Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Extra Innings

I was quite surprised when I walked through the door past midnight to see the Cubs still playing. It was just in time to see Matt Murton drive in a couple runs and Rich Hill close the door on the Astros.
HIll actually looked pretty good in the 18th as he sat the Astros down in order. So the Cubs played terrible against the Rockies and now take the first two games in this series. Man, I hate this team.

Over the past week, I have been covering the 16-year-old Senior Babe Ruth World Series and I have to say it has been quite fun. So, that is what I am doing for at least the next couple of days.

Just think, 2007 is right around the corner. Maybe this will all be a bad dream.

Friday, August 11, 2006

Top Reasons To Hate The Cubs

I actually sat down to watch Thursday's game and I get left with such a terrible feeling watching this team. I know we are bad, but I can't turn away. It is like a bad wreck or something, but it is the truth. The only good thing is that I have to cover the 16-year-old Babe Ruth World Series this weekend, so I can't watch this team.
I am not a Top 10 kind of person, but here are 17 reasons (After my favorite player Mark Grace) to dislike this team:

17. We fans keep showing up even with loads of losing.

16. The Cubs are owned by the main media that follows them. Can we say conflict of interest? I can.

15. We tend to give contracts to guys like the great Neifi Perez. Only in the Northside can a guy who can't hit get a two-year 5 million dollar contract.

14. When all the evidence says OBP is key, the Cubs laugh in the face of the effects. How can't you value a player that gets on base? Just ask big Jim, I suppose he thinks guys that hit .250 with no power will finally end a streak.

13. The Cubs have added more seats and more advertising, but yet have not improved the product on the field. Again I blame Jim and Andy.

12. Andy MacPhail. This main has had a job since 1994. In that time he has been GM/CEO of the Cubs and has led the team to one Wild Card and one division title. The Trib looks the other way and why not? MacPhail has made a lot of money. But really, an idiot could make money with this team.

11. Mark Prior. He was supposed the savior of this team. Now he is about effective as a broken toaster. His fastball is gone and so are our only hope for a World Series title.

10. Wasting Carlos Zambrano. I mean come on, Carlos is in the prime of his career and the Cubs are wasting a great talent with guys like Neifi Perez.

9. Rookie of the Year. There were a rush of baseball kids movies in the 90's and the Cubs get a broken down Gary Busey and some kid with an injury that can throw over 100 MPH. The Chicago Cubs needed a miracle... They got Henry Rowengartner. How sick is that. To top it all off Home Alone's Daniel Stern directed it.

8. Player's come and go. The Cubs have a great track record of letting great players walk ( i.e: Greg Maddux) and picking up players at the wrong time (i.e.: Mike Remlinger, Jeff Blauser, Howard Johnson to name a few).

7. 2003. I loved 2003. I never had so much fun as a Cub fan. I had a chance to see the Cubs win their first Playoff series in my lifetime in Atlanta. News friends were made quickly and even Scott Lange took a road trip with me to Florida. Now 2003 is just a horrible joke. We all had such high hopes for that year and now it just hurts. I hate you Alex. I really, really hate you; Gold Glove my ass.

6. Directv. I got directv years ago, because i wanted to see every Cub game. Thinking we might be winning a bunch. Now I am just throwing 100's of dollars away on this team. Not only do i have to suffer to watch, but I am paying to do it.

5. Dusty and Don and every other manager. I don't need to rant here, we all know that Dusty sucks.

4. Curses. I mean give me a break with the curses. Okay, we haven't won a title in a while, but it is not because of some goat. We suck because we our players are A). not good or B.) haven't played well when they had to.

3. Bartman. Only a team of excuses can blame something that any of us could have done. It was 50/50 that Alou would have caught the ball. Don't forget Dusty and more importantly Alex G. I mean I hate that guy.

2. Fans. How quickly we turn. I remember liking Sammy Sosa, but quickly we turned on him. Not to mention all the booing. We are just as much to blame as the team. Even when the Cubs suck, we watch and flock to the ballpark.

1. Me. When it comes down to it, I chose to love this team.

Even after all of that I still die with this team and will continue to die with them. I can only hope that one day this team will give me some love back.

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Trade Mad Dog, get blown out

There are already enough comments on the Cubs trade of Greg Maddux around Cub Blog Army. Sure, I would have loved to get more, but folks let me tell you "We are run by idiots."
Did anybody really thing we would make a good move? At this point I knew that something like this would happen. Is Cesar Izturis going to lead the Cubs to the promise land? Ha, we know that he is Alex Gonzalez Part 2. The Cubs problems are so big that any trade this deadline would not help us. Jim Hendry wants to win now and he couldn't take more prospects, so he thought he might sure up the defense.
The biggest problem for the Cubs now is the pitching rotation and not the lineup. The Cubs have only one pitcher they count. We might as well count of the kid from "Rookie of the Year." The Cubs have a broken down Mark Prior, two erratic rookies in Sean Marshall and Carlos Marmol and a host of other guys. So I don't see the logic in bringing a glove guy on a team that has no pitching.
It is hard to really think about it. Two years ago, pitching was the face of the Cubs. Now flash forward and the Cubs have less pitching than the Devil Rays.