The Bulls added another strong, but small piece to their puzzle. Once again, it is not as glamorous as hosting the LeBron-Bosh-Rose combo 41 nights a season at the United Center, but it added a tough defender and good outside shooter to back up Derrick Rose.

The Bulls can hardly be deemed the favorites to win the Eastern Conference, but the pundits can give us a tiny victory and speculate a Central Division championship, and, thus, a guaranteed top four seed in the Eastern portion of the postseason.

Not to brag, but now we have our long, athletic two-guard to stop the opposition from simply catching the ball near the paint and shooting over us (I liked Captain Kirk, but that killed me). We have a backup point to come in and play enough defense to hold a lead or play really small ball and pop three pointers from the corner. We have a low post scorer to bully his way into the paint (at least until we play a team with the Lakers’ collective front court length). And we have a point guard already a master at penetration, learning to extend his jump shot to the three point line.

I am excited to see the Chicago Bulls play next season, especially with the NBA lockout looming the season after.

Meanwhile, the Chicago Cubs made it clear it is time to dismantle the team. When the manager throws in the towel, it is obvious the team is a lost cause. Most of the time, the front office will start to publicly debase the manager of an underperforming team, eventually leading to a firing, since it is cheaper to cut a manager than a multi-millionaire picking at daisies in the outfield (or being sent to anger management sessions).

Piniella was never lying when he had no answer for reporters searching for some deep, dark baseball secret to inexplicable losses. He honestly had no all-encompassing answer for the Cubs underwhelming performance in 2009 and so far through a little more than the first half of this 2010 season.

Piniella manned up and made it clear the Cubs front office needs to begin searching for a new manager who can get through to these players, all while keeping his job until the contract ends. His move was actually quite genius. Now the Cubs cannot fire him without massive fallout from the fans.

One would argue the team’s difficulty selling Cubs tickets is already a sign of revolt in a city and a part of the city so well noted for grinning and bearing it, selling out Wrigley Field, even when a less than acceptable team took the field every beautiful day game.

This is an undeniably flare fired above the sports media and even the most oblivious fans holding out for a sensational second half that the Chicago Cubs as we know them are coming to an end. This is, or at least should be, Starlin Castro and Tyler Colvin’s team.

Fear not Cubs faithful!  Even with the team underperforming, the leadership of Lou Piniella will help keep the clubhouse a positive place leading to a turnaround for our beloved Cubbies.  Just kidding, things are worse than ever in the clubhouse.  According to a source from Bleed Cubbie Blue, things are worse than ever:

I have a contact with access to the Cubs clubhouse. He said the clubhouse is a disaster right now (maybe this game will help). He said the latin players, led by Ramirez and Z, have completely walled themselves off from everyone else, to the point that they wouldn’t let them team haze Castro in the typical rookie fashion (carrying bags, etc). He said Ramirez has completely shut down, refuses to practice, and is barely willing to take the field for games. The team never turned on Soriano, despite all his struggles, because he worked his butt off, but the team is turning on Ramirez, because he doesn’t, and doesn’t see a problem with it.

I’m not sure how reliable this is, but it doesn’t surprise me and seems plausible. Ramirez has never seemed to really care all that much, sitting out games with extremely minor injuries and not running out pop-ups or groundballs.  As a numbers guy I always lean towards taking the player with the better stats than the “clubhouse guy”, but this situation has to be impacting the players on the field. 

Hey Lou, where you at?  Isn’t this whole thing supposed to be your department?  Lord knows you’re getting paid enough to at least try to fix it.

The best part is how he asks the reporter “What kind of baseball do you play?” and then stares him down, waiting for an answer.  Not too many questions after that, huh?  No one wanted to be the reporter that got choked by Lou that day, and the look in his eyes definitely made that seem possible.

“I talked to Carlos today and told him we really needed him in the bullpen, and I felt he could do a really nice job there for us,” Piniella said. “He said he would do what’s best for the team. I’m very appreciative. You know, he talked about maturing. This proves it to me.”

