Chicago Cubs Baseball

A trip to Pittsburgh. A three-game series against the playing-for-pride Pirates. An opportunity for Chicago Cubs baseball to put distance between contenders Milwaukee and St. Louis as well as a disastrous Wrigley Field homestand.

Instead of making hay, the Cubs stepped in their own manure, proving once again it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog. Except, it was Pittsburgh, with a payroll roughly one-third of the Cubs, who played like it had something to prove.

The Cubs, meanwhile, performed like a team customary to fifth place in mid-September. Which in most years would have been totally expected and acceptable.

Except this is 2007 and the Cubs aren’t in fifth place. Although at the current rate of their descent, a rung or two from the bottom of the Central Division standings isn’t without a degree of probability.

The Cubs exercise in role reversal proved as disastrous as some of Chicago manager Lou Piniella’s decisions as of late, dropping two of three to Pirates. Today’s 10-5 defeat was the coup-disgrace as about the only thing the Cubs did right was avoid a call from Major League baseball for uniform violations.

Starter Steve Tracshel, the recent waiver wire pickup, lasted a whole two innings, which was two innings more than reliever Kerry Wood, whose warm-up requirements more often than not last longer than his actual time on the mound. Wood’s line score for the day: 0 innings, two hits, three runs, three earned runs, two walks.

It’s unfair to single out Traschel and Wood when so many others on this veteran-laden club has produced so little for the majority of the season. Take Cliff Floyd for example. Bereavement aside, Floyd’s MO has been make a catch, fall down, take five days off to recuperate.

Sigh.

The Cubs face a crucial one-game showdown with St. Louis Monday in a brief return to the Friendly Confines. While it’s true that a lot of baseball is left to be played, this game is critical to the Chicago Cub season.

I only hope they play like it.