Chicago Cubs Baseball

“This is like deja vu all over again - Yogi Berra

Not only was Yogi a helluva ballplayer, but he was a reluctant sage as well.
For that quip peers into the heart of every Chicago Cubs baseball fan. Because, as Cubs fans, we know when things are looking up, it’s probably a good time to look down.

We’ve been there, we’ve done that. Life as a Cubs fan is like being an extra in that classic comedy, Groundhog Day. It’s a double indemnity existance: Asked to reshoot the same scene over and over again in a movie where everything happens over and over again.

Case in point:

One of the latest stories to come out of spring training this week is that our favorite fluff with stuff, Mark Prior, will be held out of action for the first five to six games of spring ball. Cubs skipper Lou Piniella, on Sunday, assured us all that this maneuver was strictly precautionary, and not to “jump to conclusions.”

Give me a break.

But wait. That’s already happened. It was 2005 when Prior’s left forearm was fractured by a line drive.

Ok. So instead of a break, how about giving us 200 innings, an ERA under the yearly attendance figure and 18 wins? Say, like it was 2003 all over.

But wait - again. Maybe the clamor from Cubdom cascaded to the crest of Camelback and called to Lou. And maybe Lou heard.

For on Monday, Lou issued a Mark Prior sighting. Or one soon to come. It seems, afterall, Prior will pitch the fifth game of the Cubs preseason and won’t miss his turn in the rotation as suggested earlier. Like the day before.

Huh?

This is my first plea of the season, Lou. Please don’t play with the man’s head. It’s ok to mess with ours - we’re used to it. But not Prior’s.

Or maybe this is the start of an era of tough love in Cub history. Maybe this is the year where excuses are replaced with execution, and apologies give way to accountability.

Sea changes like those don’t occur overnight. Or do they?