"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do, I stare out the window and wait for spring." - Rogers Hornsby

:: Thursday, October 07, 2004 ::

Hilarious!

During today's Houston/Atlanta Division Series game, Astros manager Phil Garner apparently faked phone line trouble between the dugout and the bullpen, so he could get Brad Lidge extra time to warm up.

This resulted in the game being played under protest by the Braves, as it was announced on the radio broadcast, for "phone antics".

Jim Durham, former Chicago Bulls announcer (and someone who'd make a good replacement for Chip Caray, incidentally), was doing the game, and he kept mentioning this with an incredulous tone in his voice. I was too. First of all, the only protest I can ever remember being upheld to the point that a portion of the game was replayed, was the famous Pine Tar Game between the Royals and Yankees in 1983. Most protests are disallowed, and this one became moot when Rafael Furcal homered in the 12th to win the game for the Braves 4-2 and even up the series 1-1.

I mention this because to me, this is another symptom of the incivility with which baseball seems to becoming imbued. Other examples are the whining of Moises Alou, and the "antics", if you will, of players like Milton Bradley and Jose Guillen, both of whom were suspended by their teams, and one of whom is missing the playoffs as a result, or even the actions of Sammy Sosa in ducking out the other day.

Phil Garner shouldn't have done this, and I don't think Bobby Cox thought his protest would be upheld, but I see why he made it -- to tell Garner that he saw right through his silly little trick.

Baseball managers have for decades tried to outthink and one-up their opponents -- Tony LaRussa revels in this sort of thing -- but really, this was too much.

Too bad, too, because there have already been two terrific games in the division series, this one, plus last night's Yankee comeback 7-6 win over the Twins. The wrong team won, but it was a marvelous game.

Damn, I wish we were there.

:: posted by Al at 8:46 PM [+] ::
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Take A Deep Breath And Step Back

I guess it really hit me this afternoon while I was watching the Astros' methodical dismantlement of the Braves, 9-3 today, and I kept thinking:

"That's OUR game."

The Cubs would have been playing in Atlanta today, only with one difference -- I bet ESPN would have put the Cubs/Braves game in prime time, and had the Yankees/Twins at 4 PM ET. The Houston/Atlanta matchup is the one with the least drawing power, either by TV or in person (the Braves ought to be upset about helping knock the Cubs out, because today's attendance of 41,464 is about 10,000 fewer than would have been in the Ted had the Cubs been the opponent), and thus winds up in the afternoon.

But that's wishful thinking, and the Rogers Hornsby quote I have at the top of this blog is really true -- I HAVE been staring out the window, though it's too early to wait for spring, as it was 76 degrees in Chicago today, a gorgeous day for baseball, and it's supposed to be pleasant here this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, the days we would have hosted...

OK, I have to stop now. And that's what the Cubs players, management and broadcasters have to do too. Stop, think about what's been said and done and how destructive it was, and that continuing it now serves no purpose other than to drive the knife in even deeper than it already is, in every way.

This season didn't turn out like we wanted it to, and you know, looking back you could have almost seen this from the very first week of spring training, when Mark Prior got hurt. And then Mark Grudzielanek got hurt. And then Joe Borowski didn't seem right, and we found out HE was probably hurt all along. And Kerry Wood got suspended and THEN hurt. And Todd Hollandsworth...

Well, you get the idea. Virtually everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong in 2004 for the Cubs, and even with that, they won 89 games and were in the race till the final week of the season.

We are not used to this. You know, there may be something to the tag that everyone put on the Cubs for years -- lovable losers. It's hard to change the mindset from loser to winner, and Dusty Baker, for all his faults, HAS done that, I truly believe that, and getting rid of him would be a mistake of the first magnitude. It doesn't mean we have to be unlovable winners, but I think maybe this franchise has been so imbued with the losing mindset, that suddenly having all the ducks in a row -- at least on the proverbial paper -- was a shock to the system.

Getting rid of Steve Stone would also be an enormous error, and I don't think the Cubs are that stupid. They know of Stone's popularity, and they know how much money WGN, and the new Comcast Sports Net, brings in and will continue to bring in, and as I've said to many who've made a big deal to me over Stone -- it IS, in some ways, a great big TV show, and why would you get rid of the show's biggest star?

