No question: Piniella never doubted himself
But concedes it was 'tougher job than I thought it would be'

By Paul Sullivan
Tribune staff reporter

September 29, 2007, 12:06 AM CDT

CINCINNATI -- Lou Piniella was just the latest in a long line of purported saviors when he took over the Cubs in November.

But with the Cubs having clinched the National League Central Division title after Friday night's 6-0 victory over the Reds combined with Milwaukee's 6-3 loss to San Diego, the decision to bring the veteran manager to Chicago appears to be one of the best moves the organization has made since Bill Veeck planted ivy at the base of the outfield walls.

How rewarding has this been for Piniella after all he has been through this season?

"Look, I'm just the manager of the team," Piniella said. "These are the guys who play. All I do is try to get the right combinations on the field and stay out of these guys' way."

But there were doubters in May when the Cubs were nine games below .500 and making fundamental mistakes on the bases and in the field, looking much like the last-place team Piniella inherited from Dusty Baker.

"You have to remember I didn't take over a club that had won 90 games last year," Piniella said. "There were some things we needed to do and some things we needed to change, and we slowly went about doing it.

"We utilized our farm system very well, and these kids gave us some life and some energy. They performed. They had their day."

Piniella's leadership when things looked bleak was one of the main reasons for the stunning turnaround.

Now the Cubs can pull off a memorable October surprise, and millions of baseball fans with no rooting interest in the Cubs suddenly will be in their corner.

"Everybody roots for the underdog," Reds right fielder Ken Griffey Jr. said. "But I wouldn't consider Lou an underdog. They have a great bunch of guys out there, and now they're putting it all together for the run."

The Cubs have gone through so much in one year that it boggles the mind. Piniella thought he knew what he was in for when he signed on, but he admitted Friday he really didn't expect the Cubs to be so … well, Cublike.

"This is a tougher job than I thought it would be," he said. "I have to be honest with you."

Did Piniella ever doubt himself?

"No, why would I ever doubt myself?" he said. "You have to realize it takes a little time for a manager to learn his club and for the players to acclimate themselves, and at the same time see what works and doesn't work. When I went to Tampa, I thought I could win the pennant over there. So why should I doubt myself about anything?"

Now that Cubs are in, anything can happen
By Gene Wojciechowski
ESPN.com

CINCINNATI -- At exactly 9:15 local time, with the Chicago Cubs leading the Cincinnati Reds, 4-0, in the top of the eighth inning, a roar moved across the Great American Ball Park stands Friday evening.

For more on the pennant races, see Hunt for October.

Reds rookie Norris Hopper stood in center field and began to look around nervously. Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee, who was in the middle of an at-bat, must have wondered why all the sudden noise.

And then the reason became obvious.

Just left of the 379-foot marker on the outfield wall scoreboard was the latest update from Milwaukee: San Diego Padres 3, Brewers 2. It didn't matter that the game was only in the fourth inning. To the predominantly pro-Cubs crowd at Wrigley Field East, it was another piece of welcome magic-number news.

But it wasn't until an hour and 49 minutes later, when the only people left in the stadium were the grounds crew, a clean-up crew, media members, and -- camped in front of the visitor's clubhouse TVs -- the Cubs, that the National League Central at last had a winner. It took 160 games (and a Brewers collapse), but the Cubs are going to the playoffs.

A 6-0 win against the Reds, combined with the Padres' 6-3 win against the Brewers reduced Chicago's magic number (and heart rate) to zero. They're in, and will open the divisional playoffs on the road next Wednesday, likely in Arizona against the Diamondbacks. It will be their first postseason appearance in four years.

"Seems like 15 years ago," said reliever Kerry Wood, happily soaked in Korbel and beer.

