Smile Politely. Speak Directly. A Champaign-Urbana Culture Blog

It appears Woody will don another uniform next year. The Cubs front office decided that giving a three to four year deal to the often electric, but always inconsistent closer wasn’t the best way to use their holiday money. The fact is, this is a good baseball decision. Woody was a solid closer and ninth-inning men are hard to come by, but with the acquisition of Kevin Gregg from the Marlins, the back-end of the Cubs bullpen is not the area the Cubs need to focus on this off-season.

Simply unbelievable my friends. A sweep. No wins. A story…

When I was eight years old my cousin gave my brother, sister and I his Atari 2600. After mashing through games like Adventure and Decathlon he loaned us Pitfall II.

What Happened

Well, we’re here my friends. The playoffs. The prognosticators predicted that the Cubs would repeat as Division champions and for once, they didn’t disappoint. The question, up until yesterday afternoon’s flat fastball out of the hand of Bob Howry and into the bleachers off of Ryan Braun’s bat, was, “But who will we play?”

Behind the impossibly durable arm of CC Sabathia, pitching on three days rest for the third straight outing, the Brewers took two of three from a patchwork Cub team who fielded rookies most of the weekend. The series victory was enough for the Brewers to retake the Wildcard from the NY Metropolitans, when the Mets' bullpen once again collapsed and they gave up back-to-back roundtrippers in the eighth of Sunday’s rubber game with the Marlins. I’m not shedding any tears for the Mets. The playoffs without the Yankees or the Mets doesn’t bother me at all.

Clinch

For the first time since 1907-08, the Cubs have won the division in back-to-back seasons. As expected, the Northsiders clinched (on Saturday), with their arch rivals on the field, in a 5-4 nail biter. Most years, this would be enough. Division champs, Cardinals eliminated and are forced to watch the Cubs celebrate. Like a dream come true.

But not this year. This is simply not enough.

As much as I’d like to tell you that this is my favorite Cub team of my lifetime (and it is), and that the fact that they have been really fun to watch would be enough. I’d be lying. We want the WS title.

Here we go…

Well my friends, records and landmarks continue to fall for the 2008 Cubbies. Carlos Zambrano tossed a no-hitter last night and 1972 has been erased. For years, opposing batters, pitching coaches and teammates have speculated that Big Z had the stuff to throw a no-hitter. Maybe it was only a matter of time. But after a twelve day layoff because of shoulder issues? On a neutral site against a team who had just won 14 out of their last 15 games?

That’s impressive.

What do I expect as a Cub fan? It’s a question I ask myself from time to time. The answer is usually pretty bleak. I expect losing. I expect little support from upper management. A terrible and over-hyped farm system. I expect many people to attend games because they like “hanging out” at Wrigley Field.

And finally, I expect winning enough to get your hopes up and then destroyed.

But, the thing of it is, these expectations have started to change over the last few years.

I’m finding it difficult to write about anything other than the post-season. Call me crazy, start writing in about the Cubs inevitable collapse if you’d like — but I still think there’s no way they won’t be in the playoffs. Wildcard maybe, but in the playoffs nonetheless.

Last week I declared that the Cubs would be making the playoffs. This week, I thought I’d write a little bit about who else might be there from the National League. Here’s what I’m thinking:

NL East

This thing is still wide open. I’m going to go with the Phillies. But here’s another prediction. The team that wins the NL East will not advance past the first round of the playoffs. Philly and the Mets just don’t have the horses. The Mets bullpen is a mess and Philadelphia’s acquisition of Joe Blanton was too little too late. In many ways I still think the Fish from Miami are the best team of the bunch, but their young sticks and arms seems to have fallen off.

I write this from vacation in Wisconsin. On the way up here I was listening to 670 The Score in Chicago. Boors and Bernstein (not my favorites, I'm a Murph guy) were discussing what the Cubs should actually be focusing on in these last few weeks given that they were going to make the playoffs.

When fans would call in about Milwaukee possibly passing the Cubs for the division lead, Bernstein would whine back at them saying, "It doesn't matter! The Cubs are in!"

He was suggesting that even if Milwaukee did overtake the Cubbies, which he didn't believe would happen, there was no way the Cubs wouldn't at worst qualify for the playoffs via the wildcard.

