Thursday, June 30, 2011

Husky Power

** To my loyal Monroe Doctrine readers. This summer has been a challenge to maintain weekly submissions, in part due to what you are about to read. I thank you for your patience and I will do the best I can to get back to consistent articles. Now, on with the show. **

Boy, being Mike Quade isn’t easy. I recently “volunteered” to coach my daughter’s third/fourth grade softball team, the Huskies. I say “volunteered” because I wanted to do it but wasn’t sure I would have the time to devote to it. When the second e-mail from the association came out saying they didn’t have a coach for the team I stepped up.

You would think the biggest challenge would be able to explain the Infield Fly Rule, or where the cutoff man should be on a hit to the outfield. Not for yours truly. My biggest challenge was learning and (more importantly) remembering 14 names. It didn’t get any easier by having two Alexandras and two Kirstens (one pronounced Keer-sten, the other Kur-sten and believe me the teammates notice when the wrong Kirsten is pronounced).

On our first day of practice I introduced myself, explained how our practices would run and then I asked if there were any questions. “Will you have a steal sign?” Man this is an advanced group.

Just before the third game of the year I had just finished my pre-game prep talk. A hand shot up in the air. “Yes?” “Can we slide into home?” Mind you in our first two games combined we had scored all of one run.

We have one slugger on the team who can reach the outfield grass on a fly. I have never heard so much noise as the two times she’s cranked the ball to the outfield and ended up with doubles.

Every game and each practice we talk about the fundamentals. Pay attention. Swing at pitches you can reach; not over your head or one’s that bounce three feet before the plate. Watch the batter when you’re in the field in case the ball gets hit to you. Quade has to deal with high priced stars and agents. I have dance steps in the outfield and hair blowing in faces “because my visor makes me hot.”

But even with that minor frustration, nothing can compare to the look on a child’s face when they have stared down the pitcher, hit a shot up the middle and legged it out for a basehit. The sheer joy on their face says everyone is having a great time.

Quade has his staff of Riggins, DeJesus and Dernier. I wouldn’t be anywhere without the parents of my team as well as my stellar staff of my oldest daughter Katelyn and a dad (Steve) of one of the players. Steve has the same mannerisms, voice quality and, if he shaved his goatee, facial features of The Professor. That could be why I’m enjoying the season so much. It brings back memories when Dave and I were leading “Martha and the Vandellas” to glory.

Weather, like with any outdoor sport, plays a factor. We have gone, in the space of four days, from 93 degrees with high humidity to 57 degrees and gusting winds. We also have had three rainouts. Mother Nature is not a friend to the Huskies.

As with any sport there will be altercations. Turns out the adults are the biggest problem. In one game I engaged in a shouting match with the other team’s coaches. After the game our girls said “That team is awesome! They cheered for us!” Didn’t matter to our girls that the other coach had his team stealing second and third in the sixth inning (we only play six innings, assuming it’s not dark yet) while leading 14-1. Every once in a while the kids see the bigger picture.

We’re still looking for win number one. You ever hear how a ballplayer says they feel like they went 3 for 4 because they hit the ball hard, yet they ended up going 0 for 4? That was us last night. It felt like a win. We cranked out eleven hits, struck out a season low ten times and had the tying runs on base in the last inning before losing 6-4.

Half way through the season and it’s already been a great year.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

There's Good and Bad in Everything

As with most things in life there can be good and bad in the same entity. Despite the fact that the Cubs are in the throes of an eight game losing streak there are still some positives to consider if you look for them.

Going back to last off-season, the Cubs were looking for the next color guy after Ron Santo’s passing. I’m sure they had many options in the baseball world, but we heard publicly of three: Keith Moreland, Gary Mathews and Dave Otto. I would have been fine with either Moreland or Mathews but really wanted Moreland. Otto (especially with the season playing out the way that it is) would have been death on the radio. The Cubs got it right by hiring Moreland. He’s done a great job; very insightful, puts coherent thoughts together. The only complaint is that he sucks as the Ed McMahon to Pat Hughes’ stupid stories. That’s not his fault. He’s put in the awkward position of having to feign interest or amusement when Pat decides it’s time to tell a “funny” story because the game isn’t interesting enough to focus on. Hughes finally has a partner who can reach for the next level. It’s time he does the same thing.

During the off-season the Cubs were looking for a firstbaseman, a starting pitcher or two and some relief help. They did what the Federal Government, State of Illinois and most family households can’t do – they showed some fiscal responsibility. They picked up Matt Garza for prospects, signed Kerry Wood at a nice discount and signed Carlos Pena for a paltry $10 million which they spread over two years. Garza has been disappointing, but the potential is there. Wood has been good as well as an awesome influence in the clubhouse. Pena, while starting slow, has started to pick it up and may be the nicest Cub we’ve had since Ernie Banks.

At the top of the decision list during the off-season was “Who’s going to run this club?” It came down to fan favorite Ryne Sandberg and baseball lifer Mike Quade. Again the Cubs got it right. Eventually I would love for Sandberg to be managing the Cubs, but I don’t think he was ready. Our Boys in Blue are currently 12 games under .500, 11 out and six behind the Pirates. Think Sandberg would have changed that? More importantly how would he handle it? No one with an ounce of logic can blame Quade for this. 40% of his starting pitching went on the shelf in April, his centerfielder got hit in the face, Ramirez got a busted lip, Soriano is back on the DL, Colvin decides to hit like Karl Pagel and Dempster started out the year with an ERA of over 6.00. Some things are out of a manager’s control. The key is how the manager handles it.

Quade hasn’t overreacted or blown up. He had a team meeting behind closed doors. He didn’t take it to the media. When Zambrano made the immortal claim “We stinks”, Quade said it would be handled by Z’s teammates if they had a problem with his comments. The next day Zambrano apologizes and there’s no more story. Quade was the right personality to run this club. Now he just needs the talent.

Heading into the season Quade named Dempster the Opening Day starting pitcher. Exact right move. Sure it could piss off Zambrano, but Z didn’t earn it last year – Dempster did. Quade made the right decision, hurt feelings be damned. Imagine how good the Cubs could have been had Baker pushed Sosa down in the order before Sosa “volunteered” or had Pinella taken Soriano out of the leadoff spot years before it actually happened?

Like with anything there are also bad choices that were made. When Wells and Cashner went down, the original choice was to have Jeff Russell spot start. Oh baby that’s not the way to go. Then logic says bring in a grizzled veteran to eat up some innings. Sounds logical as long as that grizzled veteran isn’t Doug Davis. Strike two. Need someone in addition to Davis to be able to turn the rotation over? Here’s Rodrigo Lopez. Strike three looking. Now the fans are saying “Isn’t there some prospect at Double or Triple A that could be promoted and get some Major League seasoning?” That’s backseat driving in my opinion. Had they done that first and the prospect gets smoked, then we would be calling for the Doug Davis’ of the world because “they have experience and can at least eat some innings.” We just don’t have the depth. That’s probably a Hendry issue. But how many teams have seven quality starters in case they lose two or three of their rotation? None.

In the meantime we’ve been able to enjoy the emergence of Darwin Barney (again the right choice to start at second, rather than going with the veteran DeWitt) and the energy of Tony Campana. Sure, Campana will most likely go back to the minors when Johnson, Baker and/or Byrd come back, but it sure has been fun to watch Campana fly around the bases in a way we haven’t seen since Dunston was legging out triples.

So while the Cubs are horrible this year, it’s important to keep in perspective that decisions made during the off-season were correct.