Winter Meetings Preview

Winter Meetings Preview

My Favorite Potpourri

Everyone has one. For some, it might be a hot apple pie, or fresh fallen rain. Maybe it's Grandma's house, a perfume, or a brand new car. Not me. For me, it's stale beer, pine tar, dry roasted peanuts, hotdogs and chewing tobacco. Put them all in a pot and let them simmer on the stove. Let the smells of each intertwine and weave themselves together into an aromatic tapestry. The aromas, when all brought together, create the most perfect potpourri that I can think of. Close your eyes and try to imagine. Allow your mind to drown your sense of smell and breathe it in. Inhale deeply and slowly. Can you smell it? Can you almost taste it? That's the smell of baseball!

Every year, right around this time, I start to get a little antsy. Pitchers and catchers will be reporting to camp soon. Followed by the position players not too long after. It's just around the corner... and I can almost smell it!

You see, baseball is the game that I fell in love with at the age of 4. My earliest childhood memories involve baseball. It all began with watching my Dad. He would sit in the garage (pretending to be working on some project) and listen to Jack Buck narrate the action through the transistor radio that sat on his workbench. Telling the story of the game as if he was reading some classic Walt Whitman poem. I could see the happiness and excitement in my Dad's eyes. The anticipation of every pitch. The glow on his face as my Dad soaked in every minute of every game. Every night, Jack Buck was orating his modern version of "Leaves of Grass", and baseball fans listened.

It was baseball. Nevermind the fact that it was St. Louis Cardinal's baseball for a moment. For the purest of baseball fans... it doesn't matter who it is. Baseball fans know exactly what I'm speaking of. It IS BASEBALL! Everyone remembers walking into the baseball park for the very first time. For me, it was like entering the great Roman Coliseum. There I stood with my Dad and my little brother. Standing at the end of the the long dark tunnel at Busch Stadium, looking down on the field as if it were filled with the greatest Gladiators of all time! And the smell.......oooooooh.......... that smell!!! It was fantastic!!!

It doesn't matter who your favorite team is, or who your favorite player is. It doesn't matter if you are in first place or last place. The only thing that matters is that the game is there for all of us to enjoy. Cards fans and Cubs fans, Yankee fans and Red Sox fans. We may protest our disdain for one another's teams each year, but the truth is, we are all in the same brotherhood. We are all guilty of being in love with the same mistress. We're all in love with baseball.

It won't be long. It's just around the corner... and I can hardly wait!!!

Can you smell it?

HOT stove!

I find it curiously coincidental a ball club owned by a guy who also owns a newspaper would spend so much to sign on a player with a moniker providing such a vast wealth of headline pun fodder...

It's been a great year......

Am I upset about another collapse? Yes. Do I feel cheated? Kinda. Am I fed up? Not at all.
That is something all the Cards fans and those who root against the Cubs simply don't understand and never will. If I have to explain it and put it in drawings (mostly for Cards fans), you still wouldn't get it and understand.

This is why the Cubs have the support they always have....win or lose......mostly lose. But how does that differ us from the Reds fans or Red Sox fans? Red Sox fans may understand more, but still haven't the history a Cub fan has had.....either seen or told.

How many fans go to a game.....a game that means nothing...and still go just to see your team? Especially one that lost any hopes for the playoffs? I do.....even to an Astros game........and they tried to win the wildcard.

Don't lose faith. The Cubs are good....real good. Did they win a series....Nope! How are they good? Because they finally care about winning.......even if the fans have always cared but still loved their team. They spent the money (less than some with more talent on paper), the fixed and upgraded their stadium at NO cost to the city (sure....tix aren't cheap), and gave us a great 6 months of baseball.

Do I care that they lost......YES! How can I support this team with the 100 years of failure? I don't call it failure...I call it tradition and that's something other fans just don't get. Failure isn't always bad......Just like winning the lottery isn't always good.

