Pressed peanut sweepings

For the first time this season, two things happened:

(1) Carlos Marmol made an appearance in which he did not retire a batter. (He threw 20 pitches, seven for strikes, walking two and hitting two more. Then Scott Eyre gave up a grand slam, leading to Marmol being charged with four earned runs. Which you can't argue he didn't deserve. His ERA went from 2.09 to 2.93.) This is the first time Marmol has appeared without recording an out since May 27, 2007, when he came in against the Dodgers in the bottom of the 11th at Chavez Ravine with two on and no outs, intentionally walked Rafael Furcal, and then plunked Juan Pierre to end the game. (The run was charged to Angel Guzman.) This may not sound like a long time ago, but consider that it was Marmol's fourth appearance of 2007 after being called up, and just his tenth career major league relief appearance.

(2) The Cubs were swept by an opponent and lost three games against any opposition in a row. The 2007 Cubs already had a four-game losing streak by April 13, and by June 20 had three more three-game skids and a six-game losing streak, including their first three-game sweep of the year, the infamous Florida series at Wrigley Field where the Cubs had a players-only meeting before the series' third game and proceeded to lose 9-0. As it happened, the Cubs were only swept three times last year in series of three games or more; two of them were to the Marlins. (The third was at Houston in early August.)

For a confluence of reasons, I was unable to see any of the game last night. I watched the top of the first on Gamecast before I left work, then turned on WGN when I got into the car to drive over to Subway for a sandwich at 8:45. As if he was just waiting for me, Pat Hughes greeted my arrival to the radio broadcast with a description of the previous half-inning, which was the very one which had seen the Rays score seven runs to take an 8-3 lead, just after the Cubs had broken through to go up 3-1 in the top half. (Scott Eyre, fresh off having his streak of unscored-upon appearances broken, sucked no less hard than did Marmol, allowing the grand slam, then a triple, a run-scoring double, a sac fly, and another double before being pulled.)

When I heard the score, I turned off the radio in disgust, then ripped my Cubs cap - which I have been wearing everywhere this season, usually only taking it off when indoors - off my head and slammed it onto the passenger seat. When I went into Subway, I didn't even put it back on. But after I ate and drove across the street to CVS, I thought for a second and then returned the hat to my head. When you get right down to it, it's a mid-June series against a pretty good team; these Cubs don't get swept much, but it's kind of ridiculous to expect them to never get swept, or to never lose three games in a row. They were playing in an unfamiliar stadium against an unfamiliar team - in 2003, the Cubs took two of three from the then-Devil Rays in their only previous meeting, at Wrigley. (Tampa's manager that year, of course? Lou Piniella.) Those Rays lost 99 games. These Rays might win 90. And frankly, all three games could have gone either way - the Cubs had at least the tying run on base in the ninth inning in both of the first two games, and even though they lost by five runs last night, obviously that doesn't happen if Marmol doesn't have the worst appearance of his relief career. (This one might have been worse, statistically. But not by much. And considering the difference in stakes - look at the list of Cubs pitchers for that game! Do you think it was anything other than Dusty seeing what the farm had, at the end of a lost season? - this one has to be the worst. And just for posterity's sake, the worst appearance of his career, period, was probably this one. 8 walks!)

My basic point here is that I'm not as worried at this point as I might be. It's probably just as well that I didn't watch the game, because I think it's hard to sit through a seven-run inning and not just absolutely flip out. But really, I'm not that concerned. It's one game; it's one series. Every team, even the best ones, has moments like this. The 2001 Seattle Mariners - managed by, of course, Lou Piniella - won 116 games, and even they had a four-game losing streak in September, getting swept at Oakland. They even lost the middle game of that series 11-2. Shit, they even had that famous game where they led the Indians 12-0 after three and 14-2 after five, then allowed three in the seventh, four in the eighth, and five in the ninth to tie the game, and finally lost 15-14 in eleven innings. All five runs in the ninth scored with two outs! Can you imagine, as a Mariners fan, sitting through that game? (Probably similar to Rockies fans earlier this year, I'd imagine, only much, much worse.) And that team won 116 games that year. The A's went 102-60 and finished fourteen games out of first.

Yes, what happened to the Seattle Mariners in 2001 has no bearing on what's happening to the 2008 Chicago Cubs, whether or not the manager is the same. But my point is simply that June 20 is so early in the season. The Cubs have played 73 games; we won't reach the halfway point until next Saturday. And we still lead the NL in BA, OBP, ERA, and run differential. We still have the best record in the division (and the league) by 3.5 games. Ultimately, we still control our own destiny. And even if the series at Tampa is indicative of more than just a blip, there's plenty of time to right the ship. Remember, on June 20 last year we were 32-38 and eight games behind Milwaukee. Which position would you rather be in?

So now it's time for the two most annoying weekends of the year, made even more annoying than usual by the fact that the Sox are also in first place. Can we please just turn around and win all three? (For what it's worth, we haven't lost a home game since May 17, winning 11 straight.) Tell you what - I'll be generous and say I'll be satisfied with just taking two of three.