the dusty watch begins

as we've said before, you're on the clock once the mother ship starts to publicly distance you from the team. the klown lasted just less than a month. and phil rodgers put a lot of distance between dusty and hendry and tribune tower today.

Why Baker let Patterson persuade him to put him back in the leadoff spot--the move that triggered the losing streak that reached eight games with the sweep by the Braves--is a mystery.

But the truth is Baker has had just as bad a season as has Patterson. Ditto general manager Jim Hendry, who is spitting in the wind if he thinks neophyte outfielders Matt Murton and Adam Greenberg will be upgrades over Patterson and Jason Dubois. They have potential, but neither has played above Double A. They could get eaten alive.

The reality is that the biggest problem remains the bullpen. And Baker's handling of the team has been curious since spring training. ... It's July 8, and the Cubs still don't know who their second-best relief pitcher is. That is an indictment of both the front office and the manager.

rogers even goes the extra mile and blames dusty for ultrafragile chad fox's injury, which is laughable -- the injuries dusty's responsible for are wood's and prior's, and in the future zambrano's. fox is just a perpetual injury-in-waiting who happened to be on dusty's team.

but no matter. good riddance, i say -- dusty's non-management is a blight on the sport (and that's saying something) and hendry has been unimpressive, more than canceling some adroit big moves with very poor overall team construction which all but ensured this team would be a very expensive disappointment. i won't miss either of them.