Finding A Groove

Now it feels like baseball season. This morning as I went for a run around Town Lake here in Austin it was 60 degrees and sunny. It got up to about 70 this afternoon, much more appropriate than the 93 it was last week. There was just something odd about driving home in 90 degree weather to watch April baseball. I wonder if I’ll ever live in Texas long enough to acclimate to that phenomenon, or if acclimation is even possible for one who grew up in the Midwest.



The baseball cover issue of the New Yorker arrived yesterday, too. This year it’s “Bigger than the Game” by Barry Blitt, depicting Barry Bonds in left field about 10 times as big as the other players on the field, although his head is still tiny, which is a nice touch. (Last year it was “Over the Top,” also by Blitt, featuring lanky Randy Johnson in a Yankees uniform.) It's a nice reminder that something important has once again begun.

Yep, the NFL might be middlebrow America’s pastime, and the NBA might have its hold on inner cities as one writer argues for McSweeneys, but in highbrow circles, Gregg Easterbrook excepted, it’s still baseball. (link courtesy KJM.) Writers & professors & art purveyors & intellectuals & the cultural illuminati still allow baseball to maintain its cachet. Or maybe there’s no allowing involved at all; maybe baseball is the only sport with enough grace and mystery and intrigue to achieve the status it has with the mental dweebs. But that’s an argument for another time.

In any case, there was a good feeling going into the game, and an even better one on its way out. KJM reported that the hecklers were in fine form before the game in the left field bleachers. My friend AWL reported that when Lee hit that ball in the 8th, they were hi-fiving each other down the third base line well before it cleared the fence because they knew it was gone. All of this intensified, of course, because it puts the Cubs ahead of the Cardinals in the standings a week into the season. I had in my mind that I wanted to see them 6-4 ten games in, and even with the rookie on the hill tomorrow night they’re at least halfway there.

And then there’s the bullpen. Williamson’s stuff looked filthy, Ohman was spot on, Howry looked as dependable as his reputation implies, and Dempster got it done as well. Last year we would have been more anxious going into the 7th inning as the starters sat down, knowing that our bullpen was a lot more vulnerable than the Cardinals. Not this year. This year the pen is starting to take shape exactly like we hoped.

Over the offseason I spent some time thinking about the psychological aspect of the team, about whether they would be loose enough to get on a winning streak, and not let a losing streak kill them and so on. My sort of conclusion was that with Chicago media culture changing – parroting those cynics in New York and Boston and Philadelphia more each year – and with the Chicago fan culture changing – they were booing Jacques Jones already today, not that he didn’t deserve it – that they would need to get off to a hot start. What I wrote was, “Might not a better bullpen -- which it will be, whatever it cost -- be the difference between going 12-12 in April or 14-10, and might not that +4 mindset make all the difference in the world?”

It does seem to be a mindset thing. People always talk about not getting too worked up early. I’m usually one of them, and I guess I still am, but this season it felt like the worst thing that could happen was an early round of here-we-go-agains. Despite everything, Cub fans still have a long history of optimism and hope, and two disappointing seasons were not enough to erase this. But we need something to spark it, and I would argue that the longer they wait this season to encourage us, the tougher it becomes. Already, I’m encouraged.

I have a feeling it must be the same for the players. We all saw how complacent they seemed last season, the way that they played .500 ball while they waited for the winning streak to start, lacking in fire and enthusiasm. Momentum is a funny thing, but with all the peripheral negative chatter coiled in the wings just waiting to unleash itself at the first sign of disappointment, I was afraid that a dejected team would follow.

They’re not out of the woods yet. No point getting too worked up early. But there was a palpable difference entering the late innings this game compared to last season. There are plenty of question marks, but they’re more about not having enough firepower than about blowing a winnable game. Maybe this club isn’t so stacked as to dominate, but they’re a lot less vulnerable from letting the games in which they do play well cheat into the loss column. Like last season.

The questions early are starting pitching, sloppy defense, and lineup firepower. Jacques Jones looks like a tourist in the batter’s box trying to read a map in a foreign language. There have been plenty of errors and mistakes in both the infield and the outfield. And, we still don’t know how the starting rotation will go for the next three weeks, and what to expect from whoever is in.

Still, today, rather than losing a winnable game, they won a losable game.

Plus I get to rub it in to my old roommates, who are Cardinal fans. The White Sox rivalry is stronger than ever, but it’s a cultural rivalry more than a baseball rivalry. This rivalry, with the Cardinals, is entertained 19 times this season, and the Cubs are already 2 games up. So even if this early groove the Cubs are finding is ephemeral, at least there’s that.