Cubby-Blue

The Lost Under The Tarp Video

This video - I took it a couple years back, and mostly it's funny.
But right now it's a Captain Bringdown metaphor for this team: they seem lost.
What happened to the mojo?
Where's that swagger and spark?

I had to go to the dentist yesterday, I knew I'd cracked a tooth.
The dentist knows me well and numbed me from my hair to about the third rib.
But still: the chair, the spotlight, the sucking thing, the drill, the burning smell.
Then I came home and watched this...game.
Felt like I was still in the chair.
The Cubs have won 2 of their last 10, reduced to begging to stay above .500.
I'm predicting a Piniellapalooza in the coming days.
Don't be that guy.
That poor guy stuck under the tarp.
What kinda dork shoes you think he was wearing?

D Lee coming out of his funk?

Not that anybody’s really allowed to go soft with his bat, but Derrek Lee is a guy who REALLY has to be there while Soriano’s gone.
So it was nice to see him ding one last night (I can’t bring myself to say “back to back jacks”, but when Ramirez hit one next it was a beer-spilling moment).
I was at Wrigley with Sutter and Don, and we were feeling the hope come back despite Zambrano wandering around the mound mumbling like he’d lost his keys.
He didn’t look good.
The contact the Reds were making was astonishing.
Mark DeRosa had to feel like anti-matter – he must have had 3 or 4 smashes that were just out of reach or Zambrano might have been a little better.
In the 9th, everyone was loudly standing as first Murton and then Fontenot came so close to being heroes.
But all they hit were long fly balls.
Reds 6 Cubs 5.
Anyway, I would like my hope back, please.
I’m hoping the Cubs come out of this No-Soriano thing and just play ball.
It’s the Reds and then that impossibly hot team managed by Tony LaRussa.
Go Cubs.

Ankiel Changes Yips to Yippee!

Unlike yesterday, today there is a nice story.
Rick Ankiel, the guy who got the “yips” as a young pitcher has re-invented himself as a slugging outfielder.
You probably remember the 2000 NL Division Series game one vs. the Braves – the inning where he threw 5 wild pitches, and then the NLCS game against the Mets where he threw a bunch more.
These weren’t just wild pitches – they were flying waaay over the catcher’s head and hitting the backstop.
It was truly like watching a car wreck, and likewise the experience wrecked the guy.
He tried to come up again as a pitcher, but it didn’t work.
And now, 7 years later he’s back up and must be living in a dream.
In 3 games he’s had 3 homers and knocked in 6.
I saw Tony LaRussa on ESPN after Ankeil hit his first homer in his first game back, and old Tony was so moved he was almost crying.
Anyway, I don't know how long it lasts but...Yippee for Ankiel.
Until the Cards play the Cubs, speaking of which...
lets talk about the Cubs 15-2 loss to the Rockies.
Nah, nevermind.

Will Ohman's Barking Shoulder

Well, this is an ugly thing.
Will Ohman said out loud that his shoulder was "barking" - that he'd been pitching hurt for months.
And we never heard of it til he was demoted to triple A?
I guess Lou hadn’t heard about it either, or anybody for that matter.
Dusty had him pitch about a million innings last year, it wouldn't surprise me if he had some extra wear and tear there.
But if was old Will, I'd keep my mouth shut about health-related issues.
May be too late.
The TRIB quoted an anonymous Cub as calling Ohman "our ex-left hander".
Not good.

… on to better things.
I got a sign yesterday, a sign from above.
Up in the corner of our front porch, we got a new friend - a tiny brown bat.

Do you see it?
The Cubs are about to get a new bat!

...Okay maybe not, but you never know.

Barry Bonds Orders Coffee

Now that he’s broken the record, I’m going to clear Barry Bonds out of my mind.
I'm hoping this is my last drawing of him.
This one refers, of course, to the form of designer steroids (the CREAM and the CLEAR) Barry allegedly took while (also allegedly) thinking it was like, flaxseed oil or something.
Saw the big homer replay about a million times.
Couldn’t believe that crowd let that homer bounce.
And now we get to follow the story of the record breaking ball...
So...how about them Cubs?
Zambrano's been slipping, I just saw Ramirez may have a wrist problem, Pagan's got colitis, Ohman has a barking shoulder, and Soriano's gone. 
And me?
Well, just like you I've gone from high as a kite to sort of walking around like a zombie.
Just...a horror show.