Only three active players -- Wood, Carlos Zambrano and Aramis Ramirez -- remain from the 2003 Cubs playoff roster, a team that came within five tantilizing outs of reaching the World Series. (OK, four, if you count Derrek Lee, who played for the team that beat the Cubs that year, the Florida Marlins.) And not one starting position player for the '03 Cubs Opening Day lineup was part of Friday night's celebratory champagne showers.

These Cubs are better. And worse. They are capable of the bizarre (Zambrano using soon-to-be-traded catcher Michael Barrett as a punching bag), the financially perplexing (nine games below .500 in early June, 8½ games back in late June -- all with a near-$100-million payroll), and the impressive (the NL's best record since June 23). They are exactly as their record indicates: a team with flaws, but not enough of them to gag away the division lead like the Brewers did.

"You get in the playoffs and anything can happen," said Wood.

This is true. Just ask the St. Louis Cardinals, who were afterthoughts as the 2006 playoffs began. They ended up winning the World Series.

Are the Cubs good enough to do the same? It depends if you believe in lineup cards or fate. The Cubs won't be the best team in the playoffs, but they'll be a tough out, if for no other reason than they survived a difficult race.

"It's been ... a long summer; it really has," said Cubs manager Lou Piniella, shortly before the Padres' victory became final. "We've been at it hot and heavy for a long, long time. You get off to a bad start. Then you got to fight like heck to get to .500. Then you got to fight to get above .500. Then we've been in a pennant race since about the middle of August that's really been separated by a couple of games one way or another the whole summer. It's a long experience."

Piniella was talking about 2007, but he could have just as easily been describing the Cubs' franchise futility. You'll know the numbers by heart in the next week or so; the Cubs do. Repeat after the billy goat: The Cubs last played in a World Series in 1945 and haven't won one since 1908. There are shorter glacial ages than that.

But late Friday evening, in a clubhouse protected by taped-up plastic sheets, the Cubs weren't interested in history. Piniella walked around with an open bottle of bubbly. A Cubs coach wore a pair of swim goggles to protect himself from the sting of champagne. Players hugged, guzzled and screamed.

"We had good stretches, we had bad stretches," said Wood before someone popped a cork nearby and sprayed away.

Bad stretch: Arriving in Cincinnati after being swept on the road by the NL East last-place Marlins.

Good stretch: Does Friday night's game count?

The Brewers had to face Greg Maddux and the Padres, who were locked in their own playoff cage match in the west. Meanwhile, the Cubs played the Louisville Bats. One-third of the Reds' lineup was from the team's Triple-A affiliate. The Reds were without right fielder Ken Griffey Jr., left fielder Adam Dunn, center fielder Josh Hamilton, shortstop Alex Gonzalez and first baseman Scott Hatteberg. That leaves a bruise mark on anybody's lineup card.

So the Cubs needed to take advantage of the situation, and they did. Only a few minutes into the game, Alfonso Soriano fell behind, 0-2, to Bronson Arroyo and then sent the next pitch into the right-center-field seats for his 11th leadoff home run of the season.

The Cubs added an unearned run in the second and then, in the bottom of the fourth, watched almost with bemusement as Reds third-base coach Mark Berry waved Joey Votto around on a single to left by Edwin Encarnacion. Soriano fielded the hit and threw a one-hopper to catcher Jason Kendall for his 19th outfield assist this season.

Two words to Berry: scouting report. Soriano's 19 assists are the most by a Cubs player since 1951.

Soriano led off with a double in the fifth, followed a few minutes later by a Lee home run to left. Four-nothing. Then Jacque Jones doubled in the eighth to drive in the final two Cubs runs. And that was that.

In the visitor's clubhouse several hours before the game, the Cubs were so tense that reliever Will Ohman could barely concentrate on his crossword puzzle. Blame second baseman Mark DeRosa, who had a handful of teammates laughing at a fake batting stance and swing.

Closer Ryan Dempster was a nervous mess. On second thought, no he wasn't. He might be the first ballplayer to ever switch the clubhouse plasma to "The Golden Girls." Nothing says nail-biting playoff chase like Bea Arthur. Dempster was later seen playing cards with pitcher Ted Lilly.

