and Baker for quite some time. I'm also disappointed he didn't mention me, but judging by the comments received, I think my blog right now is more of a personal diary.

2006-07-05T23:23:00.000-05:00

Hammer, Meet Nail (Jim Hendry's Head)

Evidently, Jim Hendry had a revelation of some sort, like when Doc Brown fell and hit his head in the shower in Back To The Future. Apparently, based on how they sucked Monday.... "Hendry announced Tuesday he will use the four-day break to decide whether an overhaul is in order". My guess is if you asked 1 million fans what they thought, at least 999,999 would have come to that conclusion over a month ago. Maybe Saturday's Trashfest finally registered in his brain, 48 to 72 hours later, that "hey, this team sucks, and I should do something about it". A lot of people are excited because they figure Dusty will get the ax. For myself, I'll believe it when I see it. Let's face it, firing Baker and his coaches won't fix the problem, but hey! you gotta start somewhere.

2006-07-04T01:03:00.000-05:00

Sheer lunacy

According to this article Jim Hendry doesn't think the Cubs as they are currently composed, need anything more than a "tweaking".

"“We need to obviously go back and look at how we might have done things that haven’t been successful and keep the parts we think are going to be successful. But if you look at it constructively, you still have a lot of people that are quality major-league players that are not old that can help you next year.”"

Well, Jim,with that crack managerial and coaching staff you put together, they won't be able to coach and manage those quality major league players any better next year than they are doing this year.

Here's a hint, Jim. If your manager refuses to play guys like Murton, Cedeno, Guzman, whoever, because "he's trying to win now" you should fire him on the spot. As you would say, obvisly, if he's been trying to win now" so far, he definitely is the worst manager in the history of baseball. In fact, he might do better if he tried to lose. I see no way this team of rejects is going to go 50 and 30 (after tonight's loss) to make it to .500, much less go 60 and 20 to get in playoff contention, so it only makes sense to play the 2nd half with next season in mind. Also, if he plays the regular losers vs. contenders because he wants to "play his best against the contenders" fire him also. His best has sucked most of this season. Otherwise, Jim, you should be the one that gets fired.

2006-07-01T20:09:00.000-05:00

Garbage In, Garbage Out

Congratultions to the fans that showered the field with trash after A J Pierzynski hit the 3 run homer with 2 out in the 9th today. If the Trib can put this garbage on the field day after day, then Cub fans should know that Wrigley is just a big garbage dump, and act accordingly.

Though I don't think Pierce would approve.

2006-06-30T23:31:00.000-05:00

What Cub fans should do the next 2 days.

Those Cub fans who have tickets to the games Saturday and Sunday vs. the Sox should find a Sox fan and sell them their ticket. Fae value, for a profit, whatever. Wouldn't it be great if on the Fox game of the week at Wrigley, 100% Sox fans? Trib would still have their money, but it would be embarrasing to MacFail, Hendry, and company if all Sox fans in the stands at their ballpark. Imagine Josh Lewin lisping his way thru a speech about how bad the Cubs are that the Sox fans have taken over, or pompous ass Thom Brennaman railing about how much the Cub orgainization sucks, and the proof is in the field and in the stands? Maybe those idiots would be embarrassed into making changes.

2006-06-21T17:24:00.000-05:00

These might be reasons that we are the doormats of the National League:

1. We get swept on a homestand and this is what they worry about:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-060618piven,1,5495984.story?coll=chi-sportsnew-hed
"McDonough, while noting that Piven has been a loyal Cubs fan and friend to the team, was disappointed and issued an apology. "I don't know if professional adrenaline took over, but we don't ever want to introduce profanity into the seventh-inning stretch," he said. "

I guess he wouldn't like my version that says "if they don't win they can go f... themselves.

2. Looks like Kerry Wood's arm may have fallen off for the last time as a Cub.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/cs-060620cubsbrite,1,2000541.story?coll=chi-sportsnew-hed

"Naturally, Woody wants to pitch," Baker said. "He's a little distraught about it. He wants to pitch very badly. He wants to help us get back in this thing. It's a natural reaction, not to be real happy about this."

I'm sure if he does come back, that's exactly how he'll pitch. Matter of fact, that must be a requirement to manage, coach, play or pitch for the Cubs - to want to do it very badly.

3. We're rubbing off on the umpires:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/cs-060620cubsbits,1,3238780.story?coll=chi-sportsnew-hed
"Umpire Jerry Crawford left Tuesday's game before the first pitch after experiencing lower back tightness "
C'mon Jerry, cowboy up already! At least our guys make it through at least a half inning.

