Columnist Dean Juipe: Losses rub Cubs fans wrong way

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, July 21, 1999 | 10:35 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

Through all their years of suffering -- and they're the undisputed champions when it comes to suffering -- fans of the Chicago Cubs have rarely if ever expressed their dissatisfaction by booing the home club.

But they are these days, and not just sporadically.

The Cubs are the definitive examples of perpetual losers in the sports world. They're the kings of defeat.

They may have won 90 games and qualified as the National League's wild card for the 1998 playoffs, but this year it's back to normal. This is a franchise that has not had consecutive 90-win seasons since 1930, or consecutive playoff years since 1908, so, from a historical perspective at least, their 1999 relapse hardly comes as a surprise.

But the fans had a taste of success last season and they're not as forgiving this time around. Their usually beloved Cubbies are old and look older, they lack speed, they strike out too much and they're allowing far too many runs.

They're 15th (of 16 N.L. teams) in ERA and not in a position where they can compensate for allowing a statistical average of 5.6 runs per game. Tuesday they may have clawed back from a three-run deficit to edge Kansas City 8-7 at Wrigley Field, but the night before they were shellacked 10-2 by the Royals and they're 44-47 for a season in which they were once eight games on the plus side of .500.

The fans are not the least bit happy and even the Cubs' broadcasting team -- which plays to a national audience with Chicago's games on cable superstation WGN -- has been reluctant to continue painting happy faces. The net result is that everything pertaining to the Cubs these days is fairly negative.

An unfortunate side effect of all this is that Chicago manager Jim Riggleman, who once managed the Las Vegas Stars, is clearly under the gun. It's hard to picture anyone doing any better, yet we all know sometimes a managerial change is made for change's sake.

Hopefully that won't happen with Riggleman, an astute baseball man who doubles as a decent guy. But his current team is more apt to finish something closer to his 1997 team's record of 68-94 than it is to rally and make the playoffs despite the prodigious hitting of 60-homer threat Sammy Sosa.

The Cubs are aging none too Mark Gracefully. All of their opening-day starters, including trade-bait Grace, plus their top returning starting pitcher and their closer have seen at least 30 birthdays.

Add in an unlucky streak of injuries, topped by potentially great pitcher Kerry Wood's season-ending surgery in March, and the Cubs are reeling in the years. Wood won 13 games last year as a rookie but suffered torn ligaments in his elbow to put his career in jeopardy.

If Riggleman can be blamed for anything, it's the possibility he overworked Wood and contributed to his demise.

But the best indicator of why the Cubs are where they are may be third baseman Gary Gaetti and/or pitcher Steve Trachsel. Gaetti, soon to be 41, hit .320 last season but is now at .187 and has been used as a mop-up pitcher. Trachsel, 15-8 last season, is 3-13 and could be used as a mop-up third baseman.

If this wasn't the Cubs, it would be a sad story. But sad stories are synonymous with the Cubs, as their many fans are constantly reminded.

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