It's cold (yawn)

Two dates into the Cubs home part of their 2007 schedule, and the Cubs new skipper has figured out that it's cold in Chicago in April. He's also decided that his team is not built to play in 40 degree weather.

"It's been cold. I was telling our general manager [Jim Hendry] today that the way we're put together as a team, if we play in 40-degree weather all year, I don't think we're going to do very well because we don't have that type of team.

"We have more power in our lineup, we need to bang it a little more," Piniella said. "Once the weather warms up, we will. We have more of a flyball-hitting team. We don't have as much team speed to play the little ball that you need in this type of environment. For us, the quicker the weather warms up, the better."

But Lou says he ain't making any excuses:

"I'm not complaining or making any excuses," Piniella said. "It's just fact. It's hard on every team. Baseball wasn't made to be played in 40-degree weather, it's that plain and simple. The better pitching you have, the better defense you play, and the more team speed you have early in the season in this type of environment is conducive to winning more baseball games. That's all I'm trying to say."

Sounds like an excuse to me, but what do I know. The cold didn't seem to hurt Adam Everett's game winning flyball yesterday. I would love to get worked up over this. It just seems like it's deja vu all over again. I guess the good part is he didn't play the race card like the previous skipper.

Still, it is really hard to believe that Cub manager after Cub manager at some point in April complains about the lousy weather. Actually it's laughable. This team really has cornered the market on excuses. In case Lou doesn't know, here are other excuses that seem to be used by most Cub managers:

• the least original is the Billy Goat Curse and any other hexes that people talk about
• too many day games
• too many different starting times
• the infield grass is too high
• the wind blows in too much
• the wind blows out too much
• too hot and humid in July and August
• you can always blame a poor fan
• the media is too tough
• fans say nasty things to the outfielders from the bleachers

We've been fed all of these through the years. I guess Lou has a lot more he can use. Somebody should tell Lou he could be a bit more original than cold weather. It would be better fodder for the blogosphere.