Cubs surge into break despite season’s worth of distractions
Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella, who threw a tantrum on June 2, has seen his ballclub put together a 22-12 run going into the All-Star break. Gene J. Puskar, The Associated Press
July 10, 2007
CHICAGO – Lou Piniella picked his spot for one his legendary tantrums. At least that’s how it seems.
He threw his cap and kicked dirt on third-base umpire Mark Wegner and was ejected from a game June 2. The outburst, one that brought Piniella a suspension, came as the Cubs were losing a sixth straight game and falling nine games under .500.
It seemed to be a kick-start of sorts for an underachieving team, one that had committed $300 million to salaries in an offseason overhaul.
Starting with a victory the next day, the Cubs went 22-12 over the final five weeks of the first half and climbed back into the race in the NL Central, one game over .500.
“I’m looking forward to the second half,” Piniella said.
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Piniella’s first three months were eventful as he tried to mix and match, learn his players, find the right combinations and change a losing culture that has followed the Cubs for most of the last century.
Ace Carlos Zambrano won 10 games, didn’t get the contract extension he wanted after it was announced the team would be sold at the end of the season and also got into a dugout and clubhouse fight with teammate Michael Barrett, his catcher.
Barrett got a shiner and stitches in his lip courtesy of Zambrano and less than three weeks later – after a verbal exchange with another pitcher, Rich Hill – he got traded to the San Diego Padres.
The deal came shortly after the same two teams were involved in a brawl at Wrigley Field. When Chris Young hit Derrek Lee with a pitch one day after the Padres were unhappy with Alfonso Soriano’s antics after hitting a home run, Lee took a swing at Young on the way to first. The brawl ensued.
Piniella, playing peacemaker, tripped and fell down during the melee, but got up – just like his team did after such a slow start.
“This is what we expected out of ourselves, if not to be even little better. We just had a little slower start than expected but now we’re playing like we expected to be playing,” Lee said.
Soriano got his average over .300, Lee is batting .330 at the break despite only six homers and third baseman Aramis Ramirez has been a solid run producer with 51 RBIs while battling a sore knee. And the Cubs got a big lift from infielders Ryan Theriot and Mike Fontenot, former college teammates who’ve impressed Piniella with their approaches at the plate.
“Everybody has to work hard to get this team into the playoffs,” said Soriano.
