Only spring, but losses starting to grate on Piniella
By Paul Sullivan
MESA, Ariz. — There may be no such thing as a must-win game before St. Patrick's Day, but Monday's game against the Royals may be the next-closest thing for the Cubs.
After starting 4-0 in the Cactus League, the Cubs have lost six straight and eight of nine, looking more like an expansion club than one with a $140 million payroll.
Sunday's 7-2 loss to the Rangers precipitated manager Lou Piniella's first tremor of the 2009 season, a minor quake that rattled windows but caused no severe damage.
"Look, spring training wins and losses don't mean anything," Piniella said. "But you don't want to get in the habit of getting your [butts] kicked every day either. That I can tell you, and that's exactly what's happening here."
Piniella was getting a little antsy Saturday about the lack of hitting from his regulars, leading to rumors Sunday that he was about to blow up. He said after Sunday's game he was "getting real close" to talking to the team.
"You can start creating good habits in spring training; you can start creating bad habits in spring training," Piniella said. "Certainly our objective is not to win the Cactus League, but you'd like to come back with a smile every once in a while as opposed to [saying], 'We need to do this, we need to do that.' That's all."
What's bugging him? Alfonso Soriano, Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez have combined for two home runs and four extra-base hits in 54 at-bats, and bullpen candidates Luis Vizcaino and Kevin Hart imploded Sunday.
Now that Piniella has voiced his displeasure, his players are well aware of what's at stake.
"You look at September for us, and it was kind of a similar feeling," outfielder Reed Johnson said. "You have that attitude where the division is clinched up and you're not playing with the same intensity you can normally play with in the regular season.
"We don't want to carry any bad habits into the season. We want to get off to a good start. Everybody continues to talk about October, but we've got to make the playoffs before we can figure out if we can win the playoffs. We need to start playing better."
Waiting for Piniella's opening rant has become a Cubs spring tradition. Two years ago, during the first week of Cactus League games, Piniella called a team meeting to tell the players he wasn't satisfied with what he'd seen.
"We've got some work to do," Piniella said then. "This is no push-button operation, I can tell you that. I'm beginning to find that out."
Last spring, Piniella was upset with the way the pitchers were performing. He threatened to take over the scheduling of pitchers from Larry Rothschild.
"You've got to get into a rhythm," he said then, "get into the habit of winning baseball games, holding leads, so you feel you can do that comfortably when the season starts."
Before this spring's games began, Piniella warned that the players had to pace themselves because of the longer spring. Perhaps they are pacing themselves too much?
"I don't know," he replied. "We take it easy on our regulars, and that's been the right approach. But we don't score many runs ... two, three, four runs here in Arizona? That's not good."
After starting 4-0 in the Cactus League, the Cubs have lost six straight and eight of nine, looking more like an expansion club than one with a $140 million payroll.
Sunday's 7-2 loss to the Rangers precipitated manager Lou Piniella's first tremor of the 2009 season, a minor quake that rattled windows but caused no severe damage.
"Look, spring training wins and losses don't mean anything," Piniella said. "But you don't want to get in the habit of getting your [butts] kicked every day either. That I can tell you, and that's exactly what's happening here."
Piniella was getting a little antsy Saturday about the lack of hitting from his regulars, leading to rumors Sunday that he was about to blow up. He said after Sunday's game he was "getting real close" to talking to the team.
"You can start creating good habits in spring training; you can start creating bad habits in spring training," Piniella said. "Certainly our objective is not to win the Cactus League, but you'd like to come back with a smile every once in a while as opposed to [saying], 'We need to do this, we need to do that.' That's all."
What's bugging him? Alfonso Soriano, Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez have combined for two home runs and four extra-base hits in 54 at-bats, and bullpen candidates Luis Vizcaino and Kevin Hart imploded Sunday.
Now that Piniella has voiced his displeasure, his players are well aware of what's at stake.
"You look at September for us, and it was kind of a similar feeling," outfielder Reed Johnson said. "You have that attitude where the division is clinched up and you're not playing with the same intensity you can normally play with in the regular season.
"We don't want to carry any bad habits into the season. We want to get off to a good start. Everybody continues to talk about October, but we've got to make the playoffs before we can figure out if we can win the playoffs. We need to start playing better."
Waiting for Piniella's opening rant has become a Cubs spring tradition. Two years ago, during the first week of Cactus League games, Piniella called a team meeting to tell the players he wasn't satisfied with what he'd seen.
"We've got some work to do," Piniella said then. "This is no push-button operation, I can tell you that. I'm beginning to find that out."
Last spring, Piniella was upset with the way the pitchers were performing. He threatened to take over the scheduling of pitchers from Larry Rothschild.
"You've got to get into a rhythm," he said then, "get into the habit of winning baseball games, holding leads, so you feel you can do that comfortably when the season starts."
Before this spring's games began, Piniella warned that the players had to pace themselves because of the longer spring. Perhaps they are pacing themselves too much?
"I don't know," he replied. "We take it easy on our regulars, and that's been the right approach. But we don't score many runs ... two, three, four runs here in Arizona? That's not good."
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