Last week I went to my last Cubs game of the season which also happened to be the 100th loss of the season. The offense was non-existent, but the pitching was pretty solid. Pat Hughes waved at me during the stretch, Len and Bob sang the stretch, David DeJesus had technical difficulties trying to toss a ball to the bleachers, and my partner in crime Harry and I had some snarky good times.
Two days later, the Cubs won their last game of the season and it was all over.
That 100 loss game pretty much summed up the whole season for me. The Cubs lost, but I had a good time. I got to see some really neat things, but those neat things didn’t reflect in the score. It happened and I’ve got some very fond memories from it despite the disappointments.
I realize this is a very touchy-feely approach to this season, but hey, if you want the season dissected by numbers, then there are plenty of blogs out there that have done that. As a bad fan, I’m not required to quantify a bad season. All I have to do is put it into the perspective of my life.
And sometimes contradict the popular narrative, but that’s just because I’m an asshole.
So here are my bright spots of the 2012 Cubs:
-Len and Bob. Pat and Keith. There’s two sets of guys that can weather the worst seasons and do it with class and humor. The worst games were made better by those guys.
-James Russell and Shawn Camp. They were supposed to be terrible, remember? They turned out to be the two guys that carried the bullpen for the entire season.
-Darwin Barney. 141 errorless games in a row AND he broke WAR and he’s absolutely adorable to boot. Take that, haters.
-Dale Sveum. He took on the media with humor, never once lost his cool, and told a certain bridgless troll beat reporter to beat it a couple of times. Never mind the line-ups, I want to keep him forever just for that.
-Anthony Rizzo. He came pretty much as advertised and he did it all without being an arrogant jackass like another NL rookie I could name. I appreciate that.
-Starlin Castro. He’s growing, changing, and his errors were down. He’s getting smarter with his fielding. This pleases me.
-Alfonso Soriano. Defense. Offense. Stolen bases. He did it all this year.
-Jeff Samardzija. I wasn’t sure he’d make it as a starter and he proved me wrong. He also got a hair cut. I’m glad he did both.
-July. I’d like to think that was a glimpse into the future.
Despite 2012 being disappointing, I’m bummed that it’s over. Bad baseball is better than no baseball.
Until then…I guess I wait for the dealing to start. That should provide some entertainment.
And a hint as to what 2013 will hold.
