One and Done

Thanks for the recap -- you'll have something in your e-mail by Monday.

There's always a bright side: we're not Dawson Leery.

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The Mexican homeboy.

Fuck the Cubs!

Fucking A.

That quote fucking made my morning. Forever fucking grateful the fucking MVN move was made.

Sigh. Just when I had gotten over the last time and was ready to open up my heart and love again. What's the baseball equivalent of a hooker?

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That's Manila with an "L"

Fucking Cubs. Verily, fuck them.

Seriously debating giving up on the Cubs.

I mean best record in the league and lie there like lambs waiting for the kill.

They gave away two games and didn't perform in the other.

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I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me- hst

First, where was Reed Johnson? Veteran presence, competitor, hits for average, does very well with RISP. If there was anyone I would not see choking it would have been him. And there is no loss in defense with him instead of Fukudome.

Second, the ONE game it made sense to start Fukudome was game 3 against Kuroda. He knows him better than anyone, and clearly looked more comfortable facing him. Why start games 1 and 2 and not 3? I don't get that one.

I think the Cubs are where the Red Sox were at a few years ago. They have a solid nucleus, were always in contention, but couldn't break though. Then, down 3-0 to the Yankees, the come back, win the World Series, have won another since, and are always in contention. The Cubs need their breakthrough to prove to themselves that they can win in the playoffs. I was holding out hope that last night would be the start of it, but it didn't happen.

And of course we all say that we are going to back off and take a season off, etc. but after 4 months of no baseball and - for those of us in the midwest - a balls-cold winter, I imagine we'll be back at it come late February like every other year.

At least when I turned on a game this year I had almost a 2 in 3 chance of seeing them win. That is something that has happened in very few seasons in my lifetime.

At this point though, I am fucking pissed, but not really surprised. This is afterall what they do best. I'll check out from baseball until free agency heats up, I can't even really get into the rest of the playoffs at this point.

Also, in a sign of Cubs-fan solidarity, I'm not going to report the results of my and Real Neal's bet re: Fukudome/Theriot in September. Both sucked so miserably in the playoffs that I think at this point their September performance is a moot point.

Great post, Rob G. Painful and hilarious. Sorry you had to be there in person.

I don't feel devastated, just tired and frustrated. '03 was a sucker punch in the chest. Compared to that year, this is just a boulder on the heart.

I don't want to give a shit about baseball for a while either, and I want to say "Fuck you, Cubs," but the bitch of it is I know that when the spring is on the horizon, I'll get worked up again.

I think it must be what a menstrual cycle is like, but 12 times longer.

Go Rays, I guess.

You follow a baseball team for six months, 161 games, and just about every play of every inning and then they go and just tear your heart out.

All the effort and time one expends in following the club sure seems futile and foolish when this kind of thing happens, although at least I can say that I enjoyed myself thoroughly at the time.

But what really hurts now is thinking about all the great and small things that have to go right in order to have a great regular season, and wondering if all of those planets could ever align like that again. We all know what those things were this season; do you see them all happening again, or anything like them? It's hard to imagine right now.

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"Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is: never try." -- Homer

As painful as watching the game at Lodger Stadium (where did they find all those fans?) must have been, it couldn't have been worse then listening to the re-animated corpse of Dick Stockton trying to call the game. TBS - Where formerly decent tennis announcers go to die.

...

So, the FA pickings are pretty slim. I would say our areas of need are:

RF
CF
Setup Men
Backup Catcher
Starter - if Dempster doesn't come back

Now that we stunk up the playoffs, it sort of sucks that Pie didn't get more chances in September. I think Hendry and Pinhead know not to try Edmonds again, but they're probably going to hope that Fukudome gets sorted (he looked pretty good last night, at least). The free agent market is pretty barren for anything other than left fielders, and with Fukudome's and Soriano's contracts on the books it's doubtful we'll throw money at one of the big bats (Ramirez, Dunn, Ibanez, Burrel, Abreu). There's no free agent CF's that give me confidence we'd have an improvement over Pie/Johnson.

Offering around a Cedeno/Marshall package for a center fielder seems like a good idea. KC seems to have their middle infield sorted out now, so OfJesus is probably out. There's some other scrap-heap guys that should be avaiable and cost less than those two, Tavares, And Jones, Jeremy Reed etc.

