Mark it down. Circle it on your calendar. April 25, 2005. The night Dusty Baker went from eccentric to just, plain dangerous. What transpired in the ninth inning of last night’s win over the Reds cannot be excused, justified or explained. If you’re Jim Hendry and you’re entrusting this man to be in charge of your pitchers, the supposed strength of the organization, what you saw last night was not just a fireable offense. It was more than that. It should have been career suicide.
Actually, more like career murder-suicide, since Dusty took Chad Fox out with him.
Dusty can try to explain it any way he wants, but it’s just another cloud of bullshit that he always tries to churn up and hide behind.
Last night, Dusty took a rag armed pitcher, one whom he’s acknowledged all year long needs to be handled with TLC and he threw him to the dogs. And then early on when the dogs had just knocked him down and were licking him, Dusty did nothing. Eventually the dogs ate the Fox. Then Dusty went out to check on the carcass.
The callous truth is that losing Chad Fox isn’t going to hurt the Cubs very much. He’s a mediocre pitcher who has shown moments of brilliance (like the 2003 NLCS for one), but mostly has done just what he did last night. Left games holding his arm and swearing. But the more lucid truth is that we’ve all wondered what the hell Dusty is doing with the handling of his pitchers. And now we’ve got a moment seared onto our brains of just what he’s capable of. I’m not saying it was malice. Dusty didn’t intend to let Chad Fox get hurt. No, it was sheer, unadulterated stupidity. And actually, that might be more dangerous.
Dusty claims he “had” to use Fox in the ninth, because he had him warming up with a four-run lead and even when Neifi went yard to give the Cubs a seven run lead there wasn’t enough time for anybody else to get warmed up.
That’s probably true. But why wasn’t the Ice Man, Jon Leicester warming up anyway? You were really going to make Fox throw a second straight day with a four run lead in the first place? If he’s supposedly your de facto closer, and you know he only has so many bullets left, why is he firing them in three and four run games? What if tonight and tomorrow’s games had reached the ninth with one run leads for the Cubs? Were you going to run Fox out there again?
And even if there wasn’t time to get Remlinger or Leicester ready to pitch when the ninth started, there certainly was after Fox showed he had nothing and walked two guys in front of Adam Dunn. But Dusty left him out there. Then Fox gave up a 900 foot homer to Dunn and Dusty still left him out there.
This might not be such a touchy issue, if the fact that whatever future these Cubs have wasn’t all tied up in their young pitching. But it is. If the Cubs are going to win anything in the forseeable future, it’s going to be because of the pitching. Kerry Wood’s a lost cause. His constant arm troubles could very well be a product of bad genes, his overzealous high school coach, or bad luck. But Mark Prior and Carlos Zambrano will only fail if they are the product of abuse. Carlos has no injury history, except for the weird, and troubling forearm cramps that apparently he wills away out of sheer stubbornness. Prior’s the one we all worry about. This isn’t just a good young pitcher. This is one of the best young pitchers in the history of baseball. This is a once in a lifetime pitcher, who when healthy is nearly unhittable. Keeping him healthy has to be the Cubs’ number one priority. Look, you can’t help it if he runs into Marcus Giles. But you can not let him pitch the rest of the inning. Which, Dusty did. You can say the trainer told him it was OK, but Dusty’s the final say. You can’t help it if his Achilles’ flares up, but you can help riding him like a donkey anyway.
All Dusty did last night was take the scissors to whatever thread-thin amount of confidence anybody had left in him. Even had Fox survived the ninth inning with his elbow intact, it wouldn’t have changed the fact Dusty left him out there to die. You just can’t have anybody that dumb making decisions anymore. You can’t.
Speaking of dumb, just how daft do you have to be to find out that Corey Patterson is crapping his pants in the clubhouse with the flu and decide that, “Hey, this would be a good time to use Jose Macias?”
If I handed you a lineup card and told you that Corey was sick and that the wind was blowing straight out at 25 miles an hour, I suspect that your lineup would look like this.
2b Hairston
ss Neifi
1b D. Lee
3b E-ramis
cf Jeromy
lf Dubois
rf Hollandsworth
c Barrett
p Prior
No, not Dusty. Nah, he plays Jerry in center so that he can find a spot for Jose! Brilliant. Way to sacrifice offense and defense in one fell swoop.
