Chicago Cubs Baseball

Lou Piniella, the manager major league baseball players would least like to play for?

That’s correct if you believe the Sports Illustrated poll published last month.  In the poll of 380 players conducted in May, the Chicago Cubs manager received 26 percent of the players’ vote, with White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen getting 21 percent and Tony La Russa of St. Louis finishing third with 10 percent.

Believable?  You betcha.

And if I were any of the managers that finished in the top five (Joe Torre of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Eric Wedge of the Cleveland Indians included) I would wear the designation as a badge of honor.

In this age of equally greedy owners and players it’s easy to see how the manager of Chicago Cubs baseball could earn such an honor.  And when I say, honor, I mean it.

Piniella possesses the same qualities as a manager as he did as a player.  He approaches the game with respect, diligence and perhaps most of all, passion.

In another era, the kind of characteristics and traits that would be embraced and admired.  Those are the qualities a dedicated professional would hope would rub off on him.

But that was then and this is definitely now. And for that, one-fourth of candy-assed major league players designate Piniella an honor better fitted to the parade of baseball managers who never lasted beyond the length of their contract, who’ve never advanced the game beyond their own ego and a trip to the bank.

If anything, the Sports Illustrated poll speaks more of the players than of any of the mangers on the list.  Piniella, Guillen, La Russa and Torre all have World Series titles to their credit, and Wedge has taken his team to the post-season with a small market team.

Piniella obviously didn’t help his ranking when he told the Cubs’ biggest underachieving headcase, Milton Bradley, that he was closer to the crap one scrapes off the bottom of their shoe than he was to a major league player.  This came after another pathetic Bradley at bat and the $30 million flop tried to up his batting average against a Gatorade machine.

If there was a sad ending to this story, it wasn’t that Piniella used profanity in chastising Bradley.  It was the fact the Chicago Cubs manager later apologized.

So what we can gather from this little tale is that overpaid, under-performing players can act as childish as they like, disrespect the game at their bidding and expect no consequences for their actions.

I’ve disagreed with Piniella’s managerial style and decisions in the past.  And will likely do so in future.  But, if I’m acting like the south end of a horse going north, Piniella or anyone else has my blessing on pointing me in the right direction.  And I won’t hold it against them.

The first half has ended, the second half has barely begun and Chicago Cubs baseball finds itself in pretty much the same position as when the season began.

Injuries, inconsistent play and a general ineptitude at the plate has turned the race for a playoff spot into a daily trek on the treadmill.  Sure, the Cubs have got their miles in, but at the end of the workout have essentially gone nowhere.

Despite it all, the Cubs find themselves in the thick of the Central Division logjam entering tonight’s game with the Washington Nationals.  Chicago joins Milwaukee and Houston for second place and trails division-leading St. Louis by three games.

Not bad for a team that could - and in many ways, should - be making a run for the bottom with Pittsburgh rather than staying within striking distance of a third consecutive Central Division crown.

If nothing else, this 2009 ride has produced one of the stranger seasons in recent and not-so-recent memory.  In some ways it’s reminiscent of the 2006 season when the Cubs all but quit at the end of May after a rash of injuries sidelined key players, including Derrek Lee.

Unlike then, and as frustrating as it has been to watch this team, these Cubs haven’t shown any signs of quit.  Yet.

Maybe there really is such a thing as “Cub swagger,” that mentality manager Lou Piniella vowed to instill when he came to Chicago.  If so, it’s like so many other traits about the Cubs that create the ultimate sports’ love-hate relationship:  They just have a funny way of showing it.

And not to be overlooked in this oddball season, has been the work done by pitching coach Larry Rothschild.  The Cubs staff, despite itself at times, is fourth among National League teams with a 3.75 ERA.  Only division leaders Los Angeles and St. Louis, as well as wild-card leader San Francisco has better team ERAs.

Which makes everyone wonder - from the top of the Cubs organization through the clubhouse and into the midst of Cubdom - where would this team be if even a couple of the bats that were counted on in spring training had come through.  While it’s a waste of good brain matter to ponder, it does, it does bring to the forefront something equally as puzzling: did Hendry really need to go out and spend millions when the organization’s minor league system seems full of capable players?

As of today, the Cubs’ roster includes no less than seven players that weren’t with the parent team when the season started.  For example, Randy Wells is scheduled to start tonight’s game against the Nationals, while Kevin Hart was called up for tomorrow’s series finale.

Now with pitcher Ted Lilly and outfielder Alfonso Soriano ailing, more roster moves are likely.  This Cubs team has had enough players on the disabled list to keep a M.A.S.H. unit busy.

Given the state of Chicago Cubs baseball, injuries and ineptitude and all,  it’s a difficult call to say how the season will progress.  The only thing certain about this 2009 team is that it’s future is undeniably uncertain.

It was good while it lasted.  The Chicago Cubs swagger I mean.

When Lou Piniella arrived as Cubs’ manager two-and-a-half seasons ago,  he made it clear that one of his top priorities was instilling a winning attitude.  To hell with this “Lovable Losers” stuff.

He was going to create a new breed  of Cubs player - one that bit back, instead of licking its wounds.  These new Cubs would have confidence and play like it.

They would have … swagger.

And for about a season-and-a-half, I actually believed Piniella could get it done.  Beginning in the second half of the 2007 season and for much of last year, as surprising as it seemed, the Cubs played and acted like a franchise where winning was more of an expectation than an afterthought.

Chicago’s two Central Division titles are testament to it.  The Cubs mental approach to this wonderful game of baseball was equal to their on-field abilities.

For the first time in a long time Chicago Cubs baseball not only realized its potential but fulfilled it.  Well, at least during the course of the regular season they did.

Then came consecutive three-and-outs in the NLDS playoffs.  And perhaps those post-season nosedives can be attributed to contributing to this season’s stagger as much as anything.  After two straight years of folding like a cheap tent in the playoffs, it’s not beyond probability that the Cub swagger has been acting like it’s been taking season-long shots to the groin.

Whatever “swagger” cream Piniella had the players apply, this season has shown its clearly worn off.  The loss of Aramis Ramirez for the past six weeks certainly was a blow.  But winning franchises don’t bemoan setbacks.  They go out and perform despite them.

These are the Cubs, however.  No matter how much money GM Jim Hendry can throw at continually re-building this team or how many marquee names fill the roster.

If Piniella was looking for a miracle to perform he should have chosen something simpler.  Like turning water into wine.  Or making Alfonso Soriano an actual lead-off hitter.  The degree of difficulty has to be less for both.