Kerry Wood If He Could

It seems like it was yesterday. But it was really a decade ago. Kerry Wood striking out 20 Astros at Wrigley Field on his way to winning Rookie of the Year. Back then, it seemed like the sky was the limit for his potential. But as it turned out, he never once won 15 games in a season.

I remember Wood being asked about his 20-strikeout game on the tenth anniversary of it. He replied that he does watch it from time to time, such as when a friend will call him and say it's on ESPN Classic or something like that. One of the things that Wood said he notices about that game is how big the strike zone was. (Hmm... I'll keep that in mind the next time I hear of a pitcher striking out 20 major league batters in 9 innings.)

The moment for which I'll most remember Wood's time with the Cubs was when he hit the game-tying 3-run homer in Game 7 of the 2003 NLCS against the Marlins. Unfortunately, his pitching arm had reached its limit for that season, and he couldn't quite carry the Cubs into the World Series. He gave it his all, though.

Sadly, injuries bogged down his Cub career. For me, Wood's low point came when he was involved in criticizing Steve Stone and the media a few years ago during spring training. I remember Stoney's response was, "We already know that Kerry's mouth is in shape. The question is whether or not his arm is."

Sometimes the truth hurts.

From a business perspective, I can see why Hendry is letting Wood go. Yeah, he had a great season last year, but his history of injuries is still looming. That, coupled with the emergence of Carlos Marmol, meant that Wood wouldn't get the "big bucks" from the Cubs. Even though Wood says he would have accepted a one year deal with the Cubs, it seems that the organization is comfortable turning the page.

It's just another reminder that major league baseball is a business. We'll see where Wood ends up. The crazy thing is that he could go on to become one of the game's top closers over the next five years. Wouldn't that be just like the Cubs?

Still here

Yes, this blog is still alive. I'm in the process of moving, so I don't have Internet at home right now...

Here are a few quick baseball thoughts:

• If Carlos Quentin, Jose Contreras, and Scott Linebrink hadn't been injured near the end of the season, then the White Sox would have been a more formidable playoff team. (But the Rays were probably still better.)
• Jim Hendry overpaid for both Alfonso Soriano and Kosuke Fukudome. However, I'm more concerned about the Cubs' farm system. I'm not sure how I feel about Hendry's 4-year extension. Yes, he built the first Cubs team to make the playoffs in back-to-back years, but I don't know that I would say the future is "bright" for this team. How Hendry handles Ryan Dempster's contract will be an interesting sign of things to come. (My view: Don't overpay for Dempster.) And the Cubs need to have better "top prospects" than Felix Pie in their farm system--especially when it comes to pitching.
• I don't blame Lou Piniella at all for the the Cubs' failures in the previous two playoffs. Last year he took a lot of heat for pulling Zambrano out of the game "too early." In my view, Piniella was trying to win the World Series, not trying to ride Zambrano's arm off in the first game of the playoffs just "to get there." It's a team game, and since all of Zambrano's teammates were stinking it up against Arizona, they got swept. Regarding the series against the Dodgers this year, people were upset that Piniella batted Fukodome second in Game 1 and played him at all in Game 2. Well, which other left-handed bat was he supposed to put in the lineup?
• As for the Rays and Phillies, these are the two teams that I wanted to see in the World Series if it couldn't be Chicago. I'd prefer to see the Phillies win just because those players have been around longer. But if the Rays win it, well, that would certainly make for a nice story.
• Congrats to C-Lauff for winning the UPL. In a strange bit of irony, I'm the one who ended up find out "how fifth place taste."

Okay, that's all for now; and yes, we'll have hot stove on this blog. It wouldn't be a true baseball blog without it.

Singin' the Cubbie Blues

It might take another hundred years, but some day Eddie Vedder will be right.



(BTW, I always pictured this song as being sung by depressed, drunk Cubs fans after yet another loss. And besides, this song would lose its charm if the Cubs actually did go all the way.)

What a game

Yeah, I'm glad that the Sox won tonight. But even better, it's how they did it. What a game. A total team effort.

And one other thing. Back when the Sox first traded for Ken Griffey Jr., I was curious as to how things would play out. I didn't expect him to bat .290 and play a Gold Glove center field, but I was hoping that he could at least contribute--and maybe even make a difference in a big game.

Griffey's numbers haven't been great, and he doesn't play center the way he used to. But it's been enjoyable to see him have fun playing for the Sox these past few months; and, oh by the way, he did help make the difference tonight.

Coolstandings

Earlier this year I noticed a new feature in ESPN's MLB standings. In the last few columns they started showing what appeared to be percentages showing the likelihood that the team would win their division, the wild card, or make the playoffs in general. Today I finally checked out what these Coolstandings mean.

