Show that man "The Crazy"

It seems that Lin Brehmer is getting his way so far this year.

Now I'm wondering if the term "out of left field" really comes from the Cubs' past. The geography certainly lines up right.

(And I know the Rube Waddell story is accepted as fact, even if it seems a little hard to believe at times.)

MLB.com shows it has a sense of humor

It's the usual storyline, but for some reason, the headline struck me as funny tonight. (I'd like to point out that this likely the 100th anniversary of the first Cubs fan saying, "This is the year.")

Tonight, as the third story on the MLB.com home page was the headline, "Once again, this could be the year."

It seems like even MLB.com might be sick of its own hype. Just look at the monster they've created.

* Maybe they want to re-evaluate running commercials with Dontrelle Willis in them for right now? Just let the poor guy lay low for a few weeks until he feels a bit better?

* God, how I've missed the wit and wisdom of Mark Grace. On the pre-season replay MLB Network is running right now, there was just a 30-second conversation about how he was not a "stats" guy.

To kill time, Grace was being asked if he would be following and of a host of categories from WHIP to BABIP. After each stat listed, Grace would just utter a "nope" or a "nuh-uh."

Preseason baseball is the best, especially when the announcers just assume no one is listening anyways. It's like a real life Harry DOyle, but with a little less alcohol.

Didn't they just do this?

Correct me if I'm wrong. but didn't they just resod Wrigley Field last season?

Is this a new yearly tradition, or is the Chicago Tribune struggling for copy to put on the web site these days?

Regardless, there's a small photo gallery up of the whole shooting match, for you to peruse. Also, is it too much to ask the grounds crew to maintain the grass from year to year?

I mean, part of the romance of baseball is seeing the same stadiums that hosted Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Ted Williams. With that is the idea that the field is the same as it was for those Hall of Famers.

Now to learn this? It's downright shocking.

There's just no way

One of the big links floating today is the Baseball Prospectus win/loss projections for the year and for those keeping an eye on Chicago, it's feast or famine.

The Cubs are predicted to finish an NL-best 95-67, while the White Sox are being projected to finish last in the AL Central, with a record of 74-88.

No way do the White Sox do that poorly, to finish a (hypothetical) game behind the Royals.

No word on whether or not the Dodgers get a bump if they win back Manny Ramirez's heart.

See you later, Under Armour

Money seems to be the topic of the day at Clark and Addison, so who am I to fight the trend?

Under Armour (and for the record, I blame the superfluous "u" for all of this) came up a bit short when it came to yearly revenue and essentially told the Cubs that they can stop waiting for payment from them because it's not coming.

You'll remember that the Under Armour ads on the walls were the source of debate when they went up on the outfield doors last year. After bricks and ivy for years, the Cubs sold the rights to paint the metal doors and the howls about the tradition of the game being in peril began.

Well, it shouldn't be an issue any more. From the Sun-Times:

Under Armour, in exchange for marketing benefits, agreed to give the Cubs $10.8 million to be the “Official Performance Brand” of the team from the 2009-13 seasons, according to the suit.

However, Under Armour's year-end earnings were “lower than expected and did not meet industry expectations,” the suit said. The company’s stock fell 15 percent and according to the suit, Under Armour expects its 2008 income to be $10 million less than 2007's.

When executives realized their financial situation in December, the Cubs claim they breached the contract and told the team the $10.8 million would not be coming.

Ummm... Can they do that? Because I can't do that.

More surprising is the line, "The suit asks a federal court to prohibit Under Armour from disregarding its agreement with the Cubs." I'm no lawyer, but it sounds like Under Armour has opted for the, "Uh, yeah, dude. I'm not paying you back for that," defense.

Under Armour! The deadbeat college roommate of the sports apparel world!

(Image from MouthPieceSports.com)

Wrigley faithful, meet your new daddy

Assuming all the paperwork goes along smoothly, Cubs fans can expect an end to their seasons of nightmare where their team played without a big boss in charge.

After years under corporate control in the Tribune media machine, the team is lined up to be the property of the Ricketts family in the next few days. After an early release where they were essentially tabbed "bidding group A" - which terrifies any fans who also follow Illinois politics and assume any lettered entity to be a high-profile witness in a corruption trial - the Tribune released word that the Ricketts were the answer to the big question for the ballclub.

The Tribune reports:

The family, which has Chicago connections but made its fortune building a discount stock brokerage in Omaha, confirmed Thursday night that it has been selected by Tribune Co. to begin exclusive negotiations to buy the team, Wrigley Field and a 25 percent stake in Comcast SportsNet, a regional cable network.

Sources put the value of the bid at about $900 million. That works out to $9 million for each season since the team's last World Series title in 1908.

Thanks for clearing that up, guys. I need to know every piece of Cubs-related trivia in relation to years of futility. It really helps define me as a person.

The article goes on to explain what the process is (especially in the context of the current credit crater).

The family will have to hammer out a final agreement with Tribune Co. and secure financing amid the worst credit markets since the Depression. Once a contract is inked, the deal must be approved by 23 of Major League Baseball's 30 owners. Cubs officials have said they hope to have the new owners in place by the start of the season in April.

So, welcome to Chicago, Ricketts family! It's a wonderful town to own a team - just ask the McCaskey's or the Wirtz's.

Signs of life

Sorry for the issues lately, most of those should come to an end in the new year - and chances are that if you're reading this, they are fixed for good.

Anyways, as Wrigley's playing surface is prepped to host a hockey game tomorrow, the front office personnel must have decided to come in for a half day on New Year's Eve, pulling the trigger on a deal that sends Mark DeRosa to the Indians in return for pitching prospects.

Smart money says this is groundwork for a Jake Peavy deal in early 2009.

From the Trib:

After spending much of the last two winters wondering about his job security in Chicago, Mark DeRosa was sent to Cleveland today following the signing of second baseman Aaron Miles. The Cubs acquired three pitching prospects from the Indians for DeRosa -- left-hander John Stevens, who was added to the 40-man roster, lefty John Gaub and right-hander Chris Archer.

What? They're baseball guys

For those unaware of the goings on at Wrigley Field this offseason, the Chicago Blackhawks will face the Red Wings at some point on or around New Year's Eve or Day on an open air rink at the Friendly Confines.

The ticket prices are through the roof and people are really excited for hockey, so, uh yeah?

Anyways, this was the news from Wrigley today - the Zamboni fell off the truck in the parking lot.

Of course it did.

Apparently, this sort of thing happens a lot, because the thing ran just fine afterwards. Well, except for that grinding noise, but I'm sure that happened before, too.

It's probably nothing.

Catching up with old friends

Of note to Cubs fans today are two major stories - Greg Maddux has said it's time to head home and Ron Santo was not allowed into the Hall of Fame again.

I'll point you to this feature on Maddux and wish him well. He was always one of those players where it was difficult to separate fact from fiction, in fact, I challenge you to make up a story about the man's control over his pitches and not get your friends to believe it.

The great thing about Maddux was that he wasn't some hulking monster waiting to clobber home runs to straightaway center - which is funny because he was the original "chicks dig the long ball" guy - but rather, a quiet man who got by on his intelligence and preparation.

In short, he's the player we all assume we could be if we worked that hard.

If only it was that easy.

Santo was kept out yet again in a tale that has long since being surprising. Sorry, Ron. Better luck next year. If you could keep a lid on bemoaning the fact all season, we'd all really appreciate it.

Beggars and choosers

Piggybacking off of yesterday's post, I'd like to revisit the release of Kerry Wood for the last time... this week.

One of the big reasons this season was so exciting for me personally - and I suspect for many Cubs fans - was that Wood returned and was able to keep plowing forward and stay healthy for most of the season.

Of course, many of us saw this as a good omen and were proved wrong for the 100th consecutive year. No, we'll never learn.

To be totally honest, I'd rather see Chicago hoist the World Series trophy with Wood on the field, but at this point, it doesn't make any sense to start setting conditions for a victory that has eluded the team for a century.

It reminds me of the buzz that whips up around a team as they are a game away from winning it all, but will be playing on the road. The fans really, really want to see the final game on their home field, but unless they've gotten greedy, most fans don't breathe a word of this until after the last out goes in the book.

