Cubs for Breakfast

Cumann Daorchluiche Cubs na Chicago

Monday, April 25, 2005

Question: What is .983?

Answer: Why it’s the on base plus slugging percentage (OPS) of Neifi Perez after 17 games and 52 plate appearances, of course.

But I will not dwell on the wonder that is Neifi, or Dusty, or Nomar, or LaTroy, or Wood’s shoulder.

What about the fact the entire Cubs’ lineup, with the exception of Derrek Lee, is just going up hacking every at bat? If I recall correctly, Aramis Ramirez and Michael Barrett were both more patient last year and willing to work a count, and both were much more productive. I know the style of Baker/Matthews/Clines is to be aggressive in the zone, but I think the top of the order (and Barrett) especially, needs to get more selective. Actually, I think Corey Patterson is a little more patient than he was last year, which was really an imperative, but Hairston, Hollandsworth, Burnitz, Dubois, Blanco, Ramirez, Perez and Barrett are all giving the pitcher way too much of a break and giving themselves way too few pitches to see.

Does anyone believe anything Baker or Hendry says?

All winter long, Hendry went on about Dempster as a closer. Never happened, never even pitched in relief during the Cactus League.

All spring long, Baker went on about Patterson as the lead-off man. Corey did bat lead-off in the Cactus League and underwent special lead-off man instruction. That lasted what, about two weeks (in the regular season)? Of course, Patterson has a grand total of two walks (and 15 strike outs) in 18 games and an on base percentage of .308. I’m glad he’s not in the 1 hole anymore. I just don’t like the way Cubs management seemingly campaigns for assigning players certain roles, and then abandons the direction they led everyone to believe they were taking, without explanation. Be more circumspect, guys, it’s OK. If you’re not sure Hawkins is going to work out as closer, go ahead and say so. He can deal with it. Don’t put up a smokescreen, like with Dempster, and expect the fans to follow along next time.

Thursday, April 21, 2005

Nomar We Hardly Knew Ye

Or, Nomah Nomar

It seemed too good to be true. When the trade materialized out of thin air at the 11th hour, and during the Cactus League ’05 when the old Nomar made a guest appearance, ripping the cover off the ball all across the desert. Of course it was too good to be true.

Muscle ripped off the bone? That’s a far worse image than the close-up on Carlos Zambrano’s blood blister that ESPN showed during my evening meal (we had Cubs for dinner tonight, on the actual TV instead of the computer).

The poor guy, as they say here, must be “in bits.” After everything that’s happened in his last year or two, this really takes the biscuit.

Neifi is going to be the man—who else would be available? Could anything be done about adding a big bat in left field, at this time of year?

Monday, April 18, 2005

Bring Us Your Reds

Looking forward to reading all about Kerry Wood's dominant return to Cincinnati, where he sets 'em up and mows 'em down. For a pitcher who lacks consistency, this is one area (pitching in Cincy) where has yet to let us fans down. I'll have to read about it Tuesday morning because the game will be on too late for me to watch on this side of the pond.

I got stuck with the Pirates announcers on MLB.TV yesterday, and although they weren’t as annoying as I remember them from last year (constantly referring to their team as the “Buccos”), I’m grateful that the Cubs can attract higher caliber talent (despite my initial dislike of Bob Brenly). The Pirates play-by-play man Lanny Somebody is one of those small market nobodies with no sense of narration. Too quiet. The color man meanwhile is ex-Pirates pitcher Bob Walk, who is good at analyzing the pitching, but lacks knowledge of many of the opposing position players. Should perhaps point out that these guys, while definitely local boosters, did not shy away from criticizing their own team and manager. (They also questioned several of Dusty's moves, including Hairston's sac bunt and taking out Maddux after 77 quality pitches).

Friday, April 15, 2005

We Now Resume Your Regular Programming -- Hopefully

My apologies for the lack of updates. Hibernating is a good way to describe it, but that's the website, not me. I've simply been off-line from the CBA but not off-line from the Cubs. Funny though, as soon as Cubdom Byron put it in the Editor's Pick category, CFB tanked. Didn't take too long for him to notice and yank the link from that exalted section. Must be some twisted fear of success on my part, eh?

I hope to post once or twice a week over the coming months. Let’s see if I can manage the transition from an off-season news link hub to a more personal fan blog….

Some random tid-bits:

--I have been put off by what seems like an out-of-control wave of negativity from the media, Cubs message boards, and Dusty Baker, since the season started about 10 days ago. Nobody seems to want to give this team a chance. At the other end of the spectrum is new Cubs TV analyst Bob Brenly, who seems to always be making excuses for poor Cub performance. I don’t like either extreme. I do like Len Kasper though.

--“While putting up a North Side ballpark might have been folly even five years prior to 1913, new forms of public transportation—the electric street car and the elevated trains—were by then serving the north side of the city.” If that’s the kind of thing that makes your eyes glaze over, then don’t read Wrigley Field: The Unauthorized Biography, by Stuart Shea. I, however, eat up that kind of stuff and have enjoyed Shea’s book. Did you know, for example, that more NFL games have been played in Wrigley Field than any other stadium? Did you know that Wrigley Field (version 1.0) took only seven weeks to build?

--There are now around a thousand Cubs fan blogs, but did you know that there is also a brisk business on the Internet of Anti-Cubs fan sites?

http://cubssuck.blogspot.com/
http://spaces.msn.com/members/longer12/
http://www.angelfire.com/il2/cubssuck/
http://cubssuck.knup.net/
http://store.dartboard411.net/048.html

--Soon to come: an essay on a season (2003) of following the Cubs over Internet radio.

--Okay, it might not be that soon. But after that, I’ll write about a season (2004) of following the Cubs over MLB.TV.