Cubs’ Bradley Just Don’t Get It

There was something poetic in watching the winning hit sail over the head of Chicago Cub outfielder Milton Bradley in yesterday’s 8-7 loss to the crosstown rival White Sox.

Chicago Cub baseball players look out from the dugout in an 8-7 loss to the Chicago White Sox

Because amidst the hoopla of baseball bragging rights for Chicago it perfectly symbolized Bradley’s relationship with the city.  Since signing a three-year, $30 million contract last January, there’s so much about Chicago Cub baseball that, simply put, is over Bradley’s head.

If there was ever an ill fit for a baseball team or for that matter, a city, Bradley is it.  And the fact that Cubs general manager Jim Hendry was not only able to find the mis-fit, but sell it to the organization is sick genius in itself.

For as much as Bradley doesn’t “get” Cub baseball or the fervor of its fans, Cubdom doesn’t “get” Bradley. Take for example, Bradley’s revelation of his current team and half the city’s adoration for it.

”It’s something else,” Bradley said. ”I played in L.A., and I thought L.A. was over the top, but this is a whole different level. It’s fanatic fans. It’s constant cameras and things. It’s a lot more than you expect. But this is what I signed up for, so I can accept that.”

Memo to Milton: Chicago’s love for Cub baseball is not a new phenomena.  Pull your self-absorbed head out of your helmet and pick up a newspaper.  Watch Sports Center for God’s sake.

Bradley’s utter lack of awareness is why Friday’s much publicized blow-up between Bradley and Cub manager Lou Piniella shouldn’t have come as a surprise.  If anything, I’m confused why more people haven’t asked the question, “What took it so long?”

Take two volatile personalities - one a selfish, underachieving player and the other a demanding, old school manager - toss in a team that’s closer to the bottom of the Central Division standings than it is to the top and the recipe for disaster is just waiting to be served.

Seemingly, everyone in and out of major league baseball knew what the Cubs were getting in Bradley.  Everyone, that is, with the exception of Hendry.  Maybe the Cubs GM just got confused and thought he was Father Flanagan instead of second in command of the team’s baseball operations.

The Cubs are Bradley’s seventh team since breaking into the big leagues in 2000.  Outside of his stint with the Dodgers, Bradley basically bounced from one minor market to another.  Bradley’s trek has gone from Montreal to Cleveland to Los Angeles to Oakland to San Diego to Texas and now, Chicago.

And for the present - and most likely the next two-and-a-half years, the Cubs are stuck with him.  It’s not going to be a pretty stay for him or Cub fans.

Cubs Need A New Song

Chicago Cubs baseball needs a change.   More than a lineup change or a roster move.

With its underachieving core of players signed to multi-year contracts its unlikely that another general manager would bite anyway.  No, the kind of change I’m talking about requires more than just a “C” change.

This is change Cub fans could believe in.  What the Chicago Cubs really need is a new theme song.

With all due respect to the late great Steve Goodman and his wonderful ode to Cubs baseball, it’s time for “Go Cubs Go” to … well, go.


I know I’m treading on delicate ground here.  Possibly even blasphemy in some quarters. The song has had a marvelous run since its debut in 1984.  Its followed the Cubs through the depths of despair to almost exaltation.Unfortunately for the franchise and Cub fans its been too much of the former and too little of the latter.  That’s why I propose a change - at least for this season.  And possibly beyond.Here’s five songs I believe would suit the 2009 Chicago Cubs:

  1. Get Back - The Beatles.  The perfect song for the directionally-challenged Cubs.  These Cubs appear so lost at times not even a GPS or a trail of bread crumbs would help.  There’s been several times in this young season the Cubs have looked to be headed in the right direction - only to find out later that its been four successive left hand turns.
  2. Ball of Confusion - The Tempations.  Any team that spends $134 million on players’ payroll should be better than .500 - with or without Aramis Ramirez.
  3. 19th Nervous Breakdown - The Rolling Stones.  This one’s for Chicago Cub manager Lou Piniella.  Nearly half of the Cubs games this year have been decided by two runs or less.  And with Kevin Gregg as the Cubs’ closer, Piniella knows in his heart of hearts no lead is safe.  The only good thing about this year has been the dugout shots of Lou shaking his head.
  4. Dream On - Aerosmith.  Give the Cub players this much - they continue to say the right things.  As does Piniella and general manager Jim Hendry.  Cub fans continue to pack Wrigley Field.  So what makes me think third place in the Central Division is the most likely place for a Cub finish?
  5. One Bourbon, One Scotch and One Beer - John Lee Hooker.  This is for Cubdom, which no matter stands for its beloved Cubbies.

