Sports
Tommy Lasorda, legendary Los Angeles Dodgers manager, has died - CNN
Among my oldest memories are from the seventies watching the World Series, which seemed to always be the New York Yankees versus the Los Angeles Dodgers, with my grandfather and grandmother. Even though my grandfather had strokes that left him speechless he was my father figure and so these are fond memories. My grandfather grew up in Milwaukee and so a fan of the Milwaukee Brewers but the Yankees were the villain and the Dodgers the hero for us during these games. Of course Lasorda was the manager of the Dodgers during those games, so news of his passing brought back these memories today.
The Jed Hoyer regime is not starting well in Chicago when it communicates b.s. like this. I see zero ways in which the trade of Yu Darvish to San Diego for little in return helps the Cubs in 2021. Maybe the Cubs will be competitive in the N.L. Central by default, but they won’t be competitive outside their division.
I am still bumming since learning on Friday that Len Kasper is leaving the Chicago Cubs to be the lead radio announcer for the White Sox. What I like about Len is that he is a genuine baseball guy, he isn’t a broadcaster who also does baseball, so moving from TV to radio makes sense. Of all sports baseball is best for radio.
My life experience with the Chicago Cubs has always been narrated by TV play-by-play guys: Jack Brickhouse, Harry Caray, Chip Caray, and Len Kasper. There have been a few others who have been briefly behind the mike, but these are the voices that replay in my head.
The first words are Jack’s calling another Dave Kingman home run. Most of the words are spoken by Harry, who was with me from teenager to adult. Chip is sentimental following his grandfathers death, where Len will always be part of the Cubs finally making it to and winning the World Series in 2016.
White Sox fans are getting a great baseball guy to tell them the White Sox story when baseball starts in 2021. I might try to listen to a few games, particularly when the White Sox come to Detroit and Len sits closer to Ernie Harwell’s seat. In the meantime I’ll watch for who will be next at broadcasting for the Cubs.
The dismantling of the 2016 Chicago Cubs has begun through the Cubs not making an offer to Kyle Schwarber. Unfortunately right now it seems though Kyle was a one hit wonder, but that hit will always be memorable to Cubs fans.
Last year I speculated that David Ross would be hired to manage the Cubs and wondered how well he would do. I think he has done a good job, but the issues about the Cub’s lineup persists. A team of Home Run hitters can be easily stopped by good pitching. Fortunately, this season was short enough so that their early lead held, but I don’t think they win their division if they played a full schedule.
The Chicago Cubs appear to be rounding in to their 2019 form.
Let’s play two! The Cubs have a COVID-19 double header today with the Cardinals in Wrigley. Rookie pitcher going in the first game.
Last year at this time the Chicago Cubs had no batter hitting .300 or higher, this year they have one, with another hitting .299. Slight improvement, but no real change and not surprising given the line up is the same. The problem stands, the Cubs have a lineup of sluggers not hitters and that will not get it done in the playoffs.
Forgot the strangest part about tonight’s seven inning, pandemic doubleheader, which is that the Cubs are the road team at Wrigley in game two.
Last year, about Chicago Cubs, I wrote:
The problem is not the hitting, although they could be more consistent. To me the problem is the bullpen, they are giving up too many runs in the 6 thru 9th innings. Nobody in the pen is reliable.
I could not imagine that at the same time a year later the Cubs would be playing under such strange circumstances like they will today, playing two seven inning games in a “pandemic” double-header. Yet, while the Cubs have the best record, the bullpen performance has not been much different.
The Chicago Cubs have now lost three games in a row. Normally that would not be a problem, but in a short season, it feels like they really need to win at least one game today against the Cardinals. Preferably win both.
The sunshine we have had this weekend pairs well with the first spring training games. #Cubs
Spring is here, go Cubs go!
Packers imploding. Exhibiting characteristics of a team that is out matched. Game over if the 49ers go up by two touchdowns.
Tell me if you have heard this one before. The Green Bay Packers are going to San Francisco to play the 49ers in the NFC championship game and the right to go to the Super Bowl.
And with that another baseball season is over. Go Cubs go!
Last year the Cubs and Brewers played game 163 and this year the Cubs are home watching the Brewers play the Nationals in the NL Wildcard game.
