The 2006 Chicago Cub season – 98 years since a World Championship – and counting
4/4
Watched part of the Reds/Cubs game. It looked very cold. Why do they have games so early so far north? Seems like there should be enough southern locations for the first week of the season or two. Does it make sense that Atlanta is playing Los Angeles on opening day? Or Florida is at Houston? When I’m in charge of the schedule . . .
A special thank you to Adam Dunn – not sure the Cubs could have won without his efforts. Jacque Jones tried to even things out a little with his performance. SO much better than having Burnitz out there. Dusty is in mid-season form with the double switch. I’m thinking he must do that trying to impress people. Not really sure how advantageous it was in any of the situations yesterday, but maybe that’s why I’m writing this and he’s a major league manager. Well, to be more accurate, he manages in the major leagues.
Good outcome yesterday, but it’s just one game. Remember last year we scored 16 runs in the first game and then lost the next 3. There’s a whole lot of question marks after big Z. Maddux is fine, but he won’t match up well in the #2 position. I think he’s going to need 5 runs a game this year.
In case anyone is counting, the magic number is now 162.
4/5
Is this heaven? No, it’s Stoney doing a Cub game. Didn’t watch the whole thing, but he didn’t seem “on” today. Always seemed to me in the past that he knew before the ball was pitched what was going to be thrown or what the batter was going to do. Ah the good old days. Still got time to put my Jacque-o-meter together. Not sure if the Mendoza line should be the midpoint or the maximum. Games with a double switch: 2. Results were not so great today, so we’re back to .500. That’s about where we’ll be in October. I would mention today’s score, but I believe that MLB is now saying that they own all the game statistics, so I might get a cease and desist order for reporting that. Let’s just say the score was 2 field goals and a safety to a touchdown (missed PAT).
Why have I decided to start a Blog? Well, I get my MLB news from Yahoo, and I’ve noticed a few new columnists this year. It appears that anyone that can type and regurgitate information can get that gig. I think I can do a little better than that. (So far, I don’t think anyone would agree with that – but it’s still April. Wait until May when Dusty’s job is on the line. By the way, my targets this year are Dusty, Todd Walker, Jacque Jones, and Greg Maddux. Yes, Greg Maddux. There’s just something about that guy that bugs me. I blamed his first exit from the Cubs on Scott Boras not taking the Cubs’ $27M offer back to Maddux, but after seeing how things played out in Atlanta, I do think Maddux knew what he was doing. The Braves offered him salary arbitration (hoping to work out a long term deal). When he couldn’t get the money he wanted elsewhere, he accepted arbitration and really put the hurt on the Braves’ payroll. I’m still trying to figure out how he got the deal he got from the Cubs. No one was offering more than $5M, and he gets a $24M contract from the Cubs?
4/9
Two Cub/Cardinal games, and only one entry? I’m slipping already. I must say Maddux did his job well on Friday. He even slapped a groundout to move the runner over. Stadium improvements looked good. I watched the interview with Mark McGuire before the game. He didn’t really mention anything about the improvements being made to squeeze every last bit of money out of the building as possible. If I’m doing the math right, 1800 seats x $30 (okay, some days it’s $15 and some days it’s $40, but this is just a rough estimate) x 81 home dates is, uh, did I do the math right? Over $4 million? Plus the naming rights? I guess it will help offset some of Wood’s salary this year. Do we have any Bagwell insurance? I also watched that “man in the street” thing they did before the game with the fake reporter. Kind of reminded me of Les Nessman. Except that it wasn’t funny. And WGN calls itself a SuperStation.
Game 2 of the series went OK. Little concerned about Cedeno’s errors. That might be enough for Dusty to bench him in place of his favorite player of all time, Neifi Perez. What’s the hold up on D Lee’s contract? The dropped ball? Who will be available in the offseason that could replace him? Mark Grace? Hee Sop Choi?
4/10
Cubs sweep Cardinals. Now ½ game out of first place. Saw a comment the other day about how Michael Barrett is going to cost the Cubs a lot of runs/games this year. Wonder if the author still feels that way. Jessica Simpson isn’t popular because of her math skills. Barrett is what he is – one of the best hitting catchers in the major leagues. Yes, he has some defensive shortcomings. That’s why they’ve got Henry Blanco to back him up. Jacque-o-meter is at .125. But it’s a BIG .125. Consecutive games with a double-switch stopped at 4. Maybe Dusty was afraid to mess it up in front of the national ESPN audience.
