early trouble in Cubdom

*****Cubs Rant Alert, Cubs Rant Alert*****

Hey all. Well with spring training almost over and less than two weeks to go until Opening Day (my favorite holiday!) most baseball fans' thoughts turn to hope and optimism for the coming season. And then there are Cub fans....
You see Cub fans have an impressive, if albeit annoying, talent to panic and become despondent at the first, even small, sign of trouble ahead. And while everyone might just want to say "shut the hell up, the season hasn't even STARTED yet!"...and that's a valid point....its just our way. And maybe you would be too if your team had gone almost a century since last reaching its sport's pinnacle.
The early cause for alarm and reason to hide your loved one-Cubs fan's razor blades and/or prescription drugs is the health of the Cubs pitching staff. First strike-out machine Kerry Wood was sidelined with shoulder pain. Then young flame-throwing Mark Prior was benched with soreness and tightness in his pitching elbow (the same elbow that caused him to miss much of the start of last season). These two injuries alone are enough to send Wrigleyville into one giant, horrific mass suicide ritual. The Cubs will only go as far as Wood and Prior take them.
Now I will agree with those who will say "well what about 16 game winner Carlos Zambrano or future Hall-of-Famer Greg Maddux?" And that's a good point. Zambrano might be fairly called the real ace of the Cubs staff with what he did last season. And Maddux will be good for 15 wins...like he is every season. And the Cubs managed to make it far into the wild card chase without the services of aces Prior and Wood for much of the season....well until they folded like a cheap tent down the stretch. And were so childish about it they couldn't take even a dose of criticism from their always loyal tv announcers Chip Caray and Steve Stone...who I loved and were one of the main reasons I am a Cubs fan today (sorry, that's another rant for another day).
Ok..now the voice of reason and rationalism will peek through the mind of this hopeless Cubs fan. Wood and Prior are expected to be fine...even though you'd never know it watching ESPN or reading the Chicago papers. Wood should pitch tomorrow and be ready for the home opener at Wrigley. Prior should be right behind him in recovery and that first home series. I'm not really worried about them (though the Cubs basically lied about the extent of Prior's injury last year) But I think they'll be fine and I expect each to win between 16-20 games...they need to if there's any chance of beating those goddamn, bird fuckers in St. Louis.
My real concern is the recent injury to the Cubs expected closer Joe Borowski. He broke his pitching hand in game this week and is expected to miss 6 weeks (which means 10). Now the Cubs shaky at best bullpen is in total disarray...again. And all because the Cubs front office didn't go after a proven closer in the offseason. Now everyone has to switch spots and LaTroy Hawkins will have to close even though he's a much better set-up man. And that messes up the entire pitching staff, including the fifth starting spot which might have to go to awful Sergio Mitre.
But beyond the mess that Borowski's injury creates, this is a very disheartening story. Joe Borowski is a kind of blue collar baseball player that you just have to root for. He doesn't have great stuff like the rest of the Cubs staff. He bounced around baseball for years (the Cubs found him pitching in Mexico) until he came to Chicago and out of the blue (forgive the pun) closed 33 games for the NL Central Champs...one the of main reasons for the Cubs getting to within 5 outs of the World Series (sorry...was about to rant about that) It was a great story but it got even better. He was injured last year...he started the season but he had completely lost his fastball and couldn't get guys out. Then he missed the rest of the season. He rehabbed all winter, saying all the right things about just getting back and holding out hope. He got back into shape this spring and was pitching unbelievably. The Cubs coaches couldn't believe what they were seeing. His teammates including his rivals for the closer job were openly rooting for him to get it back. He pitched great in all the games...and then it was all over again. Now back to rehabbing...and after momentarily seeming to be downtrodden about his latest setback, he bounced back into saying all the right things.
And that bitter-sweet setback...more than the trouble it causes is why Cub fans in Chicago..and Northwest Ohio are on suicide watch in late March instead of when they normally should in late April. Well that and the prospect of Prior and Wood spending the summer watching the day games at Wrigley instead of playing in them. later!