I'm hearing reports that Cubs fans are calling for Lou Piniella's head in the wake of the White Sox's 6-0 victory over their crosstown rivals Friday at U.S. Cellular Field.
I have a message for my Cub fan friends: Piniella didn't lose you the game today. Carlos Zambrano did. It's amazing to me how Zambrano never fails to implode when pitching against the Sox on the South Side. He had a similar meltdown in a 6-0 loss this same weekend last year as well.
In that game, he threw a wild pitch on a suicide squeeze attempt that gave the Sox a gift run. He also intentionally hit both Scott Podsednik and DeWayne Wise with pitches. Before the sixth inning was over, Zambrano was gone and so were the Cubs' chances of winning.
Today, Zambrano outdid himself. He made sure the Cubs had no chance to win by the time the first inning was over. The first batter of the game, Juan Pierre, hit a chopper down the first base line that Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee couldn't reach. Leadoff double. Inexplicably, Zambrano seemed to think Lee should have made that play. The volatile pitcher went into full self-destruct mode and gave up four runs on four hits to the first five batters of the inning. With Jake Peavy dealing for the White Sox, that was game, set and match.
Then, Zambrano went after the classy veteran Lee in the dugout between innings and had to be restrained. Piniella wisely removed Zambrano from the game and replaced him with Tom Gorzelanny, but the damage had been done. One thing is for certain: Derrek Lee did not hang an 0-2 slider to Carlos Quentin in the first inning Friday. Zambrano did, and Quentin knocked it out of the yard for a three-run homer.
As for the White Sox, this is their first 10-game win streak since May 18-26 of 1976. That was roughly two months before I was born, and I'm soon to be 34 years old. Of course, the 1976 Sox finished 64-97, so that wasn't a team you want to emulate.
The current Sox sit at 38-34, which puts them in relatively good shape to do better than the 1976 squad. Sox starting pitchers are now 12-1 with a 2.03 ERA over the last 15 games.
Peavy seems to have found his stuff ... only three hits over seven innings with nine strikeouts on Friday. He is now 3-1 with 1.20 ERA over his last four outings. Of course, almost every Sox pitcher has been posting similarly impressive numbers. That's how you go on an extended winning streak like this.
I miss Jay Mariotti. Jay would be calling for everyone's heads by now. Instead, not one columnist have called for Lou's firing. The author of this blog never rips any Chicago athlete ever to the point this commenter has to do it for him. Today, I read a nice fluff by Joe Cowley about how Ozzie is doing a "great" job never mind the 2008 AL Central Champs* benefited from playing an easy schedule these last few weeks.
Is that what media in Chicago is all about? In New York, the media holds people accountable. That makes Chicago media soft and out of touch, which has been the case forever. That could actually play a role in landing LeBron. LeBron don't have to win a title, and Chicago sports fans will treat him nicely like they do with another failure in Derrick Rose.
I am amused no one has yet to call for Lou to be fired. Cubs fans seem to be indifferent about getting worked up while sportswriters tend to be too soft with Lou. Lou has done a worse job than Dusty Baker when you think about it. Dusty at least won games in the postseason while Lou has won as many postseason games in Chicago as me, which is zero. The team quit on Lou going back to last year, and so far, it's clear it's not going to get better.
When does the two newspapers in town start calling for Lou's firing? It would be nice if the author of this blog would say something, but he spends more time taking shots of me along with his fellow updork, whitesox901 instead of calling for Lou to be gone. I have emailed Telander, Sullivan, DeLuca, Haugh, Wittmeyer
and Morrisey to call for Lou's firing, and I have been ignored by those guys. It's disappointing.
Anyone that blames Zambrano for today's loss is missing the point. Cubs fans are fed up with Lou for his work going back to last year. It had nothing to do with Zambrano's performance. It was more of the body of work that Lou has done.
Lou has not developed young players. His players don't play for him. Lou simply doesn't care anymore. This is all on him.
What the Cubs need to do is hire a manager that knows what he is doing. A manager that brings passion. A manager that is hungry to win. To me, that guy is Terry Bevington. He has Chicago ties and he knows how to win in this market. Watching Bevington win with nothing to work with the White Sox was like watching Jesus Christ turned water into wine. What the Cubs need is leadership, and that's where Bevington's experience comes in handling. Ron Schueler should be the Cubs GM too.
The culture has to change, and to me, Schueler and Bevington can make a difference.
If only an influential columnist can step in and do something about it.
Unfortunately, the Sun-Times made the mistake of firing the guy in Mariotti, and Chicago sports fans are suffering for it.