Of course, the TEAM ought to be the biggest star, but some don't see it that way, and after all, this is all about money, for good or ill, and the Cubs will make more money with Steve Stone than without him, and so after some time to sit and think and cool off, rather than keep sniping in the heat of the moment as they seem to be doing now, and I think Baker said it best:

I didn't want to leave [Chicago for the off-season] with that on my mind and that in my heart. Wipe the slate clean and start again next year.

This is really at the heart of all of it. 2004 is over. Looking back with recriminations doesn't accomplish a thing. Baker has the right idea -- he's off on a hunting trip and then back to his off-season home in California. In a few weeks, I'm sure all parties will sit down and work things out.

About the team itself, it's clear that the following things were the death of the ballclub:

* a lack of basic fundamental play, particularly defense and baserunning;

* monstrous bullpen failures caused in part by the injury to Borowski, the promotion and failure of LaTroy Hawkins as closer, and the failure to replace these two slots;

* too much reliance on three-run homers, which can't happen if there isn't anyone on base, which with too many strikeout-prone hitters, happened way too often;

* injuries.

All of these things can be addressed without ripping the entire roster apart, though I would say that there are only three absolutely untouchable players: Carlos Zambrano, Mark Prior and Aramis Ramirez. Anyone else could, in my mind, be traded in the right deal, and I emphasize RIGHT.

So many Cub fans are out for Sammy Sosa's hide, based on his poor performance and his disappearing act on Sunday, for which I am certain he will be disciplined.

But you underestimate Sosa if you think he won't rededicate himself to his craft in the offseason. I have said this before, and it bears repeating -- Sammy may be a hotdog, but he NEVER loafs, and I'll bet he's absolutely embarrassed by his season. Maybe he bristled at hearing Baker say that he (Sosa) must work hard this offseason, but if he sits down and soul-searches, I'd think he'll realize that Dusty is right.

With Moises Alou almost certain to be an ex-Cub (and perhaps torture someone else's postseason chances as a result), trading Sammy would be a mistake.

There's plenty of time to speculate on acquisitions, particularly since some of them (Carlos Beltran, for example, might be more likely to stay in Houston if they go deep into the postseason) are contingent on playoff performances, and don't pay any attention to ridiculous rumors like the one today: Sosa for Chan Ho Park and Alfonso Soriano? Absurd.

Bryan over at The Cubdom has gone through the traditional "Five Stages"... I'm not so sure that I have yet, but unlike 1984 when I could not watch one minute of the World Series, or last year when I just kinda peeked at the Marlins and Yankees, I will watch the playoffs this year...

and root really hard for the Red Sox. I figure, if they win, we HAVE to be next.

Finally, without comment, I post my 2004 baseball award picks. I doubt you'll find too many surprises -- the award selections this year, to my mind, are glaringly obvious in almost all categories.

The Bottom-of-the-Heap Awards will follow, probably next week.

MVP: AL, Vladimir Guerrero. NL, Barry Bonds.
Cy Young: AL, Johan Santana. NL, Roger Clemens.
Rookie of the Year: AL, Bobby Crosby. NL, Khalil Greene.
Manager of the Year: AL, Ron Gardenhire. NL, Bobby Cox.

:: posted by Al at 6:55 PM [+] ::
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Requiem For A Season

The Cubs beat the Braves 10-8 in the season finale at Wrigley Field yesterday.

And that was the end, shockingly, under an early-October blue sky, with a few wispy cirrus clouds floating by, a gorgeous 70-degree day that belied the pain and sorrow and sadness we all felt in realizing that we were to be leaving the greatest place on Earth for six months, rather than be returning on Saturday to play these same Braves in the Division Series.

I said to everyone before the game that I knew they'd win this last one, with the pressure off, and with the wind blowing out at 17 MPH, I figured there would be a few home runs -- the balls were flying out during BP, and indeed there were six homers hit during the game.

With the wind blowing we played Home Run Derby, and guess who won? DAVE, who never plays these sorts of things, decided to do so yesterday, and he picked (you get two picks each) Jason Dubois and Mark Grudzielanek.