Not to pile on Dusty, but like I pointed out on the message board, Remlinger was warm as baby’s milk in the 8th inning.
Just don’t expect to read about it. According to the writers, Remlinger wasn’t up until Fox got hurt.
Also, according to the writers, the Chicken Tetrazzini was to die for.
Don’t use Fox on consecutive days because there was a big lead? That’s stupid. A guy with a rebuilt arm needs to prove he can pitch on back-2-back days. By all means, let’s find out if he can do so in a 1 run game and not a 7 run game.
Chad’s arm was going to melt down, regardless. Finding that out ina blowout as opposed to a close game save the team a win.
Yes, Dusty left him out too long. But using him last night was the right thing to do.
What’s next for the Desipidots? CF47 patches?
Your article on Kerry Wood was interesting. It started with Wood and rotator cuff problems, who hasnt been the same since Baker drove him in the ground in 2003. I still blame the injury’s to Wood and Prior in 2004 to their overuse in 2003. Then on to Carlos’ blister (he was shaking his hand for an inning or two), then Borowski and his broken wrist, (no fault of Baker)and finally Angel Guzman and his bad arm (who the toothpick had in the spring, its somehow his fault). Now Fox, which is clearly Dusty’s fault! Not to mention the fact he tried Latroy as a closer, doesnt use Wuertz the way he should, brings Rem in against Walker (who owned him in his career). Im sure there are more! To sum it up, Baker cannot handle a pitching staff!!!! I wont even go into the offense, I dont have time!
“Remlinger was warm as baby’s milk in the 8th inning.”
– He was? I didn’t see him get up at all. Bartosh got torched in the 7th, Wuretz warmed up & bailed him out, then LaTroy took the 8th to himself. Fox was the only one who warmed up for the 9th.
With Dusty we Busty!
Chuck, you ignorant slut.
“Using him last night was the right thing to do?”
Why, because he needs to prove to you that he can throw on successive days? Whether or not his arm was going to fall off anyway, they left him out there with nothing. After he gave up the homer to Dunn there was no reason to make him keep throwing. Chad was laboring.
Plus, you’ve got a guy in that bullpen who you’ve used once since April 11. That was the time to get Leicester some work.
By your logic they should have just run Fox out like a lab rat and seen if he could throw every day, then once his arm blew they could say, “Well, I guess he could only go 17 days in a row.”
if Fox’s arm was going to fall off we should have known before he was named “the” closer…we should have known in spring training…what is hendry waiting for to go for Dotel????????????????????????????
Chuck’s right! Tonight I’m going to see how I do starting two games in a row!
If you look back to the Pittsburgh series at Pittsburgh, Fox throw in all three games. Now it was 1/3 of an inning on one or two occassions, however being put in a game requires warming up. So he throw in back to back to back days. I am surprised it didn’t happen sooner. Dusty deserves all the shit for this one.
Dont forget the Astros let me go for a reason, I went from great setup man to shaky closer, sound familiar!?!?!?
relax, I might start rehab next week at AAA, I will return to form!!
I don’t know what to tell you, JG, other than you’re simply mistaken. The reason I remember Remlinger warming up is because he warmed up for so long, he looked like he was sick of it.
And Pat Hughes evidently backed up my lucid observation when he intoned that Remlinger was “back up, getting ready again”
Sorry you missed it.
this team is so weak…an injury here or there is the end of the season…
and all this because the higher-ups are pissed of having to pay Sosa’s salary and won’t put more money into the ball club.
we shouldn’t have to be depending on guys that are bordeline triple A players…every night the lineup looks like a spring training split squad.
Another thing to consider with Fox was that his pitch count was around 30 or so for the third of an inning he pitched. I don’t have any numbers to back me up, but isn’t 30 pitches the equivalent to 2 average innings?
truth is even if you take Sosa out of last year’s team, the 2004 cubs were a better team than the 2005 cubs…last year’s club had a lot more depth
If you take away what we are paying for Sosa, our payroll is about 14 million shy of last seasons, we are around 6th in team payroll not 1st like we like to say. It really shows, but maybe no one will notice as long as Dusty keeps distracting them with his dumbass moves.
truth is: pitching staff is weaker this year without clement and the farns,
hitting is weaker without alou and sosa..
