Hire Jim Essian

The nice thing about being reminded of Lee Elia’s tirade this year is that it marks 25 years, and 25 has always been a good, round hearty slice of time to dissect. A 17-10 record to start the season is rarified air for the Cubs, when you take into account this past quarter-century.

I went to BB-Ref and ran a quick look at the last 25 Aprils (and in the case of the 2000 season, the additional 2 games played in a Tokyo March), and the numbers confirmed my suspicion–rarely have Cubs teams gotten off to such a fine start. Throwing out the 1995 season (when an ungodly .800 winning percentage is mitigated by the fact that the season was only 5 games old heading into May), the only team that had a better winning percentage in April than this year’s team is the 1985 Cubs, who began the season as defending National League East champs. Don’t worry–we’re not going to relive the agony of that June’s 13-game losing streak or when the entire goddamn starting rotation was on the DL at the same time at one point that season.

The only other two times that the Cubs had a .600 winning percentage in April were 2001 (15-9) and 1984 (12-8). Neither of these two teams had a better record than this year’s Cubs after 27 games (although the ill-fated ‘85 team was actually one game better, at 18-9), and both the ‘84 and ‘01 teams were good teams. The ‘84 team remains the most dominant of the bunch for now, and Don Baylor’s Cubs in 2001 were in one of the few pennant-contending teams that didn’t make the postseason since the repeated failures of the Durocher-Era Cubs. In the last 25 years, in fact, the ‘01 Cubs are joined by only the 1995 Cubs and the 2004 Cubs as the only legitimate post-Labor Day contenders that didn’t close the deal

One could call himself an optimist by pointing out that the Cubs have been pretty good at finishing. The reality, of course, is that they have basically been eliminated by Mid-August in a mind-numbing seventeen times in those twenty five years. Guh.

Of course you don’t need the W/L record to validate how well the Cubs have started this season. The season is long and, as far as we know, the Cubs may still be in a funk–Wednesday’s victory being only their second in the last seven days–but to finish the month with a 17-10 start is noteworthy. Contrasted with last year’s division winners–who, as it turns out, are the only playoff team in the last 25 years who didn’t finish April with a .500 or better record (10-14)–one can clearly identify a transformation that has taken place. Many of us talked about Lou having to “De-Dustify” the clubhouse–i.e. re-establish order and some level of accountability from the individual players–and the difference can be found in the two Aprils. It seems more and more improbable that Lou managed to steer last season’s team around in one season, and will consequently be more and more of a disappointment if they don’t improves on last year’s finish.

Of course it’s not just Lou. The Fukudome Effect seems to have taken root. Even in last night’s blowout, the Cubs refused to give in to the pitcher, and subsequently may have not only ended Derrick Turnbow’s career but practically drove the man into a nervous breakdown on the mound at Wrigley. Fukudome himself had earlier worked a full count when the Cubs were up 12-3 before looping an RBI single over second base off of Seth McClung.

Interestingly, the RBI was only Fukudome’s tenth on the season.

Doesn’t that seem amazing? Not only that Fukkake is on pace for only 6 home runs and 60 RBI, but that it doesn’t seem to signify a lack of production? Because it doesn’t. The guy seems to have a positive effect just by being in the lineup. To be truthful, it’s got me somewhat discombobulated as I struggle to define this guy’s value. I just know that they’re not 17-10 without him.

What I do know is that we may be seeing something unexpectedly special in Geovany Soto. Hyperbole? Perhaps. It is, after all, only now just May, and the kid’s still a rookie. But while we keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, he continues to beat the hell out of the baseball. Just last weekend, one could have been forgiven for thinking that the pitchers had caught up to the kid when Soto turned all Steve Balboni at the dish in Washington, and then–*BLAMMO*–he gets 11 bases and drives in 6 runs in the next two games. In my lifetime, Jody Davis–two time All-Star–was the best Cubs catcher. Not to take anything away from Jody, but it wouldn’t take much to overtake him. At this rate, should Soto continue to develop right before our eyes and really be a force, the comparisons will go back 6 decades to Gabby Hartnett.

Soriano comes off the DL and will presumably bat leadoff. I get easily annoyed by some of Soriano’s play–although I’m nowhere near the level of loathing for the guy that some people are–but this can only be a good thing. The best thing about how well the Cubs have played in Soriano’s absence is not that they proved that they can survive without him, but that he shouldn’t be a distraction when he returns.

Big Z goes up against the young prospect Gallardo for the rubber match later today. Mean Uncle Lee would be disappointed if you didn’t make it over for Desipio’s GameCastic “Playground For Cocksuckers”.