Now I can't remember the last time anyone, let alone cynical Chicago sports radio, thought the Cubs had a postseason spot locked up in early-mid august.

But the truth is, I think he's right.

What a difference a week can make. Your Chicago Cubs were able to gain four games on the Milwaukee Brewers and two on the Redbirds to move the trailers to five and six games back, respectively. It all started with the huge four-game series at Miller Park, where the Cubs shocked all of baseball and Baseball Tonight's Buck Showalter by sweeping the Beermakers in their own backyard. As I posted last week, I really felt like the key was forcing Sabathia, Sheets and Parra to throw deep into counts, raising their pitch count early in the game and forcing the Brewers to use their overworked, sub-par bullpen. Let’s take a look:

Offense struggling

Nervous Cub fans like to say things like “it’s a long season, don’t worry” when their team is in the midst of an offensive slump for no apparent reason. It’s true; every team’s offense usually hits a lull at some point in the season. The teams with good bats find a way to dig themselves out of the rut and stay out of it. The teams that cannot, don’t make the playoffs and often times aren’t in the race come trade deadline time.

The Upper Crust

The term "The Upper Crust" is often used to describe the elite, the rich, maybe even noble of society. It’s also a terrible name for a dessert/pie place. The National League has an upper crust and they all reside in the Central. It’s quite clear to me that the senior circuit’s finest three teams are the Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers. I won’t spend much time debating this; The West is a joke, with the underachieving Diamondbacks and Dodgers leading the way, both two games under .500. The East has Philly, the Metropolitans and the Marlins, none of which stack up to the three-headed powerhouse that has become the NL Central. As final evidence, I give you this week, post All-Star. Neither the Cardinals nor the Brewers lost a game. Seven and oh. Not only that, the Brewers arguably snatched the Giants best player when they traded for solid veteran two-bagger, Ray Durham yesterday.

The Break

This morning I decided to see what the Sun-Times had to say about the Cubs first half. After I finished reading a story about the new cover of the New Yorker portraying Obama as a militant Muslim with a burning American flag, I dug into a few hardball columns.

Most everyone is focused on the obvious, as we should be:

“(after Sunday’s loss) A bigger lead would have exceeded the best-ever five-game advantage the 1969 Cubs enjoyed at the break -- and comparisons to the ill-fated '69 favorites aren't necessarily a good thing.”

Week in Review

Competition-wise, this was a week of where every game went as one might have predicted. Looking over the pitching matchups, every time the matchup favored San Fran or St. Louis, the Cubs lost (three times), every time the starter was stronger for the Northsiders, we raised the White Flag (four times). Lincecum, Cain and Lohse got the best of our offense, but Zambrano made a high quality return to the rotation with six shutout innings, Lilly beat Zito, Sean Marshall continued to look under-rated and Dempster bounced back from his Southside anomaly.

Bad Week. No problem(s).

As the season has now reached its halfway point, at 1–5, this was the Northsiders most trying week to date. I did appreciate, however, that the one victory was the one I attended. It was nice to finally get to sing “Go Cubs Go” and watch the white flags go up from within Wrigley. Tip your cap to the palehose, they were able to return the sweep and are primed to win the AL Central behind high-powered bats and good pitching. Only a lack of offensive balance (not enough small ball) can stop the Sox from taking it into October. Back to the Northside, problems are starting to accumulate, but I don’t foresee any of them as insurmountable. Let’s get ‘em right out there…and then discuss…

Rays? Rays.

The Cubs were swept this week for the first time all season. It was also their first 3 game losing streak. They were the last team in baseball to who hadn’t lost more than 2 games in a row. Now, the Cubs did some things poorly in the Rays series. Clutch hitting vanished and defense was not as sharp as Cubs players seemingly couldn’t adjust to six days in a row on turf.

Another fantastic week for those Cubbies. Now twenty games over .500 on June 16 for the first time since 1906. Records falling by the wayside weekly, so let’s hope that continues.

Significant injuries for both the Cubs and Cards this week. Cubs lose Soriano and the Birds lose Wainwright and Pujols, yet both teams continue to win. If the Cubs are putting themselves in good position to win the division than St. Louis is putting themselves in good position to practically walk away with the NL wildcard.