I AGREED with letting them go…but WHO is supposed to do their jobs? what did we get in return?
hairston,macias,dumpster,fontenot,fox,cedeno…
TEAM IS WEAK, VERY WEAK…
really feel for you guys, cubbies can’t catch a break. nobody saying much about cedric benson, so i’ll give my home state take…he blows. give him a tulane D and he’ll prance for 300 yards but put a halfway decent D to go against him and he’ll get you a yard per carry. he’s completely gutless, i hope you guys weren’t happy with the pick.
Oh, absolutely, Voice of a fan, the Cubs should go after me right away! I’m not overrated at all…that 3.69 ERA that I posted last year, that was the abberation, not the 1.85 2002 ERA I posted.
What? My career ERA is 3.60? I blew 9 saves last year, the same number as a certain Cubs reliever named LaTroy? 6 of them in the last half of the season? No way!
Don’t call yourself shaky. We could use a closer with four saves and a 1.23 ERA. That .160 BAA looks nice too.
One of the things we’ve been trained to believe about Dusty is that he somehow detects the right vibe and manages by gut instinct a lot more than percentages.
Apparently he was wearing the vibe-blockers last night, because I can just about guarantee all of us thought the following:
— All right, another Neifi Perez home run…time to play the lottery!
— 10-3 lead in the 9th…no problem…I guess Sling Blade will finish this up.
— What’s this? Chad Fox? I thought he had Tommy John Disease which means he can only pitch one day in a row.
— Nice walk…how about a double play?
— OK, two walks…where’s Larry Rothchild?
— Oh $&!@, Adam Dunn.
— Did that just hit a house?
— 10-6…where the hell is Remlinger?
— Pop out…finish this up, my pudding is getting warm.
— Is he on a pitch count of like, 100?
— Someone needs to pop that shoulder back into place, right now…
How can it be that thousands of people see all of this coming and the one guy who needs to see it doesn’t…This is like “The Sixth Sense,” but in reverse…
Sporting News Geek Brendan Roberts borrowed Borowski’s appointed nickname. But he did show some taste in eschewing the very ill-attempted “LaBlow” in favor of his own lame concoction.
“Joe Borowski: The closer job can be had, but we can’t assure you Sweaty Joe will be any better than LaChoy.”
My favorite Dusty Quote,
“There’s nothing wrong with him, he just has a little tendinitis.”–Dusty Baker.
This is the kind of shit that drives me crazy.
First of all, since when is he a medical authority,
Second of all, how is that not something wrong.
“A little tendinitis” (which in fact is his bursitis acting up again, and has other complications with his rotator cuff) is the kind of thing that if not handled with extreme caution can get much worse, and quickly, and could easily put him out for the season.
You can’t deal with a problem if you don’t admit that there is a problem.
It’s painfully obvious (literally) that Wood is not healthy, he may never be fully healthy anytime soon. If we’re careful, and a little lucky, he can still help out alot this season. But not with this denial and abuse approach.
Dusty please, I’m begging you, Don’t force him to be a horse right now, or you’ll end up making him and yourself look like asses.
Oh, but wait, he has a solution.
“Let’s rest Wood one more day, and use Prior one day early.”
That ought to do the trick.
It’s like saying my credit card is maxed out, so I’ll use it tomorrow, today I’ll use the other one that is almost maxed out.
Perfect!
Dumbass…
Wow, I knew that when I was pathetically tracking the game on mlb.com’s Gameday and saw that Dusty decided to throw Fox out there that something terrible would this way come. It’s second nature for Dusty to be the dumbest guy on the bench, even when The Farns was around (need I not remind everyone that if Dumb was state, Farnsworth would be the capitol).
I just don’t get his infatuation with Macias, either. I think that they may have some sort of man love on the side. Nasty…
Last night was a perfect night for Dubois to get his shot at a righty. Hurricane force winds blowing out to center and dusty goes with the complex, multitalents of the league’s most mediocre baserunner–Macias. Good grief (I think Charlie Brown was a Cubs fan…it only makes perfect sense). At least we won and put our heads above water.
