I just realized that I began this blog with lovely intentions, but like Nomar, this season never really got started for it. That said, the St. Louis series brings all us crazies out of the woodwork, so the first multi-game series was bound to wake us up.

A few thoughts:

1. The St. Louis series brought to even greater light some of the Cubs' mental weaknesses this season. Sure, they won, but barely...and they also barely lost the sweep. Even so, sometimes "success" allows one to view the mistakes without bawling too much about them.
Neifi saved Dusty Baker last night, pure and simple. Watching Baker vs. LaRussa this series highlighted Baker's status as a good, but not great, manager. He has the potential for greatness as a manager, but early success may have tempered criticisms that could have pushed him into greatness, and we're now seeing the results. I've never believed that LaRussa is a great manager, at least in the same league as Whitey Herzog, Sparky Anderson, Earl Weaver (well...), even Joe Torre. LaRussa is among the best managers in the game today, no doubt about it, but thoughts on greatness will probably only come at the end of what will no doubt be rightly seen as a long and fruitful career. However, despite the series victory by the Cubs, watching LaRussa vs. Baker highlighted a few of Dusty's weakenesses. First, Dusty's known far and wide for his distaste for the suicide squeeze. I can understand why, considering it beat him and cost this season's best pitcher a well-earned win against the best team in the NL. "But that happened in the 11th...Zambrano wasn't the pitcher of record!", you insist. However, look at what happened: With 1 out, your speedy lead-off hitter hits a triple. Fast guy on 3rd, veteran hitter with solid mechanics at bat (albeit a left-handed bat, not the greatest for a squeeze). When Walker grounded out without scoring Hairston, the Cubs all but lost the game. Baker knew that whatever happened, Lee would be walked, thus setting up the easy force-out. Was the suicide squeeze the best thing that could have happened? Of course not...but the unwillingness to think that way took the Cubs' best chance for scoring the run they needed.
Later on in Sunday's game, Baker seemed to have learned his lesson, but applied it in a different situation. With Walker on 2nd and no one out, Lee got the obvious IW. 2 on, no one out, with two sluggers coming up...and Burnitz lays down a sacrifice bunt, thrilling Joe Morgan but leaving the Cubs in an obvious "ground-out for the double play" situation after Ramirez was IW'd. Again, it was a nice thought but played right into LaRussa's plan, which would have worked most of the time. Luckily Neifi saved the team, leaving us happy (if a bit puzzled).
I generally think Baker's done many things very well, and I'm not on the bandwagon of constantly second-guessing. MOST managers probably would have done the same things he did in those situations...my point here is that even in losing, LaRussa must be given his due as having made the best calls in the series, even if they (against odds) backfired. Unfortunately, sometimes it seems as if LaRussa is managing many of the teams the Cubs have played.

2. Now that I've been horribly mean, it's time to reverse field. Kudos to Baker for leaving Zambrano in for all 9 innings and showing confidence in Williams the next night. As inconsistent as the bullpen has been, perhaps he felt no choice, but trusting those guys to stay strong as long as they did in the St. Louis birth canal atmosphere may have been bigger than it seemed at the time. Also, even though he's probably getting criticized for it elsewhere, I feel Dusty's made the right call to keep going with Hollandsworth most of the time for the time being. While Jo-dee, Jo-DEE and Murton are and will be exciting to watch, keeping a veteran player out there in the Cincinnati and St. Louis atmospheres, what with the heat and currently heavy schedule, probably kept the younger players fresh and more valuable for filling in at all positions in the outfield during this busy stretch. Perhaps Baker's reputation for not using young players is just manifesting itself as true, but I think that in this case, he's probably doing the prudent thing.

3. The rumor mill has been strangely and suspiciously quiet about the Cubs. All that's really been floated lately (that I've seen, anyway) are stories on Mike Cameron, Austin Kearns, and Adam Dunn, but none of the stories seemed to be much more than speculation on availability vs. Cubs needs. Most commentators, in fact, keep talking about how the Cubs are "on the bubble" and waiting to find out if they're really playoff contenders or not. Yes, every win is worth just as much as any other win, be it against the Cardinals or the Giants, but having nearly swept the Cardinals and remaining within clawing distance of the Wild Card, the Cubs can look at themselves a few days before the trading deadline and truthfully admit that yes, they do have a chance. While obviously no one wants to see Hendry do something moronic, perhaps a small deal (bigger than Jo-DEE for Dubois), a "token deal," if you will, might show the players that management does indeed believe in them, and did at least *something* to help them succeed. Again, we don't want to see something pointless or potentially harmful, but snagging that outfield bat or solid reliever could help the Cubs just as much in the head as it would on the field.

Have fun disagreeing with me. You're probably definitely right.