Rambling, Guinness-y Thoughts on the Cubs

Rambling, Guinness-y Thoughts on the Cubs

Yeah. Gonna ramble. As is my right.

I don't write nearly enough shit on this thing, you know?

The Cubs ended their season today.

Eighty-three wins, huh?

Whaddya gonna do?

So, what's this? Three winning seasons in a row? Good job, Lou. Honestly. Lord knows I've seen my share of 66 win seasons, so that voice in my head isn't completely quiet.

Still. I just watched 2008 whiz into 2009...and it seems like just yesterday I was watching the Cubs fumble their way through a playoff series against the Dodgers, after playing the best baseball I'd seen the team play in my life. That was a bitter pill to swallow, if you want to know the truth. I'd not wandered into the "This is the Year" mentality, but I did recognize that it was probably the best Cubs team I'd seen in my life (though I'll say to you that 31 has a hard time comparing a 12-year-old's fascination with that 1989 team.....)

Maybe it's frustration with other things, but starting last October, with that defeat, it's been a bitter-like-ashes year.

Mark and Kerry went to Cleveland. We brought in Kevin Fucking Gregg and Milton Goddam Bradley. The former being irritating, the latter being maybe the most irritating acquisition I've seen this team make.

First, I didn't like the way Kerry was just sent on his way. The statement that "we want Kerry to find the best deal for him" bugged me. Here's a guy who's done whatever's been asked of him. Yeah, I ragged him about being a pansy who's made of glass. But whatever they wanted him to do, he did. Plus, he'd been much the face of the franchise for a decade. Jim Hendry and company wanted him to be able to find a multi-year contract. Because the 2-year contract he got in Cleveland is so much more daunting than the money we threw at Kevin Gregg for the 9 saves he blew in Florida the previous year....

And then? Milton Fucking Bradley? I've argued with a few folks over the course of the year, even getting tarred with a racist label by a fellow twitterer at some point. Honestly. 10 mil for a guy who'd played 120 games all of twice in his career. Who is combative with opponents, umpires and even teammates? Who blames the media and the fans for his troubles when he can't figure out to shorten up his stroke with two strikes?

But hey, he played 124 games. Which is the third highest number of games played in a season in his 10 year career. (The next highest is 101 games....)

Realizing he may not have been the Right Field answer, but Mark DeRosa has played six 100+ game seasons, in that same span, but spent much of his career as a platoon player down in Atlanta....

And Mark DeRosa gets the benefit of the doubt when arguing calls with umpires, because he's not known to be a raving lunatic.

But, I digress....

There were things beyond that that were discouraging. The slow offensive start sucked. The revelation that Marmol's a bit of a flake. Aramis getting hurt. My growing suspicion that somehow Alfonso Soriano is the biggest hoax perpetrated upon baseball in the past dozen years.

I think it was Gooseneck I'd talked about this with, though if it wasn't, I apologize. The contention was the Soriano was as big a waste of time as Milton Bradley. I disagree, but at the same time, I don't think the guy has any kind of clubhouse presence at all, and I feel like having his bat at the top of the order does us no good at all.

Plus: Soriano, to my impression, is the opposite of clutch. I throw that out there, knowing I may be complete wrong. Not a fan, and I don't know if it ever came across in my previous conversations. I'd rather have somebody out there in left who didn't pout when they didn't get to lead off.

Anyway.

Did I have a point?

Eighty three wins?

I dunno. Seems like we folded in big games this year. Any game against a quality opponent. It was almost like the opposite of Cubs teams I grew up with. We fought the first place teams of the world okay, but were perpetually tripped up by cellar dwellers. Maybe the opposite this year...seems like we played Pittsburgh 83 times this year, and only lost three or four to them. But anytime we got up against the Dodgers and Phillies of the world, we were roadkill....

Anyway. Don't know what's up over the offseason. I can't see myself overly enthusiastic about the postseason, though I always manage to find a way to enjoy it. I can get behind the Angels or Red Sox, I reckon. Nobody on the senior circuit does much for me.

I am fear a Cardinals/Yankees World Series. Can I say that? Damn. That's like Cancer Fighting AIDS. Are there truly any winners?

It's like the Cardinals are America, and the Yankees are Soviet Russia, and I'm tiny little Japan, with nobody truly to root for in this battle of megapowers, and I have a giant-firebreathing lizard patrolling right-field to contend with anyway.

Priorities?

No more Milton. Puhleeze.

Other than that? Stop sucking. I have no good ideas about running a baseball team. That's why I manage a grocery store for a living.

Enjoy this post while you can. If it's too rambly, I'll revise in the morning....