2006-06-18T23:07:00.000-05:00

Like 2 Ships Passing Each Other In The Night In Opposite Directions

It's really hard to believe that just 3 years ago, the Cubs were, repeat after me, "5 outs away", and the Detroit Tigers seemed to be 5 light years away, after looking in on this weekend's debacle. I gotta admit, I was laughing when Granderson homered off Prior to start the game, and I yelled out in my living room, "F... You, Mark!" Just think, we waited 3 months for Bubble Boy to throw that garbage.

2006-06-17T23:12:00.000-05:00

You don't need a pair of eyes to see how bad they are,Just look at the numbers!

I found this link on the internet of someone named John Beamer:
http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/story/2006/6/10/5206/85178#readmore

Those of us who watch or listen to the Cubs on any kind of regular basis weren't really shocked by this:

"Which team on the senior circuit has the the worst offense? The Marlins? The Pirates? No -- you'd be wrong on both counts. Try Dusty's dream team: the inimitable Cubs. You might think that the basis for this less than Einsteinian conclusion would be ocular judgment. Actually it is not. It is an analysis of cumulative VORP over the first third of the season. "

Personally I just used ocular judgment. But I also came to the same conclusion.

"I told you that you'd be shocked."

Not really.

"Let's take some time to put the Cubs' 5.6 VORP in to a little perspective. VORP, or Value Over Replacement Player, essentially measures run value per out over and above a marginal level. As indicated in the nomenclature of the statistic this marginal point is replacement. Replacement is usually defined as a AAAA level player, who is available for the major league minimum salary. So what a loose interpretation of VORP is telling us is that if we were to dump the Cubs' starting line-up and call-up a bunch of minor league talent then the Cubs would only be 6 runs, or half a win, worse off!"

I've seen or heard enough 3 up, 3 down innings to be convinced of this. But let's go on:

"Still 10.1 is a terrible score and the reason for this is that there are a bunch of everyday players who are nothing short of atrocious."

No doubt about that.

"It is tough to single out any of the stragglers but on a second glance one entry is particulalry egregious. I present to you Juan D'Vaughn Pierre, who this year is earning an eye-boggling $5.75 million. Pierre has 268 plate appearances this season -- the most on the team -- and he has contributed a VORP of -6. That is $5.75 million for half a loss; so unless Pierre becomes Andruw Jones and more with the glove it is an utter waste of money (and for those who are wondering FRAA places Pierre as average with the leather)."

Good thing we only traded 3 of our top pitching prospects for Juan 4-3erre.

"Stars such as Neifi Perez, Jerry Hairston and Henry Blaco all contribute negatively to the team. Come on, small sample size aside, even Greg Maddux has an offensive VORP of 1 this season!
What about when we include pitching?"

I was going to fix Blaco to Blanco, but Blaco describes it better. Sadly in the Dusty/Hendry mindset, these 3 guys are stars.

"Adding them together and the Cubs are an astonishing 40 points of VORP shy of the second worst team in the NL. On a VORP per $ payroll basis the Cubs are comfortably bottom. Vive l'offense de Cubs!"

Now wait a cotton-pickin minute. $95 million don't go as far as it used to.

"Yeah, Derrek Lee leads the Cubs in cumulative pNRAA. Did I mention he has fewer plate appearances than Neifi Perez has outs? And for the final kick to the cranium, the Cubs Team EqA is only .237; .007 above replacement level...as a team. I don't think a healthy Kerry Wood and Mark Prior will do much good if they need to win 2-1 everytime."

That's OK. They won't be healthy. At least not for long.

Anyway, nice analysis John! Assuming you are a Cub fan, it must have been very painful to look at.

2006-06-13T23:59:00.000-05:00

I Guess We Got The Whole Barnyard After Us:

The Google Ad on this page is currently pointing to StubHub.com. I wanted to check it out and I found this interesting item in the ad:
"The curse of the cow lives on, but the enthusiasm and loyalty of Cubs fans everywhere does as well"
OK, I know the whole Mrs. O'Leary story, but since when did a cow get added to the supposed billy goat curse? Maybe the Cubs should be nicer to farmers or something. Anyway, if there is anyone who visits my site, I wouldn't be opposed to you clicking on the ad. And, if you have to see the Cubs in the worst way, buy your tickets thru stubhub.com. Maybe I'll make more money that way.

