Much of the same...

Guess who's coming back for 2 more years?

So much for "Dusty-Proofing" the Cubs in '06.

Last week Jim Hendry resigned Glendon Rusch. Before that he picked up the option on Todd Walker. Now today the word is out that Hendry is about to ink Neifi Perez to a two year deal. What am I missing here? These three players showed up as short term solutions before and during the 2004 season. Now they have become fixtures on this ballclub. A ballclub that has slid backwards since they won the division in 2003. A ballclub in need of a major overhaul.

So Hendry has brought back Perez. Perez is a good defensive player. Still the Cubs saw in 2005 what teams like the Giants did before them: he kills teams with his approach at the plate. The Cubs brilliant tactician in the dugout likes to compound the problem. You see, Dusty Baker will bat Neifi in the #1 or #2 spot if he has no clear cut experienced options. Neifi had a .298 OBP. To put that in perspective that was the same OBP that the great Todd Hollandsworth finished 2005 with and Carlos Zambrano actually finished with a better batting average than that, 'los hit .300. This means that on the right day the guy leading off for the Cubs has a lower OBP than the guy hitting ninth. That is the brilliance of Johnnie B. Baker!

So as we head toward 2006 it looks more like the same ole shit. These three moves show me that Hendry is content with the current makeup of this team. Yeah, he might tinker but a real makeover ain't gonna happen.

Not So Random Cub Boxscore 5/8/90

The news is pretty damn slow concerning the Northsiders. Over at the Cub Town in the Toaster, Derek Smart is in the midst of his annual Assume The Position articles. Take a look. I have enjoyed reading these assessments through the years.

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It's the time of year when the days start to get real short in Chicago. Ole Man Winter is getting ready to knock on the door. This is when I start to really miss the day-to-day activity of following the Cubs.

So, I find myself reminiscing about the past. Cub teams from my youth, the can't miss prospect that missed, players that I rooted for only because they wore the blue pinstripes, and of course some of my favorite ballgames. Well, thanks to retrosheet.org it ain't to hard to dig up some of the memories.

In May of 1990, I was less than a month away from graduating High School. I was coasting along through the final month of H.S. when I decided that it would be a good time to sneak out of class and head down to Wrigley Field for a game during the week. I talked a friend into coming. We got to the ballpark early to take in the Wrigley Field atmosphere.

The weather was beautiful on the Tuesday in May. Sun was shining and we were not at school! We picked up a few bleacher tickets from the box office (I don't remember if they still sold the bleacher tickets at the bleacher entrance in those days or if that had moved to Clark and Addison) Made our way into the ballpark early and perched ourselves in the left field bleachers.

During BP I caught a ball hit by Atlanta catcher Greg Olson. A kind fan, sitting next to me, bought us underagers a couple of Old Style's and everything was right with the world. Still the real fireworks would come in the ballgame!

It was a battle of lefthanders as Steve Wilson pitched against some young guy named Tom Glavine. The game wouldn't be decided by either pitcher. Hawk Dawson would be the hero that day! Not once, but twice. Andre tied the ballgame in the ninth with a HR. In the 11th he won the ballgame with another tape measure HR. What a day it was at the ballpark!

Exiting onto Waveland Avenue that afternoon was simply awesome for me as an 18 year old. Of all the games I have been to this is one of the magical games that I'll always remember. So, here's a game I ditched school to watch in May 1990!

Chicago Cubs 10, Atlanta Braves 8

DayGame Played on
Tuesday, May 8, 1990 (D) at Wrigley Field
ATL N 0 0 0 1 2 1 1 2 1 0 0 - 8 14 2
CHI N 5 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 2 - 10 12 0

BATTING
Atlanta Braves AB R H RBI BB SO PO A
Gant cf 5 2 2 2 1 2 2 0
Blauser ss 4 1 1 2 2 1 0 3
L. Smith lf 5 1 2 0 1 0 1 0
Murphy rf 5 0 0 0 1 2 3 0
Davis 1b 4 0 1 0 0 1 4 1
Gregg ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Boever p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
McDowell ph 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Henry p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Lemke 3b 5 1 1 0 0 0 1 5
Treadway 2b 5 1 3 1 1 0 2 2
Olson c 3 1 2 2 1 1 10 0
Whitt c 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
Glavine p 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 2
Thomas ph 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Bell 1b 1 0 0 0 0 0 6 0
Totals 44 8 14 7 7 8 31 13

FIELDING -
E: Blauser (2), Murphy (2).