Obviously, the Cubs are not even close to this position.

While a championship with Wood on the roster would have been nice, the Cubs obviously see the need to win with whatever combination works. I guess that counts as progress at Clark and Addison, so I'll take it.

While I will miss Wood as much as anybody, I embrace any sort of change that brings a title to the North Side, short of purchasing the New York Yankees and teaching their pitchers how to bunt.

I will, however, take a degree of solace in knowing that Wood - for better or for worse from his standpoint - has been branded as a lifelong Cub, much like Mark Grace before him. So, while I'll quietly watch the rest of his career on MLB Extra Innings and cheer for him after overpaying for his services in fantasy baseball, I can also get behind the moves to push Carlos Marmol to the forefront of the bullpen and welcome any space cleared in the budget to try and move the team forward into an additional round of the playoffs.

And who knows, maybe this isn't goodbye to Wood as stranger things have happened at the trading deadline. It worked with Maddux, right?

(Image from: Some random Wordpress blog, so it's probably not even theirs)

Cubs no longer "got wood"

Not quite a year after I wrote this, the Kerry Wood era has ended in Chicago. Well, on the North Side, at least. There's no telling what Kenny Williams will do next after trading last year's big signing. (More on that later.)

This morning, the Cubs made a move for Florida's Kevin Gregg for a minor leaguer and parted ways with Wood just after lunchtime. Presumably, this means Carlos Marmol becomes the closer and that Gregg becomes the setup man who can move to a closer role if Marmol stumbles.

All of this means that Wood will be pitching somewhere else next season.

While my man-love of Wood (wait, that sounds bad...) is well-documented here, he leaves on a high note after returning from his endless trip to the DL, an All-Star selection and finishing fourth in saves for National League pitchers last year.

"We’re just in a situation, as Kerry fully understands, that that length of deal, for the kind of salary he’d command right now, is not our first priority. We certainly have to finish our rotation, we have offensive situations to address, and by having the prominence that (Carlos) Marmol now brings to the table, it certainly doesn’t come before the other needs we have. We felt it was time Kerry goes out and does what’s best for him and his family, and gets a huge multi-year deal if possible."

On the South Side, the White Sox traded away Nick Swisher, the switch-hitting fountain of awesome that GM Kenny Williams had to have last year.

Wait, make that - Had. To. Have. (Last year.)

To the point that he pried him from Oakland for the most promising part of the Chicago farm system. Yeah, that guy? He's gone now.

The Yankees swapped Wilson Betemit and minor league pitchers Jeff Marquez and Jhonny Nunez in exchange for Swisher and minor league pitcher Kanekoa Texeira.

(And what's up with another Jhonny in the majors? I thought Peralta was the only one ever. Now we have two in baseball?)

I think that the Swisher experiment - which according to the sidebar on ESPN says that he had the lowest batting average of any player with a qualifying number of at bats (502... uh why is that the number?) - is the equivalent of losing your shirt while flipping a house.

You bought the house because you could, but never really kept it long enough to turn any sort of profit.

Note: While I don't share the sentiment on Wood's long-term prospects as the answer to the closer problem for the Cubs put forth by Steve Rosenbloom, I do share this view:

I’ll miss the guy. I’ll miss his story. I’ll miss the big sound of Wrigley when he entered a game and the bigger one when he ended it.

(Image taken for Siberian Baseball)

Derrek Lee-ving?

While the link off the Chicago Tribune's home page plays up the rumors that Jake Peavy would waive his no-trade clause to pitch on the North Side, the real surprise comes from the idea that it would take Derrek Lee to swing the deal with San Diego.

From Phil Rogers:

The Cubs are on the list of teams for which Jake Peavy will waive his no-trade clause. This doesn't look like a fit, but don't be surprised if Jim Hendry tries to put together a package that would include a swap of first basemen, Derrek Lee and Adrian Gonzalez, who is supposedly untouchable.

Interesting move, it shakes up the lineup following another October implosion and provides a pound of flesh for fans still angry that Lee has under-performed in the playoffs as a member of the Cubs.

I honestly can't imagine a scenario where it makes sense to kill a cash cow like Lee - not to mention that his postseason drought has only occurred while wearing Cubbie pinstripes - regardless of how badly the team wants Peavy.

(Image taken for Siberian Baseball)

Can they package a side of Papi with that, too?

I'd be a completely worthless blogger if I didn't pile on regarding the wild speculation on the big free agent names every fall.

Sure, technically every team is looking at every free agent - and if they're not, then how do they justify their billable hours? - but the two big names in the front of the pack this hot stove season are Manny Ramirez and Jake Peavy.

Peavy is an easy one, as he's announcing his preference to stay in the National League where he can stick with hitters he already has a book on and won't face a designated hitter several times a game.

The best part of this is Greg Maddux's comment that he's stuck around the NL for his entire career because he's not stupid.

A trickier discussion arises around Ramirez who is the best way to start an argument with Red Sox fans this month. In the plus column is his status as arguably the best pure hitter in the majors right now. In the minus column is his "Mannyness" and his representation by Scott Boras.

The question with Ramirez is what it has been for years now - how much crap are you willing to put up with to reap the benefits of his big bat that doesn't disappear in the brightest spotlights?

If you're the Cubs, that crap threshold may be higher than most. Hence, the Manny to Chicago rumors are already swirling. Intertwined with this is the question of how to move Alfonso Soriano and his massive contract.

If nothing else, it gives Cubs fans something to talk about besides curses and how Old Style matches up against Bud Light.

(Image taken for Siberian Baseball)

I'd expect that from a Sox fan

For anyone who missed the Saturday Night Live special Thursday feature, you missed Bill Murray standing up and asking what the candidates would do to help the Cubs and their fans.

From Maureen Walker's The Watcher blog:

Bill Murray, who appeared as himself in a sketch lampooning the town-hall presidential debate last Tuesday, asked Sen. John McCain (Darrell Hammond) and Sen. Barack Obama (Fred Armisen) what they would do to ensure that the Cubs would never lose in the playoffs again.

"Last week, in the National League divisional playoffs, the Chicago Cubs faced the Los Angeles Dodgers. In Game 1, the Cubs lost 7-3. In Game 2, they lost 10-3 and in Game 3, 3-1. What, as president, would you do to guarantee that this never happens again? Senators, in your answers, please be specific,” Murray asked.

“That's a fair question, William, but let's face it, the Cubs may very well be in the playoffs again, perhaps even next year. If so, they will lose again, and they will keep right on losing year after year after year, because that is what the Cubs do. We as a nation have got to wean Cubs fans away from supporting that team and train them to root for other teams – teams that will actually have a chance at winning,” Armisen-as-Obama said.

"Senator McCain?" moderator Tom Brokaw (Chris Parnell) asked.

“Here I have to agree with my opponent,” Hammond-as-McCain said. “Let me give you some straight talk, my friends: The Cubs will never win the pennant, much less the World Series! Junior over there, he won’t tell you that. I just did.”

The thing is that as a Sox fan, the answer from actual Obama might not be far off.

Still, I'm betting that in addition to the fan who has made news lately for auctioning off his fanhood, you'd have quite a few takers if you could jump ship like seeking political asylum.

I wonder how many would jump to the South Side if there would be no repercussions. To be honest, the bandwagon is still pretty full, despite all of these unpleasant twists and turns.

Pictures worth 1,000 words

Once again, Palehose 8 has shown us the way.

Sometimes I hate it when he's right.


(Image from: Palehose 8... obviously)

People who get it, people who don't

Best regular season record in the National League.

Worst postseason record in the National League.

So it goes.

I'd like to point everyone to Goat Riders this morning which is doing a great job of mopping up the unmitigated mess that was the Chicago Cubs 2008 playoff run. Of course, this means roping some of the strays back into the herd and taking a hard line on the fans who refuse to admit the earth is round and that there is no curse, spell or supernatural occurrence that caused the Cubs to fail this year.

I don't live on a hill, or behind a pulpit. I'm not looking down on people from a pedestal. I'm just another fan, like everybody else reading this blog, and I really have no place to preach at people. More importantly, I am certainly not a betterfan than anybody. Anybody.