2006-06-12T19:30:00.000-05:00

Kerry Wood - Whose Fault Is He?

Well, Kerry is back on his favorite hiding place, the DL. In fact, he may be the first player in major league history who is on a disabled list that isn't hurt. Maybe he's just tired after his first 4 or 5 starts, and needs to rest, you know, kind of like in The Godfather when Sonny was in charge and said he was sending Fredo to Las Vegas for "a rest". But enough about that for now. The real purpose of this is to look at his career and try to figure out where he went off the track. The way I figure it, there are several culprits.

1. Kerry Wood himself. After his 20 K performance in 1998, it looked like the Cubs had a legitimate superstar. However, it hasn't quite worked out that way. It seems like he never has learned the nuances of pitching, and feels like when he pitches he must strike everyone out. This has led to consistently high pitch counts and put his managers in a tough spot. You would think that pitching on the same team with Greg Maddux, he might pick up a few pointers on getting a few more groundball outs, but not so. Of course, since Maddux has been back, Wood has been hurt most of the time.
2. Dusty Baker. Unfortunately when put in a tough spot with pitch counts, Dusty almost always seems to err on the side of not enough caution. It has been documented numerous times on the number of 120+ pitch outings Wood and others have had while Dusty has been manager. While it seems like Dusty is best known for burning out pitchers, they probably wouldn't have made the NLCS without Dusty overusing Wood and Prior. So that points to:
3. Jim Hendry. Maybe had Hendry done a better job of staffing a bullpen in past years, or getting players that can get on base with more regularity, Dusty could have saved Wood's arm a little more often.
4. Jim Riggleman. A lot of people look at him for abusing Wood in 1998, but actually, at that time Riggleman caught flack for taking Wood out in the 6th inning of a lot of games,which when he did it was because of high pitch counts.
5. Don Baylor/Mack Newton - This would have been a good idea had they done it right. Baylor hired Newton to be the "attitude and flexibility" coach, or something like that. He was there for spring training, and the positive approach he preached seemed to be a positive factor in their good start, along with the stretching he had them do in spring training. But as usual, the Cubs did it half-assed, and instead of being with them all season, he would "pop in" once or twice a month and put them thru stretching drills when he was here. That didn't play as well as the season went on, and he was looked on as kind of an intruder later in the season. How do I tie this to Kerry Wood? Because he challenged Baylor on making his pitchers do this stuff in August, the late Oscar Acosta was fired by Baylor at the end of the season. Of all the pitching coaches in Wood's career, Acosta seemed to have the best connection with Wood. Wood seemed to throw more quality pitches in that timeframe than under any coach before Acosta, and certainly hasn't approached it since he's been under the tutelage of:
6. Larry Rothschild - For a pitching coach with such a great reputation, he certainly hasn't seemed to do much for Cub pitchers. It seems like they've done more nibbling, issued more walks, and been injured under his watch more than any other Cub pitching coach. When Kerry has been healthy, he hasn't been effective. Gotta be a connection there.

My conclusion is that each of the above has contributed to his downfall, along with others such as his high school coach who used him in both games of a doubleheader in the Texas state playoffs, and Andy MacPhail/Ed Lynch for not surrounding him with better players. In my opinion, though, the biggest blame falls to Hendry for not bolstering the offense, Rothschild for not having him be more aggressive and figuring out how to tighten his throwing motion to avoid injury, and Wood himself, for not learning how to pitch more efficiently. I'm sure next year, when he's with Texas, or Houston, or the Yankees, he'll reach his potential that he should have reached in Cubbie blue. Just one more star player that we screwed up.

2006-06-08T22:51:00.000-05:00

Why we, the Cub fan, boos our favorite team:

Some old business:

This link from some guy named Pierce from May 30:
http://www.cubshub.com/article.php?story=2006053014272261
Contains this gem: "A season under the sun at Wrigley wasn't enough. Now the Wrigley Faithful wanted more. Gone were the glory days of the power hitting superstar. Gone were the days of beering, cheering and leaving when the beer ran dry. Wrigleyville was no longer the season long party that we had known and loved. Now it was a business."
and this:
"From that day, the day of game six, Cubs fans have been a different type of fan. We are no longer the fun loving bunch that we've been known to be. Now we are the title hungry fans that Wrigleyville has never seen. We want a title and we need another playoff run. Cubs fans are like junkies, and we need a playoff fix.This has clouded our judgment. We have become so angry over disappointing moments that we have become "boo birds". Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with being a "boo bird" but we've taken it too far. If a player makes a mistake we boo. If a player strikes out a couple of times people boo. We have become everything that most of us despise. We've become nothing more than Yankees fans in Cubbie Blue."

