Krieger: Rockies can't begin to match Cubs' mess

By Dave Krieger, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published June 5, 2007 at midnight

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If you're a Cubs fan, you're used to this stuff. In fact, Lou Piniella's thoroughly pointless meltdown Saturday may have taken you back to Leo the Lip, who could mismanage the Cubs out of contention, then blame the umpires.

Piniella's tantrum was dumber still, if that's possible, because he didn't even wait for a legitimate beef with the men in blue.

And let's face it - you don't have to wait long. The Rockies have had two home runs taken away by near-sighted umpires already this season.

That's hard to do. First, it's hard to find a Rockies homer to take away. Second, it's hard to miss the fact that a ball has left the field of play. Yet there it is.

Piniella erupted from the dugout after Angel Pagan was correctly called out on a tag play at third base. Piniella admitted as much afterward. He also admitted he was going to throw his tantrum regardless.

In other words, he was just looking for an excuse to do a little screaming and strutting and kicking dirt on an umpire's shoes.

To give the man the benefit of the managerial doubt, maybe he thought losing his composure while making a specious argument would seem funny and lighten the mood.

Here's the message I got: Piniella's "no nonsense" policy applies to everyone but himself. He blew a gasket and acted like a donkey - no offense to donkeys - for no apparent reason. As a result, he was suspended for four games.

This may make no difference to the Cubs, who seem capable of their affluent indifference in the service of any manager, including the amiable Dusty Baker. In fact, bench coach Alan Trammell may be an improvement over Piniella. In the wake of Carlos Zambrano's attack on Michael Barrett the day before Piniella's meltdown, a little quiet time would seem in order.

But let's review. In a moment of crisis, the Cubs manager threw a fit and got himself ejected from an uncomfortable scene, an absence that grows to four games because he tried to humiliate an undeserving umpire in the process. This is the sort of leadership $10 million buys these days.

Rockies manager Clint Hurdle looks pretty good by comparison. He has handled much more criticism than Piniella with much more class.

In fact, being a Cubs fan may be what makes me tolerant of the Rockies. When Rockies fans complain the team is bad because its owners don't spend enough on players, I just turn on WGN to see if a $100 million payroll loses games differently.

It loses more often, I know that. The Rocks are better than the Cubs. In fact, if they were in the Cubs' division, which they could be, Colorado being as Central as it is West, they would be in second place.

Considering St. Louis came out of that division five games over .500 last year and won the World Series, you would probably have to say that at three games below .500 in the Central, the Rocks would be in contention.

The comparison to the Cubs always makes me feel better about the Rocks. The Cubs spent about $300 million on long-term contracts over the winter, the most celebrated the eight-year, $136 million job they gave Alfonso Soriano, who has made very little difference.

They were all set to give Zambrano an enormous contract extension of his own when the team's owner, Tribune Co., went on the block. Now, they should be grateful the Zambrano deal was postponed. They could have spent even more money badly than they did.

Meanwhile, the Rocks are strafed daily for trading Jason Jennings rather than paying him. Now comes word Houston probably won't sign him, either, believing his $12 million-a-year price tag too high.

Largely unnoticed, the Rocks have won three of four series and nine of 12 games, during which time Willy Taveras (obtained along with two pitchers in the Jennings deal) and Kaz Matsui have created their own special brand of havoc.

Now they just need to find some people to drive them in. Watching Garrett Atkins get well at the plate Sunday after sitting for two days was encouraging. It also made you wonder why he didn't sit a couple of days a long time ago, but hey, better late than never.

Sure, it would be nice to have more than one starter pitching well at a time. Someone should tell Jason Hirsh before he goes out there tonight against his former team that he won't upstage Jeff Francis if he pitches a good game himself.

Even after giving up eight earned runs in his last start, Hirsh's ERA is lower than Zambrano's, and I'm pretty sure he won't be using Chris Iannetta as a sparring partner.

Nor is Hurdle likely to throw a fit just to indulge his inner 5-year-old. These may seem like small consolations, but as a Cubs fan, I've got to tell you, the Rocks look pretty good.

kriegerd@RockyMountainNews.com

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