I’m getting a big kick out of this whole thing…you guys are fucking hilarious
Oh no, where are we going to find a closer…help us…boo hoo.
You guys crack me up.
Hey Mojo, to answer your question, Dusty was talking with me during the top of the ninth.
Dolan,
You couldn’t have pointed out Dusty’s fuckup any better then that!
Boy am I surprised though by all this Dusty bashing and piling on poor old pitcher killer himself?
Finally after Dumby Dusty ruins what was left of the carcass of Chad Fox, everybody wakes up and disowns the guy. Jim Hendry needs to have a serious one on one with this dumbass. He needs to let ignorant Bake know that if he fucks up one more time as blantantly as he did last night, that he will personally tighten that rope around Dusty’s neck and hang the bastard.
It should have never came down to that if Baker wasn’t so damn stubborn and selfish with his managerial ego. Wuertz should have been summoned as the closer days before this. But no, no, no, we have to wait until someone gets hurt.
Ice Man should have been pitching last night, but he’s in Dusty’s dog house. So we have to not only lose games, but also pitchers.
He’ll go with another rag arm Remlinger as the closer now. Hopefully that piece of shit gets hurt as well. Then maybe Dumby Dusty will finally have to go with one of the young guys(Wuertz) as the closer.
FDF=Fuck Dusty Forever
Baker Basher
You nailed it in the Dose.
Dusty has to go.
Macias sucks, Hollandsworth is a better pinch hitter, Dubois could possibly make up some of the power that is missing. Hell, how many times this season has Macias pinch hit when they needed a big hit, if your not going to start Dubois at least let him pinch hit over Macias. Hollandsworth would look good coming up in those situations, instead he’s showing that he is at best, a 4th outfielder. How much you want to bet that next time we need a closer, Hawkins will come in? Im sure Baker will burn up Wuertz early in that game and say he had no choice. As far as last night goes, saying that there was no one ready to pitch the ninth and he had to go with Fox, why not go out to the mound and stall? Maybe fake an injury? Anything but just leave a guy out there, after arm surgery no less, to pitch until his arm snaps. Im starting to believe that Baker IS managing this way so he can be fired. No major league manager can be this dumb!
“No major league manager can be this dumb!”
We beg to differ.
Before axing Dusty, you may want to consider the alternatives.
I have decided that when I finish rehab, I will stay with the Cubs. My elbow however, will pitch for the Newark Bears until Dusty the Hurler Killer leaves.
Did someone say alternatives to Dusty?
I think they did Bob.
I know how to handle a pitching staff.
Can’t have no Dubois pinch hit, bro. He’s a rookie. I can’t be puttin’ no rookie in a situation to succeed, cuz he might fail. Look dudes, everything is cool like Miles Davis.
Dont worry we took over teams that were done for and did all right. There’s still hope.
Yeah we did, and keep in mind that I am severly retarded.
Im back to help complete the Cubs all lefty bullpen. Now we just have to get rid of a couple of more guys. This is a brilliant scheme like one Tony the genius might come up with.
Voice of a Fan thinks the Cubs should have an all-star at every position. This team looks like a ST split squad? Who?
They’re weak?
Yea, too bad we don’t still have these guys:
Farnsworth (on the DL)
Moist-hands Alou (on the DL)
Mercker (mulleted shit-stirrer)
Sam-Me
at least this team is likable and Octavio Dotel is overrated out the ass and not worth the prospects it would take to pry him away from Billy Beane.
Dusty does look brain-dead sometimes, but do you want Don Baylor back?
Geez… don’t be a dumby (as baker basher would say)
FDF=Shut the fuck up
::After he gave up the homer to Dunn there was no reason to make him keep throwing. Chad was laboring.::
That’s true.
::By your logic they should have just run Fox out like a lab rat and seen if he could throw every day::
That’s false. You don’t generally use closers more than 2 consecutive days. That said, using a closer 3 times in 4 days is failry common. To see if he could handle that and testing such in a blowout game is smart.
Check out this mornings fantasy 411 on MLB radio.
They went off on Dusty for the 2nd 1/2 of the show.
Especially that no-out man on 2nd bunt by Neifi with D-Lee, E-Ramis and Bjork-nuts on deck.
it’s not just Cub fans who are letting him have it.