In the last week I have been consoled (still on suicide watch), laughed at and told I was cursed as well. I laughed and agreed and would have it no other way. Teased when they lost 3 in a row....again.

Contrary to belief of others on this blog....Cubs fans are the best fans. Do they get worked up....Heck Yeah......it's not that often we get a good team....much less a great team. I'm not putting other fans down, they just don't understand.

I am disappointed (again)

“The price of excellence is discipline. The cost of mediocrity is disappointment.”

Enough said. This is life as a Cubs fan. Swept in the post-season again. Say it with me ... "There's always next year."

Will Gerard, age 11

My son "hunted & pecked" out this note to me today recounting his first "playoff atmosphere" experience...it is worth noting Will was celebrity batkid when the Cubs beat the Cardinals on an ESPN Sunday night and watched - from the front row of the left field bleachers (Soriano tossed him a ball between innings) Carlos Lee misplay a Fukudome liner to give the Cubs a win over the Astros in April...not to mention the countless hours we spent playing catch & listening to Pat & Ron on the radio, listening to Big Z's no-no on the radio, watching some amazing comebacks and some simple fundamentally sound games won by a good, sound team...

Anyhoo...here is Will's note:

go cubs!
The thing that was most disappointing about last were the fans support. All this one guy was saying after dero's error was "this is the f******* playoffs. make the plays, defense!" OVER AND OVER AGAIN! we were down 1-0. the lee had a shot at him and everyone thought the inning was over. E-3. again "this is the f******* playoffs. make the plays, defense!" poor Z IS GOING THOUGHT THIS. he's getting mad. 3 run double. 5-0 and everyone was down teary eyed and I'm thinking WE'RE STILL IN THIS! SOMEONE STRIKES OUT
''BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO*******OOOOOOOOOOOOO**OOO****************** ! More and more people are restless till it's dead silent. I was feeling sad for the players.E-5. 3 errors. STILL 5-0 and people are getting more flustered. " Put in the batboy!" Manny crushes one and it goes ping you can hear it bounce off the camera place. The ump rolls it past Z and Z gets it then he almost does it again and Zambrano makes a kick save to stop it. More wisecracks and Z pitches with that ball. Speaking of throwing it away Soto rolls one to Z and throws one past him with a man on first. No consequence but still boos, same for a derosa's catch. Plus the only ones there in the eight are super drunk. In the 9th people are rooting for the dodgers. A PAPER AIR LANE WHIZZES BY LEE! Someone says " who says we can't get 9." "I do", says someone so far away we can't see them. The noise level is on pin drop. Then finally E-6.PLUS PEOPLE FLIP OFF THE UMP. AND ARGUE WITH MEANINGLESS CALLS.



But was a learning experience and I would have had fun if the final score was 26-2 dodgers. Sadly the place was booming in the first.

Sincerely,
will

PS SORRY THE EMAIL WAS SO LONG IF YOU GOT THIS FAR!

As much as I wanted to have the shoe on the other foot....contragulations...CUBS!

I might have miss-spoke, or actually spoke out of emotion....I was angry based on the situation, which I thought was justified...however...

I greatly respect the Cubs fans I know on this blog like, Head in the Ivy, Hatfiry, I guess that's all...OK..Tinkers to Evers to Chance...I might respect your fandum...the rest of you I don't know. So anyway...I want to root against the Cubs based on the entire Milwaukee situation ( did you also know the Cubs were the only NL Central team to not play the Red Sox or Yankees this year? Hmm...could MLB really want the Cubs to win like the Red Sox before them?)

However..I know how my friends have labored for years. I know how they've gone through end of season collapse to the point where they always expect it. Even a couple of weeks ago some of my Cubs friends didn't belive they would win...they expected a collapse., I know how Head in the Ivy has been realisic about the Cubs...same with Hatfiri...now Tinkers to Evers to Chance...um.. Todd...I think you owe me lots of labor if you took my bet at the beginning of the year. Hey BTW, it's the guy from Surviror that sings the " Real American Genius" adds. Todd should owe me something similiar.

