A dark day in the Windy City

I understand that I already posted today, but when something like this happens, it needs to be written about.

Last evening, when the Cubs were facing the Los Angles Dodgers in southern California, a tragedy occurred. I doubt this tragedy will be a top story on CNN, nor will it grace the front page of the ‘New York Times’. But for those who understand how many people this tragedy affects, they realize what an impact this will have.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, the first batter for the Dodgers was leadoff shortstop Rafael Furcal. Furcal, who over the winter chose to sign with the Dodgers instead of the Cubs, laid down a bunt that bounced to the left side of pitcher Scott Eyre. Eyre reached for the ball, but stumbled a bit. Instead of throwing the ball, he had to toss it from his glove to first baseman Derek Lee. Because of this, Lee had to stay at the base, and was unable to stretch out to catch the ball. At the very same time that the ball reached DLee, Furcal reached first base. The two players collided, and the ball flew over both of their heads. Furcal was OK, but unfortunately for Cub Nation, the 2005 NL batting champ wasn’t. Trainer Marc O’Neal sprinted out of the dugout and took a look at the right wrist, and today the news was announced about the severity of the injury. And it’s not good. Lee will out an expected eight to ten weeks, meaning at the earliest, he will be back in late June.



Now if you remember, I picked DLee to be the NL MVP (Check the April 1 blog post). Does this injury make me want to change my pick? Yes, but I’m not going to. I’m more concerned with how this injury impacts the Northsiders. We now need another hitter. It’s not that it would be nice to have another hitter. We NEED another hitter. Three people I’m thinking about. 1) Pittsburgh Pirate Craig Wilson, 2) Arizona Diamondback Tony Clark, and 3) Tampa Bay Devil Ray Aubrey Huff. Wilson and Huff are going to cost more in terms of prospects, but they are also more versatile, meaning that when Lee does return, they can be more then just a pinch-hitter. Regardless of what GM Jim Hendrey does, it needs to be done quickly. We have some winnable games coming up with series’ against the likes of Florida, Pittsburgh, Arizona and San Diego. But if we can’t score runs, it won’t matter. Our starting pitching hasn’t been too bad so far, and hopefully, Prior and Wood will be back by the end of May. But a new first basemen will be needed if we look to stay in contention for the division crown.