Baseball Season Slides Away
`The baseball seasons ends Sunday.
It almost ended earlier, of course. And it did peter out for fans of the two Chicago teams a lot earlier, but we�ve come to accept that.
Two of the winners, Oakland and St. Louis, each survived losses of personnel to get to the post-season.The A�s lost Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon and Jason Isringhausen to free agency and still won.
The Cards lost pitcher Daryl Kile when he didn�t wake up one morning in Chicago, dead overnight of a heart attack. That followed closely an emotional hit when legendary broadcaster Jack Buck lost his health battles.
And the losses can�t be calculated in Minnesota, whose entire team started the season under the sentence of promised contraction (team elimination) but still won the White Sox�s division by plenty.
Maybe the Cubs and Sox are doing it backwards; addition by subtraction seems to work best. Instead of who can they gain, maybe they ought to look at who they can lose. When the Cubs cut loose manager Don Baylor, they were 34-49. The interim guy is 31-44
That would be an incremental improvement but really, more of the same. For those of us who are not math majors. In other words, it isn�t the manager�s fault.
One of the bully boys an area newspaper wrote a few weeks ago that Sox fans would be disappointed and have to count this season as a loss because his Cubs would catch the Sox in the standings. Some Cubs fans have a peevish delight in trying to bring other teams to their usual level. As of today, the Sox have guarenteed more wins than losses this season, if if they lose all the rest of �em, while the Cubs are 28 games to the negative side.
Maybe the guy will write an apology; don�t bet your subscription on it. He seldom backs up the truck when he�s wrong.
In this case, the Cubs fan was admitting he never expected a winner, yet he delighted in some perverse way when another team stumbles. I never quite catch on to that trend of negativity.
In the Kile case, for instance, the Cardinals brought his jersey to the mound for their post-game celebration after winning the division and sprayed his jersey with champagne in the clubhouse, a sign they remembered their fallen comrade, They made a positive from a negative.
I think these thoughts as I prepare for my annual trek to Wrigley to end the season.
Yes, a Sox fan in Wrigley. Coming along for the ride is a diehard Cub fan and two other baseball fans.
I love the last game of the season. A few years ago, I saw Florida end the season there and win a Wild Card spot. Who�d a guessed the Marlins would win the World Series in one of baseball�s all-time upsets?
In another Wrigley finale, I saw Sammy�s last home game in that magical year he and McGwire dueled to the end.
A season later, it was the last at-bat for my own Mr. Cub, Mark Grace, as a Chicago National League ballplayer. He stepped out of the batter�s box a few times. Tears were in the way.
No such promises are held for Pittsburgh and Chicago on Sunday. The Bucs are the team my dad followed as a kid. They are managed by a guy from my hometown.
And Sammy is still Sammy, sort of the see-the-elephant-at-the-circus attraction every three innings or so.
Wrigley is still the best ballmall in America. My T-Shirt celebrates the field of dreams moreso than any overpaid laborer between the lines.
So I�ll go on one last summer sojourn, a day marked in baseball time. Close the season. Relax with friends.
It must be basketball season.
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