But I am very tired of certain kinds of fans. The pessimists, the woe-is-me's, the doom-sayers, I feel great frustration when I hear from those people. All along we've known a few simple facts - the Cubs were the best team to enter the playoffs, but the playoffs are a crap-shoot where momentum means everything. The best team got eliminated last night, and it happened because they lost their momentum very early in Game 1 and never found a way to get it back.

It's not about curses, it's about crap-shoots. As Billy Beane has always said, you can assemble a great team and put all the pieces together, but once they actually get there other factors come into play. So, to all the insanely negative fans who have allowed a lifetime of losing to distort their world views, I'm sorry, but I have nothing for you.

Amen. Sometimes shit happens.

More frustrating than the lack of progress in the second consecutive playoff sweep is the new wave of speculation that Cubs' fans actually prefer to lose, that it gives us an identity and that if the team actually would win a World Series, it would dash the numbers of fans.

Right. Just like the massive die off of Red Sox Nation after 2004 and 2007.

As a fan with a foot in each camp, I get to put up with this all over again. I nearly took the bait yesterday in the comments section of Babes Love Baseball, where one of the commenters outed themselves as clueless to the whole matter:

Would Cubs fans truly enjoy a World Series victory? Is that what they actually want?

I ask because if they should ever win one again, then Cubs fans lose their ability to complain about how it sucks to be a Cubs fan, and pity this, pity that, it's a hard knock life kind of stuff.

I'm on the fence with the Cubs. I would like for them to win once so I no longer have to hear about poor Cubs fans, but on the other hand, should they win one I could easily see them becoming just as annoying as the Red Sox and their fan base.

Same nonsense as before with the Red Sox and to a lesser extent, the White Sox, and it's never been the case. On the last point? Oh, yeah, that would totally happen. Biggest bandwagon in the history of baseball.

To paraphrase Bill Simmons in the pre-Boston domination era, we just want to be a normal team with no baggage associated with October baseball. Anyone who suggests otherwise has a screw loose somewhere.

No one likes being the loser and prolonged talk about curses and other title droughts only heaps on the pressure that's felt by the team.

Sometimes teams just lose because they cool off at the wrong time, lose momentum and stall out in a short series. Game 2 will be the thorn in my side this winter as a short stretch of defensive ineptitude torpedoed the season in a matter of minutes.

A supernatural goat didn't sweep the Cubs, a Dodgers team with the addition of young talent, Manny Ramirez and players returning from injury in time for October did.

But, as Phil Rogers pointed out this morning, favorites falling early is hardly unheard of in a short series:

The Cubs become the ninth team in the last 14 seasons to lead their league in victories and not advance past the first round. Only five of the No. 1 seeds went on to win the World Series, making it almost twice as likely for a regular-season powerhouse to go the way of the Cubs than to win a championship.

And here's one final factoid: None of the five teams that dominated in both the regular season and the postseason brought in a priest to sprinkle holy water in the dugout on the day of Game 1.

Imagine that.

I dream of a day like that, Phil. I really do. Maybe next year...

(Image taken for Siberian Baseball)

This is a new one

Honestly, in my years of being a fan of sports, I can't recall ever hearing of Muslim intervention. Sure, people pack churches on Sundays and keep checking their watches to make sure they see the kickoff for the Bears' game. I've heard plenty of priests joke that they'll keep it short to reach that end.

On Opening Day this season, I saw a few rows of Cubs jerseys in my church a mile from Wrigley for the morning service.

Safe to say, there are plenty of prayers for the home team sneaking in amongst the serious pleas to a higher power.

But honestly, never Muslims.

Until now.

The prayerful will arrive at Wrigley Field this afternoon to try and right the sinking ship. My favorite quote is at the end of the piece:

Islamic scholar Inamul Haq said seeking Allah's intervention is usually reserved for serious concerns such as bringing rain to a drought or, on a personal level, granting success to a job-seeker so he can feed his family.

"Usually Muslims do not do that for things which are, I would say, morally neutral, and which do not have any element of human suffering," he said.

No suffering? What about that century of futility?

"I am not much for games," he allowed. "Maybe I do not realize the intensity of feeling which fans have for these things."

No. No, you do not.

On the plus side, this might solve the who's right issue once and for all. If 100 years of Catholic God failed and Allah steps up right out of the gate there may be a mass of conversions in the greater Chicagoland area in early November.

(Image from: ADWeek.blogs.com)

A quick bedtime story

With one out to go before the Cubs go down 2-0 in the series, the one shred of hope I am now forced to cling to comes courtesy of my experience as a fan of another beleaguered team, the Boston Red Sox.

Sure, bleary-eyed Cubs fans will spend tomorrow morning telling themselves that in 2004, the Sox rattled off four straight against the Yankees and made it to the World Series, where they finally reached the promised land.

Four games is more than three and the Dodgers are no Yankees, but that's not where I'll be drawing inspiration. (Game Two just ended with a called strike.)

The lessons of 2004 are a double edged sword. On the downside, it takes a team that doesn't feel the pressure to break decades of pent up hope and heartbreak and can just go out and play baseball. I don't feel that the Cubs are that team. One of the only reasons I can see for the offensive drought is that the hitters feel the hopes of the city crashing down on them every time they enter the batter's box.

In short, this team knows its fans a little too well.

On the positive side, 2004 taught me that a team making small strides on a pitch-by-pitch basis can come back, regardless of the opponent. The Cubs aren't facing a team that has bullied them for decades on end and will get out of Chicago for a few days, which hopefully makes things easier for them.

That said, here's a quick story that will keep me going into Saturday's showdown with elimination.

Even after the Red Sox climbed out of their three games to none hole, they still needed to play game seven in the Bronx. Most Boston fans couldn't bring themselves to feel better about that game, stopping just short of insisting that fate had brought them to that point just to smash them on the rocks of despair once again.

I watched cautiously, but I did watch.

Then, a weird thing happened. David Ortiz hit a two run homer with two out in the first to give the Sox an early lead.

In the second, Johnny Damon hit a grand slam to give Boston a 6-0 lead. It was that grand slam that signaled to Sox fans that things just might be OK.

For the first time in a long while, it was.

Final score? 10-3. The Red Sox were headed to the World Series and that game is seen as an afterthought now, missing the drama of the three games that came before it.

That's my point here. As a rational fan (sometimes) I know that the odds are in favor of the Cubs sluggers continuing to struggle, press and ultimately fail as they have for two years running with these players and for a century prior to that for the ballclub as a whole.

I know that given two games at home, the Dodgers should wrap up this series in a game or two and that Cubs fans will quietly slink back to dark rooms for the next few weeks to quietly listen to Eddie Vedder's new song on a near constant loop and focus on the "someday" lyric in "Someday We'll Go All the Way."

I also know that teams that seem unbeatable sometimes fall apart and that a little momentum can go a long way. I know that the Cubs have no one to blame but themselves for lack of run production and sloppy fielding like the kind that plauged them in tonight's game. I know that if the team can stop beating itself, it has a shot to at least hang around long enough for the Dodgers to make some mistakes to capitalize on.

I know, and I cling to this particular point, that sometimes in must-win games, Johnny Damon slaps a home run into the foul pole and your team runs away with a game that caused you to lose sleep over in sickening anticipation. Because of that, I know that when faced with a game you feel there's no way your team can win, every once in a while that team comes in and wins in a laugher that leaves you wondering why you even doubted them in the first place.

I know this because I've lived through this and feel much the same way tonight as I did after the Red Sox were whipped 19-8 on the night of a good friend's wedding.

What I don't know is if the Cubs are up to the challenge of following in the footsteps of idiots for a few weeks in October.

(Image from: HHWeb.com)

Well, at least it isn't Zambrano's fault

There are two outs in the top of the fourth inning of the Cubs/Dodgers game and Chicago has made errors at first, second and third base.

Add Ryan Theriot's barehanded adventure and it's been an amazing game all around for the Cubs.

My wife wasn't watching the game when I passed through to the kitchen in the middle of the "bleed out" inning.

"What's the score?" she asked.

"I dunno, like four or five to nothing," I said. "The defense is playing like shit."

"Wow," she said. "That's a lot of runs if the game just started."