Is it temporary?

“Temporary?” Zambrano said. “He told me that probably Randy (Bush) or Jim Hendry was looking for an eighth inning guy. And when they find a guy and trade (for a) guy and get that guy here, I will be back to the rotation. Right now they need somebody to step up in the eighth inning. I don’t like to be a reliever. I don’t want to be a reliever, but this team needs somebody to step up and help the bullpen.”

Piniella had a slightly different spin on the conversation.

“Temporary?” Piniella said. “We’re trying to stabliize things and win some baseball games. This will give Jim (Hendry) and the front office more opportunities to hopefully do something (via a trade). If not, this could be not temporary.”

Uh-oh.  Besides the obvious communication breakdown, this is going to cause serious waves in Wrigleyville.  As most people are complaining about already, putting an $18 million dollar a year starter in the bullpen is ridiculous.  I’m not so strongly against it, however.  How many times have teams in any sport kept a guy in the lineup way after they are effective just because they are “pot-committed” to that player in terms of sunken salary?  Should Eddie Robinson have kept starting even though he was horribly ineffective just because he had a big contract?  Did Eddy Curry deserve minutes because of his salary?  Should Soriano still be allowed to take the field just because of his contract even though the Cubs have a number of better options?  The answer to all those questions, in my opinion, is a resounding no.

Forget money.  Let’s just think about wins.  We have enough quality starters, but our bullpen has given up 18 runs in 14 8th innings.  That is insanely bad.  If Zambrano as a setup man leads to more wins, why not move him to the bullpen?  I mean I can still hate the guy for being such a bust, but I don’t think we should just leave him in the rotation because he’s making so much money.  Only time will tell if this is the right move, but I don’t think Lou is all that crazy.  I think he wants to win.

Every spring the city of Chicago gets a jolt of life when the Cubs and White Sox rivalry is renewed. This little hate-fest typically begins simmering around the time pitchers and a catcher report for spring training and is boiling over by the first Red Line Series.

This is a great rivalry since both sides see little common ground. Cubs fans cannot stand Ken “Hawk” Harrelson and Sox fans cringe every time Ron Santo’s voice graces the radio. Cubs fans think the White Sox do not have any fans and White Sox fans do not think the Cubs have any fans who actually know what the score is. Cubs fans think the fans the Sox have are all white trash. Sox fans who have been to Wrigleyville think Cubs fans must have blacked out everything that happened after the game when they make those kinds of accusations.

The one thing we both have common is that we both have fiery managers. Whether you are heading to the 35^th Street Red Line stop with White Sox tickets or the Addison Street Red Line stop with Cubs tickets, you are equally likely to see the home team’s manager storm the field, berate the umpire, and quickly be ejected from the game. The same goes for post game interviews, depending on how the team played, you are equally likely to see the manager screaming obscenities at reporters with the gall to ask what went wrong.

In the spirit of these hot-headed managers and the eventful 2009 Celebrity Death Watch, I think somebody or at least some bar should start a Chicago Managerial Cardiac Attack Watch.

Let’s look at the tale of the tape.

Age:

Lou Piniella: 66

Ozzie Guillen: 46

Temper:

Lou Piniella: Old School

Ozzie Guillen: Latin Fever

Argument Style:

Lou Piniella: Encroach umpires personal space with gut and kick dirt

Ozzie Guillen: Stand next to umpire, yell in ear, and flail arms

Post Game Breaking Point:

Lou Piniella: Face goes from simply flustered to deep red

Ozzie Guillen: English becomes increasingly indiscernible apart from profanity

Saving Grace:

Lou Piniella: No more Milton Bradley

Ozzie Guillen: Twitter

going to eat in half hour why dye no have a job ?

3 day of Spring Training and im already boreddddddd

what I saw on the field today was a lot of grass…

This post is not a commentary on how good of a coach Ozzie or anyone else is, its just a look at the difference in personalities between the two Chicago managers.  Take a look at Lou Piniella’s hilarious reaction to the news that Ozzie is on Twitter:

“What is Twitter?” Piniella said Wednesday.