Magic number is 158.
4/12
The good news is that other than home runs, Glendon Rusch gave up only one hit. Jacque-o-metter at .111. So last time, Freel ran all over and Arroyo homered to beat us. They at least stopped Freel. Was glad to see they got Lee’s contract resolved. Seem’s like a much better deal than a Carlos Beltran or Raphael Furcal. Maybe they are heading in the right direction? Now the only thing left is Dusty’s contract. Haven’t heard anything on that. Wonder if he’s figured out what it’s going to take to get a new contract (playoffs, at a minimum).
4/12
Strained “glut?” How do you hurt your buttocks swinging the bat? That’s all we need – Ramirez to be out for a month. I have NO idea how Maddux did it today, especially with the wind blowing out. Maybe that new off-season training regiment I’ve been hearing about has taken a few years off his body. I’d definitely take the 35 year old Maddux. Pierre and Lee both had a couple stolen bases today.I am liking the speed at the top of the lineup. One of the broadcasts last week mentioned that it’s contagious. Having one guy with speed makes the rest of the team more aggressive on the bases. (If Joe Morgan said that, he must have heard it from someone else.) Of course, Lee was also caught twice, though I don’t know the details from the box score. Maybe a botched double steal? Anyway, if you look at the “good” Cub years recently, 1984 had Dernier and Sandberg at the top. 1989 had Jerome Walton. 2003 had Kenny Lofton (and pre-stinky Patterson). In 1998, they didn’t really have that speed, but they didn’t need it. That was the year Sammy carried the team on his (possibly chemically enhanced) back to the playoffs. So the formula is there.
4/19
Falling behind here. Not good at keeping deadlines. Went to game 2 of the Pirates/Cubs series over the weekend. It was the first time I saw the Cubs lose in Pittsburgh. It was interesting to hear the fans with the “Nineteen oh eight” or “Let’s go White Sox.” Not sure if those fans realize it or not, but the Pirates haven’t even had a winning season since 1992. The Pirates’s slogan this year is “We will.” I was trying to figure out if we were supposed to fill in the blank. “Stink” and “host the All-Star game” were the best ones I could come up with. Outside the stadium they did have a few others, such as “excite” and “amaze.” Didn’t see anything about “win at least 81 games.” So they’re not really going out on a limb here. The other thing I wanted to point out to the Pirates fans. Does the threesome of Williams, Marshall, and Rusch sound like a series winning rotation? It did in Pittsburgh, and if it wasn’t for Zach Duke, it would have been a sweep. Don’t like the West Coast trips. I guess the good news is that I won’t try and stay up to watch them – much easier to catch the box score in the morning. Good thing we didn’t keep Nomar. I think the over/under for him this year is 90 games. Still wondering about Jaqcue Jones. Was he really hurt? Or just benched? Saw that he got 2 hits last night to raise his average to .160, then left for a pinch runner. Running out of players – might see Pie sooner than expected. Someone mentioned to me that Eric Patterson is on the fastrack for the big leagues. Which makes PERFECT sense, since he is a Patterson and we already have 4 second basemen on the roster. Still no contract for Dusty. Think Maddux will get one before him?
4/20
Bad news for the Cubs. Derek Lee is out for 2 to 3 months. Ouch. But that’s the best news Dusty Baker could have hoped for in the final year of his contract. Fair or not, the Cubs had to make the playoffs for him to secure another contract. But how can he be expected to put together a championship team without its best player? Watch how Dusty plays this up the rest of the year. “We were ½ game out of first when D Lee went down” or “I feel like we’ve been on the verge of greatness except for a few bad breaks.” Just remind him how Tony LaRussa did in 2000 with the 1999 home run leader on the bench for 73 games. (So you don’t have to look it up, the Cardinals won the division, won the division series, but lost in the NL championship.) Anyway, while there was no doubt in my mind that Dusty is done in Chicago after this year (or sooner), at least now he can blame his failure on someone else. He’s been given a pass on a lot of things he’s said, and did anyone notice how the Giants have remained competitive without him? (Well, as long as Bonds is playing.) Most people would agree that Felipe Alou’s days as a great manager ended around the millennium, but for 2 of the 3 years he’s been in San Francisco, the Giants have been in the pennant chase. Dusty would have you believe he engineered the winning seasons while he was there, but it seems to me those great seasons came about the same time Barry Bonds was speculated to have started using steroids. But enough about that. How to fill that void. If only we still had Holly. Mabry and “Walk” would be fine for a few weeks. But any more than that will put them in a hole deeper than Mike Mulligan could dig. Will they trade for Soriano now? Dusty won’t play Dopirak or Sing if one of them is brought up. Is J.T. Snow available? Nomar? I think the season officially ended today.