Come to think of it, none of the Cubs looked particularly freaked out about their situation. Two reasons for that: They began the night with the largest lead (two games) of any NL leader and ... it could always be worse -- they could be the New York Mets, who were greeted Friday morning by this headline in one of the NY tabloids: Paging Dr. Heimlich.

The Cubs, who lost 96 games last season, aren't going to need anything dislodged from their throats, except maybe champagne corks. Now they try to do what the 2003 Cubs couldn't do.

"When I took over here, the conversation was winning right away," said Piniella. "There was no grace period. Let's win now. I like those sort of situations. But I'll tell you this: It's been a tough journey."

For now, the Cubs aren't micro-analyzing themselves. They're too busy celebrating. And thinking about what's next.

"This is why we [play] -- this moment right now," said shortstop Ryan Theriot, as he peeled the foil off another bottle of Korbel. "But we're not done yet."

We'll see. Like Wood said, anything can happen.

Garko finds his place in the field

Terry Pluto, 15 Sept 2007

It's about 90 minutes before Friday night's game with Kansas City, and Ryan Garko sat in the Tribe dugout. He couldn't stop smiling.

"When you go from staring Buffalo in the face in spring training to batting in the middle of this lineup . . ."

Then Garko paused.
"It's feel good," he said. "Really good."

He paused again.

"There were a lot of sleepless nights this spring," he said. "I worried about making the team. I felt a lot of pressure when I was at first base, like everyone was watching me."

Unlike some pro athletes, Garko is candid about his emotions. He went from the last player to make the team in spring training to a guy hitting .295 with 18 homers and 57 RBI. He's matured from a Doctor Strange-glove at first base to "a pleasant surprise" in the field, according to manager Eric Wedge.

"I was never a Baseball America darling," Garko said. "I went to Stanford, but they recruited me as much for my grades [4.2 GPA] as baseball. For a long time, I never even knew if I'd get drafted."

Garko didn't begin his pro career until he was 22, putting him at an immediate disadvantage.

"I was with a bunch of guys 18 and 19 years old in Class A," he said. "I realized that I didn't have a lot of time."

What Garko did have was a degree in American Studies (a combination of history, political science and economics) from Stanford. He had a bat that roared, a .402 hitter as a senior and a first team All-American.

But he also had a question mark next to his name. Yes, he could hit, but where would he play?

He was a catcher at Stanford, and played there for two years in the Tribe farm system. But the Indians believed he was better suited for first base. He arrived in Cleveland in July of 2006, hitting .292 with 45 RBI in 50 games.
But he had six errors in 45 starts at first. The front office feared he was a liability in the field. In spring training, the plan seemed to be Casey Blake at first base, and Garko on the bench - or perhaps headed back to Class AAA Buffalo for a third year at the age of 26.

"I never thought I was as bad [at first] as some people thought," he said. "It's just that the position was so new to me. The game seemed so fast. But I was working hard at it. I knew I could do it."

Garko is 6-2, 225 pounds. Graceful he is not. Give him relentless. Give him determined. Give him a chance, that's all he asked after being a .293 hitter in the minors.

"In this game, they liked to tell you what you can't do," he said. "They label you, and it's so hard to overcome. I've had to prove a lot of people wrong."

But not manager Eric Wedge.

"He's been in my corner from the beginning," Garko said. "That's why I've been working my tail off to make it. When a manager goes to bat for you like Eric did, I want to prove him right."

Wedge saw Garko spending so much time in the field. He kept Garko on the roster, believing that his "time would come." It did early, when Andy Marte was injured, and Blake moved to third base.

First base opened for Garko, and he grabbed it.

"Ryan hasn't hurt us in the field, and he's made some good plays to help us," General Manager Mark Shapiro said. "He's been very good at digging throws out of the dirt, and that helps our infielders."