And for what it's worth, back on July 5th Coolstandings had these five teams as the most likely to finish the season in the playoffs:

TEAM	POFF
Chicago Cubs	82.6
Philadelphia Phillies	79.0
Tampa Bay Rays	77.8
Chicago White Sox	68.9
Boston Red Sox	67.6

I imagine many baseball fans have already read about Coolstandings, but if you haven't, then you might be interested in checking it out.

"Hey Chicago, whaddya say?"

I didn't make it to a Cubs or Sox game this season. However, I've been thinking back to the Cubs game I attended last year in July. It was an exciting game and the Cubs beat the Astros by a run. At the end of the game, though, something happened that seemed surprisingly natural, yet disturbingly unfamiliar.

Everyone in Wrigley was singing, "Go Cubs Go."

It seemed natural in the sense that everyone knew the routine, belting out the song in a celebratory bliss. For those who don't know the lyrics, the chorus goes like this:

Go Cubs Go!
GO CUBS GO!
Hey Chicago, whaddya say?
The Cubs are going to win today!

Granted, it seemed like a safe song to play AFTER a win, although maybe a bit sappy. However, it was a catchy tune and I still distinctly remember the crowd being happy, singing and watching as their players in the home whites and Cubbie blue looked alive, giving high fives all around on the bright green diamond.

But what bothered me was that I had never heard the song before. Yes, this proves I'm not the biggest Cub fan in the world, but still, had I been living under a rock? Where did this song come from? Had I heard it before, only to have forgotten?

I asked a few of my friends who also were at the game, and the answers I got varied. Some were indifferent to the question, whereas others had insisted they had heard it at the end of games before. At that point I dropped the issue.

Until a few months ago.

Late at night I was listening to some sports radio which, if it's not a game that time of night, is usually brutal. Some host whom I likely feel sorry for is trying to keep things interesting while begging for phone calls before each commercial break. Of course, once somebody calls in, it tends to be some idiot asking why Lou Piniella doesn't drop a slumping Derrek Lee down to the six hole or what Kenny Williams could get in return by trading a slumping Jim Thome. My favorites are when little league coaches explain how certain advice they gave their kids worked wonders, and it's that same advice this pro team needs to hear. (I know, I know, I'm complicit in this stupidity for listening.)

But one night somebody called in to ask the host, "When did they start playing that Go Cubs Go song after Cubs' wins?"

In all my years of listening to sports talk radio, I've never heard a more interesting question. So I stopped whatever it was I was doing, and I listened very carefully for the host's answer.

And his answer was: "You know, I've been wondering the same thing."

Seeing an opportunity to salvage his show for the night, the host then encouraged people to call in with the answer. And call they did.

The first guy claimed that it started this year (2008). However, even I knew that was wrong, because I had heard it with my own ears in July 2007.

So the next caller came in and he had a different story, and so did the next. There were many different opinions, but finally a trend started to appear.

One of the callers said the song was actually fairly old, possibly dating to the 1980's, and several callers verified that the song had often been blared in the streets near Wrigley during the 2003 playoffs. After that, things became a bit murkier. But one guy claimed that he was a season ticket holder, and he knew that the song really started to gain traction as the tune to be played in Wrigley after a Cubs' win shortly after the Carlo Zambrano vs. Michael Barrett fight last year. According to this Cub fan, it was during a Cubs' hot streak last July when this tradition started to form.

Which, as it turns out, is the same month that I first heard the song.

For whatever reason, today I finally Googled the song. Like so many things in life, you have to understand the way things were before you can understand the way things are. How could a Cubs' song from the 80's pop out of nowhere and become entrenched in a new Wrigley Field tradition? And what's with those sappy, optimistic lyrics?

Before there was a Steve Bartman, there was a Steve Goodman. Back in 1981, just in his early 30's, Steve Goodman had already been living with leukemia for more than a decade. He was a lifelong Cubs' fan and, back in those days, the Cubs really sucked. They hadn't been over .500 in nearly a decade, and in 1980 they lost over 60% of their games while finishing dead last. So Goodman, a (2-time Grammy-winning) singer and songwriter facing terminal cancer, decided that it was finally time to tell it like it was. He wrote a song called "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request." While the lyrics spoke of a person who loved the Cubs, they also spoke honestly (and humorously) about the ineptitude of that same team. Here's an excerpt:

When I was a boy, they were my pride and joy
But now they only bring fatigue
To the home of the brave, the land of the free
And the doormat of the National League

His voice was pretty good, his words poetic, and Goodman's song started to get a lot of attention. But one person hated the song: the new Cubs' general manager, Dallas Green. At the time, the Cubs were trying to ditch the "lovable loser" label. They wanted to be about winning, and Dallas Green didn't like the idea of Cubs' fans embracing this song. Reportedly, Green even said that Steve Goodman was no fan of the Cubs.

Before the 1984 season, Dan Fabian, program director and head of promotions for WGN radio, set out to find a new opening theme for the Cubs' radio broadcasts. His first thought was to get Jimmy Buffett, a Cubs' fan, to re-do "Margaritaville" as "Wrigleyville." But then he heard an interview with Steve Goodman, and he had a new idea...

