Chicago Cubs
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Past the 3/4 Pole: The Cubs Have the Horses to WinAugust 26th, 2008
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I recently found myself stuck with a bad car. The brakes went out shortly after the purchase of the beaten fillie. The power windows don’t work right. The engine has a lifter problem. For $500, you get this sort of vehicle. One without the horses to get you home at night.
The Chicago Cubs are not any of that. They are a sleek thoroughbred, a Genuine Risk, that can bring it home in the derby.
Surprisingly, they are a team with more ways to beat you than just the usual bang-it-over-the-fence mashers they implemented from 1998-2005. Read more
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2008 MLB Mid-Season Review: Magic 8 Ball says Cubs Win! Cubs Win! Cubs Win!July 17th, 2008
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Written July 12, 2008
We’ve nearly reached the 2008 All-Star game, where the brilliance of big boppers and showstoppers are expected to deliver on queue. The passionate baseball fan basks in the rays of the perennial favorites: the A-Rods, the Jeters and the Mannys of the hardball world. While the youngsters likely find their new idols in the Sotos and the Longorias rising to meet new acclaim and new expectations in their 1st all-star bash.
It is great time set in an equally great ballpark. The ‘Stadium’ that shone brightly while Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle and Jackson took their game to unparalleled heights. That had Larsen’s perfect game in 1956 World Series. Jackson’s three straight trips to souvenir city in 1977. Whitey Ford’s scoreless brilliance topping Ruth’s in pitching. And 26 times saw the House rock and roll before a new one was built. The passing of an 86-year old comrade that has shared its glory and defined a dynasty. Yankee Stadium will be missed.
Which is why this mid-heaven classic, during Manhattanhenge, is a time to pay homage, and to destine (possibly) whom will be in hunt for October glory. Read more
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Scooped!: Going to WordPress was a Messy AffairJuly 9th, 2008
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Yesterday, in anticipation of moves to be made by MLB teams, I was busy posting, “(K)Night Moves: Big trade means the chess game is on, and another big splash is possible.” But, as often is the case, the post was confounded by technology, and my inability to rectify the situation.
I post all my blogs from the Lowell Public Library. Their new ID system limits computer usage to a maximum of 2 hours per day. So I must read articles, write/revise, respond to blogs/emails and craft posts in a matter of that time. (I am financially strapped for cash. So much so, that paying $20/month for Internet isn’t possible.)
As a result, in the process of doing this posting, my article was distorted on this website. It looked horrible; and the links, many researched in short order, were all missing. It honked me off to no end. Read more
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An All-Star Trek: Warp Speed, Mr. Soto!June 19th, 2008
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Baseball. The final frontier, here. These are the voyages of the National League ballclub called the Cubbies. It’s 100-year mission: to seek out new opponents. To boldly go where no Cubs team (this century) has gone before….
After hearing this, you might come to believe I’m deluded into believing that “this is the year” the Cubs get it done. With a MLB Best 45-25 record, and several potential all-stars, this is not your dad’s Cubs. Nor Grandpop’s lovable losers…but likely, your great granddad saw them in World Series play. (He also saw $.05 soda, $.07/gal gasoline (”petro” in his day) and $.50 tickets to the baseball game…ah, the good ole days.) Read more
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Trading Up & Tough Love: The Prospects of a Pitching Mega Deal & Running out of PatienceMay 30th, 2008
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Car or the Woman? I’d take the car. |
As the 31-21 Cubs seem well constituted for a long-awaited NL pennant, one has to realize that the post-season failings of the past often reflect what is necessary to overcome it in the present. Trading up is an option even Candace Bushnell can understand in the world of baseball.
24 years ago, the Cubs obtained #1 starter Rick Sutcliffe, catcher Ron Hassey and reliever George Frazier from Cleveland for Mel Hall, Daryl Banks and Joe Carter. It was a good deal as Sutcliffe went 16-1, won the NL Cy Young, and brought the Cubs to within a deciding game of an NL Pennant. (LF Joe Carter would eventually become the game 6 walk-off hero in 1993 World Series, while amassing 396 home runs and 1,445 RBIs in a 17-year career.) |
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Patience, Grasshopper: The Fukudome Effect on the Chicago CubsMay 14th, 2008
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As the Cubs swept the Arizona Diamondbacks (ah, sweet revenge), and took care of the Padres last night (12-3), one can begin to see the ‘Fukudome effect’ on the philosophy at the plate of the Cubs. This 2008 team has made a healthy living on the bases on ball (2nd in MLB at 183 in 38 games), taking many more pitches per at bat than they ever did in Dusty Baker era.
| Cubs Offense | Runs | Rk | OBP | Rk | SLG | Rk | |
| 2002 | 706 | 22 | 0.321 | 22 | 0.413 | 17 | |
| 2003 | 724 | 20 | 0.323 | 23 | 0.416 | 19 | |
| 2004 | 789 | 16 | 0.328 | 23 | 0.458 | 3 | |
| 2005 | 703 | 20 | 0.324 | 20 | 0.440 | 6 | |
| 2006 | 716 | 28 | 0.319 | 29 | 0.422 | 22 | |
| 2007 | 752 | 18 | 0.333 | 17 | 0.422 | 15 | |
| 2008 (38 G) | 223 | 1 | 0.375 | 1 | 0.441 | 4 | |
| Projected Runs | 951 | ||||||
| 2007 Yankees | 968 | ||||||
| 2004 Red Sox | 949 | ||||||
| 2003 Red Sox* | 961 | ||||||
| * Set Record for highest slugging average in baseball history | |||||||
As the Cubs lead the NL in on-base percentage (.375) and runs scored (223), cause-effect mind you, they are suddenly piling up the wins (23). Their plate appearances are becoming a sight for joyful eyes, seeing pitchers work and work, and well, throw bad pitches that become either hits or all-access passes to the base-paths.