It's like she's never seen the Cubs play before.

Update: Hey, hey! Theriot just got his error. That's one for everyone! A new record! Mark it down! Aww, hell... Why am I still watching this? It's like watching TBS broadcast someone breaking into my truck.

Stop me if you've heard this one

Being a Cub fan in October is a lot like living in a constant state of deja vu. Sure, it's nice that there are two tracks to take, but neither one ends well.

Track one is the one everyone is used to, where you tune into games just a tad late, check your e-mail and wonder if you're a bad fan if you turn off the game in favor of reruns of The Office or to fire up the Xbox. Needless to say, track one is the October where the Cubs miss the playoffs. Will they miss by a little or miss by a lot? Surprise me.

Track two is the one where the Cubs make the playoffs, people go nuts and every 100 years or so, they join the White Sox in the postseason. Usually, they make the playoffs comfortably by virtue of a soft NL Central schedule and hopes are high until first pitch.

Then, the bats go quiet, the stars curl up into the fetal position and you're left looking at the final score and wondering how it got that out of hand.

Again, stop me if you've heard this one.

Tonight, the Cubs walked eight batters - seven of those by the starter, Ryan Dempster - including two free passes to the other team's pitcher. Additionally, the top five batters were two-hit by the Dodgers, with Aramis Ramirez and Derrek Lee picking up one hit a piece. Both also grounded into double plays.

If all of this seems extra familiar this year, it's because the team has picked up where it left off last year, when they were swept by the Diamondbacks in a series so quick that it didn't hurt much.

Lee had four hits in the series, Alfonso Soriano had two and Ramirez had a fat oh-fer.

The three sluggers had one thing in common - zero RBI for the trio. That's in last year's series and in tonight's game against Los Angeles.

The two teams square off again tomorrow night in Chicago and I honestly can't blame any Cubs fans that pass on the festivities because they have reached their breaking point prematurely this season. After all, it is a new episode of The Office tomorrow night.

* Because I probably won't get a chance to post before tomorrow night's game, I'll piece this in here:

Carlos Zambrano is starting a critical game in the postseason for the Cubs. Zambrano has never gotten credit for a win in four tries. With an ERA of 4.37 Zambrano only has one loss, but the team has gone on to lose all four.

Much has been made here in Chicago of the wisdom of starting Zambrano with the second slot in the rotation over Ted Lily, but it is what it is. The question circle around Zambrano's all-or-nothing reputation, especially in light of his no-hitter followed by an outright implosion following the death of his grandmother.

No, that's not his fault, but anyone who has seen the past months worth of games can't deny the fact that Zambrano will run hot an cold on you. If you are ready to live and die by the Cubs tomorrow night, this matchup should be giving you nightmares to the point that you'll be worthless at work tomorrow morning.

My suggestion is that Ron Santo should just try to stay out late tonight and get to the ballpark early to see if anyone needs a hand on the grounds crew or moving boxes of hot dog buns or something.

(Image from: CubbiesBaseball.com)

Indulge your inner Beavis

Today is the 100-year anniversary of Merkle's Boner.

Heh.

Those from outside the Chicagoland area (and especially those who can remember the New York baseball Giants) must be pleased to know there's a bar that shares his name in Wrigleyville.

If you really feel like celebrating (and with the Cubs heading towards the playoffs, who wouldnt?), head over to Merkle's Bar and Grill (3516 N. Clark) tonight at 7 p.m. for a special Merkle Day celebration. Let the exorcising begin, Cubs fans.

(Image from: MediaBistro.com)

No need to worry about Wood... right?

As I watched the celebrations at Wrigley at a restaurant downtown with Frankie tonight, it dawned on me that I was retroactively nervous about Kerry Wood's appearance hours after the game was over.

The playoff spot was clinched along with the division. The corks had been popped. Even the lowliest benchwarming scrub was being asked what it all meant by fawning local television reporters.

I was still cringing slightly when contact was made on Wood's pitches. It's nothing against the guy, but it just seems like he enjoys whittling down leads to within a run before closing the door. This isn't good for the mental health of most fans.

However, after being through season after season as a fan, I'm well aware of the tendancy to blow things out of proportion over the the course of 162 games. Things are rarely as good or bad as you think.

At the time, I made the mental note to pull the actual stats for Wood this season and see just where he stacked up over the course of 2008.

Final count? Wood converted on 32 of 38 save opportunities. That's six blown saves spread out over the course of the season, give or take a rest for a finger blister or two. When I see it laid out like that, it's not so bad.

Also entering into the mix are an average of 7.59 hits per nine innings and 11.39 strikeouts per nine. There's also the 16.31 pitches per inning average (compared to the gold standard of closers, Francisco Rodriguez, who is averaging 17.4 pitches per inning, that seems stellar).

While we're on the K-Rod comparison track, he's responsible for seven blown saves this year (59 of 66 opportunities). When breaking down the pitches per inning stat, there are no relievers, period, in the top 100 this season.

I guess not many closers are missing bats in 2008.

Why don't I feel much better?

(Image from: ChicagoTribune.com)

Rethinking the whole Eddie Vedder thing

When I was in college, I dated a girl who loved Pearl Jam more than any other band, ever.

Of course, when we broke up, I swore off Pearl Jam as a bunch of hacks and Eddie Vedder as a talentless monkey. Since then, I've mellowed and realized how stupid it is to take out one's anger out on an entire band. It's safe to say that I've come back around again - not all the way, but far enough to dig this offering on the Cubs from Vedder.

It's a solid offering by Vedder, which I found this through a posting by Greg Kot:

“Go All the Way,” (is) a song he recorded during his two-night solo stand at the Auditorium Theatre in August. It’s a simple acoustic folk ditty, written at the request of Cubs Hall of Famer Ernie Banks, that poetically sings the praises of the city’s own field of dreams, Wrigley Field, and anticipates the day the perennial losers finally win it all...

The robust chorus turns it into the kind of sing-along sea chantey or drinking song that Vedder loves. As he said in a 2002 interview with the Tribune, “A big night for me is to have a few friends, a few beers, and you get really messy at the end of the night hanging with a bunch of fishermen, a bunch of old grizzly guys dancing barefoot while singing something like [Three Dog Night singing the Randy Newman song] ‘Mama Told Me Not to Come.’ That's just good.”

I really appreciate the fact that it's not just a sappy song about the futility of the Cubs and their off century, nor is it a cheap attempt to cash in on the "It's Gonna Happen!" buzz. That last one is probably prompting all-night jam sessions from all sorts of awful local bands looking to book the Cubby Bear as you read this.

I'm not ready to anoint this song as the new Cubs anthem to displace all others (does it make me a bad person to admit that I'm more than sick of "Go, Cubs Go?"), but it's catchy as hell. I definitely put it above "Tessie" by the Dropkick Murphys as far as loosely associated team anthems go.

(Image from: PearlJam.com)

No noooo!

Someone please remind me to tune in on Sept. 14, 2044 - by my watch, that'll be the next no-hitter for the Cubs.

Thanks to a cruel twist of television scheduling - namely Week 2 of the football season - I was watching the Cleveland Browns struggle to keep up on a windy night as Carlos Zambrano pitched the first no-hitter for the Cubs since Milt Pappas in 1972.

Living within walking distance of the ballpark, you'd assume that someone would have been hollering enough to alert the neighborhood, but you'd be wrong.

I liked the reaction from his teammates, who downplayed how much they had to do to keep the no-no in tact. Granted, very few balls left the infield through the course of the game, but Mark DeRosa embodies my secret fear that I have for the fielders who back up a hot pitcher in these situations.

They totally know what's going on and will act accordingly.

"When he hit it, you hate to say this, but it was like, 'I'll bite the ball if I have to,''' DeRosa said. "You know what's at stake. I was fully prepared to sell out to make that play."

It's really not a good week for the Astros, huh?

(Image from: 680news.com)

Useful trivia for a change

Nice work, ESPN - you gave us something worthwhile in the long-running Cubs/White Sox rivalry.

ESPN the Magazine compiled a lengthy list of trivia connecting the two teams and covering a lot of ground. Granted, some of the 102 facts that mark the 102 years since both teams were in contention for the postseason come down without much rhyme or reason in the numbering system, but otherwise it's a fun read.

