Saturday, April 24, 2004
It's amazing the things you will consider rational after a lifetime of Cub-fandom. For example, I reported the results of the Cubs 2-game annihilation of the Pirates to my mother earlier this week, whereupon she rejoined: "They should save some runs for when it matters." Given the Cubs frustratingly inconsistent history, this statement seems to hold a lot of water for the perennial fan. You never COULD tell when the Cubs were going to get any runs, for many years, and a lot of the time it seemed like they only got runs in meaningless games versus bad teams. That's because most of the time, all Cubs games were meaningless; and if they ever did look good, it was against the few teams worse than they were.
But lo, common sense (and our friend Bill James) tells us this: good teams don't save up runs for important moments; nobody can. Good teams just keep beating the crap out of other teams. It's a trend I'd like to see continue.
I will see my first game of the year at Wrigley this afternoon, on what promises to be a chilly and overcast day in Chicago. That's fine; Wood will be on the hill, and the Mets are terrible this year. That doesn't mean they'll win, but I like the odds.
Yesterday saw a 3-1 win over the aforementioned Metropolitans, in which Greg Maddux looked to shake off some early-season rust. View his 03 and 04 early season stats here and here, and let me know if you are worried, long-term. For the next several weeks, I expect the rotation to be very solid. And then Prior might come back. I just giggled.
But lo, common sense (and our friend Bill James) tells us this: good teams don't save up runs for important moments; nobody can. Good teams just keep beating the crap out of other teams. It's a trend I'd like to see continue.
I will see my first game of the year at Wrigley this afternoon, on what promises to be a chilly and overcast day in Chicago. That's fine; Wood will be on the hill, and the Mets are terrible this year. That doesn't mean they'll win, but I like the odds.
Yesterday saw a 3-1 win over the aforementioned Metropolitans, in which Greg Maddux looked to shake off some early-season rust. View his 03 and 04 early season stats here and here, and let me know if you are worried, long-term. For the next several weeks, I expect the rotation to be very solid. And then Prior might come back. I just giggled.
