What is There Left to Say?
Stick a fork in the Chicago Cubs, because they are indeed well and truly done.
There will be plenty of time for post-mortems – months of time, in fact – but for now all we need to know is this: the Cubs came back from a hard road-trip needing to thrash the Washington Nationals, a team they’d handled without trouble just a couple months before, and somehow lost the first game of the series 15-6. With Carlos Zambrano back on the mound.
And that was with an off-day in between. So no excuses about their being tired. They just didn’t bring it.
That’s the way it’s been for most of the second half. They just haven’t brought it.
And what exactly is to blame for the Cubs’ utter lack of fire and motivation in the face of elimination from realistic playoff contention? Is it merely, as Ron Santo said on the radio in the midst of the Nationals disaster, a matter of too many well-paid, contented guys on long-term contracts?
Is the answer to try and jettison some of the highly-paid veterans and give the Jake Foxes and Sam Fulds of the world a shot at starting?
Or was it just the injuries? Can this team come back in 2010, more or less the same personnel-wise, and make a real run barring a repeat of all the health problems?
Like I said, there will be plenty of time to dissect this debacle. For now:
15-6 to the Nationals. If that doesn’t make you puke in your mouth, nothing will.
