When Cubs right-hander Mark Prior was sidelined with a left oblique strain on July 9, he had a ready-made explanation that satisfied all the skeptics.
“The goat is starting to look real,” he said.
Two days later, Carlos Zambrano was hit near the right elbow by a fungo bat during batting practice at the All-Star Game. Asked if the Cubs simply have more bad luck than other teams, Zambrano said: “Right now. Sometimes it seems like something’s been wrong with our luck. In the first half, we didn’t have that good luck we had before.”
Throughout the years, the Cubs have frequently been able to attribute any problem or injury to a curse, bad luck, bad karma or something else completely out of their control.
1969
A black cat walked past the Cubs’ dugout at Shea Stadium that allegedly precipitated their famous collapse, not the collective meltdown of their pitchers and hitters.
1984
It was a bucket of Gatorade that accidentally spilled onto Leon Durham’s glove before his crucial error in the Game 5 loss to San Diego in the National League Championship Series. Popular starter Rick Sutcliffe never got an ounce of blame for blowing a 3-0 sixth-inning lead.
1994
Former Cubs pitcher Steve Trachsel still bristles about the day the Cubs trotted a billy goat through the bullpen while he was warming up. The Cubs, who had lost a club-record 12 consecutive home games, beat Cincinnati 5-2 that day, and the goat got more publicity than Trachsel, the winning pitcher.
1999
With the team mired in a two-month slump, closer Rod Beck suggested they stop flying the “L” flag after Cubs losses. “I think it’s bad karma,” Beck said. “I’m not blaming anything for it. But I’m a believer in positive energy and karma.”
2003
It was Steve Bartman’s attempt to catch a foul ball before Florida put an eight-spot on the board in Game 6 of the NLCS. Prior getting rattled and shortstop Alex Gonzalez booting a double-play grounder were conveniently overlooked.
2004
Harry Caray’s restaurant blew up the foul ball from Game 6 to supposedly end the curse once and for all. Since then, the Cubs have blown the NL wild-card lead in the ’04 season, finished four games under .500 in ’05 and are 21 games under .500 now.
2005
After injuries to Prior and Kerry Wood, among others, manager Dusty Baker said he was dousing his players with holy water blessed by the pope.
2006
Derrek Lee’s broken right wrist in April was somehow attributed to “Cub luck” instead of an ill-advised shovel toss with his glove by reliever Scott Eyre that put Lee directly in harm’s way.
