Cubs look like they need a break

Rick Morrissey | In the wake of the news

June 30, 2008

Lou Piniella looked rejuvenated Sunday night.

He didn't look like the worn-down manager he seemed to be the day before, and he certainly didn't have the unshaven, three-days-in-the-hospital look he has been known to model.

Until the second inning Sunday, he looked rather relaxed, a fine thing for a man in charge of a team that has looked beaten up and beaten down during the most recent Cubs-Sox series. Sometimes, image really is everything.

And sometimes, a manager has to lose it completely.

When Piniella erupted Sunday, it looked like a week's worth of frustration finally finding an outlet. He probably would say it was about two umpires who couldn't see straight, and on the surface it was. But there had to be some pent-up feelings about his team's recent struggles and the injuries that have been taking their toll on his club. Six supremely hyped games against the White Sox probably didn't help.

The spark that started Sunday's fire was a checked swing by Joe Crede that wasn't. Home plate umpire Rob Drake made his call even though Crede seemed to swing through Sean Marshall's pitch. Cubs catcher Henry Blanco appealed to first-base ump Chad Fairchild, who upheld Drake's call. Out came Piniella, full of the kind of rage normally reserved for hand-to-hand combat or a Department of Motor Vehicles line.

TV replays showed Fairchild saying to Piniella, "Don't come out here," but it was too late. The silo doors had already opened. Piniella did his best crazed-grandfather thing, and Drake tossed him.

It didn't help. The Cubs lost 5-1, giving the Sox the sweep at the Cell. And Piniella sent bench coach Alan Trammell to meet reporters after the game. It was a way to stop the lava flow.

A major-league season is a six-month slog to begin with, and this is the time when teams can hit a wall or two. The rest and relaxation of the All-Star break beckons invitingly. The Cubs have a four-game losing streak, their longest of the season. They've lost eight of their last 12 games.

"We need to get out of Chicago," Blanco said.

Um.

They're 16-23 on the road, and now they head for San Francisco and St. Louis.

They look iron-deficient.

No team needs a break more than this one. It's not just the injuries, though those have been numerous. It's midseason fatigue. It's the constant attention. It's the weight of expectations—and those expectations aren't always positive. Several generations of baseball fans expect the Cubs to fail. They expect it because it's the only thing they know.

The challenge is exhilarating and it's wearying. Mostly it looks wearying right now.

"The only reason we could fall into a lull is to make excuses for the guys we don't have playing for us," Cubs left fielder Mark DeRosa said.

"You take [ Alfonso] Soriano out of our lineup, it hurts. You take Carlos Zambrano off the mound, it hurts. I don't care who you put in their place, they're not going to be good as those guys. They're superstars.

"Mentally, we just have to find different ways to win."

Help is on the way. Zambrano (strained shoulder) will start Friday in St. Louis, and that will provide an emotional boost, if not a competitive one. DeRosa called him the Cubs' "safety net," a pitcher a team can count on for a victory.

Outfielder Reed Johnson, who has been out with back spasms, will come off the disabled list Thursday. And Soriano? The Cubs say he's a fast healer, but it's hard to see him and his broken hand being ready for the All-Star Game on July 15.

Lots of teams have gone through injuries and managed to continue to play well. The Cardinals, for example. The Cubs too. But they say they can't take much more.

"This is not gloom and doom," Piniella said before the game. "This is a reality."

It is, but nobody wants to hear it. This is the Cubs' best chance in years of ending their World Series drought. Deal with it.

"Guys have got to step up and play their game," veteran Daryle Ward said. "Things like this are going to happen throughout a season. You see it every year. There are always big-name guys, as well as some key role-player guys. It's going to happen. You try to prepare yourself for when it happens."

The Cubs' goal right now is to minimize the damage until their stars come back. They figure life will improve immediately when that happens. Get to the All-Star break and recharge physically and mentally.

By the way, they no longer have the best record in baseball.

We're watching stress in action, folks. We're watching people deal with it differently.

"I go to see our Japanese trainer a little more often," Piniella said before the game. "He gives me some pretty good stress relief."

He might want to make an appointment.

rmorrissey@tribune.com

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