Meanwhile, Garko hits.
He began the recent 10-game trip in a slump, then made an adjustment.

"My dad told me to pull my [uniform] pants down over my socks," he said.

Garko did, and has three homers in the last seven games. Garko was 1-for-4 in the Indians' 5-4 win over the Royals on Friday night.

In his major-league career, he's a .294 hitter with 25 homers and 102 RBI in 623 at-bats.

"I don't take anything for granted," he said. "I appreciate the Indians sticking with me. Playing with this team, that means so much to me."

Cleveland Indians' bandwagon has plenty of space available - Terry Pluto, Friday, September 14, 2007, Cleveland Plain Dealer

Are you ready to buy into the Indians now, or at least throw down a few bucks for a ticket as they return for the final homestand of the regular sea son beginning tonight at Ja cobs Field against Kansas City?

Does first place in the American League Central Division do anything for you? Especially first place with a 5½-game lead over Detroit and Tigers manager Jim Leyland re cently waving a division surren der flag.

Yes, the man who managed the Tigers in the 2006 World Series recently told reporters, "[The Indians] are winning the way division champions win. They are going on the road and winning at Minnesota. They are coming back and winning games. They have all the earmarks of a division champion."

He really is talking about your Tribe.

Fans, the Indians won't blow it this year. It's not a repeat of 2005, when the Tribe was battling hot teams from Chicago to New York to Boston for a playoff spot and fell apart in the final week.

The Indians are going to the postseason for the first time since 2001, period.

They aren't backing in, they're storming the Central Division castle, kicking down the doors, climbing the walls, pouring through the windows and claiming it for Cleveland.

They have just finished a stretch of 23 games in 23 days and won 17 of them. They're home from a 10-day trip where they were 7-3.

They are 14-4 against defending Central Division champion Minnesota, and have beaten Twins Cy Young winner Johan Santana five times.

Want more?

They are 41-22 in their own division. They are 85-61 overall, the third-best record in baseball behind Boston and the Los Angeles Angels.

They have been in first place for 102 days this season and have won 11 games at Jacobs Field in their final at-bat.

They have what should be their own Cy Young Award winner in C.C. Sabathia. Eric Wedge may be American League Manager of the Year. Mark Shapiro could be Executive of the Year. Catcher Victor Martinez won't be the Most Valuable Player, but he could be the American League's most underrated and least-appreciated star.
They have three starting pitchers with at least 15 victories in Paul Byrd, Fausto Carmona and Sabathia.

They have the American League saves leader in Joe Borowski. They have a lefty telephone pole of a reliever named Raffy Perez who has allowed only one extra base hit to a lefty batter in two years.

They are doing all this with two of their projected starting pitchers (Jeremy Sowers and Cliff Lee) out of the rotation, and with projected starting third baseman Andy Marte spending most of the year in the minors.

They are doing this with an old friend (40-year-old Kenny Lofton) and a new one (24-year-old Franklin Gutierrez) joining Grady Sizemore to become one of the fastest, most athletic outfields in the majors.

They are doing this as fans learn to pronounce Asdrubal (ASH-drew-bull) Cabrera, a 21-year-old who has risen all the way from Class AA Akron to hit .308 since taking over as the second baseman in August. The Indians are 20-9 with him in the lineup.

They are doing this with five players who have at least 18 homers, but their top home run guy is their leadoff man - Sizemore with 23. He also leads the team with 32 steals. He has played in 341 consecutive games and never failed to run out even the most discouraging pop-ups or ground balls.

If you are a baseball purist, you should love this team. In the AL it ranks third in pitching, third in defense, fifth in runs scored - and first in overachievers, doing it all with a payroll in the bottom 30 percent of baseball.
But for all the whining over the Dolan family being frugal, the owners have signed key players Travis Hafner and Jake Westbrook to multiyear deals worth nearly $100 million - adding $20 million to the payroll this season with those and other moves. They will not lose a significant player to free agency this winter.

