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Nice try, but injuries no Cubs excuse

Rick Morrissey | In the wake of the news

July 25, 2008

If you had a nickel for every time Lou Piniella talked about the Cubs' injuries this season, you would have enough money to cure finger blisters, if not cancer.

Injuries. Boy, have the Cubs had them. Listen to what the head of the Wrigley Field triage unit had to say Thursday:

"You don't lose a starting pitcher for a whole year like we did—[ Rich] Hill I'm talking about," Piniella said. "You don't lose an All-Star outfielder and your best home-run hitter ( Alfonso Soriano) for half a summer, you don't lose [ Carlos] Zambrano, you don't lose [ Kerry] Wood, you don't lose [Reed] Johnson, you don't lose [ Daryle] Ward and continue to steam along.

"Let's get realistic about this."

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As rambling answers go, this would have been a reasonable one if the question had been, "Lou, how about all those injuries?" But the question was about whether Piniella thought the National League Central race would go down to the wire. He apparently took it as an invitation to recite the club's physical woes dating back to the Paleozoic Era.

OK, true, the Cubs have had injuries. A lot of them. But it's hard to play the injury card when the Cardinals have put together a team with Popsicle sticks and Elmer's glue and still managed to win.

I don't know if Piniella equates the tight division race with his team's injury troubles. But every team has challenges. The Cubs' challenges are injuries and a century without a World Series title. The Cardinals' are injuries and a lower talent level. The Brewers' biggest challenge is keeping ace Ben Sheets healthy.

Critics tore apart former Cubs manager Dusty Baker for using injuries as an excuse. Many of the team's fans would prefer to forget the Baker Era, but Piniella is at least Baker's equal in that department.

Here's what I would say if I were Piniella:

It's July going on August. We're still in first place in a ferocious division. Woods' pesky finger blister? There's been just two save situations while he has been out, so what's the big deal? We're a better team with Soriano in the lineup. He's back. I'm happy to trade one RH (Rich Hill) for another (Rich Harden). Am I making myself clear? We're looking ahead.

Piniella was right about one thing Thursday night. The Central race is not going to be easy. I'd add this: It was never going to be easy, but nobody wanted to listen to what the Cubs and Piniella were saying.

At some level (the sledgehammer-over-the-head level), a Cubs fan had to know that the division race was going to be tight all the way. But hope being what it is on the North Side, brains might have sent signals suggesting a runaway division title.

Please disabuse yourself of this notion.

Milwaukee isn't going anywhere.

And against every bit of evidence that suggests otherwise, St. Louis isn't going anywhere either.

While the Cubs were beating the Marlins 6-3 Thursday night, the Brewers were beating the Cardinals 4-3. The Cubs' lead is one over Milwaukee and four over the Cards.

It's not anybody's fault that this season has felt more like a coronation than a division race for the Cubs. They indeed are a very good ballclub. Eight Cubs were chosen for the All-Star Game. For a while, the team had the best record in baseball. There was all that national recognition for the talented franchise with the unfortunate history.

But this is not a done deal. For months, the Cubs have been trying to tell anyone who would listen that there was a real, live race going on, one that likely would go all the way to the end of the regular season.

Well, here it is. Feel free to blink. It's not going away.

"We have [60] games to go, and we're going to have to step it up," Piniella said. "We've treaded water for a long, long time. We had that real good spurt. We got ourselves about 20 [games] above .500 or so, and we've been basically treading water since."

The Cubs are good. But so are the Brewers, who were in a pennant race last season and know what heat feels like. Most managers would love to have the Milwaukee lineup and a pitching rotation led by Sheets and CC Sabathia.

The Cardinals refuse to leave the premises, thanks to players such as Skip Schumaker and Ryan Ludwick, whom you and I and their families barely knew before the season.

The Cubs' lead had shrunk from a high of 51/2 games on July 12 to just one game while they struggled on the most recent road trip.

"There's no panic in here," outfielder Mark DeRosa said.

Nor should there be. The Cubs, top to bottom, have the best team in the division.

Short of a Biblical plague hitting this team (let's face it, not out of the realm of possibility), injuries are not going to be the story of this season, no matter how it plays out.

And no matter how often the injuries are mentioned.

rmorrissey@tribune.com

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AL CENTRAL	W	L	GB	NL CENTRAL	W	L	GB
	79	61	—		85	56	—
	78	63	1½		81	60	4

Nice try, but injuries no Cubs excuse

Related links

Wood's blister slow to heal, so he's headed to DL

Cubs snap losing streak to Marlins

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