The more I read about Cubs' skipper Lou Piniella, the more I thought you'd like to too:
Lou Piniella keeps track of his sleep habits when he's not monitoring the National League Central standings, and he can attest that he's woken up at 4 a.m. this season more often than in any of his previous 19 years as a manager.
When infomercials don't cut it as an insomnia cure, Piniella has a surefire Plan B. He'll open his hotel room door, reach for the USA Today and do a crossword puzzle until he drifts back off to sleep.
"When I started managing, they'd have a bottle of vodka in the room," Piniella said, laughing. "Now I'll eat a piece of fruit and have a bottle of water."
During charter flights, Piniella will don his reading glasses, pull out the statistical data at his disposal and map out lineups for the next series before the plane lands. If Cubs outfielder Cliff Floyd is 14-for-35 career against Tom Glavine, or an opposing starter's release time enhances Alfonso Soriano's chances of stealing a base, Piniella feels obliged to put that in the vault.
"I've never been on a plane ride with him where he didn't work the whole time," Chicago general manager Jim Hendry said. "I don't think people give him enough credit for that."
An ESPN anchor took note when Piniella, looking quite displeased, lifted the ball from Ryan Dempster's hand after a rough outing Friday in St. Louis. But after the game, Piniella took pains to reiterate his faith in Dempster, telling reporters that his closer simply had a bad day at the office. With the season winding down and Milwaukee clinging to the Cubs like a conjoined twin, Piniella isn't about to start trifling with Dempster's confidence.
Piniella's challenge, as always, is finding a way to motivate his players and not overwhelm them with his hard-driving bent.
As the Cubs try to outlast Milwaukee in the quest for their first postseason appearance since 2003, their manager is ascending to higher ground. The Cubs' 7-6 win over Cincinnati on Monday was the 1,598th of Piniella's career. With two more, he'll pass Tommy Lasorda for 16th place on baseball's career list.
"I'm a realist, but at the same time, I'm a positive realist," Piniella said. "I come to the ballpark recharged every day to win a baseball game. That's what I enjoy."
When Hendry watches Piniella send a kid to Triple-A, he can tell how difficult it is for his manager to break the news. Last month, when Floyd's father died after a two-month battle with heart and kidney problems, few Cubs empathized more than Piniella, whose father, Louis, passed away in 2005.
"Lou always had this aura where people think he's hard on players all the time -- the 'rule with an iron fist' thing," Hendry said. "But I don't find that. He genuinely cares about them on and off the field, probably more than they would ever know."
Piniella is more inclined to delegate now than in his early years as a manager in New York and Cincinnati. He's content to think big picture and let pitching coach Larry Rothschild, bench coach Alan Trammell and the rest of his staff oversee their individual departments sans interference.
Piniella hates team meetings -- he's held two all season -- and rarely ventures into the clubhouse. One of his few rules decrees that card-playing must cease an hour before game time. Earlier this season in St. Louis, when a few Cubs lost track of time and pushed their luck with a game of pluck, Piniella dropped by and laid down the law, and that was that.
While Piniella is impulsive about personnel decisions, some principles remain constant. He's tough on catchers and can't stand pitchers who nibble. He can live with errors, 0-fers and gopher balls, but the offending player better give his all and be accountable. Excuse makers and players who hide in the trainer's room after games quickly exhaust their credibility with Piniella.
Cubs reliever Scott Eyre knows all about accountability. He posted a 12.86 ERA in April, and felt desperate to prove his worth to the new manager. When Piniella stopped pitching him in tight games, Eyre wished the Cubs would trade him and give him a fresh start somewhere else.
Finally, when Eyre couldn't retire the bat boy, Piniella and Rothschild summoned him for a chat. Their message: You're a better pitcher than this, and we need you to produce if we want to win.
In this case, a little support meant the world. Eyre has held NL hitters to a .188 batting average since the All-Star break, and he's back among the living.
"I didn't like Lou much the first two months," Eyre said. "It was because I pitched bad, and that's completely wrong. He never quit on me, and I'll never forget that."
Piniella enjoys playing rookies because of the energy they bring to the clubhouse and the field. The only catch: They better not be scared or fundamentally unsound.
Three young Cubs -- pitchers Rich Hill and Carlos Marmol and shortstop Ryan Theriot -- are now indispensable pieces for Piniella, and rookie catcher Geovany Soto has hit well enough lately to start taking at-bats from veteran Jason Kendall.
"Lou understands that you're not always going to get a bunt down, or you're going to miss a ball or a sign sometimes," Theriot said. "I hear it all the time, 'He used to be real fiery.' But he's only upset for a second, and it's nothing over the top."
Long, hard road
Piniella works with a personal trainer in the winter, but not during the baseball season, when the travel and long hours take their toll. The Cubs played four games in less than 48 hours against St. Louis last weekend, and Piniella, unshaven and fighting a head cold, looked about as fresh as an Iditarod contestant.
Managers: All-time wins
1. Connie Mack, 3,731
2. John McGraw, 2,763
3. Tony La Russa, 2,367
4. Bobby Cox, 2,248
5. Sparky Anderson, 2,194
6. Bucky Harris, 2,157
7. Joe McCarthy, 2,215
8. Joe Torre, 2,059
9. Walter Alson, 2,040
10. Leo Durocher, 2,008
11. Casey Stengel, 1,905
12. Gene Mauch, 1,902
13. Bill McKechnie, 1,896
14. Ralph Houk, 1,619
15. Fred Clarke, 1,602
16. Tommy Lasorda, 1,599
17. Lou Piniella, 1,598
The oppressive, nonstop fatalism in Chicago wears on a manager's nerves, too. How many Billy Goat Tavern, Leon Durham and Steve Bartman references should a man be forced to endure?
"We have some very nice people here," Piniella said of the Chicago media, "but they're skeptical. If things just don't go exactly right, it's 'woe and alas' real quick."
If Piniella fails in his quest, it won't be from lack of effort. Or sleeping on the job.
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