MIAMI — The latest episode of the Cubs’ theatre of the absurd featured an angry Greg Maddux attacking a water cooler with a bat Wednesday at Dolphin Stadium.
No truth to the rumor the water cooler claimed it was only going for its helmet.
Maddux’s rare display of anger occurred in the sixth inning of a 9-3 loss to Florida, the 18th loss in the last 22 games for the reeling Cubs.
“Yeah, I was a little upset,” Maddux said.
Manager Dusty Baker said a five-run fifth inning frustrated Maddux after he had retired the first two hitters.
“He was upset he made a couple of mistakes, and that’s uncharacteristic of him too,” Baker said. “That’s how everyone feels right now. They’re busting their butts. Just ain’t getting it done.”
Getting swept by one of the worst teams in baseball–one coming off a seven-game losing streak–left the Cubs a season-low 10 games below .500. They’re 5-18 in May with a NL-worst .231 batting average. After starting out 5-0, Maddux has lost four straight decisions.
If there’s a haunting sense of deja vu about the Cubs, there’s a good reason for it.
The Florida Marlins celebrated their first three-game winning streak of the season Wednesday with a 9-3 victory over the Cubs at Dolphin Stadium.
Having lost 18 of 22, the Cubs are 18-28. If that rings a bell, it’s because the 2002 club had the same record on the same date. For those who don’t remember what happened after that, manager Don Baylor found himself looking for a new job on July 5, 2002.
Nobody is saying yet that the same fate awaits current Cubs boss Dusty Baker, but the mood no doubt will be an angry one Friday at Wrigley Field, when the Cubs return home to play the Atlanta Braves and begin the ‘tough’ portion of their schedule.
Leadoff man Juan Pierre bemoaned his own poor play after the game and then went to bat for Baker.
“Another thing is how Dusty’s catching all the flak because we’re not performing well,” said Pierre, who has an on-base percentage of .269, well below average for a good leadoff man.
“He bends over backwards 10 times for us, and for us to go out there and perform like that for him and it reflects him, it’s real frustrating.”
“That’s probably more frustrating than my play, not only letting the team down but letting him down. He does everything for us. He lets you go out there and play. He lets you be a man.”
When A.J .Pierzynski ran over michael barret he knocked his Ass over he flew back 3 feet.Then A.J got up and went to get his helmet. barret grabbed him and gave him a love tapp to the face. A.J. barrely moved and inch or flinched and if he did he tried to get out of the way from Scotty who went after barret. Barret punches like a girl.
Cub’s might have got a win over the weekend, but some fans are still embarrassed to be Cub fans.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/cubs/cst-nws-fans22.html
