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The roles–and rolls–have reversed. The tables–those not theatrically destroyed by Sammy Sosa–have turned. The southbound team from the North Side is about to visit the northbound team on the South Side.
Don’t look now, White Sox fans, but turnabout could be unfair play.
One year ago the Sox slipped into Wrigley Field two games under .500 and 10 out of first. The Cubs, just two games out at 32-24, were flying higher than a night-game fan after his eighth or 10th beer.
The wise old Cubs had won the wild card the year before and had roughed up Randy Johnson the game before. Get up for three against the “kids can play” Sox? Please–it was only June 11.
But Sox manager Jerry Manuel had learned his lesson about Cubs-Sox the season before, his first in Chicago: “You don’t realize the magnitude of it. Maybe not so much between the players, but between the fans. They’re so close to you at Wrigley the intensity is overwhelming.”
So, like a college football coach pointing to the rivalry game he must win to placate frustrated alums, Manuel juggled his rotation so the Cubs would face his best pitchers. Sensing the focus, Manuel’s players might as well have burst from the dugout through a “Drub the Cubs” sign held by cheerleaders. I’ll never forget leadoff man Ray Durham actually running from the on-deck circle to home plate, then smoking a single that nearly took off Steve Trachsel’s left earlobe.
It was like watching Ohio State beat Michigan 48-6. The Sox pitched, hit and ran the Cubs off their own field. In three days the Cubs went from “veteran” to “over the hill.” Those three losses began a June swoon that in some ways still hasn’t ended. Since then the Cubs are 46 games under .500 at 60-106. That’s beyond-Cubs futility.
“Those three were the beginning of the end,” says Cubs President Andy MacPhail. “Ed (GM Lynch) patched together a pretty good team in ’98 that had a shelf life of a year and a third.”
For Manuel, those three were the beginning of a trend: “That’s when you knew you really had something. Unfortunately, that team wasn’t able to maintain that intensity, but you saw the potential.”
Now that potential is blooming like Chicago in June. The 36-23 Sox have the American League’s best record. But for Manuel, managing a first-place team still a little wet behind the earphones might fall into the category of “be careful what you wish for.”
The other day in Cincinnati, Manuel skipped a tee time because he was “just too worn out mentally from the night before. It seems like every night is a big game. Every game is pressure-packed.”
Kidded that there’s still a long way to go, Manuel sighed and said, “It feels like we’ve already played 162.”
Obviously, Manuel hasn’t rigged his rotation for the Cubs. Heck, the Cubs appear to be his one reprieve in a murderer’s row of 38 games–22 against the Yankees or Cleveland and 22 on the road.
“I can’t worry too much about the Cubs,” Manuel said. “Next we have Cleveland-New York [away], Cleveland-New York [home]. It’s a killer stretch.”
Don’t look now, Sox fans, but the no-good Cubs just swept the first-place Diamondbacks just as they swept the first-place Braves in April. The Cubs still have a few proud, talented players who tend to perform better against the best.
Just as Manuel and Frank Thomas cleared the electrified air between them during spring training, Don Baylor and Sammy Sosa just got things off their flexed chests. Like Thomas, Sosa got what he wanted and needed, a good father-son talking to. Perhaps Sosa will swallow some blinding, idol-worshipped pride, heed his manager’s wisdom and respond as Thomas has. Beginning back in Sammy’s old stomping grounds?
Don’t look now, but Lynch’s early-season contention might be proving true: “If all our starters are healthy, we’ll have the best rotation in our division.”
Don’t look: Jon Leiber Friday night. Kerry Wood Saturday. Ismael Valdes Sunday. Blue Monday? And I don’t mean Vida.
Manuel remains concerned about how his team would handle “getting knocked off its pedestal. Would it be able to get back up?”
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No team can knock the Sox on their duffs with the G-force their cross-town rivals can. These Cubs know many of them could be traded. They have no reason to pace themselves. Sending the Sox into a tailspin could be the highlight of their season.
Look out below.