Dusty Baker, Todd Walker, and all of the other well-paid platitude-dispensers employed by the "baseball club" owned by the Chicago Tribune can talk all they want about how the Cubs are just pressing, and of their that they'll come out of it soon.

That kind of crap works when you're in a two-week stretch of bad play. It really rings hollow when it's an attempt to explain away an entire month of sucktitude.

The Cubs have now lost seventeen of their last twenty one games, with today's nadir (god we hope it's the nadir), an utterly embarassing 7-0 loss to the World Champion CHICAGO White Sox that also demonstrated a complete breakdown of this team by the impulsive thuggish behavior of a diamond-raged player with a history of outbursts. Michael Barrett has never been appropriately dealt with by anybody in the Cub organization for his past anger-management issues--none of which (confrontations with Roy Oswalt and Dave Roberts, to name just a couple) had proved to benefit the team in any discernible way-- so I guess it was no surprise to see him cross the line and actually deliver a cheap-shot sucker-punch to an opposing player today.

Doesn't matter that it was notorious asshole AJ Pierzynski who received the free shot. All the more reason for Barrett to not rise up, take the bait, and actually come out looking more classless than AJ--no easy feat, to be sure.

This goes beyond Dusty's inability to control his players. We knew that. It goes beyond Jim Hendry's mindlessly enabling Dusty by providing him with the players--like Henry Blanco and Neifi Perez-- that he wants, but are worthless. We knew that, too. In fact, this goes beyond Lucky Sperm Lottery Winner Andy McPhail who, while representing the third generation of his family to have worked in baseball management, has managed to arrive in his twelfth season in this third-largest market in the U.S., having stewarded the team to 65 games under .500, with 6 losing seasons (soon to be 7) and two measly postseason appearances.

Both playoff teams have proved to be aberrations, too. In 12 seasons there has not been any sustained, consistent success. '98 was an ugly Wildcard team that backed into the playoffs by losing five of their last seven games before promptly getting swept out of the postseason against the Braves.

We thought it was different when, 5 years later, the Cubs came within five outs of their first pennant in 58 years.

Alas, despite the tease that 2004 brought, these were not the teams that we thought they were--talented clubs with a solid foundation.

In retrospect, we were misled. There is no foundation. There was no plan. Jim Hendry and Andy McPhail had to have been surprised as the rest of us by 2003, because their total cumulative actions since then--with the exception to the Nomar trade which Hendry thought would solve all ills-- has demonstarted complete incompetence on their part.

They have a $90+ payroll and are one of the four bottom teams in the National League. It's a week before Memorial Day and the Cubs look done.

Dusty Baker? Jim Hendry? Andy McPhail? John McDonough?

Naaa. It's about time some faceless bigshot rings up Dennis Fitzsimmons' cell phone and interrupts his putt on the 15th hole at Kemper, and tell him that he needs to cancel any appointments he may have for Monday morning, because it's time to talk about Andy McPhail's enterprise.

Being sucky has been tolerated by the Tribune in the past although, to be fair, they have burned through four management regimes in twenty-five seasons of ownership. The reason McPhail has been given a longer leash than Jim Frey and Larry Himes before him is because his personnel failures have been offset by John McDonough's brilliant marketing ability.

But being embarassed on the large, local stage at 35th and Shields, about five miles (as the crow flies) from the Cubs' corproate home on Michigan Avenue...well, that can't feel good. Playing like a bunch of jackasses in front of the rest of Chicago can't be good publicity for anybody. Not even the Tribune's clever use of their spin-management tools can combat this. The bottom line may be strong, the value of the franchise may be high, but this team is an utter laughingstock.

Mr. Fitzsimmons? It's time to do something about this this mess.