My favorite is the comparison from umpire Bruce Froemming, who chimed in on the difference between being bawled out by Lou Piniella and Ozzie Guillen:

ON LOU: "He's very loud. When he flipped his lid last year, I thought it was premeditated; his team was playing bad, the press was all over him, so he had to do something. But the next time we saw him, he was very humble, apologized and said it wouldn't happen again. He likes umpires."

ON OZZIE: "He yells at the same decibel level as Lou. The difference is, when Ozzie started yelling and talking really fast, I couldn't understand him. He'd go *@&@(!(@ and I'd say, 'Ozzie, slow down.' With him, I don't think anything is premeditated. I'm not sure he remembers the things he did three days ago. Which is good.

In news that should shock no one, Wrigley Field's food is awful and should only be eaten if you've recently come out of a coma and are in need of constant nourishment.

(Image from: CounterfeitChic.com)

Cubs continue history of fingerless players

If the Cubs weren't doing so well this season, the filler between innings would just be par for the course.

Before I was told that I could win big money and fabulous prizes just for watching 90210, the announcer broke in with, "After the game, he nearly lost four of his fingers in an accident. Now he's playing for the Cubs..."

That seems to capture roughly 85 of the past 100 years for the home team.

So, somewhere along the way, I missed word that Koyie Hill cut the majority of fingers from his hand last October. That must make things difficult for a professional baseball player with no discernible soccer skills.

From the Daily Herald story:

The 29-year-old Hill, a journeyman catcher, was making a wood window frame for his house last Oct. 16 when he suffered a horrific injury, one that nearly cost him four of the fingers on his right hand.

"I don't talk about it much," said Hill, the son of a master carpenter. "It's just an accident with a table saw, something I've done a million times before. I was using a saw that's really bad about grabbing, and grabbed, and there it went."

There went Hill's thumb, his pinkie finger, his ring finger and half of his middle finger. Although Hill said he didn't have to pick any of his fingers up off the floor, he said some were hanging by small pieces of skin.

Yikes. And this is coming from someone who nearly severed their index finger as a child. Mega yikes.

Of course One and a Half Finger Hill is not to be confused with Three Finger Brown, who lost pieces of a few digits in a farming accident and further destroyed his pitching hand when he broke several more bones as the initial injury was healing.

Oh and for all of the lazy fans out there who are looking to grasp at straws, yes, Brown was one of the mainstays of the rotation when the Cubs last won the World Series. The first one to scream, "It's gonna happen!" gets a slap in the mouth.

Maybe the guys who make the Fukudome t-shirts can quickly turn their stock around to capitalize.

(Image from: Wikimedia.org)

The Orioles probably regret passing on Soto

In today's Baltimore Sun column by Fred Mitchell, he points out that the Orioles apparently passed on Cubs rookie catcher Geovany Soto in the great Sammy Sosa roster dump.

Learn something new every day, huh?

From Mitchell's piece:

In their eagerness to unload Sammy Sosa and his $17 million contract to the Orioles, the Cubs and Baltimore apparently discussed Soto, a Cubs minor-league catching prospect at the time, as a possible throw-in to the deal.

The Orioles, according to a league source, talked themselves out of demanding that Soto be part of the transaction. Instead, Baltimore received Sosa and cash in exchange for Mike Fontenot, Jerry Hairston and David Crouthers on Feb. 2, 2005.

I'll speak for the Baltimore front office and fan base when I say, "Damn!"

In their defense, Soto hadn't done much to that point and didn't break out until later, but I guess that's why there are scouting departments, right? Of course, it might also explain the Orioles' lack of success lately, too.

(Image from: MLB.com)

Baseball, a game of tradtion

Without launching into a long-winded diatribe - my favorite kind! - it's worth noting that today marks the 20th anniversary of the first scheduled night game at Wrigley Field.

After the first attempt to electrify Wrigley was stymied by that pesky world war in the 40s, when steel was required by the war effort and the Cubs passed on adding lighting, Chicago tried again in 1988. Opposing to the end of an era, some fans protested the addition of lights and neighbors wondered what would happen when the bleacher creatures were set loose on the area after dark.

After the first game on 8/8/88 was rained out, the first night game at Clark and Addison was completed the next day and the earth failed to spin into the sun.

It's just something worth keeping in mind when the arguments flare up over the traditions in the game that purists hold dear, be it the use of body armor at the plate or putting Spiderman's face on the bags.

For Cub fans, the lesson can also be applied to proposed changes to their favorite ballpark, from adding logos to the outfield walls to cleaning the urinals for the first time since man first walked on the moon.

Twenty years later, we have the team's manager making public comments about the need for less day games to help keep his players fresh. So much for sentimentality.

(Image from: eBay.com)

Uncle Lou must drive like an old lady

The Cubs have traditionally played day baseball at Wrigley Field (duh) but the team has been limited in the number of night games it plays by a standing ordinance in Chicago that was designed to lessen the impact on the neighbors.

Twenty years later, there's a healthy bar district surrounding the park and a general circus atmosphere on most warm evenings, so the Cubs are hoping to expand those night games to include Fridays and Saturdays.

The team cites late travel on Thursday nights - get away days that end weekday series - as a big reason to allow Friday evening games. The funny thing is that instead of mentioning far-flung ballparks in San Diego or Miami, the first games that sprung to Lou Piniella's mind was last week's series in Milwaukee.

"A good example is Friday," Piniella said. "We had an afternoon game in Milwaukee on Thursday, and we get in late and have a day game on Friday."

Exactly how slowly does the Cubs' charter bus travel? Did they walk part of the way? Did the rookies start to get fussy and force Lou to pull the bus over for bathroom breaks and a half hour at the McDonald's playland in Kenosha?

I can't see this request being a big deal, save for one factor - the big money in play by releasing fans into Wrigleyville at 4 p.m. on a sunny Friday, where they continue to drink and pop the collars on their polo shirts.

If I'm a bar owner in the neighborhood, I'm not a big fan of losing roughly 5 hours of prime drinking time, especially when everyone leaves the park primed for a party. When strange things start to happen in the request process, it's not a stretch to assume that the bars are stepping in.

* Mark Cuban appears to be a frontrunner in the race to buy the Cubs. Not worth an entire post, but worth keeping an eye on.

The final five are:

Real estate executive Hersch Klaff and media investor Leo Hindery are among the five groups Tribune Co. approved to continue bidding on the Chicago Cubs baseball team, sources briefed on the matter said.

The other three approved bidders are Internet billionaire Mark Cuban; Tom Ricketts, chief executive of Chicago securities and investment bank Incapital LLC and son of the founder of TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.; and Michael Tokarz, chairman of MVC Capital Inc., two sources said. Both requested anonymity because the sale process is ongoing.

While each bid is over $1 billion, it's a bidding process to buy a license to print money. I don't care what Bud Selig says, it's virtually impossible to lose money while running the Chicago Cubs.

(Image taken for Siberian Baseball)

Cubs vs. Brewers - Tale of the Tape

A day after Milwaukee officially signs CC Sabathia (sorry, El Capitan Chorizo), the Cubs have returned fire, picking up Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin from the A's for Eric Patterson, Matt Murton, Sean Gallagher and minor league catcher, Josh Donaldson.

The media cycle in Chicago is playing this as an arms race - Get it? Arms race? Because they're pitchers? - where the Cubs are reacting directly to the Sabathia signing by picking up a pitcher of their own.

Certainly Chicago is using this year's current success to trade on a logjam of outfielders - moving Patterson and Murton - and Geovany Soto's All-Star season to send another young catcher on his way out west, but to infer that the move was solely motivated by Milwaukee's acquisition of Sabathia is pretty ridiculous.

Still, for the sake of argument, let's take a quick peek at the tale of the tape.

