Cubbies Make Poor Case for Pennant Chase

If it is true that champions show their real colors underpressure, this was Black Monday for the Cubs.

After the 11-0 squishing at the hands of the Expos, the pennantpicture is anything but rosy at Wrigley.

It appears to be time for long-suffering Cubs fans to dream of awhite Christmas and sing "Wait Till Next Year."

Next year is certainly a more pleasant picture than tomorrow.There is always a next year, but there are very few tomorrows at thistime of the season.

In truth, this three-game series against the Expos was onefilled with todays. Each day was - and is - the most important in amust-win series.

If these were to be contending Cubs, they needed to sweep theseries. And you can't sweep the series without winning the firstgame.

The Cubs were anything but colorful in the series debut. Infact, they laid an egg Monday - one of those rotten, stinky eggs.

A blown rundown play, a wild pitch on an intentional walk, adropped easy out and a dropped pickoff play. All in one inning fromhell.

In the course of a baseball season, one inning of one gamedoesn't seem like much.

But the game Monday cost the Cubs two games in the standings.Instead of closing to within three games of the second-place Expos,they fell five behind.

The best they can hope for now are victories today and tomorrow- a total of one game gained on second place.

Make no mistake, second place is what the Cubs need to focus on.First place is out of sight when you are in third.

What the Cubs need now is help from someone else. Serious help in beating the Expos, which noteam has done in the 10 series since they were last in last placeJune 23.

"But," ever-optimistic Cubs manager Jim Lefebvre said, "we aredone with Atlanta and Cincinnati. Montreal's got some tough games infront of them."

The Expos have six games left against the West-leading Bravesand six left against the Reds. Both teams have better records thanthe East-leading Pirates.

But baseball helps those who help themselves. And the Cubs didthemselves no favors in a big game. The Expos did, no matter howmanager Felipe Alou tries to cover it up.

"Our club, the way we think is that every game is big," saidAlou, who took over the team after Tom Runnells was fired May 22."Every game that keeps us out of last place because we know we werenot given any chance of getting out of last place."

But this was a bigger game than other big games.

"We were swept here the last time," Alou said. "We didn't talkabout it, but we knew it. We had to win."

The Cubs knew it, too. But now they are forced to talk aboutit. Forced to say the game Monday wasn't bigger than other biggames, that the series isn't any bigger than other big series, thatthe smell is just one rotten egg in a big basket. And that the smellwill go away once the bad egg is discarded.

"Personally, I think it's way too early to start saying thatnow," Lefebvre said. "That's the importance of playing 162ballgames. You can't put all your eggs into one basket in oneseries. If you did that in the Mets series (a Cubs sweep), we wouldlook great."

But in reality, all that did was keep the Cubs out of fourthplace and prove how bad the Mets are.

What Monday did was keep the Cubs solidly in third place andprove the Expos might be a better team.

If the Cubs are to win 90 games, they must go 35-16 in theirfinal 51 games. Color that almost impossible. The game Monday doesnot paint a pretty picture because next year is getting closer thantomorrow.