MLB: Despite early success, Cubs still learning

By Mike Howard

It is certainly a different season in Wrigley Field. While the Friendly Confines are used to seeing Sammy hitting home runs and fans throwing back opponents bombs, there is one thing they are not used to seeing… that is their own Cubs as a first place team in the National League.

As strange as it may seem to the rest of baseball, that is the case. The Cubs are off to their best start since their National League East division championship season of 1989. At 19-11 they currently own the National League’s best record and the fourth best overall record in baseball. Despite this early success after 30 games, a source close to manager Don Baylor states that the skipper feels that this season is still very much a learning process.

“Don feels that this team is still learning how to win and how to deal with winning,” said the source, which spoke with Fanstop.com on condition of anonymity. “He told me that the team still doesn’t posses that veteran savvy that comes with years of success. They still have this look like they are kids happy that they are pulling this off. However, Don told me that he is happy that they aren’t spoiled by the early winning.”

The Cubs have been doing their winning in every way imaginable. Take this weekend series with the Dodgers as an example. In their Friday 4-0 win, they received a great pitching performance and some solid timely hitting off of very tough relievers. On Saturday, the offense exploded as the Cubs scored 20 runs in routing Los Angeles 20-1.

On Sunday, they were seemingly out of the game with 2 outs in the eighth, before an error led to them manufacturing a run on one hit and tying the game. They went onto win the game in the bottom of the ninth, 3-2. They won the game with only four hits.

“He is really happy about the variety of ways they are able to win games,” the source stated. “Make no mistake, this is a very good team that Don has. Any team that can pull off wins like they have lately are no slouch. Do told me that the Cubs are going to be a team to be reckoned come October.”

However, the small bears are still a work in progress. Witness pitcher Julian Tavarez’s anti-gay comments last week. Comments that caused the pitcher to be booed in San Francisco during the Cubs most recent road trip. The source told me that Baylor was very concerned about the effect the publicity from the comments would have on his team.

“He told me that good teams don’t do things like that,” he said. “However, he was happy that Julian learned from the experience. Don told em that the team is good and is going to be better, they just need to be polished. They need to learn that winning carries a certain responsibility with it. Once they master that, they are going to be a very good team in baseball.”

The Cubs a very good team? Clearly things are different on the North Side of Chicago.

Article courtesy of Sportsuperstarz.com