7/24/2004 08:56:00 AM by Rob

The formula worked to perfection last night

Dusty Baker.  The Uncouth Sloth.

One of us is damn proud and pleased with himself right now, and one of us is still quite uneasy.

Our starting pitcher went out and mowed down a buncha guys, our middle-in-the-order guys hit a buncha home runs, and we won going away last night, a rare breather in what has turned out to be a nerve-racking season.

Just like Dusty planned it all along.

Leave it to me to piss on the picnic, but this is exactly the kind of shit that drives me crazy.  Games like the last few only serve to justify Baker's notion that all he has to do is xerox the lineup card, hand it in, grab a few butts on the way back to his perch in his cage, and chew on some seeds and sticks while the expensive guys blast away and strike out everyone.

This approach worked about 56% of the time last year, and is working 54% of the time this year.  Unfortunately, the Cardinal way of hitting, running, more hitting, more running, and sending out a bonafide closer at the end to nail things down is proving successful about 63% of the time, which beats the piss out of our 54.

I stand by the fact that I have no faith in Dusty Baker anymore.  He lucked out last year when the division was down, and if we didn't pick up Kenny Lofton to lead off and stir up shit, we would have ended up in third.  There is still a week left for Jim Hendry to do something.   If I were the king, I would have made a trade at the all-star break, before the Fowl had a chance to put the season away.  It is painfully obvious to one and all that a trade is needed to fix the chemistry, to bring someone else in from a down-trodden situation, who would APPRECIATE the crowds and the attention, not SHUN it like Hawkins, Alou, Baker, and, yes, even Sam-Me, who juss want sum loove.

At this point, I really don't care WHO or what Hendry trades for.  If the Cubs were a TV machine, I would smack it, real hard, hoping that I jar something loose, and it starts to work better.  Of course, I ain't no mechanic. 

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