Now, this season, on what hopefully is a still rising wave, he has come to the Cubs. Like many Cub fans, I am wary of good signs. Maybe I shouldn't be, they really HAVE made the playoffs, and even
advanced a round, but when things are going good, we all look for a shoe to drop. This isn't the shoe dropping, this is us getting a very good catcher, probably past his prime, but with serviceable stats over the last month, much better than what we've been getting. AND, he can catch the damn ball.Jim Hendry made the announcement during the game this evening, that Jason Kendall had been acquired from the Oakland A's for Rob Bowen, the catcher we got for Barrett, and Jerry Blevins, a relief pitcher that has spent this season putting up decent stats for the Cubs' A and AA teams.
Losing Michael Barrett was a good addition to this team, for whatever reason you want to believe, witness the won-loss record since he left, now filling the hole he left behind with Kendall starts to put this team on the roll that will take them into the post-season.
I've been quiet this season thus far, observing, but now I am getting the feeling that this is all going to rally happen. The way Lou has taken over the team, weeded out the players not on his program, nurtured some that needed a shot... this is all working. So many things have happened this season that would never have happened with Dusty. Lou notices everything, and acts on it. He also won't have his managing dictated to him. Dusty spent the last three years he was here marching out the lineup he'd been force fed. He steadily sat hot hitters to rest and kept putting firestarting relievers in the thick of games, then shrugged when asked what went wrong, as if saying, "Whatcha gonna do? These are the players they gave me."
That is the main difference this year. Despite his press conference depictions of an Alzheimer patient, Lou doesn't miss anything. For instance, Jacque Jones has been seeing more playing time lately, out of necessity and because he started having better AB's and playing a decent center field. I watched him strike out tonight swinging at a pitch that bounced off home plate. I bet Lou saw that too.