Goodman agreed to Fabian's request, and that's when the song "Go Cubs Go" was born. Here's an excerpt from a Chicago Tribune article talking about the song's creation:

Among the backup vocalists on the refrain are former players Gary Matthews, Thad Bosley, Jay Johnstone, Jody Davis and Keith Moreland -- dubbed "The Chicago Cubs Chorus" on the label.

Moreland, at it happens, shows up in the lyrics of Goodman's other notable baseball song, "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request," dropping a "routine fly" at the "ivy-covered burial ground."

As it turned out, the Cubs finally started winning again in 1984, the first season that "Go Cubs Go" opened up the radio broadcasts. While the Cubs did go on to win the National League East Division that season, Goodman died just a few days before it actually happened. During Goodman's 36 years, he never saw the Cubs even make the playoffs.

After 1984, the Cubs started to taper off again, and finally in 1988 "Go Cubs Go" was replaced by a Beach Boys song ("Here Come The Cubs"). Although, "Go Cubs Go" was still occasionally played at Wrigley.

It wasn't until last July, nearly 20 years after it had been replaced on the radio broadcasts, that "Go Cubs Go" became a permanent fixture at Wrigley Field after Cubs' victories.

Speaking of Cubs' victories, they clinched a playoff spot today. It also happens to be exactly 24 years after Steve Goodman's passing.

And you know what? Goodman's "Go Cubs Go" song is as popular - and true - as ever.

Not my year

For a while there it seemed like 2nd place was in reach, but that's a tall order now:

Rank		Team	Points	Pts Change	Waiver	Moves
1.		IamJabrone	120	-4	8	58
2.		IStillSuckCurveballs	107.5	-1	9	17
3.		O.N. Thugs	106	-0.5	12	68
4.		TheJimmyDixLongballs	101	2	7	32
5.		Milwaukee Whiffers	87.5	-1	4	22
6.		'90 Reds	86.5	0	2	47
7.		Black Sox	66	0.5	6	28
8.		Phatsnapper	62	-1.5	1	9
9.		Muddy Mud Skippers	57	1.5	3	12
10.		Cheeseheads	55.5	-0.5	5	23
11.		Westy's Slugs	48	5.5	11	69
12.		Benver Droncos	39	-1	10	42

My latest indignity, aside from being 15 minutes late in putting James Shields into my starting lineup, was Chris Young's near perfect game yesterday (one week after I finally dropped him).

Making matters worse, rumor has it that C-Lauff (IamJabrone) is getting ready to post a rap video he cut while in Maui, supposedly titled, "Got First Place," where he's ripped off the melody to Lil' Wayne's "Got Money." C-Lauff's allegedly all over the place, from frolicking on sandy beaches and splashing in the ocean, to sitting in night club jacuzzis surrounded by bikini-clad bunnies, all while iced out, sipping champagne, bragging about his fantasy baseball extravagances while still getting in his personal shots at all of his UPL haters.

I personally won't be watching that.

Oh well, I guess now that the writing is on the wall, it's time for me to join in that time-honored tradition most of us have this time of year in the UPL Baseball: Start colluding to do everything possible to prevent Roland from winning.

Hmm... who would Roland like to pick up from that waiver wire next?

Second City Squad

So I thought I'd have some fun with this post. It's more from the "what if" category which I promise to move away from after this one. But for now, I'm rolling with it.

Currently, there are only three cities that have two major league teams: Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. While the Mets and Yankees faced off in the World Series eight short years ago, right now Chicago's Cubs and Sox along with Los Angeles' Angels and Dodgers are playing great baseball. But if these cities were allowed to pick their best players for one elite team, who would reign supreme?

The way I got onto this topic was in thinking about Chicago and how tough it would be to combine the two rosters. But of course, I decided to try it anyway:

C - Geovany Soto (Cubs)
1B - Derrek Lee (Cubs)
2B - Alexei Ramirez (Sox)
SS - Ryan Theriot (Cubs)
3B - Aramis Ramirez (Cubs)
LF - Carlos Quentin (Sox)
CF - Reed Johnson (Cubs)
RF - Jermaine Dye (Sox)

SP - Carlos Zambrano (Cubs)
SP - John Danks (Sox)
SP - Ryan Dempster (Cubs)
SP - Rich Harden (Cubs)
SP - Mark Buehrle (Sox)

CL - Bobby Jenks (Sox)

From there, you could fill in the bench and bullpen in various ways. I imagine Mark DeRosa and Juan Uribe make the squad with their versatility, and Alfonso Soriano and A.J. Pierzynski would have spots too. The bullpen could be amazing, especially if you look at some starters who weren't mentioned above.

So, what do you think? Is the starting lineup I mentioned the best Chicago lineup? I doubt a combined New York (Mets and Yankees) lineup would be better. But what about Los Angeles now that Manny Ramirez and Mark Teixera are in the mix?