Another Goat On The Northside
Joe Maddon will not be the manager of the Chicago Cubs next year and that is not a surprise given they did not meet expectations this year. In a world where people both have too high and too low expectations for professional sport coaches and managers, the common playbook front offices take when teams under-perform is to fire the manager.
Yes, change is needed, and yes, it is easier to fire one person, the manager, and not the team. But, Maddon is not the reason why the Cubs did not make the playoffs. First, and foremost the reason is that Cub players did not do their job. The same players who once ground out at bats in 2016 where doing nothing more than swing for the fences all this year. Second, the Cubs lineup is nothing but the same style hitter, with no diversity on the bench or apparently in the farm system, and the talent, that’s on the Theo Epstein and the front office.
Frankly, up until this point, what Epstein and the front office have done is succeed with the easy decisions and fail at the hard decisions. How hard is it to tank year after year and stock pile on draft picks that every talent scout in America says is a good bet? When Maddon became available, was it really hard to quickly decide to drop Ricky Renteria and sign Maddon?
Be careful for what you ask for, you just might get it. Now Epstein has to make one of the most important decisions of his tenure, who to hire to replace the manager that guided your team to the first World Series in 108 years. David Ross might be a good guy in the clubhouse, but will he have the players attention any more than Maddon? Will Joe Girardi be too hard? Who Epstein hires is crucial towards getting the most out of all the the talented players that are now starting to enter the end of their contracts.
Worse of all, the attention on hiring the next manager redirects attention away from the real heavy lifting of the offseason, which is to make changes to the lineup so that you get more professional at bats. Changing the lineup means moving one of the core players who won the World Series, which is something Epstein has refused to do to date. If you only replace the manager and keep everything else the same, why should we expect a different result?
On Saturday Epstein announced that Maddon will not be returning. If next year is no better, who will be the scapegoat then? You can’t fire the entire team.
The Lovable Losers Of My Youth
The common denominator for all my favorite professional sports teams is that they were losers during my childhood. The Green Bay Packers were the siberia of the NFL during the 70s and 80s until Reggie White started playing for them in 1993 and three years later won the Super Bowl. Ever since 1993 the Packers have been at or near the top of the NFL.
The Chicago Cubs were the epitome of “lovable losers” for a century. Even though the Cubs flirted with chances to make it to the World Series in 1984, 1989, and 2003 but it hasn’t been until the last five years that they have consistently been at or near the top of the league, and you know they won it all in 2016.
Like the Green Bay Packers, the Detroit Red Wings were also once the dominant team in the NHL but during the 70s and 80s they were known as the “dead Wings.” The owners had to give away cars to get people to come to their games. In 1997 the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup, and of my favorite teams they have won more championships in my life time, winning again in 1998, 2002, and 2008. Since the calendar turned to the 2010s the Wings have been in a rebuilding phase.
Finally, the Detroit Pistons where also perenial losers during my childhood but where the first of my faves that I witnessed winning a championship in 1989, and again in 1990 and 2004. Frankly, the championship they won in 2004 is one of the most gratifying because nobody really expected it and they upset the perenial champion Los Angeles Lakers. Like the Red Wings, the Pistons are rebuilding but apppear to be nearing returning to the tops of their league sooner than the Wings.
Over my life time I’ve seen the long road it takes to get from basement to top floor of a professional sports league. I’ve seen how it takes for a team to learn how to be a champion, particularly from the Red Wings who had huge playoff failures after being the best team in their league the entire season.
Of all my favorite teams, the Cubs have the most talent and I expect will have chances to win championships again in the foreseeable future. The MLB’s farm system enables a franchise to have more control over its future if they have the right leadership. The NHL is similar, which is why theirs and the MLB front offices have such a huge influence on their long term success, much more than in the NFL and NBA that seems to depend much more on health and luck.
I am dissappointed that the Chicago Cubs will not make the playoffs this year. I will always love the Cubbies, win or lose, but I much better like where they are now, a very good team that can disappoint than a bad team that surprises.
Will the Chicago Cubs win another game this season? The last weekend is coming up, but they haven’t won since the collapse. Have a chance to spoil the Cardinals hopes of winning the division, but I don’t think that matters. Sad ending to the season.