Sheesh! How prescient can you get? Dubois hit his first major league homer, a long high fly ball that nearly made the concession stand, and a triple -- in his first two at-bats, no less, giving us the thought that he might hit for the cycle -- and Grudz hit one too, earning some dollar bills for Dave and our respect (which of course, we have had for him anyway for years) for being so smart.

Just like last year, the Cubs played a meaningless game on the last day of the season. Last year, of course, it was festive because of the division clinching and the retirement of Ron Santo's number 10.

This year, it had a "who cares" atmosphere, but the sunshine made it bearable, and there were a few final salvos from people who won't be back -- Moises Alou set a career high with his 39th home run, and Kent Mercker left us with an indelible black mark by allowing a homer to DeWayne Wise (who hit one-third of his season total of six in this series), the only batter he faced.

It's been said that Alou and Mercker are two of the Cubs this year who were "problem children", and I'm not going to get deeply into that, even though it is clear that the elusive "team chemistry" was indeed part of the problem in 2004. This team, on the proverbial paper, was certainly the best team talent-wise in the National League. That doesn't always do it, as we learned so bitterly in 1969, and again this year. There will have to be changes. It's clear that having players like Kenny Lofton, who not only knew how to win but who knew how to have fun doing it, is as important to winning as having four thirty-homer players on the ballclub.

I'm not even going to get into the Steve Stone controversy, or Chip Caray leaving, or the Sammy Sosa tempest-in-a-teapot (leaving early yesterday), because none of it addresses the fundamental problems of the club. Eventually, tempers will cool, ALL the people involved, from Stone to Dusty Baker to Jim Hendry to the players, will understand that everyone wants to work toward the common goal of winning, and apologies will be made, and things will go on.

I thank everyone who reads what I write here, and who wrote me in the last couple of days, and I will get back to you and I may post some of the comments here, as the next few days go on, along with some analysis and thoughts about the future. Unlike last year, when it was difficult to watch the World Series, this year I'll watch the playoffs with interest -- there are, after all, some intriguing matchups, and root real hard for the Red Sox, because I figure if they win, we HAVE to be next. I'll be writing about the Cubs and baseball in the off-season, as well as occasional movie reviews, political stuff, and whatever hits me to write about.

I ate way too much yesterday -- I had a taste for a Murphy's (the bar across the street from the bleacher entrance) cheeseburger, so I had one, and then Howard showed up with the traditional Jimmy John's -- and yes, we had one final ceremonial Tomato Inning, which turned out to be the inning after all the scoring was done, the seventh. I'll keep eating the sandwiches next year, but the Tomato Inning was something exclusive to 2004, and so we'll have to find another ritual in 2005.

Maybe I was trying to comfort myself with all the eating, because then we all went over to the traditional last-day bleacher regular party, where I wolfed down a couple of hot dogs and also some overly-spicy chicken wings, all the time having a few laughs and tears over the season just past, and Mike said to each of us:

"When they finally lay you in the ground, you won't be pounding on the lid of the coffin, saying 'Dammit, they didn't win in my lifetime!'"

Well, I took that to mean that they WILL win, and I asked him for a guarantee, which he gave all of us, that they would do so, but he explained later that wasn't exactly what he meant -- and Howard put it in perspective when he was discussing, at the post-game party, when the subject turned to the presidential debate of last week, and I suppose that in the grand scheme of things, making sure that the world doesn't end in a nuclear fireball, is more important than whether or not the Cubs win.

And to put it in a little more perspective, yesterday, John Cerutti, former Blue Jays pitcher and current television announcer and a man about four years younger than I am, was found dead in his Toronto hotel room.

Even given that sobering thought, this ballclub is so deep in our hearts and souls that for us -- all of us, a record 3,170,172 who walked into the hallowed brick & ivy cathedral in 2004, it does matter, in a deep way, and this is why we persevere every year, this is why, that though it hurts right now, in a few months we'll renew our season tickets, and head off to Arizona for spring training and sunshine when we need it most, in the depths of winter, and why we will show up next April, hope in our hearts, faith in our minds, and...

To 2005, my friends. Wait till NEXT year!

And I close, as I did a year ago, with my favorite baseball quote, appropriate once again, from the late commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti:

It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, you rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then, just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops.

:: posted by Al at 9:18 AM [+] ::
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