And if any of us needed a reason to imbibe, the Cubs just dropped another one to Detroit - 6-5.

Former Cub Sammy Sosa Swung for the Fences - and Whiffed

With a thud and a yawn Sammy Sosa’s legacy came crashing to the ground like a shattered boom box amid a New York Times report last week the former Chicago Cubs baseball star tested positive for performance enhancing drugs.

Former Chicago Cubs outfielder Sammy Sosa blows a kiss to the cameraThat Sosa was found among 104 other players testing positive from a 2003 survey could be considered mildly surprising at best from even the most casual baseball fan.  If anything the Times story confirmed what many, if  not all in and out of baseball, suspected.

And sadly, it’s taken us one more step down the path of wondering - and unfortunately, wanting - to know one simple question. Who else?

Last Tuesday was Sammy’s turn and in no way do I feel a single fiber of remorse that it was Sosa exposed while the majority of those on the list remain in the legal shadows of anonymity.

Such is fate.  And, in my opinion, karma.

Ever since the specter of Sammy’s involvement with PEDs came to the light, he like the majority of others, chose the path of denial.  Surprising? Not in the least.

Sammy, if you remember, was the guy who got caught red-handed using a corked bat and then feigned innocence.

“I use that bat for batting practice,” Sosa claimed at the time. “It’s something that I take the blame for. It’s a mistake, I know that. I feel sorry. I just apologize to everybody that are embarrassed.”

And as Chicago Cub fans - we forgave Sammy.  For if there was one area where Sosa excelled,  it was public relations.  Sammy knew how to play to the crowd.  From his wide smile to blowing kisses to his showing of American patriotism when he carried the American flag around the bases after a home run following the September 11th attacks. it was his offering of a buy-in.  Cub fans gladly accepted.

Eventually, even the best pr machine hits a glitch.  Sammy’s persona began to lose its shine when he testified before the House Government Reform Committee on steroid use in major league baseball.

“To be clear, I have never taken illegal performance-enhancing drugs,” Sosa testified in 2005.  “I have never injected myself or had anyone inject me with anything. I have not broken the laws of the United States or the laws of the Dominican Republic. I have been tested as recently as 2004, and I am clean.”

And as recently as June 4th in an interview with with ESPNdeportes.com, Sosa remained firm in his denial of any alleged steroid use.

Maybe it was that one denial too many that set the wheels in motion that led to the Times report and his association with PEDs.  In the end, the release of Sosa’s name was meant to bury him, not to praise him or any of his baseball accomplishments.

Sosa’s reputation is shattered like the boom box some Cub smashed after his final game with Chicago.  Whether history is kind to Sosa, only time will tell.

For this Cub fan, however, the Mighty Casey has struck out.

Cubs Discover New Way of Winning: Come-from-Behind

Chicago Cubs general manager Jim Hendry must be feeling pretty smart these days.  In consecutive wins over the crosstown rival White Sox (6-5 on Thursday)  and Cleveland, the Cubs managed to score more runs in two games than it had in its previous 10.

Chicago Cubs outfielder Alfonso Soriano celebrates after singling home the winning run against the White Sox These two offensive outbursts come just four days after Hendry replaced fired hitting coach Gerald Perry with Von Joshua.  And at a time when the Cubs downward spiral was beginning to look more like a leap into the abyss.

Today’s 8-7 win was only the fourth time this month the Cubs had scored six runs or more and the 24th time in the club’s 63 games this season.  Coincidentally, the Cubs are 22-2 when they do reach the six-run mark.