Key Player:
Milwaukee - CC Sabathia (Vallejo, CA)
Chicago - Rich Harden (Victoria, British Columbia)

Supporting Cast:
M - Matt LaPorta
C - Get: Gaudin; Lose: Gallagher, Patterson, Murton, Donaldson

Years Left on Current Contract / Age:
M - Sabathia is a free agent at the end of the season / 27
C - Harden is a free agent at the end of next season / 26

This Year to Date:
M - Sabathia 6-8 (18 games); 3 complete games; 2 shutouts; 123 K's; 3.83 E.R.A; 1.234 WHIP
C - Harden 5-1 (13 games); 0 CG; 0 shutouts; 92 K's; 2.34 E.R.A.; 1.143 WHIP

Misc. Resume Padding:
M - Sabathia won a Cy Young Award last season; Second in Rookie of the Year voting (2001); Two All-Star Appearances (2003, 2004)
C - Harden has an empty trophy case

History (Recent and Ancient):
M - Sabathia has started no fewer than 28 games in the past five seasons, with a high water mark of 34 last season. He also set a career record of 19 wins last season and has never lost more than 11 games. He has a career ERA of 3.83 and set another career record last year with 3.21. Sabathia has started 237 games in eight years.
C - Harden started 31 games in 2004 (his second year in the majors) but since then has only started 19, 9, 4 and 13 games, respectively. He has been on the DL once this season. His career ERA is 3.42 and is on track for a career year with his ERA currently at 2.34. Harden has started 89 games in six years.

Cheap Joke:
M - (As heard on WSCR this afternoon) So, does the Brewers' team pilot have to stand up before the flights and tell them, "Fielder, on the right side and Sabathia on the left," or is that something that the guys loading the plane have to worry about in terms of weight distribution?
C - Wood and Harden on the same team? Invest heavily in cheap t-shirts and cut-rate silkscreening machines in the Midwest this summer. The frat rats are going to looooooove this. Beavis and Butthead would be proud. Heh... Wood. Huh... Harden.

Final Tally:
Aside from the obvious issue with Sabathia coming off a huge year without any long-term security, there's really no way that the Cubs wouldn't switch places with the Brewers in these trades. Add to that the fact that Ben Sheets is also in a contract year and things could get dicey in Milwaukee if the team doesn't win this season. Then again, they have two shots at retaining a staff ace when the dust settles in November if deals aren't finished before the season ends.

Sabathia has proven to be more durable, has produced better numbers, has been a front of the rotation starter and provides more relief to his new team.

While Harden is a nice pickup and was acquired without any major loss to the Cubs - again, just offloading some jammed positions - he is less than a sure thing. Promising, sure, but only a year younger than Sabathia and with a history of short seasons.

No matter which way you look at it, the Brewers get the better end of the two trades.

(Apparently, I'm not the only one who wonders how the Cubs made out in this deal. Only, he looked at it from the Cubs vs. A's perspective. And spent more energy in looking at the Gallagher angle. I think I mentally blocked that portion until I'm emotionally stronger.)

(Image from: ClevelandLeader.com)

It's not like they're the Steel Curtain

There's an old story about the Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1970s that says in their heyday there were so many players on the defensive team on the Pro Bowl roster that they began calling their own plays on the field and confusing the handful of guys from the other teams.

It was just easier - and probably made for a better story - to call out the plays from the Pittsburgh playbook and let the non-Steelers fend for themselves instead of trying to play off of the same shortened page in the Pro Bowl.

I'm seeing elements of this as the All-Star balloting comes to a close shortly and players from the teams with huge fanbases are in the top three of each position, regardless of ability or this season's performance.

Primarily, I'm looking at the Cubs and how many are primed for a trip to New York. This shouldn't surprise me much anymore, because aside from being shocked that my e-mail client's spam filters let a message through imploring me that, "Kosuke needs your help!" without immediately dumping it to protect me from Japanese pornography, the rest of the experience is a carbon copy of what is becoming a yearly rant.

When the ESPN broadcast ran the graphic with current vote leaders on Sunday night, it was a little disappointing to see the screen awash in Cubbie blue, Red Sox red and the pinstripes of the Yankees.

Not that players who are having great seasons shouldn't be included, but once again, it seems that muscle memory and fan amnesia are helping to steer the ship.

In the National League, the Cubs are churning out votes with three players scheduled to start - Geovany Soto, Alfonso Soriano and Fukudome - if the voting ended today. This is despite Soriano's injuries which have kept him out of the Cubs lineup for long stretches this season.

Mark DeRosa and Aramis Ramirez are second in the voting, despite DeRosa not having a set position on the team, while Derek Lee and Ryan Theriot are in third place in their races.

For those scoring at home, every position has a Cubs player in the top three vote-getters. They're a good team through the first half of the season - last weekend at The Cell not withstanding - but they're not that good.

The American League is even worse. With the exception of Joe Mauer who just overtook Jason Varitek in the race to backstop the AL All-Stars, every leading vote-getter is a member of the Yankees or Red Sox (in most cases the top two are the New York/Boston connection).

Want proof that fans are voting a straight ticket for their team? There's no way that over 600,000 people truly believe Julio Lugo is the best shortstop in the AL.

The biggest oversight to fix is the omission of Carlos Quentin, who isn't among the top 15 in AL outfielders - despite the inclusion of Johnny Damon, Coco Crisp and Bobby Abreu - even though he's been the sparkplug for the White Sox in the first half.

While it's generally accepted that the whole exercise is just a way to make the fans feel involved and is nothing more than a popularity contest, it was nice to see Josh Hamilton make the cut after his hot start. Still, I think MLB could streamline the whole process by assigning votes like the government does in assigning members of the House of Representatives.

Teams with the largest fan bases as determined by merchandise sales and home attendance would receive the most votes for their players, while teams with small pockets of fans would receive the least.

Just think of all the time and energy we'd save not counting votes that would give us identical results.

(Image from: MLB.com)

Sox fans jump ship

A quick link from Daniel Rubin of the Philadelphia Inquirer who is politely asking to defect from Red Sox Nation, especially in light of the recent championship won by the Celtics.

I feel your pain, Mr. Rubin.

I remember being on the train in 2005 and seeing more Red Sox hats than White Sox hats on the Red line headed to The Cell and wondering if Chicago had that many transplants from Boston or if the natural parallels between the Northsiders and the Red Sox fans was too great of a temptation for those starved for success after nearly 100 years without a championship of their own.

I wonder retroactively if those fans also traded Red for White in their Sox loyalties that fall, especially after Chicago steamrolled the punchless Boston team in the playoffs that year.

Still, even without an increasingly loud and obnoxious fan base, it's difficult to not start pulling for the local team when you're a stranger in town. With two years in Minneapolis and season tickets for the Twins in 2006 and 2007, it was hard to not get wrapped up in the team you see most often, even with a full dance card of rooting interests.

When you're looking to talk baseball with your boss, it's much easier to start following the team that you hear about on the radio, see almost exclusively in the papers and have instant access to on local television. If you're even remotely interested in baseball, it's nice to be able to talk about the ups and downs of the season, even if it's not about your favorite team.

So, I don't blame anyone looking for a new team to call their own, especially when your home ballpark starts shutting you out by way of overpriced seats and sold outs games filled to capacity with fans from out of town who will show up, regardless of how poorly the team is doing - looking at you, Wrigley fans.

And as for Mr. Rubin, enjoy your newfound family in Philly. Try to keep the hooliganism to a minimum.

(Image from: MassholeProShop.com)

Well, you don't see that every day...

For those who weren't paying attention this afternoon, the Cubs added a new way to win in strange ways to their bag of tricks with a walk off hit by a pitch against Atlanta.

With the bases loaded in the bottom of the 11th, Reed Johnson got plunked to send home the winning run, cement the sweep of the Braves and make it two undefeated homestands in a row
(though this one was of the three-game variety).

This season just keeps getting weirder and weirder for Chicago.

Mark Cuban still sniffing around sale of Cubs

For those who don't listen to much sports talk in Chicago for whatever reason - living out of town now / working a job inside a concrete bunker at a suburban office park / warden took away your radio privileges after shanking fellow inmate over a pudding cup - you probably missed the discussion on ESPN Radio today with Mark Cuban.

Cuban confirmed that he is an approved buyer as far as MLB is concerned and that he was still very interested in the prospect of owning the Cubs.

In addition to the usual show of respect for the owners already in place, Cuban made attempts to reach out to the population within a few blocks of the ballpark:

Does Sam Zell owning the Cubs help your bid?