4/23
My brother suggested some sort of tribute to Oscar Acosta, who died in a car crash last week. If you’ll recall, Oscar was the Cubs’ pitching coach in 2000 and 2001. What usually isn’t mentioned in any of the articles about him was that he did not complete the 2001 season with the Cubs. He resigned before the season ended to avoid being fired by manager Don Baylor. Many of the Cubs’ pitchers publicly came out in support of him at the time. The Cubs ended the year with the 4th best ERA in the league, so he was doing something right. (The year before Acosta came to the Cubs, the team ERA was 13th in the league.) The Cubs had the best record in the NL on 7/31, and then proceeded to tank down the stretch. They were 7-14 in one run games from that point on. They finished 5 games out of first (St. Louis and Houston tied). That was the beginning of the end for Baylor. Granted, losing Bill Mueller to a freak injury didn’t help things. And Todd Hundley hit worse than 3/5 of the starting rotation. Oscar was, how do you want to say it, a little outspoken. On a trip to the mound you would often see him yelling at the pitcher. He had the respect of his players, but did not do well with Cubs’ management. I always felt like Baylor should have been the one to go, and not Oscar.
Now on to today’s game. Maddux is on fire. Who would have thought he would be 4-0 and lead the league in ERA at this point? I am amazed. Imagine if he would have taken his off-season training a little more seriously before this year. It will be interesting to see if Clemens decides to un-retire now that it looks like Maddux might pass him on the all time wins list. Dusty was again confused with the double switch yesterday. In case you are reading this Dusty, you generally don’t want to double switch if it means removing your team’s best hitter. Also, the double switch really is not meant for the 5th inning. It’s something you should use late in the game, since you are removing 2 players at the same time. And I’m not sure the explanation given for the double switches made sense. Trying to get the most innings out of the guys pitching without running out of pitchers or position players? You have to leave a pitcher in for more than an inning or two for that to really come into play. And it kind of looked liked all the position players got into the game. Maybe Dusty’s next job should be in the AL, where the substitutions don’t get so complicated. Of course, it seems that Chicago is where managers tend to manage for the last time. If you don’t believe me, check out http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CHC/ for the details.
5/1
Break up the Brew Crew. At least Dusty got the bullpen some much needed work. And the team got some fielding practice. Well, not a whole lot of fielding involved on home runs, but they weren’t all home runs. Who would have thunk that Maddux would be the ace on this staff. Even with Wood and Prior out, I don’t think anyone was expecting Zambrano to stink it up so much. Good thing the Pirates are next on the schedule. Unfortunately they also get to see Zach Duke. Maybe in the two weeks since they’ve seen him last they can make some adjustments. I heard a comment from Steve Stone saying that now the Cubs have to renew Dusty’s contract, since he can’t be blamed for the injury to DLee. I don’t know if he’s sincere, or he just likes sticking it to Cubs’ management. Tony LaRussa seemed to do okay without Scott Rolen last year. And maybe this year too? Baker won’t be back if they have another candidate in the organization with managing experience, say someone like Grady Little. Oh, never mind. I thought of a great sign to hold up at a Pirates/Cubs game to get on TV. Dressed in my full Cub attire, the sign I would hold would read “Dyslexic Color-Blind Pirate Fan.” Of course, how many people would that offend? Maybe if I make red letters on a green background that would help. Keep hearing rumors about Tony Clark. Now is not the time to make that kind of a trade. The sharks can sense the blood in the water. Could lose another Dontrelle Willis in that deal. How bad is Walker at first base? At least he can hit. And aren’t there 3 other 2nd basemen on the team. Even with the double-switch, Dusty has a hard time getting them all in the game. Good thing he likes to start that in the early innings.