There’s no doubt the wins were nice.  That one came against the White Sox and both came after trailing in the late innings was - well - unexpected to say the least.

Come-from-behind wins have been virtually non-existent this Chicago Cubs season.  Nail-biters have been the norm.  Nearly half of the Cubs games have been decided by two runs or less and the club is an even 16-15 in those affairs.

These past two days have not been an exception.  But a funny thing may have happened to these 2009 Cubs on the way to posting a couple of late June wins.

These Cubs may have discovered themselves.

The Chicago Cubs forever have been an enigma in the baseball world.  Or at least to most of us who’ve lived long enough to watch the ebb and flow of good baseball and bad.  Good Cubs and Bad Cubs.

Of the many constants throughout the franchise’s modern day history, the Cubs have been the equivalent of the consummate money pit to their fans.  No matter how much unwavering loyalty is given, no matter how much money is thrown in the Cubs direction, they somehow find a way to keep the love-hate relationship alive.

Welcome to 2009, Cub fans.  And a new era of “I love ‘em, I hate ‘em.”

Ever since all-star third baseman Aramis Ramirez went down with a dislocated shoulder on May 8th, the Cubs offense has slowly devolved into its own funk.  The sheen was peeling away from its $130 million payroll and the glitter of all of the team’s star power.

Two come-from-behind wins in two days certainly shouldn’t be mistaken for a team that’s turned the corner and is heading towards prosperity.  But it does mean that maybe these Cubs have finally realized they’re good enough to win without Ramirez.

No matter who’s the hitting coach.

Cubs’ Hendry Throws Hitting Woes on Perry

I’m so old I remember when Chicago Cubs general manager Jim Hendry was a baseball man.  That was a time before he became second in command of one of major league baseball’s top three or four franchises.

Professionally, Hendry’s come a long way from the days as head coach of the Creighton Bluejays.  And no one can blame him for leaving the Creighton program to accept a job in the Bigs.

Former Chicago Cub hitting coach Gerald Perry and manager Lou PiniellaCreighton plays its home games in a crappy little ballyard not far from campus, and as a private Jesuit university, the college isn’t known for its generosity when it comes to paying its coaches.   Coupled with the fact that Nebraska weather isn’t the most conducive for building a baseball program it was little wonder Hendry parlayed his success, leading the Bluejays to the College World Series to special assistant to Florida Marlins’ GM Dave Dombrowski.

That was 1991 when Hendry was still a baseball man. Now as a business man for a baseball team, Hendry signs players to multi-million dollar contracts and fires the hitting coach when they fail to perform.

That’s how far Hendry’s come.  Or gone.

On Sunday, Hendry fired hitting coach Gerald Perry.  When a club is hitting .246 collectively and is 14th out of 16 National League teams in run production, something - or in this case - someone has to go.

Exit Perry.  Enter new hitting coach Von Joshua.

“Obviously, we’ve been struggling for a long time,” Hendry said of the move. “I’m not one to dump all the blame on coaches. I’ve never made a coaching change to my knowledge in the middle of the year. I think sometimes you need a different voice.”

So that’s it.  All Chicago Cub hitters need is a different voice telling them the same things.

If that’s all it takes, I throw my vote to WGN baseball broadcaster Len (Judas to the Truth) Kasper as the new hitting coach.  At least Kasper offers a novel approach to the Cubs hitting woes - albeit wreaking of desperation.

During the eighth inning of Sunday’s game between the Cubs and Minnesota, Kasper joked (at least I hope so) that maybe Alfonso Soriano could loft a fly ball that somehow would miraculously land on the back of one of the birds circling Wrigley Field.  The bird would then fly to the bleachers where it would dispose of the ball in the crowd.

At least that’s what I hope Kasper was referring to when putting bird and dropping in the same sentence.  Then again, he could have put Perry’s firing as plainly and bluntly as Soriano.

“When the team’s doing wrong, somebody has to pay,” Soriano said. “Last year, nobody said anything, we had the best year offensively, and [Perry] is the best hitting coach. This year, we have a little problem, and now he’s the worst. That’s the game.”

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