All it took was 18 innings to unravel the team with the National League's best record. In two nights, the Cubs went from NL champion shoe-in to just plain shoo. Or, "boo" was more like it.
The Friendly Confines were anything but in the 2008 NLDS. The Cubs were absolutely beaten to a pulp at Wrigley, allowing 17 runs and 20 hits en route to a collapse that sparked heavy drinking by Cubs fans and heavy lifting by GM Jim Hendry.
Now we find ourselves at a drizzly Wrigley Field without a few familiar faces. Mark DeRosa, Kerry Wood and Jim Edmonds are out. Aaron Miles, Kevin Gregg and Milton Bradley are in. And now, the 2009 Cubs are looking a lot like the 2007 Cubs. A mix of veterans and youngsters who could provide answers if we only knew what the questions were.
Thankfully, it is Lou Piniella's job to answer those questions ... not mine. (Though this blog is willing to provide Sweet Lou with as much advice as he wants.)
So before Piniella can go out and solve October's puzzling problems, he needs to lead this team through April and beyond.
Then we'll see whether or not I'll care about October baseball.
0 comments:
Post a Comment