I guess my last thought for the year is actually Go Cubbs...but I'm scared of the media blitz like what the Red Sox have experienced...know they are now the most hated team in MLB.

I will only root for the Cubs because I like you guys.

Helllllloooooo Newman

I know it's been a while and I as still powerless in more ways that one. I just want to get this out there before it's too late. I can't keep up with everything Cubs related on a daily basis and between Fantasy Football and baseball playoffs along with Ike cleanup my head is spinning.

That being said, the Bandwagon is full people. I don't have any more room for the casual fan to hope that the Cubs break that awful curse of the Bambino and win so you can get a new t-shirt that says "100 years of suffering over". Unless you have lived the doomed existence of being a Cubs fan, you need to STFU. I know that baseball is Americas pastime but I don't want to see all the media play of the frenzy and pretend to understand what is going on and the impending doom if there is a letdown again. With that being said a have a short list of fans that I want to see covering the playoffs, I know I am missing some so pile them on in the comments.

1. Jim Belushi
2. John Cusak
3. That fat comic that is on every Cubs special imaginable
4. Bryant Gumble
5. Ron Santo
6. Me

Sucks?

Fox game announcer (when Cubs clinched division) - "The regular season is like a scientist studying elephants, but the playoffs are like a scientist studying parasites. I say this because once the playoffs begin everything is under a microscope."

Coincidentally - Leitches:

I'm Not Crying...It's Just Raining...On My Face...

Dick justice says the Astros cannot blame Bud as it turns out it was Houston Owner, Drayton McLane who screwed the team's schedule:

Selig is an easy target for Astros fans, but the problem began with their own team owner, Drayton McLane.

As MLB peppered him with questions before the storm, McLane maintained until the last minute that some games still could be played at Minute Maid Park.

He appeared to be so obsessed with getting the revenues from three large crowds that he allowed his judgment to be clouded. Until Saturday morning, as Ike began to move out, McLane still held out hope of playing a game or two of the series in Houston.

By the time the matter was dumped in Selig's lap, his options were limited. Arlington was the first choice, Atlanta the second.

In the end, baseball settled on Milwaukee because there were scheduling conflicts or rain in the forecast at every other place.

"Was it perfect? No," Selig said. "I went through every option. I finally looked at it and realized I didn't have another option. I'm always sensitive about the Brewers (as an ex-owner of the franchise), but I feel in my heart this was the best option."

I'm guessing if Selig had it to do over, he would risk the rain in Atlanta rather than send the Astros into the Cubs' backyard.

The Astros lost again Monday afternoon, but before they flew to South Florida, Cooper called a team meeting.

"It's over and done with," he said. "We've got to move on."

Except the Astros couldn't move on. Or didn't. Whatever. They lost three more lopsided games in Florida. They didn't pitch, hit or field.

They had a great alibi for one game, maybe two. By the time they got to Florida, they should have been back in a normal routine.

A lot of Texans were inconvenienced by Ike. But the Astros had some advantages others didn't. Chartered jets. Great hotels. Selig even offered to send a plane for their families. If they were still focused on Selig or the unfairness of playing in Milwaukee, shame on them.

They continued to say the right things, but they weren't the same team. Sloppy. Lifeless. Deflated.

In the end, it couldn't have been all about Selig. Maybe after weeks of putting retreads and kids in critical situations, the clock finally struck midnight for this team...

Hey, This "Eddie Somebody" Might Just Make It In That Crazy Music Biz!

...although, admittedly, he's no "Cool Hand Leuk".

That's "Clinch" - Not "Choke"

When I was in St. Louis a couple weeks ago, I saw what I thought was a conflicted individual. He was sitting just one row in front of me, and he was wearing a Cardinals jersey with a Cubs hat. When he turned around - I finally saw that he had turned the Cubs logo into the word "Choke". So wherever that guy is right now ... the word is "Clinch".

So any bets on the NL wild card? I'd love to see Houston or St. Louis pull it off.

