It’s a Good Time to be a Cub Fan

Being that Mike is a Braves fan, we were talking via AIM last night during the Cubs/Braves game. I was telling him that I absolutely love this Cubs team right now. (I am the “anti-Solly” at the moment.) I have not been this excited about Cubs baseball in a long time.

A sports columnist (and I wish I could remember who) said that almost all World Series teams have a guy, who is not normally a superstar, have a “career year” so to speak. The rest of the team feeds off that player’s energy and enjoyment of the game. The Cardinals had David Eckstein, the Red Sox had Kevin Millar, and the White Sox had Tadahito Iguchi. This year, the Cubs have two – Ryan Theriot and Reed “fucking” Johnson (© Solly).

I want to take this opportunity to publicly apologize to Ryan Theriot for all the names I called him last season. (Just ask Solly how much I cursed his very existence in the second half of last season.) He has been nothing short of outstanding this season. His history may indicate that he can’t keep up his .321 Avg and .400 OBP, but for right now I’m enjoying the ride. He has been a big part of the reason the Cubs have been able to actually manufacture runs this season as opposed to seasons past. He gets on base. He moves runners over when needed. And he even steals a bag or two.

Reed Johnson – what were the Jays thinking? Our friend, Lucky, says that Reed Johnson’s numbers show he is simply a journeyman and Felix Pie should have been given more of a chance in CF. Numbers be damned! Only looking at numbers doesn’t give you the big picture. Johnson may only be batting .267 with a .342 OBP, but I have seen him come up with more clutch hits than Rambo’s body count from his latest movie. And he has made some outstanding defensive plays as well.

The entire team seems to feed off the “grit and determination” of these two guys. Hell, at one point during their 9 game winning streak, they had 7 come from behind victories in a row – one of those being 9-1 in the 7th inning…..with most of the starters pulled in the 5th. They just don’t give up this year. No deficit is too big. That’s something that was not around in years past.

I realize that the end of the season is a long way off, but it’s also the middle of June and the Cubs have the best record in baseball. Slumps are an inevitable part of the game, and I’m sure one or two will come along at some point, but to date, the Cubs have not lost more than two games in a row. That’s the sign of a very good team. It’s way to early to start thinking World Series, but surely you can see why Cub fans are excited this season (insert obligatory Airplane joke here).