So my heart just got pulled out, stomped on, soaked in gasoline and lit on fire. Why? Because my Cubs-- who had the best NL record during the regular season-- just got swept by the freakin Dodgers. Yeah, the team that sneaked in because their division is by far the weakest in baseball.
I feel numb right now. Completely and utterly numb. I've spent the last seven months with these guys. That is how baseball is different from any other sport. Yeah, players are overpaid and shuffled around more than any other sport. But, at the end of the day, the team becomes part of the family. At least, if you are a real fan of your team. No disrespect to those that just look at the boxscore every morning and catch a game maybe once a week, but you don't feel my pain.
I'll admit, I'm only 19, so I haven't been through the worst of it. I don't care that it's been 100 years (and counting... aaaaaggghh) since we won the series. For me, it's been 19 years and that's more than enough. I, while still just a college student, am seriously scared I will never live to see the day the Cubs when the series.
Where do we go from here? Personally, I might have to take a month off. "A month off of what," you say? Life in general. I might just hit the pause button and not do anything until November. No classes, no work, no blogging (I know, how will you survive) , no eating and possibly no communicating with the outside world. If my family reads this they should be seriously worried. Losing 15-20 pounds is not out of question.
But don't worry, I will get over it. Eventually.
The only other time I've completely felt this pain was in 2003. Yeah, the year Prior collapsed, Alex Gonzalez botched a double play ball, Steve Bartman's life got screwed and the Marlins stole the NLCS from us. During my lifetime, the Cubs have made the playoffs four times. This year and '03 are the only times I felt real pain, because those were the only years' I really thought we'd win it. The thought, "this year is going to be our year" goes through my mind every time we get close. Then it gets squashed.
People always assume Cubs fans are just a bunch of miserable schmucks. This is not true. We love baseball. We love it. We adopt our players and give them second, third and even fourth chances. If Sammy Sosa wanted to come out of hiding, we'll welcome him back with open arms. He could be an announcer for WGN and speak broken English like he did at Capital Hill and we'd embrace it. If Kerry Wood is ever homeless, all he has to do is go to Chicago. Not only would he be taken in from anyone on the North side, during an economic collapse mind you, but people would be arguing over who gets to pay for Wood's meals.
So, where does the team go from here? Obviously, Lou Piniella stays. He messed up in Game 1 by keeping Ryan Dempster in during the 5th. Let's say you watch your child keep going near the edge of a bridge. You get a sick feeling that he's going to fall off, then feel relieved when he comes back to you. Are you going to let him get near the ledge again? Nope. That's what it was like watching Dempster pitch. He walked a couple Dodgers in the 3rd, but got out of a bases-loaded jam. Everybody felt relief. He got hit pretty hard in the 4th, but got out of that by good fielding. We got lucky Lou, but don't bet the house again. In the 5th, Dempster walks the bases loaded. Sometimes, you just got to put a man down. "I know momma, but he's my dog. I'll do it." In 03, we lost the whole series because we kept Mark Prior in for too long. That same year, the Red Sox lost their series for keeping Pedro in for too long. But Piniella kept Dempster in.
James Loney hit a grand slam. We lost the only lead we ever had.
But don't get carried away. This wasn't a team that lost because of Lou's typical vices. If anything, I would have liked to see Lou be more, well, Lou. If he had gotten himself kicked out, or if he had held a press conference where he said Joe Torre slept with an Iranian hooker and gotten ghonorrhea, I think the team would have responded in a positive way. All in all, Lou has to stay. He's a good manager, and the only reason you replace someone on your team is to upgrade. Unless Al Davis thinks otherwise.
Changes have to be made, though. There's plenty of evidence that the current team can't win in October. Alfonso Soriano is the biggest question mark. I've rooted for him so much over the last few years, but he just isn't that good. He hasn't been since putting a Cubs uniform on. We signed him coming off a 40-40 year. He hasn't had 40 stolen bases in the two years he's played in Chicago. Plus, anytime a manager has to keep a player batting leadoff when he clearly belongs in the 6 spot out of fear of a potential emotional breakdown, I don't necessarily think that guy's the answer come October. Alas, we gave him an ungodly $100 million, so we're stuck with him. That's a perfect example of a GM overpaying for a player just so he can prove to his fans that he does care about his baseball team. That's also not a good sign that your GM is getting the job done.
But at this point, I'm not against overspending as long as it brings us closer to the series. Right now, their are only two free agents I really care about and I don't care how much the team has to drop to get them: Manny Ramirez and CC Sabathia.
I know we don;t have a shot at either. But can't we make a play for them? Isn't that what a GM (Jim Hendry) does? If there are 2 Hall Of Famers wading in the free agent pool and we're not fighting to get them, the front office is not doing their job. How can we get them?
Manny
It's well documented that Manny is bat-s**t crazy, so let's woo him like he's from the cast of The Girls Next Door. But let's not be too pushy. Manny will only fall in love with the Cubs if we press the right buttons. So the front office would have to do it's research, which is their job so I'm willing to bet they can do that.
Manny grew up a Toronto Blue Jays fan because they had some great Latin players, namely Tony Fernandez and George Bell. Hire both those guys to do something within the organization. Manny will love it. Make a carving in the left-field ivy of Manny's face. Whatever it takes.
Speaking of whatever it takes. Manny is represented by Scott Boras, so we're going to have to drop some money. Shocker, I know. But, at this point, why not? He's one of the best hitters of all time, and the Cubs need hitters.
CC
CC has been very passionate about the lack of Black players in the league. He's one of the few people who actually stands for something these days- a maverick if you will. I'm not saying we play the race card because that would be the dumbest thing an organization could ever do. But we should let him know how much we appreciate his stances and that we want to provide him with a platform to change the league. If that doesn't work, at least we tried.
Oh, and throw in a lot of money.
That's going to be a theme for this off-season. But it's not like we don't have it. Wrigley is always one of the highest attended parks, and we've blown $100 million on Alfonso Soriano, so why not drop some more (hundreds of) millions. Look, I know the Yankees and their $200 million annual salary are going to be fighting hard for these guys. But if we let Hank Steinbrenner out-do us, we're absolutely doomed. If the Yankess- who, in case you haven't heard, have won something like 26 World Series since the Cubs have won their last one- are more desperate for a championship than we are, we've lost before the season even starts.
I'd keep writing, but I've got to try to go to sleep. I doubt I'll get any, it's 3 a.m. and I'm not even close to tired. I have an adrenaline rush going, but not the good kind. This is like when you find out imminent doom is coming and you can't do anything about it. 1908-2009, the symmetry for that isn't so bad.
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