Calling Them Out

It's all over the papers and professional blogs now. Players are pissed at Lou Piniella:

(The talk) concerned various national reports that manager Lou Piniella had "lost" his clubhouse.

Piniella, who was serving the second of his four-game suspension during Monday night’s 7-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers, seemed perplexed.

First baseman and team leader Derrek Lee flatly denied the talk.

"That is, like, funny to me," Lee said. "No, that's false. I don't even know how you lose a team. I don't know. I don't know where those reports are coming from. As far as I'm concerned, that's not a true statement."

There does not appear to me a lie in Derrek's quote. Let's break it down.

1) It's false. Yes, it's false. Lou hasn't lost the team. Now, about part of the team....

2) Knowing where the reports are coming from. Derrek is doing is "La! La! La! La! I can't hear you!"

What's pretty clear is that SOME of the Cubs are unhappy with Lou. It's also pretty obvious who they are.

One is clearly Michael Barrett. How much respect for Lou does Barrett have if Lou tells Barrett to sit on the bench but Barrett goes down to polish Carlos Zambrano's rings with his face?

The second candidate would be Scott Eyre. We all recall that Eyre was looking forward to playing for Dusty Baker because Dusty wasn't going to make him run. How do you think this lazy ass feels about Lou?

The third is Jacque Jones. When Lou says that players need to "start playng like major leaguers," it's clearly Jones among those that Lou is calling out. Jones has used the "fans hate me" excuse in the past. Blaming the maanger for his own ineptness is a logical next step.

Despite these three losers foisted upon Cub fans by Jim "Short Time" Hendry, it's clear Lou has had a positive effect on some players. Aramis Ramirez is playing the best ball of his career. Jason Marquis and Ted Lilly have no complaints. Even Ryan Dempster only crapped his pants once since the time Lou told him to throw bleeping strikes.

Lost the team? Hardly. Lost the players that are already losers? Yup. But so what?