Chicago Cubs Baseball

What do you get when you have a starting pitcher who can’t finish the first inning, an outfielder who can’t catch and an offense that leaves 13 men on base? The easy answer is another loss for Chicago Cubs baseball.

The more complex answer is a commander-in-chief who’s unbending in his commitments despite repeated negative outcomes with an unyielding stubbornness that results in a tyrannical fit when his decision-making abilities are called into question.

”That’s why I told him, obviously I knew. I’m not going to take Soriano out for defense. [Rogers] knows it, you know it, and unless it’s a double switch — that’s the only way he’s going to come out of a ballgame. Everybody knows that. You don’t take superstar players out of the lineup. You don’t do it.” - Lou Piniella, Chicago Cubs manager

“Just make sure they hit it someplace other than left” - Bob Brenly, former major league manager, WGN-TV Cubs announcer

No, I’m not referring to the current political administration although I very well could be. Unfortunately for Cubdom, the above description references Chicago manager Lou Piniella, who continues to defend and enable his “superstar” players while the Cubs keep losing (2-6 over their last eight games).

Lou’s latest tirade came Thursday, following a 4-3 loss to Milwaukee. Lou blew when a reporter asked whether he considered a defensive replacement for Alfonso Soriano in the ninth inning. It was a legitimate question considering Soriano was in his first game back from the disabled list and the Brewers three-run comeback was enabled by a double that many who saw the game felt Soriano should have caught.

Instead, Piniella came uncorked at the thought that someone would dare question his managerial skills. Lou’s tirades were cute at first, but now have become a tiresome distraction to the real questions surrounding Soriano and Wood’s abilities to get the job done.

If Thursday was an anomaly to Soriano’s defensive ability, then Piniella would have been inbounds. But it’s not.

Again last night, Soriano misplayed two catchable balls that yielded a St. Louis run. How bad was it? The Cardinals’ Chris Duncan looks more comfortable in the outfield than does Soriano.

In a brief moment of honesty, WGN announcer Bob Brenly summed up Soriano’s play (see quote above). By the next inning, however, he and his partner Len Kasper, were both back to normal, playing Judas to the truth and excusing Soriano’s lack of defensive play on playing under the lights.

Friday was the lights, on Thursday it was the wind.

The reality is it’s Lou coddling an overpaid player who’s one dimensional mindset outweighs his skill set. Continuing to support negative behavior is called enabling.

And there’s no excuse for it.