I hope everyone has had a chance to read Doug’s fantastic response to my column last week. It served as a brief history lesson on the Cubs’ long standing inability to close the deal and a reminder to Cub fans how jealous Cardinal nation will be when we’re running through the streets of Wrigleyville celebrating this Fall.

And so, in honor of a record six comments to the 2ON2OUT column last week, I will take a moment to respond to my loyal readers.

Well, unless you’re under a proverbial rock by now you know that the Cubs carried into June the best record in baseball. You know that this is the first time they’ve done this since…yep, 1908. You know that this is the hundred year anniversary of that accomplishment, as well as a second one: World Series Champion. In order for the Cubs to repeat the more important accomplishment of 1908, here is a first draft of things that need to happen:

List after the jump...

Fun week

This was a really enjoyable week for most baseball fans in C-U. Cardinals held steady despite their closer being put on the DL with a non-pitching “injury.” The Reds won six in a row behind a nasty 7–1 rookie named Volquez, and the White Sox surged back to first with a sweep of the Giants.

Not bad folks.

Biatches

Last Thursday morning my son repeated this lovely word back to me after he heard me refer to my shoes as "biatches." I had been explaining to my wife why I needed to replace them, and my son decided he liked the word and happily shouted it back. It’s probably not the first time my son has heard me spout an expletive; in fact, unfortunately, he probably heard me use similar language the day before to describe the Cubs' lackluster 9–0 loss to an unimpressive Cincinnati ballclub. Returning from vacation is never fun. During my time away from home the Cubs lost two of three in four straight series. After starting 15–6, they had fallen to 19–15, going 4–9 in their last 13 games.

Yes, its quite possible my son heard a few negative words during that stretch, but hearing the word ‘biatches’ from your 17-month old kid kind of gives me a little perspective…

Hello everyone, 2ON2OUT is back from vacation, and don’t think I was slacking. No, I was busy taking in a game at historic Grayson Stadium. This week to get back in the swing of things and to mirror my feelings about the Cubs current 3–8 stretch, we’ll play Minus/Plus short and quick, straight to the players.

Long Game

I had to start out the column this week talking about the twenty two inning marathon in San Diego last Thursday. It was the longest game in Major League Baseball since Aug. 31, 1993 clocking in at six hours and sixteen minutes. It ended at 3:21 a.m. CST when pitcher and former Cub Glendon Rusch took a called third. I enjoyed the heck out of the Cubs this week, but I’d have to think twice about staying up until past 3 a.m. for a game in April.

Then again, how often do you get chance to see your leadoff man get 10 AB’s in one contest? Another reason why I love this game: No time. No clock. Just innings, top and bottom.

A Quick Note About Detroit

A trip around the second week of the season and nothing is particularly out of the ordinary. The biggest surprise remains the Tigers horrid start, and while still too early to mean much, the more concerning part for Detroit shouldn’t be that they’ve lost ten of their first twelve games, but how they’ve lost the games.

They are getting punished.

The well-publicized injuries in their bullpen have left them scrambling. A quick glance at their pen’s ERA and you’ll see ballooned figures like Zach Minor at 11.57 or ex-cub Francis Beltran at 7.36. What’s worse is that they put the D-Train on the DL yesterday. It’s too early to hit the panic button, but let’s just say I’m glad that 2–10 is not happening to the Cubbies.

First week in the books

The first official week of baseball is now complete and we learned, once again, why the experts get paid the big bucks. Let’s start in Detroit where the Tigers thanked all sportswriters near and far for picking them to win the World Series by starting the season 0–6. And then of course, ladies and gentleman, let me present to you your 2008 St. Louis Cardinals. Picked by many for fifth place in the lowly NL central. How about a 5–1 opening week with the best ERA in the league? What does the Tigers opening flop and the Redbirds strong start mean?

Nothing, of course.

This is baseball. 156 games to go.

Thoughts from opening night...

It's 7:21 p.m. CST on Sunday evening and after a long good night from my son, I've planted myself right in front of the television.

The Nationals just officially opened their spacious new park (something great about baseball being back in D.C. these last few years). Looks to be a packed house and Odalis Perez has just fanned Kelly Johnson.

The season is underway!