Informed that it was a social media outlet that gives users an opportunity to convey their thoughts in a sentence or two, the Cubs manager said: “Really? Ozzie, he needs more space than that.”

“First of all, I don’t know how to Twitter,” he said. “And second of all, I’m not going to learn how to Twitter.”

“But I’m really not a Facebook or Twitter guy,” he said. “I’m a prime-rib-and-baked-potato guy. I hate to say that, but it’s true.”

Oh Lou, your folksy one-liners always amuse us.  So Lou wants to have a prime rib dinner while Ozzie would rather broadcast his nonsense to the whole world to try to get more attention.  Okay Sox fans, this is your cue to flip out in the comments.

Closer: Guzman

Set-Up Man: Player from another team

Left-Handed Specialist: Marshall, Grabow

Middle Relief: Heilman, Player from another team

Long-Reliever: Marshall, Heilman

Ball Boy: Carlos Marmol

Peanut Vendor: Gregg

Annoying Guy Who Keeps Showing Up to Parties Even Though No One Invited Him: Samardzija

The bullpen thing is only one issue among many.  This division race is over.  I’m usually a guy that stays pretty upbeat about my team’s chances, especially the Cubs.  Unfortunately as they fade farther and farther back in both the NL Central race and the Wild Card, I am becoming more and more skeptical, and angry.  I’m sick of defending Milton Bradley and Kevin Gregg.  I’m tired of Zambrano’s endless drama.  I want to punch Hendry in the face for his off-season circus that resulted in more money spent and worse performance on the field.

And the one man I never thought I would tire of, Sweet Lou has pushed me past the tipping point.  His mismanagement of this bullpen has been glaringly obvious, even more so than his refusal to drop Soriano in the order, preach intelligent baserunning, or make adjustments when big-name players were struggling.  If you are any kind of baseball enthusiast, you have to be questioning not whether Lou’s stubborn refusal to change things that aren’t working may be the sign of an old man that has lost his grasp on baseball and even reality.  The guy has heart, wants to win, and I love him, but his decision-making is piss-poor.  Anyone with half a brain knew it was time to get Marmol out of the set-up role weeks ago, instead of “letting him work it out”.  Its been three months!  Let him work it out on his own goddamn time, when its not costing us leads in the 7th and 8th.

I can’t talk about this anymore.  And to those of you who have my gchat, please don’t IM me to see “what I thought about last night’s game”.  It f#$%ing sucked, ok?  That’s what I thought about it.

The Chicago Cubs are less than four games out of first place in the National League Central, but they just lost five in a row and only three of their last 10 while the first-place St. Louis Cardinals seem to be going in the other direction, winning seven of their last 10.

The word is that Cubs executives are not amused. And they aren’t afraid to express their feelings to manager Lou Piniella. His Cubbies had recently won 16 of 22 to get into a first-place tie that now is looking pretty distant again.

The rumor going around is that the team may be losing patience with Piniella, according to the Chicago Tribune. After all, he hasn’t been able to get his North Siders to win it all in the three seasons he’s been managing and this off-season won’t likely bring the team much on the free-agent front to bolster the current roster.

It could be time to cut Lou loose.

That’s all well and good to speculate about whether Lou should take the blame for the Cubbies recent demise, but this story seems to be reporting it as a fact that “Cubs executives are not amused” with Piniella’s performance.  Unfortunately, that statement is completely unsubstantiated.  If you click through on the link about the team losing patience with him, it is a Tribune article explaining how Brenly was critical of the teams preparedness and how the Cubs have been playing poorly, but no word about anyone connected with the front office blaming it on Lou.

Should Lou be worried? Sure, the Cubs are playing poorly and he may well be on the hot seat for it.  Is the Tribune article or any other reliable source claiming the team has explicitly (or even implicitly) blamed Lou? No.  The mainstream media strikes again, and yet why do I still have to hear about the “unreliability” of blogs and the “trustworthiness” of big media conglomerates?

