The intangible known as chemistry is one of the things that make baseball such a mystery. Chemistry is obvious in basketball–where it can take the form of an extra pass for an open shot or a helping hand on defense. But because baseball is such an individual sport–it all comes down to the battle between pitcher and hitter–team chemistry would seem to be inconsequential. Yet it no doubt exists, and not just as a pitcher and catcher working well together or a second baseman and shortstop forming a fluid double-play combination. Ask this year’s Cubs.
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But that was six saves in a mere 13 victories against 27 losses. The Cubs entered the week playing under .333 and in last place in the National League Central Division after nine losses in a row, their worst skid in five years. At this juncture last year, a quarter of the way through the season, they were 21-19, though in an eight-game skid after leading the division at 21-12. They’d follow that skid with a 12-game winning streak that would put them back in first at 33-20, and finish with a respectable–if not quite good enough–88-74 season. This year’s Cubs haven’t looked like they could win 12 games in a month, much less in a row.
I’d also argue that the loss of Acosta helps explain the change in chemistry. A hard-nosed, competitive coach, he got the Cubs’ pitchers to believe in themselves and take a more aggressive approach to attacking hitters’ weaknesses. Jon Lieber, for one, gave Acosta a large portion of the credit for his winning 20 games. When Acosta was fired at the end of last season for clashing too often with manager Don Baylor, the Cubs staff all but mutinied. Baylor and Rothschild knew going into this season that they’d have to repair the relationship with their pitchers, and though all have claimed that all is well, the results argue otherwise. When Kerry Wood–sickened by a listless 3-0 loss to the Saint Louis Cardinals last week (the Cubs’ fifth loss in a row)–came out and said the Cubs needed someone to show a little more fire, it was a not-so-indirect attack on Baylor just as word was circulating that Baylor’s job might be in jeopardy.
Yet even with Hill and Prior, it may be too late for the Cubs to reverse their fortunes this year. They’ve dug themselves a tremendous hole and now must combat simple mathematics–they’d have to go 76-45 to get to 90 wins. There’s no formula to produce that kind of result.