Less that one week to go until Zambrano fires the first pitch of 2008 and as promised, some final spring cleaning before the club breaks north to take on their newest and most legitimate rivals, the Milwaukee Brewers.

As expected…

Kerry Wood was named the closer yesterday. Despite waking up with a sore back last Wednesday, Woody has had a very nice Spring. Big #34 shook off his sore back to make three solid outings later in the week including back-to-back work this weekend.

Playing For a Known Winner

The Cubs are 6–12 in March and quite obviously, on their way to a World Series title.

Ok, so spring records don't mean that much. But I have been curious: why is it bothering Lou so much? Like so many of us sports nuts out there, when he says he doesn’t care that much about winning, he is lying. The truth is that it simply bugs the hell out him, even when it doesn’t matter. Lou can't just sit back and watch poor play.

"I wish we had more players like Micah Hoffpauir," he chides to the media.

Last week I mentioned that I thought the bullpen would be a strength for this team. Barring injuries (which have already plagued the Cubs’ position players this spring), it should be. In 2007, the Cubs bullpen was seventh in all of baseball with a 3.76 ERA. Looking at the cast of characters for 2008, there shouldn’t be much change and there is talent to move forward.

Let's take a closer look at who I like and who I don't like warming up along the left field box seats.

OK. Let's talk about the throwers.

Locks

Here are three pitchers that you may as well ink on paper as being in the starting five come opening day.

Carlos Zambrano. Put him down for 15 wins, minimum. As I’ve said before, he’ll have his up and downs and will jump up and down on the mound a time or two, but if you're a Cubs fan, you love that about him. Big Z is a consummate number one and took less than market value to stay with the team that he’s been with since he was 16 years old.

Spring Training is here. I know I mentioned last time that it seems a good five degrees warmer when the boys of Summer don their Spring uniforms, but its hard to feel that warmth with all this snow in Illinois.

But I digress...

The Cubbies have one field position up for grabs. I can’t remember the last time they had their starting 8 this set in stone and I actually liked it. Oh, they’ve had all eight positions set in the past, but they usually included names like Brant Brown, Manny Trillo, Jason Dubois and other forgettable MLB castoffs. This year, I look at the eight and I’m mostly pleased. Lets go around the horn to get this season started quick-like.

Leiber and the starters?

So we’re bringing back ol’ Liebs huh? Not what I was hoping for, but the big fella can throw strikes and everybody likes the guy. On paper, I have some concerns about the rotation heading into ’08. Z will be Z. He will continue his trend of being better at controlling his emotions, but it certainly will not last all season. He’ll have his allotted share of emotional lowlights. He’ll also likely win 15-20 games and continue to be one of the best starters in the National League. I have trouble believing that Lilly will be able to repeat his ’07 season despite his absolutely outstanding initial campaign with the Cubbies. He was 15-8 with a 3.83 ERA and a better than 3:1 K/BB ratio at 174/55.

Big Surpise

So Mark Prior went home after all. San Diego, like Chicago, wanted him to sign a one year plus club option deal, but Prior again refused. Unlike the Cubs brass, Padres GM Kevin Towers, a neighbor of Prior’s and fellow morning neighborhood jogger, removed the club option and decided to pay him a couple million for (possibly) two months of pitching. Towers isn’t taking a huge gamble. If Prior pitches poorly or simply doesn’t regain his control or velocity, then he’s out $2 million, which for a baseball club is the equivalent to the cost an iPod for your everyday fan.

Fukudome

I don't know a lick of Japanese, but I'm willing to learn. At 30 years old, Fukudome (pronounced "KOH-skay foo-koo-DOUGH-may") has been a star in the Japanese leagues since he was a teenager. He was selected as the youngest player ever on an Olympic baseball team, which won a silver medal in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. A scouting report from ArmChairGM.com says Fukudome has doubles power and will likely put up a high OBP in the Majors, but won't slug more than 15–20 HRs. He's a gold-glove caliber right fielder and has a strong arm.

I took my son to his first Cubs game this year. At 6 months of age some thought this to be inadvisable. Others thought it seemed like a fine idea assuming that we sat in the upper decks of Wrigley, known as the Mezzanine. And still others urged us not only to take him, but to sit in the bleachers. We had to consider it.