Tale of two teams

This afternoon I was driving in the car listening to the Cubs game. Thanks to the Northsiders and the wonderful technology that is XM, I didn't have to spend real long on the Cubs game. As a matter of fact by the end of the fourth inning the Cubs had pretty much wrapped up another sweep, this time to the Washington Nationals--a real worldbeater. I found myself flipping between the Tigers/Athletics game, the Indians/Twins game and the Sox/Rangers game.

Listening to the Sox game I learned that the slumping Sox have been taking extra bunting practice under skipper Ozzie Guillen. Twice, in the few innings I was listening, Ross Gload got sacrifice bunts down that led to runs being scored on groundouts. This practice got me thinking about the Cubs skipper. When was the last time he had the team in early to put down bunts? When was the last time Dusty Baker said he was "embarassed" by something his team has done?

I flipped in between the three games for a several more minutes and then went back to Pat Hughes and Dave Otto, filling in for Ron Santo. By this time it was 7-1. I turned to my wife and asked "what is it going to take for this team to do someting?" and I was not talking about trading Scott Williamson. When a team fails to the extent that the Cubs have this year, somebody usually gets canned.

This afternoon I turned on Sports Central and later the Score. What I found out was of little surprise to me. Leading the AL Wildcard, Kenny Williams is not happy with the position his team is in. Williams DFA'd Chris Widger just as he did Cliff Politte earlier this month. Williams has no loyalty to these players because they were good on last years world championship team. If the players are not getting the job done, they're gone. Meanwhile on the Northside, Neifi Perez continues to see regular playing time.

(With apologies to Seinfeld) What Guillen and Williams are doing is the exact opposite of what Baker and Hendry do. The results seem to speak for themselves.