Do numbers lie? On the eve of their first series with the White Sox last season, the Cubs were 32-24 and had won two of their last three games.
But starting with the Sox’s three-game sweep at Wrigley Field, the Cubs spiraled into a seemingly bottomless pit. They limped home with 71 losses in 106 games and haven’t shown many signs of recovery this season, going 25-35.
That’s a record of 60-106 since the White Sox traveled 8.1 miles north to step all over their blue-clad neighbors. No team in baseball has been worse over the same stretch of games.
So the Sox can be given credit for making the Cubs miserable, right? Wrong.
“On paper it was the turning point of the year,” said Cubs General Manager Ed Lynch.
“But I don’t see it as the turning point in terms of the club’s attitude. We had some fundamental problems that came to the surface in that series.”
Problem No. 1 was starting pitching. Cubs starters lasted an average of just more than four innings in the series, and that was a sign of things to come.
“Our starting pitchers all went south for a month and a half,” Mark Grace said. “Every single guy: [Terry] Mulholland, [Steve] Trachsel, [Kevin] Tapani, [Jon] Lieber. None of them could go past three [innings]. I’ve never seen anything like that.
“That’s what did us in more than the Sox, but they certainly gave us a nice jump-start to the downward spiral.”
So can the situations be reversed this time, when the Cubs travel south for this weekend’s three-game set at Comiskey Park? Again, the Cubs, coming off a three-game sweep over Arizona, are skeptical.
“It wasn’t that because they knocked us off, we quit playing the rest of the year,” Tapani said. “I think that [idea] comes from someone who is trying to set something up for this year, that if we could sweep them, the White Sox wouldn’t win a series for the rest of the year.
“That just isn’t based on reality. In a fantasy world, it’s a nice deal.”
OK, OK. The Cubs will not be baited into overestimating the importance of the series. They’ll leave that to the fans.
“The city shuts down for three hours every day [of the series],” Grace said. “Nothing exists but that game. The energy level is unbelievable. I love it.”
But Grace doesn’t love it enough to want to relive last year’s series at Wrigley. At least the Cubs did win two of three a month later at Comiskey Park.
“This team is so different than it was last year,” Grace said. “More than half of the guys weren’t even here for that. I think the only guys who really remember are me and Sammy [Sosa].”
That part might be an exaggeration, but Grace’s point is valid. Only eight members of the Cubs’ current 25-man roster were around for the first series: Grace, Sosa, Tapani, Lieber, Rick Aguilera, Glenallen Hill, Felix Heredia and Henry Rodriguez. Matt Karchner was on the disabled list.
Cubs starting shortstop Augie Ojeda was at Class AA Bowie, in the Baltimore Orioles system. Reliever Daniel Garibay was in Mexico City.
“We don’t talk about last year,” said second baseman Eric Young, who was with the Dodgers. “It’s a totally different ballclub. And it’s time to make a new statement.”
The Cubs will try to do that Friday night by loading their lineup with left-handed hitters against right-hander Kip Wells. Dave Martinez is expected to start in left field and Rodriguez is likely to be the designated hitter.
While no Cub has any history with Wells, several Sox players are familiar with Lieber. He plowed through their lineup last year at Comiskey Park, allowing just one run over seven innings in a 10-2 win.
While Frank Thomas (2 for 9) and Jose Valentin (2 for 8) have struggled against Lieber, Ray Durham (6 for 11) and Magglio Ordonez (4 for 7) have thrived.
“They’re definitely an aggressive team,” Lieber said. “They’re going out there looking for good pitches to hit.”
And last year’s performance?
“It was just a good day, I guess,” Lieber said. “I just vaguely remember it.”
Cubs and Sox fans remember it much more clearly.