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Game 1: 10,001 wins and counting, A Cubs OdysseyMay 6th, 2008
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Just recently, the Chicago National League Ball Club, better known as the Cubs, won their 10,000th game against the Colorado Rockies. Only the San Francisco Giants have more victories, but both of their plights are more due to longevity that overall stellar performances, at least in the Cubs case.
During their 133-year history, they have been called the White Stockings, Colts and Orphans, before acquiring the Cubs moniker in 1903. While considered often a forever-losing franchise, they have acquired in actuality, mediocre, but not abysmal numbers.
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Franchise Moniker |
Wins |
Losses |
Win Pct. % |
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White Stockings |
845 |
505 |
.626 |
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Colts |
550 |
516 |
.516 |
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Orphans |
346 |
368 |
.485 |
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Cubs |
8,262 |
8,083 |
.505 |
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NL Chicago as of 5/5/08 |
10,003 |
9,472 |
.514 |
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A Few, Good Baseball-Minded Men: Recent Battlefield Successes Could Be Foiled by Generalissimo Samuel Zell’s Continued OwnershipApril 22nd, 2008
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When local Real Estate Magnate Samuel Zell acquired the Tribune Company (and the Chicago Cubs) at the insistence of the Chandler Family, many thought Zell’s overly cozy relationship to the financiers of the deal, Merrill Lynch and CitiGroup, was a bad omen of things to come on Wall Street. Both Citi and Merrill were advising the Tribune Company on the viability of the prospective bidders, termed “staple financing”, as in Staples, “we got that, too.” (In actuality it is called staple financing because paperwork is often stapled onto the deal’s term sheet to help a seller develop a robust auction by offering on-the-spot financing to all “potential” suitors. Wall Street speak…)
The fact Zell (above) had Merrill Lynch represent him in a $39 billion sale of Equity Office Properties to the Blackstone Group likely meant that any bid made on the Tribune Company by Zell was going to be promoted over the other candidates. (Viagranaires Eli Broad and Ronald W. Burkle also submitted an exact dollar amount bid of $8.2 billion.)
So, in April 2007, Zell became commander-in-chief of the most woe-begotten baseball franchise, the lovable losers, the Chicago Cubs.
The Cubs in the 2006-2007 Hot Stove cooked up an entire pot of free agents signings to the tune of “Hey, Hey, Holy Mackerel!”, posting over $300 million in contracts. The Cubs replaced two-fifths of their starting rotation, signed the premier LF on the market in Alfonso Soriano to a eight-year, $136-million contract and resigned 3B Aramis Ramirez for over $70 million. With additional backup players, the money spent amounted to three seasons worth of salaries for a “Top Ten” payroll in the 2007 season. (But barely more than A-Rod’s contract.)
Primarily, this was due to the expectant sale of the Tribune Company, with the new owners on the hook for the ballplayer’s salaries. Long-time marketing guru John McDonough acquired the reins from ex-team president Andy MacPhail, who had not spent with the dangerous abandon of a drunken sailor on liberty in Thailand. (Is there any other kind…of sailor?) McDonough would resign his commission after only one season at the top, heading to the moribund Chicago Blackhawks as their new field commander.
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The Mindset of a Fanatic: Delusions of Baseball GrandeurApril 14th, 2008
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As a baseball season goes from a slow spring simmer to a hearty summer boil, it is the fan that reflects the bipolarity of a franchise’s success. The fanatic lives and dies for his team, one game, one inning and one pitch at a time. And do things that make sanity only a meager word in the psychiatric dictionary.
Last week, for example, LF Alfonso Soriano had begun the season batting around .050, one hit in 20 at bats. This started conversations again about his suitability to lead off for the Cubs. Fans were clamoring for a change. The Windy City Windbags, a team in downtown Chicago no one has ever heard of, were out in gale force. A cheap bottle of scotch and a linoleum floor were the answers to my baseball addictive behaviors. I was nearing the ledge – looking for a way down off the Sears Tower.
Naomi Watts couldn’t save me.
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The Usual Suspects: The Cubs Opening Week LineupApril 5th, 2008
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As the season began, the Cubs were without a “traditional” lead-off man. One with patience, some pop and speed to burn. The Cubs management (in its wisdom) tried to acquire Orioles 2B Brian Roberts in the off-season via the Connie Mack-to-Wayne Huizenga fire sale of talent that all ready had landed Baltimore 10 prospects for LHP Erik Bedard (5) and SS Miguel Tejada (5). But Baltimore’s Andy MacPhail, ex-Cubs president, set a bounty the Cubs were unwilling to meet, and thus, sans the traditional table setter. Read more
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