Wheeler is a free agent, and Hendry has a penchant for offering solid setup guys 3 year deals, so I could see him being a target, especially if Wood goes somewhere else. Mota and Juan Cruz could be other targets. From the left side there's not much either, assuming Marte's option gets picked up. Affeldt could be a guy the Cubs figure they could straighten out to replace Eyre's role in the grand bullpen scheme.

All-in-all it looks like Hendry's going to have a tough off-season if he wants to improve the club. Getting Hill going again will be huge.

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Livin' just a little, laughin' just a little, ain't easy.

On that play at third in the first inning, Ramirez doesn't know how to tag a guy sliding head first. The play ends up with Ramirez' glove on the guy's shoulder. What is the ump supposed to make of that snapshot? He knows the runner's hand must have touched the base a while before.

You're supposed to make a swipe tag and pick up your glove, so that the only question in the ump's mind is whether the throw beat him.

If you think you've seen that botched tag before, it was on September 11 in St. Louis, when Brandon Ryan, the tying run, led off the bottom of the 9th with a double. The next guy bunted and Lee threw late to third. Ryan overslid third and the replay showed that in trying to get back, he reached safely past Ramirez' shoulder tag.

The Cubs got the call in St. Louis, but last night they didn't and it cost them two runs.

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Tired of OBP? Join the club!

Epic Fail

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Equal Opportunity Offender

They asked me how I knew
My true love was true
Oh, I of course replied
Something here inside cannot be denied

They said someday you'll find
All who love are blind
Oh, when your heart's on fire
You must realize
Smoke gets in your eyes

So I chaffed them and I gaily laughed
To think they could doubt my love
Yet today my love has flown away
I am without my love

Now laughing friends deride
Tears I can not hide
Oh, so I smile and say
When a lovely flame dies
Smoke gets in your eyes
Smoke gets in your eyes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMOBdQykKQY

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Chill, it's the offseason. How many days to the Winter Meetings?

Vegas, Dec 8-11...

http://lasvegas.51s.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=...

and upcoming dates of import...

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/schedule/important_dates.js...

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Chill, it's the offseason. How many days to the Winter Meetings?

It's not that I don't suffer, it's that I know the unimportance of suffering. I know that pain is to be fought and thrown aside, not to be accepted as part of ones soul and as a permanent scar across ones view of existence.
-John Galt "Atlas Shrugged"

I'm as pissed as anyone about this latest playoff disaster, but at least I had something to cheer for this season. I went to my first Cubs playoff game ever (Game 1 - CF bleachers under an unwelcome rain of Dodger homers). This season felt a lot better than giving up on baseball by June. You can't win if if you're not even in it. Hendry needs to pull his shit together and start brainstorming for the offseason. Here's looking forward to a 2009 division title and many more to come. Someday we'll go all the way!

cubbie occurrence
another bad century
when's it gonna spill?

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Equal Opportunity Offender

for some reason I forgot about it, but a hardy F U to Soto and/or Mike Quade not scoring from third on that chopper.

This is all a bad dream, right? I mean it's really only September 30th, I'm sure. The playoffs don't start until tomorrow, right?

Anyhow, since there are probably a few other women that read this blog, I'd like to provide the following comparison for us:
This regular season was like dating Mr. Darcy, only to find out yesterday that it was actually Mr. Collins (the bumbling idiot) or John Willoughby (the philandering liar) all along.

Last night I was at peace with everything ("There's always next year"), but this morning I am pissed again. How the fuck can this team only score 6 fucking runs!?!?!? THey had as many fucking ERRORS as Runs!!! (I am also glad that this blog is no longer at MVN... nothing is as cathartic as saying Fuck repeatedly.)

-Thanks for allowing me to vent.... (off to watch Pride and Prejudice with a bottle of red wine and pint of my other lovers: Ben and Jerry)

Well the other perspective to all this pain is probably a little more realistic and mature:

Sometimes success is a lot more of a long term process than we might otherwise have it.

In the music business I have learned that talent is actually fairly easy to come by and that what is much more important is resilience and dedication.

In the case of the Cubs it is only recently that they have really entered the field of play as a perennial playoff presence. Hell this is the first back to back appearance since, what, 1945?

