My Early Season Cubs Rant

Chris and I both are very passionate about baseball and very passionate about our teams. He has a division winner every year since 1991, where the cubbies have only won their division twice since 1989, but the frustrations are understandable. So, I can fully relate to why the guy upstairs might have batteries in him. I've been extremely close this season to putting a chair through my HDTV; thankfully cooler heads have prevailed after reviewing the terms of my warranty.

On opening day, a mere two weeks ago, the Cubs started off the season with many question marks. The most notable being how would they score a lot of runs with a very suspect line-up. Then they go and beat the Diamondbacks 16-5. There was a lot of relief shown in many camps, but I knew it was a bit of a fluke, and I was proven right. In only one game since then have they even scored eight runs, and they are averaging something like 3 a game. And like the Braves, their middle relief has proven shaky at best, and LaTroy Hawkins is about the worst closer this side of Mitch "Wild Thing" Williams. Yes, "Wild Thing" was always entertaining, but he blew more saves and gave me more frustrations in his tenure than one can imagine. In fact, the Cubs haven't had a really consistent closer since Lee Smith in the eighties. They've had solid years here and there from the likes of Rod Beck, Williams, and Joe Borowski, only to have them pitch like shit the following season. The starting pitching has been fairly solid, but Dusty Baker is doing is usual magic of leaving them in just one inning too long. Also, let's get one thing straight that the media keeps screwing up. In the double header on Wendsday, which the Cubs split, Kerry Wood and Mark Prior pitched. Everytime I heard the announcers or ESPN, or whoever say that today the Cubs were pitching their two aces, I just laughed. Can someone please give Carlos Zambrano some credit here? He is the true ace of this staff, and while Prior may be a more talented pitcher in a lot of areas, Zambrano is almost his equal and can actually stay healthy for an entire season. So, let's give credit where credit is due.

As far as the line-up goes, everyone is hitting solid, with the exception of Nomar, who's having a slow start, but he'll come around. He's already started to in the past two series. The problem is these guys can't seem to all hit productively in the same inning. So, the results end up being 12 hits and only 2 runs. You have the majority of your starting line-up hitting .280 or better, but you can't get them in when they reach base. Everyone was bragging about the Cardinals last year where every single player in their starting line-up was hitting over .300 for most of the season, but the real value there was they weren't leaving runners on base. This is a problem that has plagued the Cubs many times in the past seasons, and as Chris will tell you, the Braves as well.

I wasn't upset when they got rid of Sammy; a more pleasant clubhouse is a good thing. And Aramis Ramirez and Derek Lee can lead this team better than Sosa ever could. Corey Patterson is actually turning into to the elite lead-off hitter that everyone thought he could be. Wood, Prior, and Zambrano all have the stuff to win 20 games a piece. Maddux can throw up 15 wins, and Ryan Dempster, after that first shaky start, is looking like the pitcher he was in spring training. The defense has been solid. Jeromy Burnitz is actually shaking up to being a good investment. Macias, Dubois, and occasionally Nefi Perez, are coming off the bench and having some impact. The relief is an issue, but Borowski should be coming back soon, and the talent is there to keep them in most games. It's too bad, they can't throw Glendon Rusch out there everyday, because he is the one reliever who is pitching lights out. So, the 6-6 record should in theory be more like 9-3 or even 10-2. And, as Chris pointed out in his rant it's early, so we probably shouldn't be complaining. But dammit, it's frustrating. If the Mets can win 6 in a row then why can't the Cubs or the Braves do the same?