Thought for sure I’d be boardin’ the Greyhound in Des Moines right about now.
Ohman? WTF? How many lefties do you need?
That Neifi bunt was horrible. I thought Nosepicker Baylor had returned to the Cubs’ dugout.
Even if Neifi was his usual bad-hitting self, you let him hit and see if he can’t pull it through the right side. Hairston the Lesser was on second, so there was no risk of a DP.
Just dumb.
Dusty…He Gone!
Whether this was intended to be a Chad Fox stress test or not, the fact is it looked like complete incompetence, and there’s nothing, no way it can be explained away. Sometimes good intentions can be horribly misconstrued.
And that’s only IF you give Baker the benefit of the doubt, which I surely do NOT!
I was bunting for a hit, bitches!
At least Macias didn’t have to worry about Dubois pinch-hitting for him.
I took my SECOND walk of the season yesterday. I waited til the end of June to take my first one last year! So, can I be a starter now?
Andy Pratt pitched 6 shutout innings against our Iowa Cubs! Only two walks.
Reading today’s comments, you really have to wonder how long can Dusty Baker exist in the Cubs’ organization. Jim Hendry has to ask himself why he has let this moran run this team for as long as he has.
What are these other puppets like Larry Rothchild and Dick Pole doing while Dusty continues to make an ass out of himself with these dumb and dumber moves? Do these guys question any of these moves? That whole coaching staff is a fucking joke. I’d say the only one worth a shit might be Speier. Give him time around Dusty and he’s a stringed up puppet too.
It’s like last year with Wendell Kim. That little fucking midget should have been fired early in the season and been told to go join the circus as a ringmaster. But Dusty sucked his little pecker and Wavin Wendell put his all through hell.
Right now, I’d fire the whole coaching staff and put Speier as interium manager. Then Hendry should go out and find some intelligent individuals with common sense to manage this team. This coaching staff the way it is now is just pathetic. Anybody that can be lead around by Baker has got to be an idiot with no sense.
Baker Basher
Baker Basher
Dick Jagger says “at least this team is likable”.
I tought we got rid of this “likable” and “lovable losers” stuff 2 years ago when we started winning some games. I don’t want to go back to the good ole “64-98” days.
I was glad we got rid of sosa,alou,farns,etc
PROBLEM IS: WE GOT NOTHING IN RETURN!!!!!
And now we have to depend on Macias,Hairston, Blanco,Dumpster, etc
Everybody knew we needed a closer after the Met series last year…what did they do? NOTHING
Everybody knew that we would miss 40+ HR with Alou and sosa…what did they do? …..uhm Burnitz.
Management saved some bucs, and the team went back to the good ole days.
LIKABLE?——————–What’s there to like??????
Me.
Likable? They’re not even lickable.
Tell my wife I died a hero.
I’m pretty fucking bad, no?
is Baker Basher? I can’t believe it’s taking this long for him to come on here and write some rambling, bitchy post.
Likable or hatable? Last year’s team was impossible to like, impossible to get behind and the whiniest bunch of malcontents i’ve ever had to try and root for. Moises & Sammy, or Burnitz & Hairston? I choose Burnitz & Jerry anyday. They’re TEAM players, who put forth defensive effort and have their heads in the game.
What’s to like? I don’t have to ever watch Sam-Me again. I don’t have to see him and his ass-in-the-dugout stance swing for Waveland, regardless of the situation. I don’t have to watch Moises argue like a bitch on a check-swing strikeout and get ejected from the game, then say the umpires are conspiring against him.
Closer’s are wonderful, but it’s not like there were any great closers out there, and the “proven” closers who were got over-paid and have already blown games this year. Look at Kolb, sucking major ass in Atlanta! What if Hendry gave away Pie and Guzman for him?… right now, you, me and everyone else would be calling for Hendry’s head.
Dick Jagger: I AGREE with you…I hated Sam-Me, Alou and all the whining, I’m glad they left, I don’t want them back.
The problem is we got NOTHING in return.
2003 & 2004 were better clubs…I think management, with the excuse of the bad attitude last year, saw an opportunity to save some bucks.
After last year’s fiasco, CHEMISTRY is first, a Winner is second.
I think we can have both……but not with this club, this club won’t win.
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