Cuban: Well it really depends on what the other bidders do. You know, Sam's obviously a smart businessman and he's gonna do what's best for him. Major League Baseball has survived a long time without Mark Cuban and they can survive a long time without me and so they'll do what they think is best for them.

And my job is to convince everybody involved that not only is it a good financial move to sell to Mark Cuban but it's also, you know, a good partnership move that I can add value beyond just my checkbook to not just the Cubs, to not just the city of Chicago, but also to Major League Baseball. Because to me one of the thing's I've learned with the Mavericks is when I thought I bought the Dallas Mavericks when I wrote the check eight years ago, and in reality even though I wrote the check the city of Dallas and Fort Worth still own the Mavericks and it's about being a good citizen, it's about contributing to the community and to me that's viewed to be just as important as Major League Baseball or the Tribune company, you know, what can I do for Wrigleyville, what can I do for the community, and what are the ways that I fit in and add value.

Because, you know, part of the issue that's been apparent to me in looking at all this is that, you know, the previous owners before Sam Zell bought the Tribune, you know, the Tribune and the Wrigleyville area around Wrigley Field didn't always get along so well and so I think there are a lot of things we can do community-wise that can enhance my chances and so, you know, I'm gonna pull out all the stops, that's about the best way to describe it.

In the past, I've been pretty lukewarm on the prospect of a superstar owner breezing into town to "save" the Cubs. While it would be nice to have one person to hold accountable - being able to point fingers at one person in their luxury box for a poor product on the field instead of a faceless board of directors at Tribune Tower would be nice - the possibility of a strange, unconcerned tyrant isn't all that appealing, either.

Perhaps it's been my reading of God Save the Fan this week and its laundry list of horrible owners who do little to nothing in terms of keeping a team competitive that make me a little more skittish than usual about this interview.

Still, if I go back one more book on my summer reading list to One Day at Fenway, I start to feel just a bit better. The book was written based on one Yankees/Red Sox game in 2003 when a team of reporters followed fans, players, management and staff members at Fenway, the book patches together a game experience from multiple angles.

Obviously, Theo Epstein, John Henry and Larry Lucchino were part of the story and it was Henry's portrayal that gives me some hope in the whole sales process on Addison. It's no stretch to compare the Cubs with the pre-2004 Red Sox and two World Series championships later, that ownership group has proved themselves in Boston.

While it remains to be seen whether or not a new owner for the Cubs would be able to turn the franchise around so quickly, a change of pace certainly couldn't hurt. Say what you will, but I feel that one person who takes the heat for a futile season feels more obligation to change course and try to build a winner than a small group that goes largely unnoticed by the fans.

Chicago's future owner faces a similar punchlist that Henry's ownership group did when they took control of the Red Sox. This includes:

* A World Series drought spanning many decades
* A team known more for losing than winning
* The perception that the fan base is more than comfortable backing a loser every season
* A crumbling relic of a stadium that is "historic" but is more accurately falling apart
* A large, but unfocused payroll
* A popular team that makes boatloads of money almost in spite of itself
* A perception that the team will never, ever win the World Series because of a cursed history

Much of the book plays out like a love letter to baseball, so I suspect there's a degree of artistic license woven in there somewhere, but Henry comes across as being a man who wants to win. Taming the beast that is 100 years of false starts, late season collapses and teams that didn't stand a chance is a major challenge, but comes with immeasurable rewards as well.

An owner that prizes winning and makes an effort to connect with the fan base is what the Cubs should be hoping for above all - an owner who paces a bare patch into the carpeting in his box when things turn south and puts together a strong plan to turn the page on the team's history of losing by aggressively addressing the team's shortcomings.

Epstein even has a twin brother - someone should get his number, just in case.

(Image from: Time.com)

The difference between entertaining and good

Though it's a bit late in coming, I felt I'd be missing out if I didn't chip in my two cents on last Friday's 10-9 come from behind win in the Cubs/Rockies game.

For the quick refresher, here's the box score from the game. It's the one where the Cubs had to climb out of a 4-0 deficit heading into the home half of the first inning and ended up on top in a slugfest thanks in large part to a six-run seventh inning.

Don't get me wrong, the game was pretty exciting, especially in the seventh when Wrigley came back to life after Mark DeRosa's home run to put the Cubs on top - one of seven total homers in the game - but exciting and entertaining can be miles away from good.

And that's where the Wrigley faithful should have some suspicions about the Cubs and their chance to win the pennant this year.

In a game decided by which team could get more fly balls into a healthy tailwind that afternoon, the team was able to survive the early fireworks by the Rockies, something that won't always happen. Unfortunately, not all teams are playing down to the level of Colorado thus far in the season and won't give up a solid lead so easily.

Chalk up Ted Lilly's rough outing to a possible rain delay and a few false starts before the game got underway, but getting run in the third is usually a pretty solid indicator that you're going to have the loss pinned on you for the day.

Still, it was a pretty sloppy game all around for both teams. While it's apparent that the Cubs threw out a lineup to give some of the starters a rest, there's no good reason why the team was able to get the win, especially after the first three innings were in the books.

When we get to the point in the season where we hear that the team would rather be lucky than good, don't forget it was in full effect at the end of May. For a team historically short on luck, maybe that's not a bad sign.

(Image from: MLBPlayers.mlb.com)

No one should be surprised

Some rogue t-shirt vendors are still selling the "Horry Kow" t-shirts outside of Wrigley Field? Even after they were asked politely to stop?

No!

The fact that the Kosuke Fukudome hates the shirts doesn't seem to be doing much to deter sellers or buyers outside of the stadium. Wonderful.

According to the most recent story I found - Chicago is getting great publicity in Phoenix - the shirts are still widely available. Despite what the local papers have to say on the matter, the problem hasn't just magically disappeared.

Funny, I don't recall the White Sox having this problem with Tad Iguchi.

"My personal viewpoint is they're not blatantly racist," said John Weier, a vendor selling the Horry Kow T-shirts outside of the Cubby Bear Lounge at the corner of Addison and Clark Streets.

"It's a novelty T-shirt. We're not trying to hurt or offend anyone."

Weier knows Fukudome does not like the T-shirts, but said he has no qualms about selling them to fans, saying he was "trying to make a living."

Fukudome has called the T-shirts offensive and the Cubs were so concerned about them they forced many souvenir stands to remove the shirts last month. But Weier said the Cubs have no say over the street vendors, as long as they are not selling the T-shirts on club property.

(Image from: SportsBusinessDaily.com)

The answer to a question no one was asking

So wait, let me get this straight - the Cubs have once again stocked themselves so full of outfielders that they have been forced to carry three pitchers in order to meet the 25-man roster requirement.

The corner spots are being held by Alfonso Soriano and Kosuke Fukdome, whose contracts all but guarantee they're not going anywhere in the near future. With those positions filled, that just leaves center field open for idiotic tinkering.

And really, if there's one thing the Cubs front office does well, it's idiotic tinkering. That, and antagonizing the fans with bizarre signings.

And really, what better way to antagonize the fans - both here and in St. Louis - than to sign former Cardinal and recent San Diego washout, Jim Edmonds?

Deadspin did a great job of rounding up the usual suspects from the land of Cubs blogs yesterday, but with the signing imminent, this just sounds like a dumber and dumber idea by the hour. Chicago's brass honestly thinks that Edmonds has a place on this team that was already having a tough time finding playing time for their outfielders?

You have rookie Felix Pie who has struggled to find his feet, but still needs time to develop and Reed Johnson - who was signed just before the season - who has already cornered the market on scrappy white center fielders at Wrigley.

From Bleed Cubbie Blue:

If the Cubs insist on signing a washed-up, injured, 38-year-old centerfielder who was released by a team in desperate need of hitting, at least send Jim Edmonds to Iowa for a week or two first, and let Pie play. The bottom line is: the Cubs are 23-15, winners of four in a row and five of six, and scoring metric buttloads of runs. Why mess with success? Please, Jim. Don't do it.

I agree. This is an aging Edmonds, not Ichiro - to stunt Pie's development in favor of a 15-year veteran who seems to have forgotten which end of the bat he's supposed to hold at the plate and hasn't shown any indication that he's up to the challenge of patrolling center field defensively is short-sighted and indicative of the kind of stupid decisions that have plagued the franchise.