Hendry and company have done a good job in my opinion of building a winner, and in a pretty darn tough division (that also has more teams than any other division!!).

Passion and memory and irrational dreaming and history have trained us Cubs' fans to almost hope that we GET LUCKY and sneak a World Series victory on some sort of magical roller coaster ride.

But perhaps the Cubs' process will be more that of the Atlanta Braves . . . slowly learning how to run an organization so that it is in the playoffs on a yearly basis and then slowly learning how to win in the playoffs. It's not how I would have it, but it makes sense if you put aside all the history.

The bottom line as so many have said is that the Cubs were very poorly run for many many years.

Now they are dedicated to winning, akin to an Alcoholic who quits drinking and then expects everyone to react with approval and for things to suddenly go well . . . in that same way because the Cubs have gotten serious we expect immediate rewards. Well maybe it's a little harder than that.

So as completely mystified and heartbroken as I am -- I think if the Cubs keep hammering the strike zone with good teams we will get our WS victory in coming years. Boston went through exactly that process and it took the Braves many appearances but that run only yielded ONE WS victory.

2014.

Soriano is signed THROUGH 2014 and has a full non-trade clause (not that anyone would take him).

Un-fucking-believable.

Hey, it's alright guys. We'll regroup and go get 'em tonight.

Right, guys? Right? [insert Van Der Beek here]

OK, I've now got scars for basically every area of my body from all of this failure - never thought it would last this long from the specter of '69, but there you go. I don't agree completely with the commenters mentioning the long - term building blocks for success, and then eventually you win a championship. Too many other teams of recent vintage (Marlins, Twins, etc.) just got lightning in a bottle and won the whole thing, and damn any blueprint for success. But that never happens for this franchise, just the reverse. We always fall flat on our faces, no matter the opponent or specific circumstances. Yesterday I heard a doofus host on the SCORE here ripping the fans for booing the team during game 2 - fuck you, Arkush, the fans can do and say any fucking thing they please, take your moral outrage and spend it where it might do some actual fucking good for once - ON THE TEAM.

Thank you for allowing me to vent - and you have my deepest sympathies for having to watch that atrocity last night, Rob. Lying down like dogs is the kindest thing one could say for this team.

fuck

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† The Joe - 2007 TCR Keeper Champion; 2008 Runner-Up

Balls!

Is it time to remove "All The Way"?

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All right, all right, all right....

I gave up and didn't even watch the game. Spent the night watching my Buckeyes ACTUALLY RESPOND TO ADVERSITY WITH A GORGEOUS DRIVE. There's room on the bandwagon if you're not already tied to Illinois/Wisconsin. I actually went as far to turn around whenever I saw the "NL" line come up on the ticker at the bottom.

Seriously. I can't believe how bad this team played. I'm 25...what I want to know from all you older guys, is this what it's like to be a Cubs fan? If so I might have to rethink this crap.

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Quit arguing about non-baseball stuff yall.

My fun moment from last night. While in the men's room getting heckled as you would expect, one dude yells at me, "Go back to Chicago Cub fan" and I look up (i was just keeping my head down each trip there as i didn't want to get stabbed) and say real loud "Dude, I live in the (san fernando) Valley!"

The whole bathroom broke up laughing.

The he kinda stumbled and muttered something about going back to the valley.

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"I will ruin this house with my anger!" - Master Shake

on my venting side (as many of you know I am biased towards management and leadership failures). Here's how my interview with Lou would likely go:

Jimmer: So Lou can you pinpoint what went wrong.

Lou: (arrogant sigh) I don't know . . . you saw the games. What am I, a magician? I'm mystified. Could have been the scouting, Dodger's pitching, a cold stretch, who knows? But I only got 12 runs in 6 playoff games. hard to win with that.

Jimmer: Looking back could you have put the team in a better position to win?

Lou: (brow furling sigh) Look I'm not on the field. Do I have dirt on my pants? I don't feel pressure. There is no pressure . . . Americans have a lot on their plate. This is entertainment . . . it's unimportant. And besides the crowd at Wrigley was a bunch of executives . . .

Jimmer: Well wouldn't the people paying your salary disagree with that? It must be an important and difficult job or you wouldn't be paid millions of dollars.