Really Gets My Goat

Boy, if one more person talks about the Curse...

Maybe it Wasn't the Schedule?

After watching the Astros for the last two days, maybe the Milwaukee trip wasn't the issue. They have not played well at all in Florida. They lost 14-2 including a Granny. Add to that the fact that the two runs were both Hunter's solo HR's, and it again was not a good night for the Stros.

After seeing this, I am not sure that we can only blame the two home-games-that-weren't. I will grant that a flight from Milwaukee to Florida probably was not fun, but they certainly have done it before, and they would have had to fly from Houston to Florida, so it's not an unexpected trip.

All this being said, it seems that the Chicago series was the beginning of the end any way you slice it. Whether the trip to Milwaukee, Ike and its distractions, or just bad timing for a hitting slump are to blame now seems irrelevant.

All this being said, I would personally LOVE to see the Stros come on strong and overtake the two teams in front of them. I am a big fan of the Central, and want to see the Wild Card come from our division. Moreover, the first round matchup would be with the Dodgers for my Cubbies if the Stros (or Brewers) can pull it out, and I like that matchup better than the Phillies. It's a win for all of us if the Stros can get in. I personally will be pulling for the Stros every game from now until the end of the season, and I will even go out and say that I would root for them here in Houston on the last game of the season if they can make it necessary. That's big since it would be against the Cubbies. It'll be wierd rooting against them, but in this one case I will gladly do it if it means the Stros can get into the playoffs.

Go Cubbies.. And (for now) Go 'Stros!!

Until next time... Be safe everyone!

What a Joke! A Cubs Fan Perspective

I agree with "Let's Go Astros"... And I don't. Allow me to explain:

I totally agree with the agitation at Cubs fans that had, "Thank you, Ike" signs and the like. It is indeed rude and totally insensitive not only to the Astros, but to the victims of the hurricane to reduce it to such meaningless drivel. I should know, as I am one of those victims. I live in Pearland, TX and have been without main power for almost a week. The sad thing for all of us is that I have fared much better than most, and this is my exact point. Many, MANY people have suffered because of the hurricane, and to thank Ike for ruining a baseball series shows a remarkable lack of any decorum on their part.

However...

As in all things, those few Cubs fans don't speak for the VAST majority of Cubs fans that not only support the Astros and the people of Houston, but hurt with them when they hurt. They feel the same human compassion that most people share. I am betting that there were as many people holding signs like, "Our prayers are with you!" but those signs don't have the emotional impact. It's like any other "shock" medium. You always see the shootings on the news and never the guy holding the door open for the little old lady. It's just not as newsworthy, and I completely believe that this is what you saw from the game.

Talking about the game for a minute, Carlos was brilliant... Most baseball people know that he's certainly capable of throwing a no-no on any given night, so the fact that he threw one should not be any big surprise. To me, the bigger telling factor is not this game, but the next one. Ted Lily's one hitter to me showed how tired and unsettled the Astros were. For that, I am really apologetic.

The reality is that there was just no other alternative. Between Drayton's insistence that they wait for the hurricane to decide what it's going to do, MLB's not imposing a timeline and then a decision, the necessity that there be enough money in it to play the games, and the need for the logistical setup to be completed (ushers, concession workers, ticket sales, etc), Milwaukee was the only place that worked. Arlington was empty, but no one could guarantee that the hurricane wouldn't go right up I45 and rain those games out. All minor league parks were out due to gate receipts, logistics, or both. Ballparks like LA and Arizona wouldn't work because of the two days needed. You get the point. After considering averything, Milwaukee was the only choice.

For those that believe that they should have played at the end of the season, I put to you that trying to play three games in two days, then not having any time for either team (should they both make it) to prepare their rotations for the playoffs or having the ability to rest of any of their regulars just isn't fair to either team, either. Since the Cubs will have probably already clinched, it makes it doubly difficuly on the Astros should they win. Playing the games at the end of the season isn't a good option either.

