The Cubs won't need Steve Bartman this year.

[RascalJones]

SI's giving them the curse from the get-go.


http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/magazine/03/29/main/?cnn=yes

[Crash Course]

And it may have already started with Prior.

[KCBOOMER]

They didn't need Bartman last year, either. They had Alex Gonzalez.

[cubsin04]

You can't blame Alex Gonzalez for them not getting to the WS. Sure his error came at a REALLY bad time in Game 6, but he's not the reason they didn't win Game 7, they just got beat, plain & simple.

And there is no such thing as a curse, that's all I ever hear about, like it's a legit reason for the Cubs problems.

[RascalJones]

From what the public is led to believe, Steve Bartman is the Evil that prevented the WS last year.

I hope you realize that the Steve Bartman comment was very tongue-in-cheek. I never felt that guy caused any problem. ANYONE else sitting in his seat would have reacted EXACTLY the same way.

[KCBOOMER]

You can't blame Alex Gonzalez for them not getting to the WS. Sure his error came at a REALLY bad time in Game 6, but he's not the reason they didn't win Game 7, they just got beat, plain & simple..

Uh, if Gonzalez fields a routine ground ball there is no Game Seven.

[cubsin04]

Uh, if Gonzalez fields a routine ground ball there is no Game Seven.


Then I guess you could also say if Bartman didn't touch the foul ball there wouldn't have been a Game 7, or if Prior didn't throw a wild pitch advancing the runner, maybe there wouldn't have been a Game 7. You could also say Baker should have come out to help Prior relax a bit, after the foul ball. If he did maybe there wouldn't have been a Game 7. You win as a team & lose as a team. One person cannot take all of the credit or burden all of the blame.

[Crash Course]

If "ifs" and "buts" were candy and nuts, we'd all be eating until Christmas. ;)

[Makofan]

Uh, if Gonzalez fields a routine ground ball there is no Game Seven.

The miracle is that the Cubs got to the playoffs with Alex Gonzalez on their team. He was an awful player for the Blue Jays, and he only got worse. I'm not sure if it's his poor fielding, awful base stealing, pathetic batting average or his *OPS+ being 82 that makes me so down on him :)

[Molechaser]

The miracle is that the Cubs got to the playoffs with Alex Gonzalez on their team. He was an awful player for the Blue Jays, and he only got worse. I'm not sure if it's his poor fielding...

Didn't Gonzalez have the highest fielding percentage among NL shortstops (and the second highest in the major leagues, behind only Alex Rodriguez)? I agree with you as far as his offense was concerned, though (except for a few early-season timely home runs).

[gyb13]

well, we can go into the merit (or lack thereof) of fielding percentage as a defensive evaluator, but there are plenty of other threads on that...