Lou Piniella has a spring tradition, or many spring traditions, of which the following is a part: He gets mad. He does. Little things build up, the team doesn't play as well as he wants, and Old Mellow Hands-Off Lou becomes Angry Tirade Lou. You wouldn't like Angry Tirade Lou when he's angry and on a tirade.
It happens every year, and 2009 is no different. Lou's big explosion is a matter of if and not when. If you're a betting person, though, I'd stack your bets on the near future -- Lou's anger at the paucity of Cubs run production seems very near to spilling over. (See if you can actually hear the emotion in his voice as Lou says this. Come on, play along at home. It's fun!)
"Look, spring training wins and losses don't mean anything," Piniella said. "But you don't want to get in the habit of getting your [butts] kicked every day either. That I can tell you, and that's exactly what's happening here."
Ha. You hear the calm admission in the first part of the quote -- it's true, spring training wins and losses don't mean anything, and it would be a mistake to think they did. Then comes the sigh and the second half of the quote, because Lou hates losing. And if his team is losing, even if the losses are by their very nature meaningless, he starts to get just a teensy bit angry.
As far as the merits of Lou's statement, he's mostly right. Cactus League games don't matter. What does matter is that veterans are getting their swings together, getting some good repetitions in, and getting mentally ready to play baseball every day for five sweaty months. That's all. Piniella is probably a little bit too anxious that his team isn't getting the offense going. But we understand his anxiety.
Anxiety. If there's one thing the Cubs can understand, it's that. But March 9 is not the time to feed that beast. At least wait until April.
Eamonn Brennan is a writer, editor and blogger hunkered down in Lincoln Park. You can also read him at Yahoo! Sports, FanHouse, MOUTHPIECE Sports Blog, and Inside The Hall, or at his personal site, eamonnbrennan.com.