All told, it sucked no matter how you slice it, and not for the game. It sucked for the reasons the game had to be moved, the reasons the games were not played somewhere else, but mostly for the people of Houston that didn't get to see their team play two (or three) home games this season.

Until next time... Let's all keep safe and pray for those that aren't able to even power on a computer or travel to a baseball game... Much less bitch about why it wasn't played in Houston.

What a joke!

The Astros playing a "home" series in Milwaukee? What a joke. Cubs fans having signs that said "Thank you Ike" and shirts that said, "hurricane series" were not just dis-respectful, but down right rude. According to people there, the Cubs fans that caravan ed to the game showed no acknowledgement for the players or team and want they went through. I mentioned in an earlier post how un-sportsman like Cub fans have been in our stadium, but being a good sport I am, have been tolerable. No more. I will never be nice to a Cub fan in our stadium, will never pull for the Cubs to win a playoff game and hope the "Billy Goat" lives forever. No Lou...it wasn't just the pitching, it was days of no power, little sleep and a three hour commute for a "home game". Lets see the Cubs go through that and then play against Roy O. To say the Cubs looked good "at Houston" or that the pitching shut them down is a joke. I'm not saying the Cubs would not have won in Houston or that they wouldn't make the playoffs, but come on people...call it what it is. The Astros asked for alternative sites that MLB said no to.

The NFL stood up to the Ravens when they asked for the game to be moved to New Orleans and played on Monday. It's too much with houses in disarray, no power, and questionable food to ask people to travel and focus on anything else.

I Don't Want to Say I Told You So, But...

I said during the losing streak that I was happy that the Cubbies were in a funk and I was.... Shall we say... Scoffed at. But look at them now. Again, it's still too early to be too giddy, but they looked REALLY good "at" Houston. As I write this, they are winning 4-3 against Milwaukee in the bottom of the 8th inning. Should this continue, the magic number will be 4, I believe. Not too shabby for the swoon. ;-)

I really feel badly for Houston. I would have loved to had them play here. I don't think it was all that fair of them to play just 90 miles from Chicago. I think that if they wanted to play at a neutral site, they should have picked Florida. After all, neither of the Florida teams seem to be using them much, even during their home games!! ;-) Seriously, I think that they should have tried to play on the West Coast, but even then since the Cubs have such a large fan base compared to Houston, even that may have felt like a home game for the Cubs. Maybe Arlington would have been a good choice, but I don't know the schedule and I am sure they were worried about Ike there as well.

Speaking of Ike... Going through a hurricane ia NOT the part that sucks! Going through the RECOVERY is. I spent two hours and ten minutes today in line for gas! There is no perishable food, so no meat, eggs, cheese, etc. Most of these things should be back in a week or so, but still it's no fun. I have been without power since Friday evening at 9:00. I don't have a generator, and the only way I am able to use the computer is through a power inverter attached to my car battery. I had less than 1/2 tank of gas when I refueled today and went a total of 71 miles since I had to leave the car running most of the time to keep the battery charged. It's still better than most people who had nothing for power, and many thought the hurricane would miss us and didn't gas up, buy food, make ice beforehand, etc and now are struggling for anything they can find. Many on Galveston lost their homes, so compared to most, we got off very well. Still, I will be VERY glad when the power comes back.

Getting back to the NL Central... Does anyone else think that we should get rid of the "NO NL Wildcard" sign on our blog page? ;-)

Until next time... stay safe, everyone, and pray for a speedy recovery to all of us affected in any way by Ike.

In Lou we trust

"Houston came in here really, really hot, playing really good baseball. Our pitching basically just shut them down." - Sweet Lou

Zambrano & Lilly ... take a bow. Six for the clinch, ten for a hundred wins, and fourteen to play. Go Cubs Go!!!!

Six Sense

The evil Bud Selig went and caused the "hottest team in baseball since the All-Star break" to only get 1 hit in 18 innings...bummer.

Brought to you by the letter "W" and the number "11"