What do you mean, Baker's out?

Who's idea was it to take a team previously managed by Dusty Baker for years and throw Lou Piniella into the mix? You can't find two more different guys. First, we all know that Dusty Baker is probably my favorite topic here. So I'm sad that he's gone. But the Cubs are so soft that when their TV announcers said anything critical about the team, they ran to Baker and complained. They can't take mild, even constructive criticism from their announcers -- how will they take the serious stuff from Piniella? Piniella is one of the most fiery managers in the game, if not the most. Do you remember the start of the D-Rays v. Red Sox Rivalry in 2005? Lou explained away all the hit batsmen by saying, "We didn't throw at guy's heads, but if we're thrown at, we'll defend ourselves." Curt Schilling responded by calling Lou and idiot and claiming that D-Ray players had told him that Lou was the reason they're a lock to lose 100 games every year, and that he makes them throw at guys. Lou responded by saying he's forgotten more baseball than Curt will ever know, he's disappointed that Curt would say such a thing, and he's sure none of his guys would ever say that. Oh yeah, and recall that the 2005 D-Rays had nothing to defend, that they hit three Blue Jays in the next game, and that all those bullet pitches were just pitches that sailed away.

In contrast, Dusty Baker explained away all the walks his pitchers gave out and his batters didn't receive last year by saying that, "walks just clog up the bases." And how about this memorable story?

In a 2004 game against the Marlins, Moises Alou hit a foul ball close to where Bartman was sitting in the 2003 NLCS. After it went into the stands, Marlin's left fielder Miguel Cabrera mocked Alou's angry reaction to Bartman's grab, pouting and stomping around, and basically acting like a small child. Marlin's 3B Mike Lowell said, "It was the funniest thing I have ever seen in my life." The Cubs, however, didn't think it was very funny, and Cabrera got dotted by Cub's pitcher Glendon Rusch in his next at bat. Well, whether or not it was funny isn't up for debate, because it was hilarious. The fact is, the 2004 Cubs are just soft.

And that was two years ago. Nothing has changed. The team whines and cries about the smallest things. In many ways, they're a lot like the post-championship Pistons. In a blog post I saw a few days ago, it was explained that the Pistons lack of success lately is the result of their excessive on-court whining. The only difference is that the Pistons do it because they think they deserve the calls, post-championship as they are. The Cubs, needless to say, are not in that position.

So what's it going to be for the post-Baker era? How's it going to play out? Unless Hendry makes some serious moves, the team is still going to be terrible. But maybe instead of going out on the field knowing they'll lose 90 games and not caring how they do it, they'll go out big. Like, "hey, we know we're still a lock to lose at least 90, but we're gonna be major a-holes about it." So, instead of LaTroy Hawkins pitching in the 9th to protect the lead, but actually giving up the win to Albert Pujols' 3rd jack of the night, (and then, you guessed it, crying about it, in this case attempting to fight Ump Tim Tschida, under "Albert Pujols is good,") we'll just have Ryan Dempster peg Pujols in the skull. The outcome will be the same, but at least they'll have more street cred!

Those D-Rays and Red Sox - May 1, 2005
Yankee OF and Catchup-Part II - May 16, 2006
Red Sox/Yankees, Pujols, and NL West Solutions - May 1, 2006