C’mon Jorge, throw a strike! Thus, the fervent plea of Nats fans last night, as Jorge Sosa worked his way through the Cubs line-up (nearly the entire Cub line-up as it turns out) in Wrigley Field. Sosa, who has been episodically efficient this year, served as the Cubs’s pin cushion while Jim Riggleman and his gaggle of coaches counted off the interminable minutes until the end of the game — which saw the Cubs slug out a 9-4 win at Wrigley Field on Wednesday night. Sosa pitched one-third of an inning and gave up five earned runs, one of the most futile performances by the Nats’ bullpen of the year: which is saying something. What the score does not reflect is that the game was actually within reach. New Nats addition Livan Hernandez, signed by the Nats on Tuesday night, pitched effectively over six complete innings — giving up five hits and striking out six.

The Nats’ loss was dampened, somewhat, by the appearance of Hernandez. It seemed almost as if a weight had been lifted from the team: a sure sign that a wily veteran, “the master,” had returned (and not a moment too soon) – and brought his toolkit: a ball that moves in and out and down at strange and unpredicted speeds and a fastball (just 85 mph) that is high, but not too high; just high enough for a guy like Derrek Lee to think that he might put it into the seats (but swing under it). Hernandez has to be the most phlegmatic pitcher in baseball. He walks slowly to the mound, and slowly off and his expression, whether the game is 9-0 in his favor, or against, rarely changes. So it was last night, when Milton “Board Game” Bradley put a two run homer into the seats at Wrigley, sparking a sure Cubs win. Hernandez, undisturbed, pawed tentatively at the dirt with the toe of his right cleat and went back to work.

The two couldn’t be more different. After last night’s game, Hernandez stood next to his locker and talked to reporters about what it’s like to be back with the Nats — a team, a franchise and a city that he’s always liked. ”It’s nice to be back,” Hernandez said. “I love the city. I’ve been asking every year to go back. Inside, it’s very emotional. I’m very happy. I like to thank the people here for giving me a chance to come back.” On the other side of the field, Milton Bradley couldn’t wait to get dressed and out of the way of the reporters waiting to talk with him. A bad season? A poor attitude? Bradley blamed the fans, saying they “hated” him. He once famously said of the bleacher jeers at Wrigley:“I just pray the game is nine innings, so I can be out there the least amount of time as possible and go home.” The Cubs would love to accomodate him.

It was a lot worse the night before — after the Nats pummeled the Cubs for fifteen runs. ”When I go home and look in the mirror, I like what I see,” Bradley told reporters. “My family is there; I have people I can talk to who are very supportive, in spite of everything and all the adversity and the hatred you face on a daily basis. But I’ll be all right. I always have. I’m talking about hatred, period. I’m talking about when I go to eat at a restaurant. I’ve got to listen to the waiters badmouthing me at another table, sitting in a restaurant. That’s what I’m talking about. Everything.” Phew. Not surprisingly, Chicago Cubs reporters and blogs have had a field day. “We Don’t Hate You,” intoned one, “You Just Stink.” Apparently after his two run home run against Hernandez on Wednesday, Bradley made “a hand gesture” to fans — who were cheering him. The results of “the hand gesture” might have lit up Chicago’s Magnificent Mile: “I have some very simple advice for Bradley,” a reporter later editorialized, “shut up and perform, and the fans won’t hate you so much.” Ah … it might be too late for that.

So it goes in Chicago — where the full effect of losing when you’re picked to win is now on full display: an embittered  player that is being paid $61,00 per game is blaming everyone but himself, and a general manager who is continually reminded that the two players he might have had (this one – and this one) are not only better and are not only headed to the post season, they were actually a hell of a lot cheaper. Never mind. He took a pass. He wanted Milton Bradley. And so, it seems, there’s only one way to describe this . . .

The Nationals roll out of Washington after suffering a signal defeat at the hands of the Milwaukee Brewers — another “might-have-been” in a home stand of might-have-beens, with the brewmeisters’ winning a 7-1, a veritable sudzing of the Anacostia Nine at Nats Park on Monday afternoon. In many ways this was a typical outing for Collin Balester: that is to say, it was not good. Balester was only marginally better than during his previous outing (when he couldn’t get out of the second inning versus the Rockies), because last night he actually lasted into the sixth against the Brewers. When headed for the third time throught the crew’s line-up, Balester fell apart — with the scorebook telling the tale (in order): double, home run, single (wild pitch), walk, walk, single (relieved by Bergman), single, single (relieved by Villone), fielder’s choice, strike out, strike out. The butcher’s bill? Six runs, seven hits (including a home run), two walks and a wild pitch.

It was difficult for Jim Riggleman to put flinty light on such an embarrassment, so he didn’t try: “If I had a crystal ball, I would not have sent him out there for the sixth inning,” he said. But the Nats’ bats were also to blame: the team left twenty-one on base over the course of nine (that’s more than two an inning, for those of you who are counting) and couldn’t take advantage of a less-than impressive Yovani Gallardo, who seemed (at times) almost indifferent to his fate. The big blast for the Brewers came off the bat of Ryan Braun, whose soaring 6th inning tumbler landed six rows from the plaza up in the left field stands. Excepting for that up-in-the-zone pitch, the Nats seemed to master the smooth swinging Braun, who registered three strike outs. That Nats are now off to “the city of the big shoulders, the hog butcher of the world,” where they face the other worldly Cubs, owner of an embarrassingly high salary structure to go with their embarrassing won-loss record.

