Some can't 'bear' the Cubs' excitement

With the baseball season down to its final two weeks, it's becoming easy to agitate the competitors.\nAfter a 2-0 loss to the Astros Saturday night, Cardinals' manager Tony LaRussa blamed home plate umpire Jerry Crawford. "He's made it a point to get us," LaRussa told the Associated Press. "It's tough enough to win in this league." \nLaRussa just won his 2,000th career game, becoming only the eighth manager to do so, and here's hoping Major League Baseball gives him some time off to celebrate because I cannot remember the last time a manager made such inflammatory comments about an umpire.\nCrawford ejected catcher Mike Matheny and pitching coach Dave Duncan, and after the game, Matheny accused Crawford, one of the game's most respected umpires, of actually nudging him out of position behind the plate.\nThe problem with that is that the Cardinals lost the other two games of the series too, dropping them five-and-a-half games behind first-place Houston. Sorry Cardinals fans, but you are only allotted one miracle per 100 years, and you already used yours up in 1964, when you came from six and a half back with 12 to play to overtake the Phillies and nab the pennant and eventually the World Series.\nThe Cubs, meanwhile, fell two behind after getting shutout by unknown Josh Hall and the Reds bullpen. Somehow, the Cubs went the entire series without hitting a homer against the Reds.\nThen again, the Cubs season has been improbable from the start. After losing 95 games last year, the Cubs are in contention in mid-September. If you walk around campus, count the Cubs caps people are wearing.\nCubs pride is nice to see. However, as a fan myself, I don't trust anybody who calls them the "Cubbies." That screams "out-of-towner." In fact, Harry Caray never called them the Cubbies until he had reached full senility.\nSpeaking of senility, I have my doubts about Dusty Baker. He totally distrusts young players, benching Hee Seop Choi as soon as Eric Karros got hot and then forcing general manager Jim Hendry to trade for Randall Simon when he realized that Baker wouldn't go back to Choi once Karros inevitably slumped.\nSimon's .310 on-base percentage is poor for a first baseman. Choi has a .353 on-base percentage. Slaves to batting average, the most overrated statistic, Simon gets to play while Choi now plays as often as a gopher sees the sun because Simon's batting average is about 50 points higher.\nThere's no reason why Tony Womack is on the team either. He hit .190 during a 21-game stint with the Colorado Rockies earlier this summer and, like Simon, has consistently shown no ability to draw walks or hit for power during a nondescript career. But Baker had to have him because he is a "proven veteran" and because in organizations that think prehistorically like the Cubs, you need to have a old bench.\nBaseball is not really a sport where experience matters much. Last week, while playing the Expos in San Juan, Puerto Rico, three Cubs, Moises Alou, Alex Gonzalez and Kenny Lofton, watched an easy pop-up fall right between them -- well, they were right in the midst of the Bermuda Triangle -- and cost the Cubs two runs and the game. Alou, Gonzalez and Lofton are all at least 30 years old and have at least nine years major league experience. Oh, well.\nMeanwhile, silly comments from Cardinals' pitcher Matt Morris in last Friday's St. Louis Post-Dispatch tried to antagonize the Cubs. "I really have a respect for their players," Morris said, referring to the Astros. "When we compete against them, the games are intense but they don't have that, 'I want to kill you, I hate you' attitude. When it's over, it's easy to tip your hat to the other side."\nActually, it's the Astros who have bullied the Cubs like no other. Since they became division rivals in 1994, the Cubs never won the season series from Houston until this year and have never finished ahead of them in the standings. They kneecapped the Cardinals out of the race and have to be feeling confident now. Keeping an emotional even keel, unlike the Cardinals, they're a respectful rival for the Cubs. Getting Richard Hidalgo, a tremendous late-season hitter, back close to his 2000 level when he .314 with 44 homers was a great credit to Hidalgo and those coaching him.\nThrow in a magnificent bullpen with Brad Lidge, Octavio Dotel and Billy Wagner, and Cubs fans begin to realize that it will have nothing to do with luck but with temperament and skill.