Final Baseball Notes

I would call this post Diamond Notes but I think Peter Gammons (i.e. the sexiest man alive) has it copyrighted or something. Well, the last week of the baseball season has come and gone and I've been too tremulous to post anything about it. But now that the final nails have been sealed on my two teams, here goes.

• At the beginning of the season I predicted that the Cubs would win 95 games, win the National League Central and go on for their first world series berth. I didn't count on a steady squad lead by Tony LaRussa in Missouri, injuries to Wood and Prior and, as Jimmy pointed out to me, that God is not a Cubs fan. (Plus, come to think of it, any team that I've pulled for has lost except for the 1989 Oakland Athletics — and I'm still convinced that was a fluke because the earthquake that year misaligned the planets or .)

  Well, I should have learned my lesson that the Cubs usually follow up on good seasons with mediocrity. Now, you say. They weren't that mediocre this year. They won 89 games — one more than last year. I would have to disagree. With the lineup that they put on the field, they definitely underachieved. (Although, I suppose it's a good commentary that power doesn't win the day.) But despite the pitching woes, this is a team that on some nights couldn't score runs with an order that included Sosa, Lee, Alou, Ramirez, and Garciaparra.



• The most telling stat about the Cubs season? The one that you would most want to erase? The stat that is the difference between winning 89 games and going home and 95 games and going on. 25 blown saves. Sit back. Let that sink in. Twenty-Five god damn blown saves. No, that is not a misprint. A retired Dennis Eckersley or resurrected Christy Matthewson could have done better. That's right, I'm saying it. An old dotard and corpse could have been better than this bullpen. All joking aside, the closer position is undervalued in baseball. Everybody says that the closer has the easiest job in the world. Pitch one inning every other day or so. But this is a job when every pitch counts. When you don't have the luxury of warming up. Yes, I too, once mocked the importance of a closer but you know what — the Dodgers are in the postseason because of one man: Eric Gagne. The Yankees have been dominate because of Mariano Rivera.

  Let's not even imagine that those 25 shrunk down to 0 and the Cubs won 114 games. Let's just say they didn't blow any saves this past week. They blew three of them — two of them coming down to the last pitch. In the end, the closer job all comes down to nerves. LaTroy Hawkins has the stuff to be a great closer. Why was he lights out in the 8th inning and not the 9th? It's got to be those nerves. Otherwise, we'd be in a one game playoff with Houston right now.



• Oakland. What a ride they put me through every year. Thankfully, I won't have my nerves wrenched out in another fifth game collapse. This will be the last year that they will be in contention for the division until their owner decides to put money back into the team. Remember when they were owned by Haas's way back when? When they weren't afraid to spend money? Argh. Just think if they were still at the helm. We'd have such a kick ass team ... but whatever. What went wrong this year? The studs didn't perform and they had some guy named Octavio Dotel coming out of the bullpen. 12 blown saves right there. I've already ranted about closers. 'Nuff said.


• Bobby Cox should go into the Hall of Fame this year by special exemption.


• Hooray for Ichiro.


• Well, my two teams are out so by the theory of trickle down effect from Oakland, I'll need to cheer on Tony LaRussa. So go Cards! Wait, that means they'll lose according to my previous theory. Go, Yanks!