A friend pointed out this phenomenon to me today, something he and his brother “have talked about for years.” I’ll let him explain:
There’s an army out there of normal looking guys. 25-38 yrs old. Average height, weight, build. Glasses (although in the mid-nineties many of them switched to contacts along with Maddux.) Mild mannered, responsible fathers and citizens.. Not prone to wild flights of fantasy or leopard skin pants.. Many of them lawyers.. but all of them die-hard cubbies.
I can spot one out of a crowd, no problem.
The reason for this phenomena? 1984.
1984 was a coming of age for a whole generation of these guys. A glimmer of hope, a spark of interest in a perennial underdog team that would set in stone a pattern of being patient and waiting for “next year". Thus cultivating a mental state of calm, dependable determination that would grow to effect every area of their lives. Right down to their standard issue blue t-shirts.
Why have they all developed into such polite, polished and respectful young men?
One man. Steve Stone.
Endless hours of WGN cubs commentary by this unassuming guru seeped into these young men’s subconscious minds, shaping them like soft clay.
Has Stone created a generation of monsters? No. They’re pretty much all good guys.
Boy grows up in St. Louis a Cardinals fan. Boy becomes adult and moves to Wrigleyville. Boy, now married and with a child on the way, becomes enamored with the Cubs, with Wrigley Field, with his neighborhood, and wonders about the experience he wants for his child. This weekend: Cubs v. Cardinals. For the first time, he doesn’t know what to do. A very interesting read from Hoey at Pieces of Flare.
“The way Mercker and Remlinger have battled injury problems already this year, I look for a for lefty like Felix Sanchez to have a nice impact on the team this year. He’s started more games than he’s relieved in the minors and so could be more than just a LOOGY, if Dusty Baker will allow it.”
–Me, in response to the question “Which, if any, of the Cubs pitching prospects will make an impact on the team this year?” in the Cubs Roundtable before the season.
“The Cubs traded left-handed pitcher Felix Sanchez to the Tigers on Thursday in exchange for right-hander Jon Connolly and a player to be named.”
Well, my prediction has already proved wrong, but you have to like the numbers the guy the Cubs got for Sanchez put up in A-ball last year. A 1.41 ERA in 166 innings. He looks to be a control guy: He had 104 K’s and 38 BB’s last year in his 25 starts. He also completed one-fifth of his starts, which tells you either that the Tigers don’t care about pitch counts for 20-year-olds, or Connolly is very economical on the mound. Given his control, the latter could definitely be the more accurate statement.
I don’t think so. Running at home plate umpire Eric Cooper and screaming at him drew Kerry Wood a big ovation from the crowd today, but his class failed him. It happens to most of us, and certainly to me, but we shouldn’t cheer it. (Al Yellon says Cooper started toward the mound first. You couldn’t tell that from the TV. And it doesn’t excuse what Wood did in any case.)
The calls made by Cooper weren’t even of the are you blind?! variety. The third ball to Adam Dunn clearly missed the plate; the fourth ball I thought caught the plate, but it was awfully close.
A couple of other reasons why the Cubs lost today, other than Cooper’s calls:
Letting Cory Lidle off the hook with Aramis Ramirez grounding into a double play with the bases loaded in the first inning.
The Cub offense having 1 extra-base hit (Sammy Sosa’s double) and 1 walk (Moises Alou).
Wood missing his spot on the 1-2 pitch to Wily Mo Pena that was lined for a base hit to take the lead. This was Wood’s 131st pitch, so this could be blamed on Baker more than anyone. Jim Hendry did go out and upgrade the bullpen this offseason (again), right? (And as The Big Red C notes, there is evidence Wood is not near as effective in starts after throwing at least 120 pitches in his previous start, so Baker may have negatively affected the next game in which Wood pitches.)
That said – the game is over. I can’t wait for tomorrow’s game.
Congratulations to both Derek Smart and reader Tom K, who, like me, just became proud fathers of baby girls! I’m having grand fun with this dad thing.
As you might have guessed (especially those of you with young children), the C&A Chron. isn’t going to be updated nearly as often as it has been over the past year. If you want to know when I have made the occasional post, be sure to either sign up for the notification email list on the left or watch for me (as well as much of the Cubs Blog Army) at the recent Cubs blog entries page at Baseball Blogs.
I have greatly enjoyed writing this blog, and the fact that you read it and post insightful comments has made it even more enjoyable. Given that I have now entered fatherhood, this blog will never be what it once was (except, perhaps, in about 40 years when I retire, not that it was much to begin with). But I will keep posting now and then. And I will of course keep cheering on the Cubs as I always have, and will enjoy teaching my daughter (and all my future children, should God bless me with them) the virtues of being a Cubs fan. Go Cubs.
After 9 hours of labor, Hannah was born Thursday afternoon, 4/8, at 4:33pm. At birth, she weighed 6 lb. 11 oz and was 18.5 inches long. The three of us came home early Saturday afternoon.