The headline of the Cubs website reads: “Zambrano returns to kick off critical homestand.” Yeah, it’s critical alright. It’s critical for those who want to have a future in Chicago next year. For the rest of us, the question of whether the Cubs will have a place in the post-season has already been answered — and the answer is “no.” When the Cubs have needed to produce the most they have flopped: they are 5-10 over the last fifteen and most recently lost an embarrassing three of four in Los Angeles. To those stinking Dodgers no less. When they most needed to gain ground on the Cardinals (and if not that, to gain ground in the wild card race) the Cubs actually lost ground — with the rest of the league racing away from them. They are eight games behind the Redbirds, and 7.5 behind the Colorado Streaks in the wild card. Their recent road trip was a disaster: they were pathetic against Colorado, horrible against San Diego (as in the San Diego Padres), and outclassed against the Trolleys. It actually looked, in the city of dreams, as if the slugs had thrown in the towel. One Cubbie’s blog notes: they now have as much chance of making the post-season as O.J. Simpson does of being a useful member of society.

After spending the last twenty-four hours pouring over Cubs’ statistics, we here at CFG have come to the following conclusion: the Cubs are just not very good. The problem starts not on the field, but in the dugout: Carlos Zambrano spends most of the time fighting himself, Milton Bradley is a whiner, the front office decided to trade away Mark de Rosa (who was only the key to the team), Rich Harden’s reputation as “the sore armed Harden” is well-earned and the lovable free-swinging Alfonso Soriano is not so lovable when he goes into a pout and hits .194 in 67 games. Fans of the North Side Drama Queens have reacted accordingly: their blogs are filled with stories about new movies, recommendations that the front office participate in the “cash for clunkers” program and they now run tutorials on why Mark Prior is a symbol of why Cubs fans are left to wallow in their own despair. Remember Tinkers-to-Evers-to-Chance? Well, my friends, it’s time to relive those halcyon days.

This isn’t a ball club, it’s a novel.

So here (“Chicagoland fans”) is whatyaoughtado, but it’s painful: you clear the decks and you start over. Not like the Nats! We weren’t slow and old, but we started over anyway. That’s not true for your team. The Cubs are slow and old and they need to get young and fast. Carlos Zambrano could be a very good pitcher, but he’s worn out his welcome. He has to go. The best pitcher on the Cubs staff is Ted Lilly and he’s a gamer. Sadly, he’s 33. So he stays. But I would trade Harden. In spite of his enormous value, he’s one bad pitch from a blown shoulder and I would also cast a jaundiced eye on Ryan Dempster. He hasn’t proved he can pitch in the big games and he’ll never again be as good as he was last year. Aramis Ramirez must stay, of course, but you have to wonder if the injury he suffered this year will recur with increasing frequency. So you think I’m wrong? Well I’m not. You think you have a pitching staff? Really? Well, you don’t: you have episodes from “As The World Turns.”

Now then, on to the infield. Mike Fontenot is a good second sacker, he really is, but he’s not a .300 hitter and never will be. The Cubs need one, to team with shortstop Ryan Theriot — who’s the heart of the club. The Riot is the Cubs future. Fontenot isn’t and neither is Zambrano. Stop talking about how they teamed up at LSU. This isn’t LSU. It’s the majors. And get rid of Derrick Lee. Derrick Lee is a good hitter, but not a great hitter, no matter what you Cubs fans say, and he’s 33. He’s lost a step. Sooner or later (and probably sooner) he’s on his way to the junior circuit where fans can ooh and ahh about his value as a DH. “Oh Derrick, oh Derrick.” Listen, Derrick would look terrific in an Oriole uniform. They love guys like Derrick in Baltimore. And trading Derrick to Baltimore would clear the way for Micah Hoffpauer at first base — and it’s about time. Aramis Ramirez stays at third, of course, because when he’s hitting the Cubs win. But Aramis needs to stay healthy. Cross your fingers.

Let’s see, that leaves Kosuke Fukudome, who’s a hell of a ballplayer. Of course, when he didn’t turn into Mickey Mantle the Chicago press dumped all over him. But when you compare him with, say, this guy, you realize what you have. And fine, you can keep Soriano, so long as you realize who he is (and who, after all, would take his contract?), but understand that he only has about three holes in his swing (an outside slider, an inside slider, a high fastball). I would trade Bradley (if you can), despite the paltry return he’s likely to bring on the market — because the last thing any team needs is a head case.

And that’s the biggest problem with the Cubs. No fan, anywhere, wants to believe that their team doesn’t give a damn. And certainly that’s not the case with the Cubs. Milton Bradley and Carlos Zambrano and Alfonso Soriano want to win as much as the next guy — maybe even more. But that’s not the perception among a lot of Cubs fans, and it’s not the perception among fans of the game outside of Chicago. The Cubs-as-headcase has come to define the franchise. That’s the truth. And there’s only one way to change that perception. Clear the deck, get rid of the deadwood, the old, the slow, the head cases — and to keep the team’s youngest, toughest and most highly motivated players. No matter what their statistics. That means changing the franchise face from Milton Bradley to Sam Fuld. It means keeping a .283 hitter with no pop and no experience  — and trading a grizzled veteran with a high OBP. Because sometimes perception is reality – the kid who gives a damn is a hell of a lot more valuable than the veteran who doesn’t. And that’s always true. No matter what the stats say.

Sam Fuld