Lou: One more question like that and I'll absorb you like a failing bank you pipsqueak? What do you make for asking stupid questions?

Jimmer: Ok. Some would argue that you don't respect the importance of winning game one of a short series. I mean last year you pulled your ace who was dominant in a tied game, in order to save him for another game that never happened. And this year you kept a pitcher in who had walked 7 batters in 4 2/3 innings. Would you have done that in a game 7 of the world series?

Lou: (Harrumph) Look, we can't play scared and I can't manage scared. It's too much pressure. And hey life is full of pressure . . . no need for it.

Jimmer: um ok. But two year's in a row you seemed to mis-gauge momentum and mismanage the pitching staff in what is essentially an elimination game: roughly 90% of NL teams who win game one of short series win the series.

Lou: (sigh) Where's the pizza?

Jimmer: What about batting Fukudome in the number two spot. Then playing him again in game two. Then benching him in game three against the one pitcher he knows inside out from years in Japan?

Lou: Look buddy, I'm chewing! (press room erupts in laughter - OH THAT LOU!)

Jimmer: ok last question. After two seasons of humiliating post season sleepfests. What will you do differently if you get in next year? manage game one like it's the last game of your life? line up your rotation better so that big game pitchers pitch in big games? Form a strategy and adjust if players are all swinging at pitches 4 inches outside for three straight games? Make sure the pitchers know that if they don't trust their stuff and pound the strike zone they are gonna CREATE losing situations? Put pressure on other pitchers by preaching patience at the plate? Using scrappy players in tough situations? I mean anything you can think of?

Lou: Glad you got all the answers shitbox. It doesn't work that way. I need three things: good pitching, good defense, and timely hitting. You know how to reach inside of a player and make that happen. Send me a memo. Next question . . .

Jimmer: but Lou that's your job . . .

I've reluctantly come to the conclusion that Soriano needs to somehow go. I just can't see how he's anything but a net negative for this team - the leadoff thing, the defense thing, the post-season disappearing thing - I know he's got a no-trade contract, but I just thing he needs to go.

Well said, Rob. I feel like I've wasted the last six months of my life. I didn't have to have the Series, I could've lived with a pennant, I could've even justified 2003 redux. This was more painful than unexpected.

Hockey season mercifully awaits.

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The Todd Zeile of Internet handles.

I found this site about mid-season and have been religiously reading ever since. I just want to say thank you to all for the ensight and entertaining comments. I hope the posts continue through the off-season.

The thing that scares me is that we weren't significantly out hit by the Dodgers this series, specifically, the hits per game looked like this:

Game 1
LAD - 8
Cubs - 9

Game 2
LAD - 12
Cubs - 8

Game 3
LAD - 6
Cubs - 8

Its just that they had an uncanny ability to come through with clutch hits in key situations (Loney's GS in game 1 and double in game 3 in a series where he hit .214 is the most glaring evidence) while we had the uncanny ability to provide them gift wrapped opportunities (Dempster's walks in game 1, the 2nd inning errors and general fielding incompetence in game 2).

I mean, D Lee and Manny both had spectacular series and were the only two players to punch above their weight offensively in the middle of either lineup. The complementary players for both teams were bad; the only difference is our players got their hits with the bases empty and produced outs in run scoring situations while the Dodgers' players got their hits in high leverage situations and did very little the rest of the game.

I feel like I just watched a replay of last year, and it makes me sick.

I had intimated in September that I thought the Cubs would be "One and Done", so I was prepared.

My Cubs experience since 2003 is like Missouri - the "show me" State.

At game 1, my kids asked me to by them Division Champ caps and T-Shirts.

I said - "Guys, if they make it to the Championship Series, I'll buy 'em for you when we come to Game 1." I got off cheap, unfortunately.

I just want to ask if any of you would be for just doing a minor "blow up" and try to deal as many of these experienced chokers as possible? Go younger, faster, keep the core pitching intact and look for young arms. Go Beane for a while. The Rays had no problem not "choking" and look like world beaters compared to our "Playoff Tested" veterans.

How about it?

Also - I REALLY feel like the players should make a public apology, to all of us sick, obsessed, sucker fans that we are for fooling us once more with an absolutely pathetic display of baseball.

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Disappointed by "Cubbery" since 1966