Both Briana and Hannah are doing super. In fact, everything has been perfect. God has truly blessed us abundantly. As you can tell from the pictures, she is incredibly beautiful (not to mention snuggly).
I thank God for how wonderful Hannah is. I also thank God for my wife – she was amazing throughout the pregnancy and the labor. And she is already so natural with Hannah. I love my wife. And I love my daughter. Praise the Lord for them both.
But that wasn’t the only good thing that happened today:
Jimy Williams left Roy Oswalt in a bit too long, and Barry Bonds made him pay. The Astros were up 4-1 heading into the 8th inning, but gave up 4 runs to the Giants in the last two frames to lose 5-4.
Finally, the White Sox were up 7-1 at one point, and entered the bottom of the 9th still up 7-3. Cliff Politte, Billy Koch, and Damaso Marte promptly gave up 6 runs in only getting one out in the 9th, and the Royals defeated Chicago 9-7. I don’t dislike the White Sox as much as some Cubs fans, but I admit to smiling at the underdog Royals coming from behind to beat Hawk and DJ’s team.
Again, an all-around wonderful day (except, no doubt, for Scott, after this).
The official C&A Chron. wife (and, by that time, the official C&A Chron. baby) are moving in June, so we’ve started to do some packing. In doing so, I came across the July/August edition of Cubs Quarterly, an official Cubs publication. It includes an article on Luis Montanez (Larry Mayer, “Destined to be a Cub"). The Cubs had just drafted Montanez in the 1st round (3rd overall) of the 2000 draft.
How things change.
Mayer writes: “Though Montanez likely will not advance to the major leagues for at least three years, he has the potential to be a star.”
For that first year, that still seemed likely. Montanez was sent to rookie ball in Mesa, where he hit .344 with a .531 Slg.% and a decent number of walks. Since then, he’s been not good and getting worse. A 716 OPS with low-A Lansing in 2001 was followed by a 686 OPS year with high-A Daytona in 2002. Which led the Cubs to keep him at Daytona in 2003. Where he put up a 638 OPS.
Things got so bad last summer that when Double-A West Tennessee needed a shortstop, the Cubs bypassed Montanez for Lansing’s second baseman, Ryan Theriot. Montanez himself ended up playing more second base than shortstop last year, demonstrating that his hitting isn’t the only thing that hasn’t progressed.
The Cubs Quarterly article also noted that “Montanez was ranked the fifth-best player in the draft by Baseball America. The publication reported that scouts “have compared him to Blue Jays shortstop Alex Gonzalez.” Which also shows that Gonzalez hasn’t turned out like it was once thought he would. Still, at this point, a Gonzalez-like career for Montanez may be too much to hope for.
MLB.com reports Mike Wuertz has made the team. Jimmy Anderson has been sent to Triple-A, and Scott McClain, cut on Thursday, has signed with the Seibu Lions of Japan. McClain has played for the Lions the past three seasons. He’ll earn much more with them than he would have for Iowa.
All apologies to Mark Prior for a radio interview taken to the next level. But if the unintentional Prior-steroid connection (made by yours truly) is any indication of the pervading feelings in the baseball world today, then it is obvious the MLB Players Association needs to nip this in the bud for the sake of all players.
Until the testing system is publicly accepted as valid and useful, this sort of speculation and potential blow-up can be expected at every turn. If I were Prior and were clean but I still fell under suspicion because of others, I also would be pretty upset.
Despite the “all apologies” sentence, that’s not an apology. It’s an excuse. The MLB Players Assocation’s stance on this means that he and others “can be expected” to spew forth this sort of speculation. Huh?
And what does he mean “unintentional Prior-steroid connection?” Is he saying he didn’t intend for the words that came out of his mouth to have actually come out of his mouth?
Both The Cub Reporter and The Big Red C discuss the reports in today’s Sun-Times and Daily Herald that Mike Wuertz may make the club as the 12th pitcher. (For those that don’t know, Wuertz has been a below average to plain bad minor leaguer who’s having a good spring.) But at the same time, Jimmy Anderson is trying to make the case that he should be the 5th starter instead of Sergio Mitre. Anderson came into today’s game with a 2.76 spring ERA in 16.1 innings. He threw 5 innings of no earned run baseball in the start today, striking out just 1, but also allowing just 3 hits. This at a time when Mitre is struggling.
I’ve (briefly) panned Anderson before (see here and here). He’s 28 with a lifetime ERA 19% below league average in 559 big league innings, and as many career walks as strikeouts. He’s Shawn Estes, only not as “good” and without the aberration that was Estes’s 1997 season.
If the Cubs do carry a 12th pitcher, either Wuertz or Anderson could make the team. But with just one open spot on the 40-man roster, only one of them can. The Cubs don’t have many days left in which to decide.
Is it necessary to have 
Though not on the scale of