Bleed Cubbie Blue

10/10/10

Cubs clinch division playoff series! Jeff Samardzija capped his improbable 20 victory season with a complete game shutout. The Cubs were powered by 2010 NL home run champ Jake Fox’s 5th home run of the play-off series. Cub broadcaster Ron Santo was quoted, "This is our year!"

BatCubFan - September 9, 2009 reply

And you just jinxed it...

You’ve been listening to the morning zoos, huh?

Oh no

Jinx?

Drugs?

Meetings should be few and far between

Theriot is quoted in that story as saying Baker had meetings all the time. You see how that went.

And anyway, if these guys need a meeting to be reminded to be professional, then, not to put too fine a point on it, to hell with them.

Coming on the heels of losing 2 of 3 in New York.

Apparently Lou felt the need to remind them that they need to actually attempt to win the game, not just show up and expect it to happen.

Shanghai Badger - September 9, 2009 reply

I think that's what some of them thought about the division

Just throw the gloves out there . . . "we’re right where we want to be . . . " and "there’s plenty of time left . . . "

That's kind of how I feel about this year, too.

And suddenly, the Cardinals were grabbing the division by the throat and the team never responded.

Maybe the players should have met amongst themselves.

But there doesn’t appear to be a player leader on this team.

Leadership????

Sorry, Al. I need to see a stat for that.

I tend to agree with Worf

I am sure if you go back through years and years of baseball stories, there were pleanty of leaderless champions and teams that disliked each other. You don’t need leaders to win, you need good baseball players to win.

niuhuskie224 - September 9, 2009 reply

I was being sarcastic -- I like leadership

And teams that dislike each other aren’t the same as having no leaders.

The early 70s A’s fought constantly with each other and their owner. But Sal Bando and Gene Tenace were the leaders. The late 70s Yankees hated each other as well, but Munson and Guidry were strong enough forces.

Leadership doesn’t mean kumbaya. It means, “Shut up and do it. Hate each other on you own damn time”

Worf is correct.

Recent example in Cub history: the 2003 team, perhaps not as talented as some, won in part (note, IN PART) because they had two strong player-leaders, Damian Miller and Eric Karros.

The 2004 team, more talented than 2003, didn’t have those players around to keep the distractions to a minimum. Those two might have helped prevent the late-season implosion.

It DOES matter.

Exactly

I don’t think anyone would argue that we shouldn’t have upgraded the 1B position. To go from Karros/Simon to Lee was a no-brainer.

But to add Hawkins and Barrett to that mix without any thought to leadership was stupid. Throw in Mercker and Alou (and I still think dearly departed Woody had his fingerprints on some of that crap too), add an enabler like Baker, and you’ve got a disaster.

I'd say health

had just as much to do with the ’04 collapse as did a lack of leadership.

Yes, definitely health first...

Losing Nomar, getting only 2/3 of a season each from Wood and Prior, and having Borowski’s arm fall off (forcing Hawkins to the closer role causing him to freak out) were the bigger problems.

Um...

… Nomar’s injury was in 2005, not 2004.

Al Yellon - September 10, 2009 reply

I don't know if there's a vocal leader on the team

Derrek Lee has always been cited as a leader for the Cubs, but it appears he’s more of a “lead by example” type.

I hear Milton Bradley is pretty vocal...

that's one of the reasons he was brought in, wasn't it?

that leadership seems to have misfired somewhere along the way.

I think Jim Hendry...

… misread Bradley’s aggressive nature for “vocal leadership”. I haven’t seen any evidence of that.

Agreed.

I can't imagine anyone thinking Bradley was a leader

Now, maybe a spark… a fire.. a Dennis Rodman type to shake things up?

Yeah, I could see that.

But you need a strong leader to lock down a guy like that. Soriano is probably the closest thing we have, but his rotten year has hurt him.

Exactly.

Glenallen Hill and Charles Oakley come to mind

Not to beat a dead horse, but

Soriano can’t possibly be that big of a leader in the clubhouse, given his less-than-stellar English Language conversational abilities. Just my two cents.

