Wanting to Win

Well, we're less than a month away from the summer solstice, the weather is finally settling in, and so we're all in a bit of a holding pattern awaiting the start of summer. It's a tough week to concentrate, the week before Memorial Day, because the enthusiasm of spring lulls a bit while we anticipate the summer season kick-off. I think that's why last weekend's series felt a bit out of place -- like it came up out of nowhere -- since Rivalry Weekend had started to become a summer tradition, and it just doesn't feel like summer yet.



The Cubs aren't making it any easier to get excited, either, and neither is Cubs Nation.

It seems like all of Cubs Nation (in the media and at the water cooler) is distracted. There's trade rumors involving Corey Patterson and others; there's daily injury and roster move updates; there's talk about signing Danny Graves (What, we need more bullpen pitchers prone to scattering hits?); there's pitch counts, and more pitch counts, and more pitch counts; there's Dusty Baker hate chatter; and so on.

Some people love that stuff, and I can understand the enthusiasm that spawns it, to an extent. It's just that it's not quite the end of spring, we have a long way to go this summer, and at some point you can spend so much time on all the peripheral stuff that you forget that there's actually a baseball season taking shape. If the Cubs are ever going to get into a rhythm before it's too late, it should be this week. Now is the time to watch, not the time for chatter. No offense, but I'm tuning you all out for a little while, including my own inner monologue.

There have already been a few points where the team could have stepped up and won close games, and they didn't. There's no use overanalyzing 'why' anymore, because despite all our chatter the team has ignored us and regrouped. This team is finally showing that it wants to win every game, and that can make all the difference. The rest of it will fall as it may. Now that they want to win, we can find out if they are able.

Watch the starting pitching. It's as good as we could have hoped for right now. It's good enough to win. Despite all the critics, most teams would trade staffs even up right now in a heartbeat.

Watch the defense. In the last week, Burnitz, Dubois, Ramirez, Perez, Hairston, Lee and Blanco have all made great plays. Patterson & Barrett have been alright as well. This defense isn't giving too much away.

Watch the bullpen. Other than a good team -- the White Sox -- using its strengths to start a rally off of Michael Wuertz with a pair of infield singles, this bullpen is not so bad anymore. You kind of wish that the coaches had figured it out sooner, rather than letting it sort itself out by process of elimination, but either way they've organized the bullpen as well as they can, I figure.

Watch the lineup. It's been the last thing piece of the puzzle to ignite, but just an extra RBI or two a game will make a world of difference. That RBI can come from Ramirez, Walker, Hairston, or Dubois. The way they're going, don't you kind of like their chances?

Most of all, just watch what happens. It's clear that right now, we all have practically no idea where the season will go. The Cubs should win 4 or 5 of the next 6 against weaker teams, but will anyone be surprised if they win 2, or 1, or if they win all 6?

The biggest problem was that until the end of the losing streak, the team (collectively) just wasn't playing intensely enough. Maybe that's a lack of leadership; and more significantly, maybe that's a fair criticism of the manager and important players. Or maybe it's just circumstance because against the current of events there's only so much that you can do to steer.

Still, the winds have shifted a bit in that respect. Players' demeanors have changed. Guys seem to want to help step up so that Lee's performance isn't wasted. The lineup has started taking a few walks here and there, and the bullpen has mostly stopped allowing them. Prior & Maddux & Zambrano are all keyed in. Rusch sees his now-or-never opportunity and he's attacking it head on. Ramirez is making contact (and he's always hit Clemens well).

More than anything, leadership in baseball is demonstrating that you want to win -- that you always want to win -- and we're starting to see it.

I think this team finally senses the urgency it should have sensed a few weeks ago. While they've missed earlier chances to step up, I think that at least they really want to step up right now. Now we find out if they're good enough; and if they aren't, it won't be any of the little things annoying Cubs Nation that stops them from ever starting.