Remember the halcyon days of, uh, Monday, when I wrote this tempered column, warning us Cub fans not to panic or become infuriated?
Even I didn’t foresee the worst three games of the season. Harden losing a no-hitter, then the game blown by a wild Marmol on Monday. Jeff Samardzija proving to be a massive head case/bust/douchebag on Tuesday, during a national media slobberfest over Pedro Martinez‘ return. And the predictable shellacking by Cliff Lee and Ryan Howard today (and semi-predictable meltdown of Ryan Dempster.).
Suddenly the Cubs are dead team walking; never mind that the Cardinals play the sisters of the poor for the next two weeks. A scorching September might still be enough for the postseason, but really, without Zambrano, Lilly, and/or Ramirez, the Cubs are toast.
All over the web, you can find Cubs fans demanding the team blow up the roster and start all over as soon as 2010. Poppycock. Bad luck and injuries hit this year, but through the last three seasons, this collection of talent has been pretty good, albeit unlucky in October’s crapshoot. Next year we’ll have a few contract years and additions and et cetera, and maybe Soriano will bring a lighter bat and we’ll turn out OK.
But it’s never easy; it won’t ever be easy, and our hate boils for another offseason. Thanks for playing, Rich Harden, Reed Johnson, Kevin Gregg, and other soon-to-be-departeds. Thanks for nothing, cadre-of-suck-at-second-base.
Maybe next year, the perfect storm of injury and slump (See, e.g. Soriano, Alfonso, and Soto, Geovany) will have passed, and we can get back to business as usual.
Until then, we’ll turn to the Colts, who prep for their first preseason game tonight, and have no similar injury concerns as … uh … what?
Sigh.
