I was trying to talk about aura, about what the poet laureate of Wrigley Field, Lou Piniella, has referred to as “Cubbie swagger.”
But Jim Edmonds was having none of it.
“We haven’t won anything yet,” the center fielder said Saturday morning. “Who was it last year, the Mets who had a really good team with two weeks left? But they didn’t win. So I think we just need to be careful that we pay attention to all the details, keep playing hard and take nothing for granted.
“I see the playoff schedule posted in the paper, and that stuff makes me nervous because you can’t take anything for granted. We have a great team. We have a really good team. We’re playing well, but we haven’t won yet.”
So if you’re looking for teaching moments, Saturday afternoon was one of them. The Cubs lost 5-2 to the Phillies, backing up Edmonds’ contention that, despite what it looks like, the Cubs’ big lead in the National League Central isn’t big enough to drive a Hummer through.
The fans at Wrigley seemed to grasp the lesson. They gave reliever Neal Cotts a fairly comprehensive booing after an awful eighth inning.
The other day, as Edmonds and first baseman Derrek Lee were sharing a car ride, they talked about the pitfalls a first-place team faces when the regular season is down to its last dying embers. The saga of the 2007 Mets, who blew a seven-game lead with 17 games left, was discussed in the way that cosmetic surgery gone terribly wrong might be discussed.
“I’ve played long enough to understand the game now,” Edmonds said. “I understand the situations that come up. I’ve seen it. I’ve been part of it. I saw it last year, as far as what happened with the Mets. When I was with Anaheim, we lost an 11-game lead in the middle of August [in 1995].
“There are plenty of reminders out there to keep you humble.”
But just in case the lessons are not on a computer chip embedded in the Cubs’ collective brain, Edmonds said he and Lee likely will offer a few words to teammates about no division lead being safe.
“Something will be said,” Edmonds said.
And something will be said about the Cubs’ blink of a playoff appearance last year, the three-game sweep by the Diamondbacks best characterized by the windup and slammed glove of pitcher Ted Lilly.
But … back to the aura thing.
There’s something about this Cubs team, isn’t there? It’s not dismissive of opponents, but it has a strong, unbending belief in self. No matter your feelings about the Cubs — whether you like them or prefer they be boiled in hot oil — you have to admit they’re a threat to win any ballgame, no matter how far behind.
That’s a product of a powerful offense, a pitching staff that keeps games close and a galloping case of belief. When you have won 39 games in which you trailed, tops in the majors along with the Yankees, you tend to believe in yourself.
Some stats for the numerically inclined:
*Going into Saturday’s game against Philadelphia, the Cubs’ bullpen had given up 8.21 hits per nine innings pitched this season, second lowest in the NL.
*The Cubs have hit 13 go-ahead home runs in the seventh inning or later this season. Aramis Ramirez has six of them.
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*They had a .282 batting average in “close-and-late” situations, defined as plate appearances with the team ahead by a run, tied or with the tying run on base, at bat or on deck in the seventh inning or later. You’re right: Some people are spending way too much time these days coming up with statistical categories.
But the point remains the same. Saturday notwithstanding, these Cubs rise to the occasion.
“Ours is a team that doesn’t give up,” Edmonds said. “We have a lot of things going for us when the game is on the line. But we have [26] games left. We’re six games up. Barring any problems, I think we’re going OK. But there are always problems. This last month isn’t just written in stone.”
The Cubs, who had a seven-game winning streak broken Saturday, have the best record in baseball. Are we not only seeing the emergence of a dominant team, but the air of invincibility that goes with it? Are the Cubs there yet?
“This team seems to respond to playing in a big game,” Edmonds said. “The good news is we come from behind. And we got a big test in Milwaukee and we responded to that [with a four-game sweep]. Stuff like that’s good.”
But?
“But we have to keep it going,” he said.
The very idea of “Cubbie swagger,” as Piniella visualized it upon being hired as manager in October 2006, isn’t so laughable anymore. The strut isn’t there, not physically at least, but the Cubs know they’re good.
Some of them don’t like talking about it much.
Underneath it all should be the belief that nothing can get in their way except themselves. Even if history might be plotting something fiendish.
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