5/5
Come on. Derek Lee is responsible for how many runs a game? One? Two? In the last 6 games the Cubs have been outscored 44-5. So if Lee was in the lineup, they would have only been outscored by 20 or 25 runs? It’s a good thing the Cubs have a manager that’s so good with his players. Don’t want to make them feel bad about how much they stink. I’ve noticed that the team could not afford Tom Emanski’s videos and decided to go with Moises Alou’s Baserunning Basics. How many stupid baserunning plays can they make? Ronny Cedeno should just stand on first base so he doesn’t get picked off. Of course, it could be worse. I saw Corey Patterson get doubled off. On the highlights, they put a clock on him and showed him running back and forth between first and second for almost 20 seconds. Finally he got tagged out. Wouldn’t you think you would at least stand on a base? Wonder if the Orioles will ever make another trade with the Cubs. I got a birthday present in the mail this week. A friend of mine put $10 on the Cubs to win the World Series this year. I guess I won’t throw it away until they are mathematically eliminated. Of course, I could luck out like in 1994 with the strike. Made the same bet and got my money back due to the cancelled World Series. That’s the most I’ve made betting on the Cubs. Well, unless you count the bet I made on the Marlins for Game 7 of the 2003 NLCS. I thought maybe while the Cubs were in Arizona they would pull the trigger on a trade for that first baseman in Arizona. No, not Clark. Mark Grace.
5/9
Don’t pitch around him. Hit him. 4 times a game for 3 games. The Cubs’ season is over. But they have a chance to make a statement that baseball won’t – cheating isn’t tolerated. So they lose 4 pitchers a game – maybe 3 in the first one if the umpires don’t figure it out right away. If they luck out, they can use a couple of those pitchers in the other games of the series, so only 3 or 4 guys get suspended. Might be worth it just to get Baker suspended as well – maybe the team will be able to go on a winning streak?
6/1
I was waiting for a winning streak before
writing any more. I hate piling on. Well, not really.
Nothing too exciting has happened lately, has it? I think the
series with the Braves is a good sample of the entire season. A
no-hit bid ends up a loss when the Braves score 3 in the 9th.
With the winning run scoring on a play where Neifi makes 2 errors.
Braves win 2 to 1, starting their two run rally with a walk with 2
outs. Braves hit 8 home runs against 0 for the Cubs, and yet
somehow the game goes into extra innings. Only to see the
outcome decided by a popup bouncing off of Jose Canseco’s
Aramis Ramirez’s head. But things are looking up.
The management finally found a way to improve the slumping offense.
Mowing the grass. Mowing the grass? MOWING THE GRASS!?!?
Did this come to Dusty in a dream? I guess the thinking is that
since the Ramirez, Cedeno, and Walker are bad fielders anyway, this
makes it harder for them to actually get to any balls. Did
anyone bother to check with the pitching staff, say like the 3
starters with the most wins (Maddux, Zambano, and Marshall) who get a
large percentage of their outs on ground balls? I think Dusty
has a bet with someone. He’s trying to get fired by the
all-star break. Next, he’s going to cut down the ivy.
Or get permission to wear throwback uniforms of the 1969 Cubs.
And change his number to 14. My resume is on the way shortly.
6/5
Let me get this straight. Dusty gets the bat he needs, and he plays him only against lefties? Or as a pinch hitter? At least the Rangers are still paying most of that salary. “You wish he played a number of positions. It’d make it a lot easier.” Maybe they should trade for a guy like JERRY HAIRSTON????? I feel like Frank Grimes. Granted, Walker’s fielding percentage is much better at first base than at second base – FOR THE 40 GAMES HE’S PLAYED THERE IN HIS CAREER!!!!! (Well, at least I waited until June to bring out the caps lock key.) I’m now thinking all the news about strains and tears is to take attention off of what’s happening ON the field. I’m heading to bed now. I expect when I wake up tomorrow that the no-hitter/perfect game is gone and the Cubs have lost 10-8.
6/8
Lost 2 out of 3 to Houston while outscoring them 9 to 5. At least this time they won the game where Z flirted with a no-hitter. And now getting spanked by the Reds. Well, they ARE the first place Reds, so maybe we shouldn’t feel so bad. Did anyone think Rusch could have a repeat performance of his Cardinal game last time out? Well, Dusty probably did. At least this time we could get Arroyo out. His OPS against the Cubs was like 2.600, if I did the math right. The AP has even started mocking the Cubs: “Chicago's Glendon Rusch (2-6) had a breakthrough of sorts. Heading into the game, the left-hander had already faced Arroyo twice this season and lost both times. Worse, Arroyo had homered off of him in both games. Rusch struck out Arroyo twice on Thursday, ending that part of their head-to-head domination. But Rusch fell to 0-3 in their matchups because he couldn't handle the guys who batted right ahead of him.” I think the Cubs traded for a first baseman at the end of May, but I’m not sure. I wonder if DLee will only play against lefties.
