Chicago Cubs Baseball

“When things go bad, they really go bad.” - Ron Santo, former Chicago Cub and current WGN-Radio broadcaster

Ron Santo, Chicago’s other Mr. Cub, could easily have been talking about my food spoilage after a 72-hour power outage. Instead, Santo’s comments were made during the Cubs agonizing weekend series with the White Sox.

As the entire City of Chicago and the entire Cub nation knows by now, it was not a good weekend for Chicago Cubs baseball. In fact, it hasn’t been good for the Cubs for a while.

Since leaving Toronto with the series win two weeks ago, the club has shown little resemblance to the team of the first two-and-a-half months of the season. Then again, this isn’t the same Chicago Cubs team that took the field at the beginning of 2008.

No fewer than five players have found their way to the disabled list this year, including staff ace Carlos Zambrano and home run threat Alfonso Soriano. Outfielder Reed Johnson and lefty reliever Scott Eyre (second time) currently join the duo on the DL, while Daryle Ward recently returned after a long stint nursing a bad back.

And those are only the injuries that have resulted in significant loss of playing time. Over the course of the last two weeks, outfielders Kusoke Fukudome and Jim Edmonds have been hobbled and shortstop Ryan Theriot returned to the lineup Sunday against the White Sox after after missing two games with an undisclosed hand injury.

”We’ve been able to get by for quite a while, and it catches up to you a little bit, let’s be honest,” Cubs manager Lou Piniella said.

Enough already, right? Not so says the Baseball Gods.

Aramis Ramirez will miss the first three games of the San Francisco series to be with his wife and the birth of their son. And who can forget the bust that projected starter Rich Hill has turned out to be after struggling with his control and finally finding his way to the minors?

Bad luck or bad karma or just the nature of the beast called baseball?

I can’t say. But I do sense this is not the lovable losers of yore. While the injuries have mounted for the Cubs so has the playing time for many of the youngsters on their roster. It can only be an invaluable resource when baseball enters the dog days and a stretch run - because, yes, there will be a stretch run.

If there’s any doubt the Cubs will rebound, trust me, the power does come back on. I know firsthand.