"I love this team!" e-mailed Karen Corrigan of Lakewood. "At the beginning of the season, I didn't think there was a chance they'd make the playoffs. Now, the Tribe [is] in the postseason again. I'm very excited."

That may seem obvious, but more than a few fans in Northeast Ohio have missed it. The Indians rank 22nd out of 30 teams in home attendance. They average more than 32,000 on weekends when there are promotions for fireworks and giveaways such as bobbleheads. But during the week, it's about 23,000.
It would be lower, but the team has Dollar Hot Dog Night (the last is Tuesday) during the week, and those have averaged 35,399 fans.

Many fans are like Corrigan. She wrote that she has not been at a game this season, but watches nearly every night on television.

Another fan, Robert Oberlin of Akron, said he also hasn't been to a game yet but sees "about all of them on TV. My wife wears a Travis Hafner T-shirt. We love the team." He has been to Winter Haven, Fla., for spring training three times, and recently sent The Plain Dealer a detailed six-point plan to re-sign Sabathia. He is a loyal, knowledgeable fan, "but it's easier to watch the games on TV."

Television ratings are up about 35 percent overall from 2006, and 63 percent since Aug. 1 from a year ago. Attendance has risen every month, from 18,572 in snowy April to 32,883 in August. Since the All-Star break, the Indians are averaging 32,608 fans - seventh best in the American League - and up from 24,837 in the first half.

"I've been to 10-12 games this season," e-mailed Mark Cousineau of South Euclid. "I was talking to a fan who kept saying, 'What a great team, I don't know why the ballpark isn't packed like it used to be.' To which I asked how many games has he been to this year - he said, 'None, it's too expensive.' "

Actually, it's not, at least compared to the other Cleveland sports franchises. The team has offered lots of discounts, especially for weeknight games.

But only tonight's fireworks game and Saturday's game with Kansas City have a pre-sale of at least 30,000.

The Tigers are in town for three games beginning Monday night when the team has asked fans to wear red, but so far, an average of only 24,000 tickets have been sold for each night of that series.

"People remember the 1990s (455 consecutive sellouts) and it probably will never be like that again," said team President Paul Dolan.

"But support is growing. You can see it in the TV ratings, merchandise sales and the tickets. We have added about 1,000 season tickets during the year, most in the past three months. The foundation is in place for us to contend the next several years. This is not an illusion."

Rehab, patience and hardwork, if possible never surgery

Cleveland Indians closer Borowski made a crucial choice with shoulder
- Thursday, September 06, 2007, Cleveland Plainsdealer

Minneapolis- Joe Borowski's right shoulder will probably never be 100 percent again.

"There's a torn something in there," the Indians closer said.

In 2004, when Borowski pitched for the Cubs and strained his shoulder, the doctors gave him two options - rehabilitation or surgery. There was a catch, there usually is with a pitcher's shoulder.

"He said if you rehab, it'll give you a chance to pitch again," Borowski said. "He said if you have surgery, you'll never come back. When they talk about putting screws in your shoulder, you're not coming back."

What course of action did Borowski take?

Tuesday night, he saved his 40th game for the Indians in a 7-5 victory over the Twins in 11 innings. He's the fifth Tribe pitcher to save 40 or more games in a season.

Jose Mesa is the franchise leader with 46 in 1995. Bob Wickman had 45 in 2005, Doug Jones 43 in 1990 and Mike Jackson 40 in 1998.

"It's very satisfying," Borowski said. "To tell you the truth, I didn't know if I'd ever be in this situation. When I was with the Cubs, I thought I might have a chance. Then I hurt my shoulder. I didn't know if I'd ever pitch again."

Said manager Eric Wedge: "Joe has been a huge part of our success. He's strong and consistent on and off the field."

Borowski, to get back to this point, trained like never before.

