When Cubs need hero, Ted no Lilliputian
Lefty Lilly comes up big in filling Cubs’ gigantic need for a hero
The $136 million man was hearing boos, more evidence of his Cirque du Soriano existence. Reed Johnson was diving feebly for a ball that bounced two feet in front of him, the blooper antithesis of his catch for the ages last month. How bad was it getting in Cubdom? Lou Piniella, a potential Hall of Famer, was absorbing grief from the Hall of Shamer on the South Side.
"Who's the manager they remember most? Billy Martin,'' Ozzie Guillen said. "They don't remember Sparky Anderson. They remember Billy Martin because he was the crazy one. Why do you think they like Lou Piniella? Because Lou is good? Great guy. Great baseball people. But people love Lou Piniella because he's (bleeped) up!"
(AP)
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Cubs 3, Diamondbacks 1
If Lou is (bleeped) up, riddle me this: Just what exactly is Ozzie?
And isn't it just as (bleeped) up that a goof outside Wrigley Field, after a ban on selling racially insensitive items involving Kosuke Fukudome, now is featuring "Fukudome You!'' t-shirts with flipped middle fingers?
But then came the fifth inning Friday, when the Cubs needed something quirky to alter fortunes that had soured since April fools began dropping the WS-phrase -- what team are we talking about here? -- and Sports Illustrated placed Fukudome on its cover. In town were the Arizona Diamondbacks, who swept the Cubs last autumn and are good enough this season to justify all World Series references. About the last thing the boys needed, after losing nine of their last 13, was another sweep by the D'Backs, who are snakes in the grass no more and clearly are the National League's best team. Up in the TV booth, you could see Len Kasper preparing for comic relief by showing his audience the Wrigleyville parody rag, The Heckler, which revealed Kasper's new gig as a reality-show host while breaking news that partner Bob Brenly was injured in a post-game fight with the Pittsburgh Parrot.
Please, someone, lift us from the madness.
And there to help was none other than Theodore Roosevelt Lilly, a pitcher by trade who carries ... a mean stick?
Facing the wicked Dan Haren, who would be an ace on almost any staff not headed by Brandon Webb, Lilly was losing 1-0 and at the plate with two out. Haren had intentionally walked Johnson to get to Lilly, he of the .124 batting average, 6 RBIs and 45 strikeouts in 106 previous major-league at-bats. Sometimes, a pitcher has no choice but to help his own cause when handsomely paid hitters are impotent and his ballclub needs him to win a ballgame and earn his $40 million contract. Forced to come up large in the first game of an early litmus-test series, Ted was no Lilliputian.
He delivered a game-tying single to center field, scoring Mark DeRosa from second base. Next, Soriano doubled from the leadoff hole he should not inhabit, giving the Cubs a 2-1 lead that would become a 3-1 win when Derrek Lee homered in the eighth and Kerry Wood performed much better as a closer than in his last Wrigley effort.
"Yeah, that was fun,'' Lilly said. "He threw it right it right into my swing.''
More importantly, the lone lefty in Piniella's unsettled rotation produced his fourth straight quality start, a seven-inning, three-hit, 10-strikeout gem. If Lilly continues to pitch as he did last season, Cubdom will feel better about itself during weekly visits to the therapist. The demise of enigmatic Rich Hill, now trying to find his location in Des Moines, places all the more pressure on Lilly to join Carlos Zambrano and surprisingly solid Ryan Dempster as reliable starters. Last we saw Lilly against Arizona, he was slamming his glove to the ground like Moises Alou in left field and Tanner Boyle in ``Bad News Bears.'' He was the symbolic Cubbie postseason loser, failing in Game 2 after Piniella lifted Zambrano prematurely in Game 1.
Thus, he knew why winning Friday was significant, though it hardly was payback. Overcoming another home run by Chris Young, whose homer last October prompted Lilly's tantrum, certainly helps his psyche. ``I don't want to admit it too much. You sort of let it go, but you don't forget,'' he said of the bad memory. "At the same time, you try not to come out of your game and do anything crazy ... Obviously, I wanted to win the game for a lot of reasons. We were playing one of the best teams in the National League. These are teams we have to beat, and you want to step up. I figured a guy like Haren would keep them in the game. I felt it was my responsibility to keep up.''
He will carry that burden as long as he's a Cub. A $40 million deal, signed when general manager Jim Hendry was in a hospital bed recovering from an angioplasty procedure, creates relentlessly high expectations. "I expect myself to contribute to the club,'' Lilly said. ``We've got a pretty good team, and I know I have to do my part to win games.''
Said Piniella, pleased for a change: "We've seen steady progression every time out. He's pitching like he was last year when he was throwing well. He was mixing up his pitches, changing speeds and using his breaking pitches. It was a really nice seven innings.''
It remains to be seen if the Cubs belong on the same ladder rung as the D'Backs, who own the league's scariest rotation and an attack more potent than last season's scratch-and-sniff oufit. Webb, off to an 8-0 start and now sporting a nasty changeup to mix with his nasty sinker, is more consistently dominant than Zambrano. Between Haren, Micah Owings, a healthier Randy Johnson, a smoke-throwing kid named Max Scherzer -- who faces Dempster today -- and a good bullpen, this staff is hard to dent. As an offense, the Cubs still have more clout, but when the gifted likes of Justin Upton, Stephen Drew and Young reach fruition, look out.
"They have a good ballclub," Piniella said. "They sent us home in the playoffs. They're a good, young team with power and speed and athleticism, and they have some good, young arms. (But) this year is this year, and last year was last year. The fact they have the best record in the National League is a challenge to us."
Translation: The Cubs will take any help they can get, including a bat-wielding Lilly. If the robust likes of Zambrano and Owings can mash, to the point some think they should be invited to Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game, Lilly better earn his keep in the No. 9 hole. It is the National League, remember. "It's important to be able to put the bat on the ball,'' he said. ``I'm gonna get some at-bats in some close games, and I'd better at least make contact. It's something we spend a lot of time on.''
Certainly, you'd much rather see the man swinging a bat than hurling a glove. That would be progress.