The Cubs claim this is a zero-risk gamble - they gave up no players in claiming him off the waiver wires and don't need to play him every day - but to have him taking up a spot in the lineup for no reason other than, "he has hit well at Wrigley and was available on waivers!" just seems stupid. With Matt Murton already in AAA to make room in the outfield, I have to ask for the second season in a row - what the hell is it with the Cubs and these free agent outfielders?

This is frighteningly similar to the one guy in everyone's fantasy league who can't help himself from snatching up every player who is cut throughout the course of a season. That guy usually comes in fourth, too.

(Image from: MLB.com)

The long awaited closer post is on its way

A few weeks ago when Frank the Tank and I did our subway series, seeing the White Sox and Cubs in the same day, it brought to light many of the differences between the two ballclubs.

Aside from the overplayed and overhyped socio-economic differences, the teams themselves are built for different purposes. The Cubs are built for power and to score runs in quick flurries, while the White Sox are built for speed to play Ozzieball. Sure, the Cubs have speed and the White Sox see power from a few of their sluggers, but if you need a quick reference guide, that summary will do nicely.

What really struck me that day was what happened in the ninth inning. On the South Side, Bobby Jenks came storming in from the outfield as the crowd went nuts. With the Sox up 4-0, the team looked to its closer to come in with two on to put the A's rally down, which he did promptly on a sac fly and a game-ending double play.

A few hours later across town, Kerry Wood entered the game to the tinny strains of Guns n' Roses - while The Cell has a new, top of the line sound system for ramping up the crowd, Wrigley Field's speakers were wired by Civil War veterans as some sort of work program - and a slightly jumpy crowd.

While no one doubts Wood's talent, it's his arm that has the faithful worried. For better or worse, Cubs fans see Wood as he was a decade ago, mowing down 20 Astros en route to a banner memorializing the feat on the top of the grandstands.

While blind faith is a wonderful thing, most fans aren't that dumb, so they also worry as counts are stretched and a converted starter struggles to make the mental changes necessary to try and become an effective closer.

Wood entered after a homer and a walk and sat down the next three batters in order with a flyout, a strikeout and a groundout to end the game.

While the results were the same, Jenks threw two pitches for his three outs, while Wood threw 15 and I think that helps illustrate one difference between starters and closers. While starters can nibble around the strike zone, sometimes being criticized for being too fine, a closer is better served by going straight to the gas and trying to overpower the opposition.

Given the state of modern baseball, your best pitchers are now likely to be your ace and your closer, the way they go about their business couldn't be more different. This isn't a bad thing - while it's tough to get blown out, it's downright demoralizing to blow a game in the ninth when your closer melts down.

Recently, Frank and I started talking about the closer position and agreed to work up our magic lists where if we could design a closer from scratch, what would we be looking to add to the mix?

That post will be up shortly, but it's an interesting question to kick around - So, what are your five must have traits for a closer?

(Image from: Baseball-Almanac.com)

This seems... different

Before I get started here, I'll try and head off some outcry in the comments section right off the bat. Yes, I am aware that it's only mid-May and that the Cubs' June Swoon is named that because it occurs in June.

I am also (painfully) aware that the Cubs are a star-crossed franchise that is currently in its 100th year without a championship, despite Hall of Fame players and more than one opportunity to snap that drought.

I am also aware that the Cubs are still one game behind St. Louis as of this evening.

That said, something seems different this year.

Not enough to have me furiously squirreling away nickels and dimes to afford World Series tickets that would reach into the thousands of dollars, but enough to take notice on a day when I'd otherwise only remember a sign like, "I love your mom" in the stands.

After another come from behind victory today, the Cubs are winning the games they should, which hasn't always been the case. They are also scoring runs in bunches and seeing timely hitting from their bench. After a series of frustrating seasons - and nothing short of a total collapse last October - the Cubs are playing decent baseball into May, which is the first check box on any Chicago fan's list as they try and decide if this year might be the year.

Aside from the obvious boxes like, "Avoid serious injuries to major stars" and "Pitchers report without incident, injury or mental breakdowns in the offseason," the season is peppered with all sorts of little milestones that even casual fans have learned to recognize in order to take a team's temperature as the year progresses.

Early in the season the team won back-to-back extra innings games against the Pirates on April 7 and 9. While I was happy with the ultimate results, it was bothersome for two major reasons - first, it was the Pirates, a team that the Cubs lineup should be able to dispatch in nine innings, if not fewer and second, because racking up extra inning games that early in the season is never a good thing.

It's a long season and it worries me when a team isn't able to take care of business efficiently and is forced to play long games, taxing the bullpen and generally gumming up the works. While it can be a hallmark of a scrappy team, it seems that the teams that are headed to the postseason don't usually need such heroics.

That's where this team is looking different from the most recent vintages of Cubs baseball - I've now seen the team score runs in bunches twice in person and even when the team is trailing like today, the games aren't seeming so far out of reach in those situations.

Through today, the Cubs are 4-2 in extra innings games - the four wins have come against the Pirates, Rockies and Phillies, the two losses against the Brewers on Opening Day and against the Cardinals - and have managed to keep those games to a minimum.

More importantly, the Cubs have yet to lose more than two games in a row (which won't last forever, but is nice for a month and a half of work) and are 9-4 in games decided by five or more runs, including yesterday against Arizona.

While the team is 4-3 in one-run games, they are seeing run support in most games, only being shut out twice in 37 games.

That's a lot of numbers being thrown about for a second-place team, but most of it should be encouraging news for fans of a franchise that started the season 0-14 in 1997. In all honesty, no one wins the pennant in April and May, but you can certainly lose it during those two months.

Anyone in their right mind should be viewing the Cubs' early season success with cautious optimism, but at least there's reason for that optimism. The team is playing to its strengths as an offensive ballclub, staying out of trouble with the bottom of their rotation and making the most of their bullpen as Kerry Wood tries work through the growing pains of transitioning to a closer role.

For a team that is above average, but isn't stacked like Boston, that's a fine place to start. Whether it holds up through a long summer remains to be seen, but with a month and a half of baseball behind us, my checklist is still largely intact.

Primarily, I'm pleased that the first step has been accomplished without tripping.

Don't blow it early? Check.

(Image from WGN TV)

The day Kerry Wood was (nearly) unhittable

It must be a slow afternoon when most of the major baseball sites are all jumping on the same theme and making matters stranger, that it happened a decade ago.

Ten years ago, Kerry Wood made his biggest impact on the game, striking out 20 Houston Astros in the rain at Wrigley Field and giving a generation of Cubs fans false hope that their long journey towards a championship was nearly over.

I remember the minor controversy that kicked up immediately following the game because some fans felt that the rain made it more difficult for the Astros to see the ball and, even if they did, to make solid contact.

For a few years it was a record that Cubs fans felt a little uneasy boasting about, afraid of the inevitable, "Yeah... but..." that followed. Still, to strike out 20, regardless of the weather is a feat that has stood for a decade and is still talked about when discussing the Cubs and their recent history.

Moreover, it's stood to define Wood and his star-crossed career. The promise of total domination that slowly eroded over the course of two or three injury-riddled seasons seems to fit the pattern set by the franchise as each year's squad finds a way to fall short. Sometimes it's by a little and sometimes by a lot, but it's tough to deny the parallels between Wood and his team.

It's a little strange to look back at that day today and see just how babyfaced Wood was then, but still found a way to keep it all together as the game ground on. Of course, this only adds to the pressure he feels from fans today as he tries to cobble together this chapter of his career as a closer.

I know I still hold onto the memories of the 20K game when trying to rationalize why Wood should be the closer over Carlos Marmol or the other pitchers on the roster. It's hard to forget the power and utter mastery he had that day, although Wood has yet to achieve that level since.

Deep down, we know Wood can't pitch forever and that his usefulness is drawing to a close, even for the Cubs, but it's hard to let go of that one game 10 years ago.

Judging by the response of the Wrigley faithful so far this season when Wood enters in the ninth, I'm not the only one.

(Image from: SI.com)