Monday: The Cubs went to Atlanta for a one-game makeup.  The Braves are a decent team this year, but definitely not a team that should scare the Cubs.  The Cubbies, however, did something amazing that hasn’t been done by a Cubs team in 20 years.  They got 10 hits but scored no runs in a 9-inning game.  The last time that happened was against the Astros on August 29, 1990.  Oh and this completed a 4 game stretch for Dempster in which he was 0-2 with a 2.10 ERA.  So at least he’s not the problem.  Milton Bradley: 0-1, 1K.

Tuesday: The Cubs head to Detroit to play a 3-game set against a tough Tiger squad.  The only good thing in this game was Marmol’s 1-2-3 inning.  Gregg blew the save on a walk-off home run to Ryan Raburn and the Cubs lost a nailbiter 5-4.  Milton Bradley: 0-2, 2BBs, 1K.

Wednesday: Okay, so the Cubbies lost the opener but it was a close game.  Well they lost a close one on Wednesday too, but this time they stranded 13 runners, which makes me sort of nauseous.  Carlos Marmol was back to his walking ways, walking in a run and throwing only 7 of his 16 pitches for strikes.  Tigers won 5-3.  To this point in the week, the Cubs had scored 7 runs and left 31 men on base.  Yikes. Milton Bradley: 0-2, 3BB, 2Ks.

Thursday: Would the Cubs get swept by the Tigers?  The answer should be obvious at this point.  One thing before I get all negative about this game.  JAKE FOX!  That kid can rake.  Lou needs to get him in the lineup as soon as possible and as often as possible.  He was 3-4 with a home run and a double.  Hoffpauir also had a big home run.  The Cubbies lost, however, 6-5.  The bullpen held up alright, but Lilly gave up 6 runs which was insurmountable with this Cubs offense.  Also allegations of Soto’s marijuana use came to the front this day.  Lou admitted he’s tried pot one time, but “couldn’t tell you the difference between a steroid and reefer.” Milton Bradley: Day off.

Friday:  The Cubs headed to the South Side for a crosstown showdown with the White Sox.  This was actually the one game the Cubbies won this week, although it may have been the worst game of the week for Cubs fans.  Marmol was flat out awful.  He could not find the strike zone, or even come close.  He went 2/3 of an inning, with 2 hits, 3 walks, and 2 earned runs.  Only 10 of his 24 pitches were strikes.  Soto did homer (hell he can get high everyday if he’s going to hit like that), and Fox hit another bomb to help the Cubs overcome Marmol’s trials.  The big story, however, was Milton Bradley.  After flying out in the 6th, he expressed his anger about his struggles by doing what all Cubs seem to do, taking it out on the Gatorade cooler.  Lou had had enough though, and told Bradley to change and leave the ballpark.  Great.  Milton Bradley 0-3, 2Ks.

Saturday: Lou decided not to discipline Bradley any further, putting him back in the lineup.  He was hardly the story, though, as this game was an exciting one down to the finish.  In a game the Cubs lost 8-7, no home runs were hit by either team until Podsednik’s walk-off in the bottom of the 9th.  Marmol of course struggled, as did Marshall and Heilman (not Heilman so much, but he did give up a run).  Milton Bradley: 1-5, 1K.

Sunday: At least Zambrano made this one interesting, although its not exactly professional to bean one guy because another guy stole home on you.  Though “class” hasn’t exactly been our M.O. this season so far, Z usually takes the cake.  I would be pretty upset if I was him too.  Its got to suck to know your team won’t give you the run support you need, and that a 4-0 hole is pretty much a loss.  They ended up losing 6-0.  Oh and good news everyone, Chicago favorite Mark DeRosa, who should never have been dealt and is having a very good year in Cleveland, was traded to the Cubs arch-rival St. Louis Cardinals.  Hooray.  Milton Bradley: 0-3, 1BB, 2Ks.

