Chicago Sun-Times
June 23, 2008
A rainbow over Wrigley before the game. (Tom Cruze/Sun-Times)
Only at Wrigley Field can the sun shine during a downpour, leaving a massive rainbow cascading over right field Sunday evening. Obviously, the pretty backdrop wasn't conducive to a rumble. The White Sox tried their damndest to provoke ill will all weekend, acting like mannerless rubes bent on insulting and tweaking Cubdom every way possible.
But the silly onslaught of South Side verbal exhaust - A.J. Pierzynski referred to Cubs fans as "idiots," John Danks claimed Wrigley reeks of urine, Ozzie Guillen said the shrine is infested with rats and dissed Jim Edmonds - didn't result in any on-field mayhem in the finale of the Crossdown Showdown, Act One. In fact, all it did was further shame the Sox, who managed more cheap shots than runs in a three-game no-show that exposed their vulnerabilities as serious contenders.
"We really stink," Guillen said after the 7-1 loss, the Sox' ninth in a row on the road. "They kicked our butt, and a loss is a loss no matter who you lose against. They played better than we did. They performed better. They hit better, pitched better. Not a lot you can say."
Then please be quiet.
If anybody needed nose plugs over the weekend, it was a Sox fan. That's because the Cubs are more into winning ballgames than seeking retribution, a byproduct of Lou Piniella being a much cooler and, yes, much better manager than the whirlybird in the other dugout. The biggest mistake people make is lumping in Piniella with Guillen on the volatility meter. Unlike the Blizzard of Oz, who is a 24/7 pinball capable of throwing a tirade or quitting his job at any time, Lou has mellowed more than a bit at 64. There was the dust-up with the umpire last year, sure, and he has had a few snippy moments with local writers. But to compare him to Guillen, as the national media instinctively tend to do, simply is inaccurate and unfair.
Ryan Dempster kept the Sox hitters at bay through eight innings of work to pick up the win. (Tom Cruze/Sun-Times)
Somebody asked Piniella what he thought of the open fire from the other camp. Ever so wisely, he downplayed it. "All I concern myself with is the Chicago Cubs. Nothing more, nothing less," he said. "That's my job, that's what I do.
"Put it this way: I've only been in town a year and a half, and I certainly enjoy the competition against the White Sox, but I don't go crazy over it. I respect their team and respect their organization, but I just do what's best for the Chicago Cubs in my mind. I'll let it go at that. That's all I can do."
Which helps explain why the Cubs looked so efficient and relaxed in continuing their home dominance, finishing the sweep behind Ryan Dempster's latest All-Star-bid gem. There was a potential flashpoint in the fifth inning, when Sox starter Javier Vazquez plunked Kosuke Fukudome above the right elbow with none out. How did the Cubs respond? With lumber, not fists. Eric Patterson used the national TV showcase to drop his first major-league home run into the basket in right-center, a shot followed by smokin' Aramis Ramirez's fourth homer of the series. Like that, the Cubs had a 5-0 lead, and it was plainly obvious which team is the best in town, if it wasn't already.
Rowdy? Piniella doesn't do rowdy when his team has baseball's best record and the Sox are reeling. "It might get rowdy out in the stands, but not on the field," he said. "We're just going to go play a baseball game. What are we on, ESPN tonight? I don't see any reason why it should be rowdy or anything else. We're just gonna play as well as we can against a good White Sox team. This is a game on our schedule. It so happens both teams are from Chicago, and the fans really get into it and the media really get into it. It makes for a good story and good copy. But let's be perfectly honest: It's one game."
Aramis Ramirez passes A.J. Pierzynski and points skyward after his solo HR. Ramirez belted four homers during the three-game series. (Tom Cruze/Sun-Times)
Piniella and his players knew what was being said by the Sox. They responded the honorable way, on the field, as they should. Besides, other than Guillen's unnecessary ho-humming of Edmonds, the slights had to do with the ballpark and the fans and not the Cubs themselves. Guillen described Wrigley as a rat-infested hellhole: "The rats look bigger than a pig out there. You want to take a look? I think the rats out there are lifting weights." Pierzynski, in a rockheaded remark, ignored the socioeconomic transformation of Cubdom over the last 30 years when he said of Wrigley fans, "They're idiots. It's like what Lee Elia said: 'Eighty-five percent of the people work, the other [bleeps] come out here.'"
Danks, kid pitcher, brought nose plugs to Wrigley. "Try not to smell all the urine over there ... That place is a [bleep] hole," he said. And general manager Ken Williams, forgetting a 2005 suggestion by Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf that "the time has come for everybody to root for both teams," dumped on the Cubs and their 100-year drought, saying, "You might as well build a border, a Great Wall of China on Madison, because we are so different. We might as well be in two different cities. The unfortunate thing for me is it's a shame a certain segment of Chicago refused to enjoy a baseball championship being brought to their city. The only thing I can say is, 'Happy anniversary.'" He added that he would "really, really have to need the job," to ever work for the Cubs.
How small and foolish do the Sox look today?
Might they possibly do the city a favor and shut up as they feebly try to stay in first place?
Ozzie Guillen and catcher AJ Pierzynski confer at the mound with pitcher Javier Vazquez in the first inning. (Tom Cruze/Sun-Times)
Not Guillen. Never Guillen. In mentioning the rats, he thinks he's helping the Cubs get a new ballpark built, not understanding that the bleachers area he targeted will be preserved - thankfully - in any future Wrigley rehab job. "I talked to [Cubs general manager Jim Hendry], and he said the best quote was about the rats lifting weights," said Guillen, who should be trying to win a Manager of the Year award and not the Best Quote Contest. "Meanwhile, I helped them to build a new ballpark. They should thank me every day I say something about this ballpark, because hopefully we can come with a new ballpark in the city."
Piniella, who loves Wrigley, defended the old joint. "It's fine. It's small. It's an old park, and you're not going to have as spacious or luxurious accommodations as other stadiums," he said. "But I'll be honest - I think quaintness in a clubhouse keeps a team together. You get too big, you get too modern, you get too spaced out, and you lose that closeness in the clubhouse. Our clubhouse here is fine. Are training rooms bigger somewhere else? Are weight rooms better equipped? Yes. What can you do? It's better than some clubhouses where you don't see your players or see your coaches," he said. "You have to walk half a mile to see your trainer."
Guess who almost fell over upon hearing that? "God Bless, Lou Piniella," Guillen said. "I can't believe he said that."
I can. Lou Piniella is a smart, mature man. I'll let it go at that.
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