Playoff Update: Dark Days (a bit of a rant)
I'm hurting here. The Cubs dropped the first two to the D-Backs (thanks a lot Andy H for your daily D-Back rally phone calls).I still believe. We're going to win tonight. This curse (and the curse is real, I'm here to declare) is going to end soon. It's going to happen. It must!
I'll admit, as much as I've cheered this year's team on (been to four live games and I've been able to watch more on TV than usual), and as much as they are good enough to win it all ---they are not built the way I would build a team. They are a power team. They'll win by five, or they'll get shut down and lose. I would build a more consistent team built on deeper pitching, defense, speed, defense, contact hitting, defense, star up-the middle players (more so than star corner players), and (did I mention?) defense. Pitching and defense (especially defense up the middle) wins championships. It really does. Yes, you need timely hitting, but you need patient hitting (to work favorable counts and get the opposition's pitch counts up), and contact hitting (to put pressure on the opposition's defense). True, chicks dig the long ball, but all-or-nothing hitters scare the daylights out of me in must-win situations.
And let me mention how important defense is in baseball. So often one botched defensive play opens the door for a big inning, where the other team scores several runs. I can't think of another sport where this is so true. One bad defensive play (or even the lack of a great defensive play) does exponential damage in baseball. This is more true than in the other sports. One bad defensive play in basketball leads to one basket, for example. In baseball, it can lead to a multi-run rally --- and it often does. Defense, defense, defense. One bad defensive player on the field will cost a team games over a long season --- ALWAYS!
Still, I believe, and I will root hard tonight. The GM (Jim Hendry) is the one who must take the fall if all doesn't go well, because he build this team the wrong way. He was sucked into the Wrigley Field wind blowing out thing. It doesn't blow out every day though, and half the games are on the road. But keep Sweet Lou -- I love him! He's the closest thing to Bob Knight I've seen in a baseball dugout.
OK, I feel better now having purged all of that. We're still going to glory, I say!
