Early 2011 Cubs thoughts...

A day has passed since the news of Ron Santo's death, and it still hasn't set in that he's gone... hearing his glorious nonsense on the radio everyday was one of the best parts of being a Cubs fan... he was the greatest Cub of all, and he won't be forgotten...

My thoughts now are similar to when Harry Caray passed away... this upcoming season is shaping up to be one where a below average team can rally to play some good ball to honor a legend...

It's not likely, but the 2011 Cubs have a chance to do what the 1998 Cubs did...that team did not have very many good ballplayers, but they all had one common goal, honor the memory of Harry Caray...

Say what you will about Sammy Sosa, the guy had a monster season, carried a mediocre team into the playoffs, and along with Big Mac, pulled the MLB out of the gutter it had been in thanks to the '94 strike... Kerry Wood K's 20 Astros in one of the best games ever pitched in baseball history... Mark Grace had another good season... Oh Henry Rodriguez was a nice left-handed stick... a solid starting rotation with Wood, Steve Trachsel, Kevin Tapani, Mark Clark and Terry Mullholland... Rod Beck, nuff said... and Jim Riggleman pulled all the right strings... that was the most fun season I can remember watching as a Cubs fan, because besides those things I mentioned above, the Cubs were pretty average, but just kept winning...  

You see it all the time in sports, a tragedy that brings a team together and they play above their capabilities... you would like to think that a team is capable of putting it all together without having to lose someone like a Ron Santo, but it's just the way it is...

With that said, maybe the 2011 Cubs can put it all together...

• Maybe Mike Quade is the right man for the job
• Maybe Tyler Colvin is going to blossom into an all star
• Maybe Starlin Castro will fight off the sophomore slump that has killed former Cub rookie hotshots like Jerome Walton, Corey Patterson and Geo Soto (was dreadful in 2009)
• Maybe Hendry brings in a Brandon Webb and he regains his Cy Young form
• Maybe a Carlos Pena takes over at first base and turns back the clock

And most of all, maybe Carlos Zambrano continues pitching the way he did down the stretch last year after he came back from therapy and not only wins 20 games, but runs away and hides in the Cy Young race...

None of this is very likely at all... the 2011 Cubs are probably a second or a third place team AT BEST... but in the Cubbie Universe, nothing is what it seems and good things happen when you don't expect it... and bad things happen when you expect the Cubs to be good (thank you Sweet Lou for going 0-6 in 2 postseason trips when you have the best record in the NL)

It would be soo Cubs for them to put it all together after one of their greatest players and no doubt their greatest fan of all time passes away... it just might happen... and number 10 will most definitely be watching...

By the dubs, "This Old Cub"... epic movie... I have it on DVD and it really is fantastic