When you figure that Spanish is the first language of

Soto, Zambrano, Guzman and Marmol — young players that really need leadership, not to mention Aramis and Blanco and probably a few I’m missing, I think you’re off-base.

Soriano seems to get his point across enough. Fox has said Soriano has been great to him.

And not for nothing, Soriano seems to be the one slumping player who has owned up to it.

Also, Soriano speaks Japanese...

… which has probably helped Kosuke Fukudome become more acclimated.

Really?

Never would have guessed that. What in life lead to him learning that incredibly difficult language?

He trained in Japan for a while and played with the with the Hiroshima Carp in 1997.

bakester - September 9, 2009 reply

Awesome.

Thanks!

Does he really speak Japanese?

Or is that an assumption people have made simply because he played in Japan briefly?

From what I understand, he is no wiz but can somewhat.

bakester - September 9, 2009 reply

The reason I ask is because it is a very difficult language...

it’s not like picking up French or Spanish.

I just wonder if people have simply said “he played in Japan, so maybe he knows Japanese” to the point that it’s become “fact.”

If it’s true, that’s very cool for him.

Milton strikes me more as a "tortured artist" type.

Shanghai Badger - September 9, 2009 reply

The Cubs make me feel like this

They've driven me to wearing black, smoking clove cigarettes and drinking vermouth.

I've seen you

"Vampires are f**king lame!"

Leaders

I think Kerry Wood was a leader in the clubhouse. So was DeRosa.

Not bright to trade them both away at the same time.

danimal15 - September 9, 2009 reply

Ladies & Gentlemen, Your 2009 Chicago Cubs - Dome, Riot, DLee... and a cast of thousands.

Today’s lineup just in from Twittermeyer:

Dome, Riot, DLee, Hoff (RF), Baker (3B), Fonty, Scales (LF), Hill, Z

Holy Christ

How Z isn’t batting 6th in that lineup is beyond me.

Hey, that lineup worked yesterday...

… with the exception of Soto instead of Hill.

Gotta love the Pirates

Ramirez played yesterday too, didn't he?

He’s kinda key

Right.

True. But the rest of those guys did just fine.

Gotta rest Rami and Bradley

for when real teams show up. The vacation against the Pirates is about over.

Except for the four more games we have against them at Wrigley!

essentially ...

we’re subbing Fontenot for Ramirez. This does not make me optimistic.

I guess Lou wanted to give Dome some RBI opportunities...

I don't know about the henhouse, but Fox is clearly in the doghouse

If only flailing away at low-n-outside pitches were grounds for being benched earlier this season…

Crap lineup! If DLee doesn't get at least 3 hits and an HR

we have zero chance. I guess Fox is never gonna get another start.

Lineup per Wittenmyer:

cst_cubs Sweep lineup? Fuky, riot, lee, hoff (9), baker (5), font, scales, hill, z.

Nice to know the I-Cubs are playing one more game this season

nji232 - September 9, 2009 reply

On a related note,

the I-Cubs finished their season at .500 and probably So Taguchi was their MVP.

At least they follow the company line

Play mediocre baseball

nji232 - September 9, 2009 reply

Taguchi nearly got called up

Because Soriano and Reed are probably done and Fuld is hurting.

Taguchi probably SHOULD have been called up.

At least he can play defense.

Is he on the 40-man?

Can he get a call now?

Not on the 40-man...

could be called up if the team wanted to add him (we’re at 39), but I doubt he’ll get the call.

They could remove Miles and call up Taguchi

Oh no!

Can’t wait for spring training to hear that Miles has “turned the corner” and will be expected to be a key member of the 2010 Cubs.

Doggie Stalker - September 9, 2009 reply

Fuld is hurting ?

Just got back on a redeye and have not heard about this ? What is the story /

reaggravated a wrist injury he got making the fence catch in LA

Can play defense but can’t hit.

Doggie Stalker - September 9, 2009 reply

Got it.

Weird he can play defense though.

You don't need wrist strength to catch a ball

It probably stings a little when he does though. I imagine if he gets an opportunity to go out there he won’t be diving for any balls

Musicdude10 - September 9, 2009 reply

Again-NO FOX!!!!!!