Well, Pierce, there is one HUGE difference between us and the Yankees - the Yankees have AVERAGED about one pennant every 3 years since 1921, if not better than that. Meanwhile, it has been OVER 60 years since the Cubs have won a pennant, not to mention 98 years since we won a World Series. That means that if you figure the youngest age a person would remember his team winning a World Series is probably about 5 (and I doubt he would remember too much at that), any person less than 103 years old would probably not remember the 1908 World Series champion Cubs. For that matter, 66 is probably the minimum age of someone who remembers the 1945 World Series. So we ain't exactly spoiled by success.
I'll tell you something else, Pierce. To me, it doesn't matter who you choose to blame for Game 6 -Steve Bartman, Prior, Baker, Gonzalez, Farnsworth, Sosa, Alou, or for Game 7 - Wood,Veres or anyone else, once they blew an almost certain pennant in 2003, we Cub fans felt cheated. Maybe in your Pollyanna world that is wrong, but I figure they owed us one after that. The fact that they haven't delivered makes most of us madder and madder. They choked in the 2003 NLCS, they choked the last week of 2004, and they flat out sucked in 2005 and it looks like 2006 is more of the same taste of shit. Also, the White Sox World Series victory in 2005 is their bad luck,because that raises the stakes that much more. We have also watched the Cubs come up with about 6 new ways to generate revenue that hasn't translated into paying top dollar for the elite free agent. So if we go to the games and they play like crap (in its many forms) we will boo them. Many of us won't go, or watch them on TV, if they play like crap. Too bad there are enough stupid people who run out on February 15th to buy all the single game tickets. Not me - not until they make a serious attempt to win the World Series.

2006-05-30T23:27:00.000-05:00

Dear Dusty- Why The Knowledgeable Cub Fan Hates You

An open letter to Dusty Baker (not that he'll ever see it): Dear Dusty, When you were hired in 2002 by Jim Hendry to manage the Cubs, I, like thousands of other naive Cub fans, were impressed that Hendry would actually go out and hire a "big name", well known, successful manager to manage the team. Many of us saw this as a turning point for the Cubs, and that this was the first move in what would be a beginning of a long, successful run for a baseball team long down on its luck. As 2003 unfolded, it looked like that would be true. Until Game 6 of the NLCS, with "5 outs to go" and you and your team melted down completely, you had many of us fooled. Even the most optimistic of Cub fans now see you as the complete fraud, sham and phony that you really are, but in retrospect, the warning signs were always there. Without becoming long-winded, watching how you hang rookies and young players out to dry, while backing useless veterans because they have a "track record, dude" (LennyHarris and Neifi quickly come to mind, and I'm sure there are many others) shows us that you are a bully when it comes to rookies, but a coward when it comes to how you treat veterans. The whole Sammy Sosa fiasco is on you, dude, since you should have been the manager and managed, by moving him down in the lineup when he struggled. Also, for a guy whose mantra was "no more excuses" when he was hired, you sure have come up with a boatload of them for the sorry excuse of the last 2 seasons. Your in game decisions are dubious at best and horrible at worst, and your "you're either with us or against us" attitude with the fans has, guess what, turned us against you. Now (for whatever crazy reason) the local media is writing article after article about you getting, and deserving an extension. When it comes to the "earning" business, you, my friend, have not come close. The whole "he got them within 5 outs" argument for keeping you is meaningless, since the Marlins scored 8 runs before you got 2 of those remaining outs, and you haven't come close since. Just so you know, the Cubs coming within 5 outs of the World Series is really meaningless when you consider that every other team but 4 have been in the World Series since 1960, and of those 4, 2 of them began in the '60s and the other 2 in the '90s. Too bad for us fans you have the one person in your corner who actually has the power to bring you back, and for some unknown reason, he thinks you're the greatest manager that ever managed a team. You're not even the best manager in town. Anyway, remember that money can't buy you happiness, and if you decide to stay after this season, you shouldn't expect to be happy, since whatever Cub fans that are still left will make your baseball life miserable. Good luck with that, dude.

2006-05-30T23:23:00.000-05:00

This is the blog where I sarcastically comment on Cubs management and how they stupidly do things.