6/16
For at least one more day, the Cubs aren’t the worst team in the NL. (Well, going by records anyway. They ARE the worst team in the major leagues. Kansas City at least looks like they are trying to win games.) That should end this weekend with the series against the Tigers. I was wondering when Murton was going to lose his job. According to my sources, that happens when DLee gets off the DL. Sounds like Murton will get sent to AAA, and they’ll go with the Bynum/Nevin platoon. Murton’s .228 average against right handers is the justification Dusty is using. Of course, that’s still better than Neifi’s average against lefties, righties, or batting practice pitchers. If only Murt could play second. So much for “hiding” Walker at first base. I know it’s a team game and all, but it does seem like that guy loses more games for his team than anyone I’ve ever seen. Seems like there are a lot of late inning situations where he either boots a ball or hits into a key double play. Yesterday he did both in one inning. I think the Cubs need to move to the AL where they can use the DH. Of course, they’ve got about 6 guys you’d like to put in that spot. Zambrano has a dead arm, but I’m sure it has NOTHING to do with his recent pitch counts (124, 101, 126, 126, and yesterday’s 107). Anyone still think the pitching injuries the Cubs have are unrelated to Dusty Baker’s game management?
6/17
I'm torn. Sure, I'd like to see the Cubs with the worst record in the NL. Once you hit bottom, there's no where to go but up. Well, with this team, the meaning of futility could change. But I was thinking it might be better if at the All-Star break that the host city (Pittsburgh) was the worst team in the league. Not sure if the press would make a big deal about it or not. Most of them think MLB has a few problems that just need to be “tweaked” a little. Baseball insiders admit the hGh thing is a problem, but it's not just related to baseball. It's a problem with other sports and within our nation's homes. Funny, I'm not worried about my neighbor taking it so he can mow his lawn faster than me. I guess baseball is like any other business. Until the federal government gets involved, they sometimes try to get away with whatever they can. I guess MLB is no different than Enron or Arthur Anderson. Someone will look back years from now and wonder how MLB got away with the things they did. Teams hold cities/state hostage over new stadium deals. Anyone remember the White Sox threatening to move to Tampa/St. Petersburg? I was thinking a couple other teams threatening that move as well, but I'd have to do some research to support that. Now MLB is using Las Vegas and Portland the same way, though I honestly don't think they'll ever seriously consider a team in either city. It's funny to me how the owners and players seem to blame each other for baseball's problems, but in reality, both are benefiting and have no desire to change. The luxury tax is a great example. Even with that tax, the Yankees and Red Sox make money. And teams like the Pirates and Royals are profitable not from what they do on the field, but from that free money from MLB. Sure, George complains that the money he is giving to MLB should be spent to make teams more competitive, but I don't think he's TOO upset about the 18 “scrimmages” he has each year against the Devil Rays. Whose fault are the excessive ticket prices? Players for wanting so much money? Owners for sticking it too their fans? MLB for setting the post season prices? Every one of them can point to someone else and avoid taking any responsibility for the problem. I do think eventually they will price themselves out of the range of most of America. I'm going out on a limb and predicting attendance at PNC in Pittsburgh will be down 25 percent in 2007. They sold a lot of season tickets last year and this year, but only because that was the only way a fan could guarantee getting All-Star game tickets. They do have a lot of young talent, but unless they start winning, the fans will stay away. I know in Atlanta they've had to lower some ticket prices to get fans now – and that's a team that seems to be doing things right. You can go to the game for as little as a buck, but for those seats, you may as well be watching from home. The $5 tickets are not a bad deal – especially since you can then go sit in the Chop House in center field and watch the game from there. In the shade, padded seats, televisions close by for replays, and food and beer delivered to you. Best kept secret in Atlanta. But I digress. This is supposed to be “what's wrong with the Cubs” and it has turned into more than that. When they make me baseball's acting commissioner for life, I'll fix all this. Until then, I'm working on getting the gig with the Cubs and trying to fix one small piece.