BATTING -
2B: L. Smith (3,off Assenmacher); McDowell (3,off Long).
HR: Blauser (3,5th inning off Wilson 1 on, 0 out); Olson (1,6th inning off
Wilson 0 on, 1 out); Gant (1,8th inning off Assenmacher 1 on, 0 out).
SH: Lemke (3,off Long).
HBP: Olson (1,by Kraemer).
IBB: Murphy (2,by Assenmacher); Treadway (1,by Long).
Team LOB: 12.

Chicago Cubs AB R H RBI BB SO PO A
Walton cf 5 2 3 0 0 1 4 0
Long p 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 2
Sandberg 2b 6 2 2 1 0 0 2 3
Grace 1b 5 1 1 0 1 2 10 1
Dawson rf 5 2 3 3 1 1 1 0
McClendon lf 4 1 1 1 1 2 2 0
Wilkerson 3b 3 1 1 3 0 1 1 1
Assenmacher p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Nunez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kraemer p 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Wynne cf 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Dunston ss 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ramos ss 4 0 0 0 0 0 3 4
Girardi c 2 0 0 0 1 1 8 1
D. Smith ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Wrona c 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0
Wilson p 2 0 1 1 0 1 0 0
Salazar 3b 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 2
Totals 44 10 12 9 4 12 33 14

FIELDING -
DP: 2.

BATTING -
2B: Wilkerson (3,off Glavine); Sandberg (7,off Glavine); Walton (3,off Boever).
HR: Dawson 2 (7,9th inning off Boever 0 on, 0 out,11th inning off Henry 1 on,
1 out).
SH: Assenmacher (1,off Glavine).
IBB: Girardi (2,by Glavine); Dawson (3,by Glavine).
Team LOB: 8.
BASERUNNING -
SB: Walton (5,3rd base off Glavine/Olson); Sandberg (5,2nd base off Glavine/Olson).

PITCHING
Atlanta Braves IP H R ER BB SO HR
Glavine 7 7 6 1 4 9 0
Boever 3 3 2 2 0 3 1
Henry L(0-1) 0.1 2 2 2 0 0 1
Totals 10.1 12 10 5 4 12 2

Chicago Cubs IP H R ER BB SO HR
Wilson 5.1 7 4 4 3 3 2
Assenmacher 1.2 4 3 3 3 3 1
Nunez 0.1 1 0 0 0 1 0
Kraemer 1.1 1 1 1 0 0 0
Long W(1-0) 2.1 1 0 0 1 1 0
Totals 11 14 8 8 7 8 3

WP: Glavine (1), Long (1).
HBP: Kraemer (2,Olson).
IBB: Glavine 2 (2,Girardi,Dawson); Assenmacher (2,Murphy); Long (2,Treadway).
Umpires: Terry Tata, Jim Quick, Bill Hohn, Greg Bonin

Time of Game: 3:50 Attendance: 18,503

CUBS 9TH: Dawson homered; McClendon struck out; Wynne grounded out (third to first); Ramos grounded out (third to first); 1 R, 1 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Braves 8, Cubs 8.

CUBS 11TH: HENRY REPLACED MCDOWELL (PITCHING); Sandberg grounded out (shortstop to first); Grace singled to center; Dawson homered [Grace scored]; 2 R, 2 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Braves 8, Cubs 10.

lawton suspended

just in case anyone thought that steriods cannot be found in at least half the lockers of the cub clubhouse, not-particularly-powerful recent cub matt lawton was nailed by baseball for boldenone, an injectable anabolic steroid.

steroid use continues to be a rampant fact in baseball -- and not just by guys like sammy sosa or raffy palmeiro. the ability to come back from minor injury and even high levels of repetitive use are a bigger factor, i suspect, than even home runs and big contracts in motivating players to shoot up. as such, it shouldn't be surprising that pitchers like ryan franklin, felix heredia and carlos almanzar have also been pinned. and god help us if they test zambrano -- the only way to survive his reckless overuse is probably directly correlated to his weight gain over the last few years. i remeber seeing him pitch in lansing with corncobdress, when he was rail thin and tossed a few miles-per-hour less than he does now -- i can hardly believe he's the same guy.

with congress -- never a shy bunch when it comes to making rules in front of cameras -- now stepping wholly into the fray, it's difficult to know what baseball's drug policies will be in five years, but they are almost certain to be stricter than they are now.

will that help? it's difficult to say. there will certainly continue to be a great deal of line blurring on the use of supplements, and hefty penalties in combination with an ever-more militant police state (now over 1.5 million jailed, up from 800,000 just 15 years ago) haven't exactly curbed the american drug culture. the incentive of a generous contract will, i suspect, continue to keep steroid use on the map in professional sports for the forseeable future.