What the hell, Lou?

Since when is Scales better than Fox? Five starts in a row????

Goodbye Lou

I can’t wait for you to be gone!

He's begging to be canned

so he can sit on by the pool in Tampa with a bloody mary in his hand.

I mean really, they couldn't play him at 3b and keep Fronty on the bench, since I guess Scales MUST play.

Two days in a row, to much angst for one comment!

DAMN YOU LOU, DAMN YOU!!!!!

That's right!

They reply button, man.

Its your friend.

Doesn't anyone else find Fox not playing, especially in a sub line-up to be stupid?

Dude... unclench

Yes, very stupid

This is a total garbage lineup. My guess is that it will be 35 days in row without gaining a game on STL.

I guess everyone else is fine with it

Nothing we can do anyways. The only thing worse would be if Miles was playing.

WTH, Lou

Scales and Fontenot — and no Jake Fox? Just terrible.

Finally

finally what?

Someone else agreeing Fox should be playing.

Al said it in the story line about yesterday, I completely agree with him.

How can anyone even debate

playing Scales AND Fontenot over Fox?

I agree with this.

Fox is having issues with outside breaking balls, but I don’t see any situation in which both Scales and Fontenot should be starting over him.

madcow256 - September 9, 2009 reply

Lou thinks this is a good idea.

Fox is getting 1 ab every 2-3 days. It would have been nice to see him get 5-6 starts vs bad teams and see if he could have improved on that outside pitch.

Fox not playing...

…may have something to do with the .565 OPS he’s put up in 23 PAs over the last 14 days. Or the fact that 9 of those 23 PAs resulted in strikeouts – with no walks.

23 Pa's in 14 days is not much. Maybe some rust is setting in.

Yeah, I recall Lou saying...

…that he didn’t want to play Fox in New York because of Citi Field’s big outfield. I’m actually not opposed to him playing today, but he’s looked pretty lost at the plate lately.

I think Lou just wanted to help Hart today and start the subs-but not Fox

Fronty is hitting about 56 points lower so he should be playing of course

jerry morales rules - September 9, 2009 reply

Having a team meeting was irrelevant

The lineup is constructed around Soriano. If he doens’t hit, the team doesn’t play well. There’s nothing a team meeting is going to do about Soriano.

uh.....

heine41 - September 9, 2009 reply

That duck always makes me laugh

jerry morales rules - September 9, 2009 reply

The meeting was WAY to late

There are no leaders on this team. The manager has been asleep for 3 months as well.

jerry morales rules - September 9, 2009 reply

Seriously, what good would it have done?

With Soriano being abysmal, who could bat leadoff (and fulfill all that one needs a lead-off hiter to do?)? He’s getting paid $17M, it’s not as if you can bench him easily. So you put him down in the lineup where he can be a black hole instead of at the top of the order whicih is the worst place for a black hole.

When Soriano hits, all is right with the Cubs. When he doesn’t … well, not so much. Look at the playoffs last year. Sure, small sample size but this year has certainly added to that theory. In retrospect, there was no backup plan if Soriano were to fail.

No meeting would have helped create a backup plan.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-Soriano. When hot, he is an offensive force that few players in the league can match. He is, however, streaky, and that needs to be managed. This year, it was managed poorly.

+1

Right to the point.

+1

Right to the point.

Whoops

Reply posting failure…

They need a sweep. The Cubs don't play again until Friday, so it would be nice for this team

to have a positive image in their heads for the next 48+ hours.

You can only take so much of the 23 hours of Michael Jordan…

LAcarl519 - September 9, 2009 reply

Meetings

If the players, or anybody, could meet and come up with 2-3 more run producers, then they should have had meetings. Outside of that impossibility, I don’t think meetings mattered.

The easy schedule hasn’t worked well enough, but the Cubs have reasons to finish above .500 both for themselves and for the fans. They might even play better with the pressure off of them.

AboutTheCubs - September 9, 2009 reply

I think I just heard the smattering of applause...

…when the Pirates took the field.

jump