What a terrible week.  Marmol is losing it, Gregg blows a key save, the offense only scores enough runs to lose, Soto smokes pot, and Bradley can’t hit anything except a Gatorade cooler.  In a battle between on-field issues and off-field issues, I’m going to have to give a split decision to off-field issues this week.  Somehow the Cubs have managed to hang around .500.  Before this last week, it felt like if they hung around long enough, eventually things would turn around.  This week definitely made me feel much worse about it, though.  Someone needs to slap Bradley and make Marmol do 100 push-ups every time he throws a ball.

“Get off my yard you goddamn kids!  I know you’re all hopped up on goofballs!  Where’s Zambrano?  He’s supposed to mow my lawn!”

• Where are Hoffpauir and Koyie Hill?  They got the start last night and it paid off, but Lou needs to go with the hot (or even lukewarm) bat at this point.  I know Soto and Lee are team leaders, but if they aren’t hitting and the team isn’t scoring runs, its time to make a change.
• Hey Milton Bradley: Shut up.  I’m not saying you’re wrong, in fact you are totally right.  Everyone knows the umps are calling a bigger strike zone for you.  They do it because they don’t like you.  You know what won’t make them like you?  Publicly bitching about the strike zone they are calling for you.
• Is it really time to hit the panic button?  Because if it is, the Cubs should consider two guys that are raking down in the minors.  Jake Fox and Josh Vitters are crushing the ball down on the farm, so why not bring one or both of them up?  I know that would mean we would have to send someone down, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
• If you didn’t see the Harden DL thing coming, you are blind or retarded.
• Someone take Neal Cotts out behind a shed and put a bullet in him.  That guy is just terrible.  I don’t care if we don’t have any lefties, I’m sure there are righties in the pen with better ERAs against lefties than Cotts.  Well I’m not completely sure, but Cotts sucks.  Send his ass down.  I wish we had another starter so we could move Marshall to the bullpen.  Jake Peavy anyone?
• Ok this is a little out there, but did anyone consider moving Soriano to 2nd base and giving Reed Johnson and Micah Hoffpauir some more ABs in the outfield?  I know Fonzy is sub-par defensively, but runs are hard to come by these days.
• Lou Piniella is a great manager.  I mean I love the guy.  I don’t agree with every decision he makes, but he is usually good at managing and motivating his players and he seems to have a pretty good understanding of the game.  That being said, this recent quote from him has got to be a joke:

Modern technology is a wonderful thing for 21st Century baseball managers, who have computerized scouting reports and stats at their fingertips at all times. But sometimes older is better, and after watching his players go back to the video room one too many times to replay poor at-bats, manager Lou Piniella is ready to put his foot down.

“We’ve talked about closing down the video [room],” Piniella said. “But what happens invariably is the pitching coach will go down there from time to time, and so will the hitting coach.

“But if we have to, we’ll close it down for the players, at least during the game. Visualization is a great tool. But at the same time, boy, visualize good things. Don’t keep putting bad pictures in your mind.”

That sort of has a Dusty Baker ring to it, doesn’t it?

• This isn’t really related to the Cubs play on the field, but have you seen the new hats the Cubs are selling?  I think these goofy hats have gone a bit too far.  Apparently it is called the “Watermelon Smoothie“.  I mean the baseball gods cannot be happy about this kind of thing, can they?
• If you would have told me Kosuke Fukudome would be the only Cub hitting over .300 on May 27, I would have laughed and asked you if you drank the acid-laced punch.  Well here we are, and lost in all this horrible horrible shitty 8-game losing streak has been Kosuke’s resurgence this season.  His home run last night wasn’t bad either.
• Is Aramis Ramirez the glue in this Cubs lineup?  I mean ever since he went down it’s like no one can seem to hit.  I’m not sure what his clubhouse presence is like, but just having him in the lineup seems to make the other players around him better.  Hurry back Rammy!