Everybody, Try To Stay Calm

At this time I would like to urge calm among the denizens of Wrigleyville and all who dwell within the Cubs Existential Plane. Soriano is on the shelf again, but the most important thing right now is not to panic.

We can survive this. After weeks of being reminded how good Sori can be, let’s not pretend it will be easy. But we can survive this. He was injured earlier this year, and the Cubs responded by discovering the wonderous OBP statistic. Our lineup is better equipped now than it was then- Reed Johnson is still playing well, Jim Edmonds is on-board and has graciously decided to stop sucking, and Micah Hoffpauir could be a big wild card in all of this. Whether Reed, Micah or DeRosa ends up in left and whether Reed, Theriot or Fontenot ends up batting leadoff, this is a storm we can weather. And with heavy rains submerging the bottom third of Wisconsin in water, transforming a dinky little river I cross on my morning commute into the wide Missouri, I know something about weathering storms.

Another point- Albert Pujols is out too. Suddenly, the Cards and Cubs are both dueling with one hand behind their backs, but even so the odds remain the same. In fact, it’s easy to suggest that St. Louis losing Pujols is a worse loss than the Cubs losing Soriano. I’m not going to be the one to suggest that; I’ll leave that up to the SABR guys to give us the cold hard stats about each players’ VORP and such. I will say that after some encouraging stretches by Milwaukee, Brewers fans are likely rubbing their hands in evil glee, thinking the pieces are all in place. I need to see more than one solid homestand before acknowledging that threat. After all, the one blemish during that homestand was one of Atlanta’s rare road wins.

Speaking of Atlanta, we can all say, without hyperbole, that the getaway game against the Braves is big. Just as St. Louis made a statement last night against Cincinnati without Pujols, a win without Sori would be a big confidence booster heading into the tricky interleague trip. Plus, between the hit batters, the near-misses, the lack of closure from last year’s incidents in Atlanta, them taking out Sori with an inside pitch, us taking out their scheduled starter with our clubhouse steps… fireworks are possible.

Which brings us to the most important thing to remember- the one thing to keep in mind no matter how bad it gets without Soriano: at least he didn’t get injured tripping on the clubhouse steps.