Chicago Cubs relievers learning Lou Piniella life lessons

Basically, throw strikes or face his wrath

By Paul Sullivan

When the season began in Houston, Lou Piniella repeatedly said it will take some time to learn his bullpen and how he will use it this season.

Carlos Marmol is the only reliever who was with the team at this time last year. Neal Cotts became a mainstay by mid-summer, and Angel Guzman returned from the minors in September.

Kevin Gregg, Aaron Heilman, Luis Vizcaino and David Patton are all newcomers with diverse résumés, though all but Patton—a Rule 5 pickup—are veterans.

While Piniella is learning his relievers, his relievers are busy learning him.

Just seven games into the season, they already have learned he likes to walk backward to the mound, rants at his pitching coach in the dugout, drops more profanities than Eminem, believes in karma, doesn't always remember your name and doesn't shave every day.

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Slow-starting Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee searches for hitting stroke

By Dave van Dyck

PHOENIX - With Alfonso Soriano and Aramis Ramirez jumping back to spring respectability with two hits each Wednesday, the remaining holdout is Derrek Lee.

With an 0-for-3 Monday, Lee is hitting .179 this spring with four singles, one double and two RBIs.

Usually it wouldn't be a concern, but with Lee slumping the second half of last summer, about the only person not worried is Lee.

"I don't even know what my average is," he said. "I know I'm not getting a lot of hits. I don't even look at my average. ... Everyone wants to get a hit every time up, but I feel fine."

Manager Lou Piniella would like to see the "feeling fine" translate into some power statistics.

Piniella said Lee had a great batting practice early Monday but fizzled in the afternoon game. He included Lee in the group with the Cubs' producers, especially Soriano, who is traditionally a slow starter.

"I'd like to see our big boys start to whack the ball," Piniella said.

"I have all the confidence in the world they'll be ready when the season starts, but at the same time I'd like to see them have some good at-bats and consistently hit the ball hard."

Of course, this being an extra long spring training, they still have time for improvement—and that's especially true for Lee.

"I don't like a long spring personally, so I wouldn't say it's a good thing," he said with a chuckle. "Eventually you kind of make yourself get there once it's time. You get reps, play defense and get your body ready. If the season started tomorrow, I'd be ready to go.

"Spring training is about seeing the ball. I know if I'm seeing the ball, I'm going to hit it. I feel like I've been seeing the ball pretty good, taking some pitches. I've actually lined out quite a bit this spring, which is actually good for me."

He has also grounded into only one double play, after tying a franchise record with 27 last season.

"That's so funny to me," Lee said. "I mean, a double play is something ... yeah, I hit a lot last year, but I might come back and hit into 10 this year. I'll bet there's never been a guy lead the league two years in a row. You hit the ball 3 feet to the left and it's not a double play."

Double plays weren't Lee's only problem last season. He hit 20 home runs, his fewest in a full season since 1998, and went from a first half of .306, 15 homers and 56 RBIs to a second half of .266, 5, 34.

"I got out of whack in the second half," he said. "It was a poor second half, as simple as that. It seems like that first series in Houston after the [All-Star] break was bad and it just snowballed from there. I've got to find a way to be more consistent throughout the year instead of just half the season.

"The second half I didn't think I had a lot of good at-bats. It was always kind of a struggle. Being experienced, I was able to find a way to get a few hits here and there. I just started searching for stuff and got out of whack, started changing things."

Come To Think Of It: Chicago Cubs Need The Angry Lou Piniella As Manager

By Bob Warja

'll be honest, I don't particularly like the more mellow Lou Piniella. I long for a return to the days when "Sweet Lou" was an oxymoron, and not an appropriate description of the man.

Just the other day, Lou got mad about the Cubs losing six straight spring training games. Now that's more like it. Sure, it's only exhibition season, but Lou doesn't want the team to start getting used to losing.

Makes sense to me.

Unfortunately, we haven't seen much of that Lou since he became the Cubs manager Sure, he had that one infamous explosion during the 2007 season, which seemed more like an orchestrated fit than real madness, but it was good theater nonetheless.

And the Cubs performed better afterwards.

Now, I understand enough about the game of baseball to know that having a lunatic as manager isn't going to guarantee you anything. In fact, it's not necessarily even a good thing.

For it's a long season, and a marathon and not a sprint as the cliche goes. So some even-handed temperament is probably in order.

But dammit, part of Lou's allure is his fiery demeanor and the occasional meltdown. It let his team know he meant business and wouldn't accept losing.

But the conversion from madman to reasonable guy has been a slow, steady process.

As a player, Lou was so intense he once tore down a fence surrounding the outfield. He routinely destroyed water coolers and other assorted dugout assets.

Then, as a manager, Lou calmed down a bit. Yet early on in his managing career, Lou was famous for throwing the occasional base and wrestling with the occasional relief pitcher.

Maybe it has to do with his advancing age, but Lou slowly got more mellow as time went on. Sure, he still cares about winning and playing the game the right way.

But last Sept. was a perfect example of what was missing from his arsenal as manager.

The Cubs did not play well down the stretch, but instead of kicking them in the ass, Lou made excuses. He even said not to expect the team to go to the World Series.

In short, he did not get the team ready to play postseason baseball. I don't want to revisit that time, but where was Lou's intensity then?

After game one of the playoffs, when the Cubs not only lost but played embarrassing baseball, Lou said not to worry.

He wasn't even worried after the game two loss. The Cubs did not just lose, they played terrible baseball. As they choked away the playoffs, there was simply no sense of urgency from Sweet Lou.

Look, I realize sports teams have won with fiery leaders like Mike Ditka and with laid-back coaches like Tom Landry.

And the players are grown men, professionals who make a ton of money, and they shouldn't need someone to babysit them.

But teams take their cue from their leader. It's a fact. The team's "personality" often reflects the person in charge.

If nothing else, the occasional meltdown will entertain us as fans. As would the occasional win in November.

I want the old Lou back, come to think of it. The only sweetness this town has ever needed was a certain Hall of Fame running back for Da' Bears.

Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella not happy with losses

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."