"I always worked out, but never like the last three years," he said. "Instead of taking two months off during the off-season, I take one week. But that's all right because I like it."

The Indians feel the same way about Borowski.

Patience:
The roles were reversed on Rafael Betancourt in the 10th inning Tuesday night.

The Twins had runners on first and second with two out. Catcher Michael Redmond, on the 10th pitch of his at-bat against Betancourt, injured the middle finger on his left hand. The debate to take him out or let him continue the at-bat lasted almost five minutes.

Betancourt, who usually makes hitters wait for him with his deliberate delivery, made a couple of throws to catcher Victor Martinez to stay loose. Finally, Joe Mauer, who didn't play because of a strained left hamstring, pinch-hit for Redmond with the count full.

It took one pitch for Betancourt to strike him out. Redmond was charged with the strikeout.

"I didn't expect to see Mauer in that situation," Betancourt said. "But I told myself, I just needed to make one more pitch."

Enjoy the Success - Terry Pluto, Sept 5

Wednesday, September 05, 2007Terry PlutoPlain Dealer Columnist
When the first-place Indi ans took the field Tues day night . . .

How do you come to terms with that yet? It's Sept. 5, the Indians went into Tuesday's game with the third-best record in baseball. They had a healthy six-game lead over Detroit.

The season is winding down, and they are gearing up.

Wait a minute, is that some grumbling from the eat-dirt-and-die crowd? They are the ones who wake up in the morning and say, "What about The Fumble? The Drive? Jose Mesa?"

They are convinced that if you look hard enough at the collapse of the mortgage market, you'll discover Eric Wedge is behind it because the Tribe manager plays Casey Blake too much and won't bunt enough.

They are certain the only player Mark Shapiro ever signed is David Dellucci and the only trade he ever made was to give away Brandon Phillips. They whine about 2005? Remember how all the Indians had to do was play .500 ball in the last week of the season -- and how they blew it?!

Hands wring, teeth gnash, violins weep.

Can we interrupt this pity party to mention the Indians have only Detroit between themselves and the playoffs? That team is 21-29 since the All-Star break with a 5.35 ERA -- third worst in the American League.

The Indians have the second-best pitching (3.65 ERA) of any team in baseball -- in either league -- since the All-Star break. They are dominating their own Central Division with a 37-21 record; Detroit is 26-28.

They have beaten Johan Santana five times this season. The Cy Young winner is 0-5 with a 4.38 ERA against the Tribe, 14-6 with a 2.85 ERA against everyone else. When you beat Santana five times in a single season, it just may be your year.

Consider that C.C. Sabathia is 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA against the Twins ace this season. That's because Sabathia is truly the Tribe's trump card, the No. 1 starter --even if some still don't like how he wears his cap tilted to the side.

What's happening now is not an accident. The Indians are pitching well nearly every night. They were 21 games over .500 heading into Tuesday, the third-best record in baseball behind only Boston and the Angels.

It's tempting to dwell on the trades and signings that flopped, ignoring that Franklin Gutierrez and Asdrubal Cabrera not only came to the rescue from the farm system -- but they are the products of trades.

Shapiro and his staff are not perfect, but have assembled a roster that has depth and youth. It's not just built for one year, and then doomed to spend the next five summers deep in the Central cellar.

But what about Joe Borowski? He makes everyone nervous. The fact that, going into Tuesday, he was leading the AL with 39 saves doesn't matter. You'd swear some fans think this is figure skating, and saves are rated on style points: 8.1, 8.3 and 7.2 from the Russian judge.

But Borowski was not just a solid 39-of-45 in saves. Detroit has Todd Jones, who was 33-of-39 in saves. Big deal. The Tigers had trashed 19 save opportunities, compared to 12 for the Tribe.

It's either a save or it's not. It's like today is either a Wednesday or it's not. It may not feel like Wednesday to you, but it's Wednesday.

So it is with the Indians. They are solidly in first place, even if it doesn't feel like it to some fans.