According to an Associated Press article on espn.com, Cubs skipper Lou Piniella admits to getting “teary-eyed” over his return to Seattle.
But what he should be shedding tears over is the play of his ballclub!
“Lou Piniella heard the roar from the Seattle crowd. He smiled and raised his right arm to wave to the people he helped thrill during the city’s baseball heyday in the 1990s,” the report said.
But look, Lou, it’s no longer the 1990s and you are no longer managing the Mariners.
It’s fine to display emotions, and it’s nice to have fond memories. For, as Bruce Springsteen once sang, “the time slips away and leaves you with nothing mister, but boring stories of glory days.”
“We laughed a lot, and talked about the old times,” Piniella said.
Ah, the good ol’ days. By the way, Lou, you do realize you are managing a team in steep decline, don’t you?
“What the hell do you want me to do about it?” Oh yes, I forgot.
“I have a lot of pleasant memories here,” Lou went to say. Well, I guarantee you that after dropping the first two and having to face King Felix tonight, those memories will not be recent ones.
Not that this is all Lou’s fault, of course. But he’s not blameless in this either. I don’t know about you, but after seeing his act all these years, I’d like to see a little more accountability from the man.
“We’ve done everything humanly possible here.”
Well, then, maybe it’s time for a new voice?
It’s kind of ironic how Lou started playing Tyler Colvin every day following his silly spat with Steve Stone.
Similarly, it wasn’t until after getting tired of hearing how he should move Alfonso Soriano out of the leadoff spot, and continuing to deny it, that he finally did it.
It’s as if he doesn’t try something without it being hammered into his consciousness repeatedly first.
Batting Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez back-to-back in the lineup far too long—refusing to play Mike Fontenot at third instead of Ramirez—letting Colvin rot on the bench—those are things that are humanely possible to change, Lou.
Bad fundamental baseball has to have at least something to do with the manager and his staff, right? At least we used to think so when it was Dusty Baker’s teams kicking the ball around.
Meanwhile, Lou, you can reminisce all you want about the past, but remember one thing.
There’s no crying in baseball.
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