3 posts tagged “chicago cubs”
Ha.
It figures, no? The day after the Mets got killed by the Cubs, they come back to win the next two games. On Wednesday, we won 8-1.
In the bottom of the ninth inning yesterday, the Mets scored five runs off Chicago reliever Scott Eyre and closer Ryan Dempster, coming back from a 5-1 deficit to beat the Cubs, 6-5.
I just wish I could’ve watched the game, but damn MLB TV blacks out watch local games when I’m at school, so I couldn’t watch it. Oh well, at least I could listen to my hometown WFAN broadcast.
I’m going to today’s Cubs-Sox subway series game at Wrigley Field, so, needless to say, I won’t be doing much blogging today.
The Chicago Cubs haven't won a World Series title since 1908. That's 99 years, as noted Jeff Passan's column today on Yahoo Sports. But what can they possibly do to change their luck?
1) Make a full-time alternate uniform that incorporates the old logo.
2) Find a new sponsor so that Wrigley Field can be renamed. Since the Cubs moved to the new stadium in 1916 - which was renamed "Wrigley Field" from "Cubs Park" seven years later - they haven't won a WS title.
"Google Field," anyone?
3) Your guess is as good as mine. Any ideas?
In today's Chicago Tribune, Paul Sullivan had the perfect opportunity to write a fair article about the failed marriage between the Cubs and Dusty Baker. Instead, it was a puff piece defending Dusty Baker before what many predict will be his dismissal at the end of the season.
Sullivan writes:
When he first was put on the firing line on the 4th of July in Houston,
when Hendry said he would evaluate Baker and his coaching staff over
the All-Star break, Baker made reference to what he calls "the black
box of blame."
To some, Baker was implying the reason for the wreckage of 2006
eventually would be revealed after his departure, whether it was pilot
error or mechanical failure, i.e., the makeup of the team.
Either way, Baker believes Chicago sports fans tend to blame the leaders when things go bad, rather than the athletes.
"They don't criticize the players as much as they criticize management and the manager, from what I've seen," he said. "It has to fall on somebody."
Obviously. The owners hire the general manager, who in turn hires the manager. The general manager hires the players and it's the manager's job to motivate the players and get them game-ready.
However, what Baker said wasn't true. When Todd Walker wasn't performing earlier this season, the fans pretty much booed him out of town.
To be fair, Sullivan notes Baker's laurels: three Manager of the Year Awards and the only Cubs manager since 1908 to win a postseason series.
But what about the blame? Remember, Baker is the same guy who let his son drift out of the dugout during the 2002 World Series. The guy can neither manage in Chicago nor does he show any sort of heart -- an essential part of Cubs culture.
Even Jay Mariotti, the target of the famous Jay the Joke blog, got it right. He even went so far as to point out that it's not all Baker's fault.
C'mon, Sullie. You got your exclusive. Now go back to being a real reporter.
