The Crap Has Officially Hit The Fan

The Chicago Cubs' spazatron manager Lou Piniella was suspended indefinitely and fined an undisclosed amount by MLB today for his latest pointless fit of rage against an umpire.

Sweet Lou was ejected in the eighth inning of last night's 5-3 loss to the Atlanta Braves after Angel Pagan was thrown out trying to steal third. Piniella stormed out of the dugout and kicked dirt all over the place as he argued and tossed his cap repeatedly, leading to his first (and probably not his last) ejection of the season by third-base umpire Mark Wegner.

Officials also pointed out that Piniella made physical contact with Wegner during the outburst by kicking him, which Lou, of course denied.

Piniella began serving his suspension today, the length of which will be settled tomorrow after a meeting with the MLB Executive VP for Administration.

This marks Piniella's 60th lifetime ejection since his managing career began in 1986. Bench coach Alan Trammell will manage the team in his absence.

The 22-31 Cubs are absolutely reeling, having lost six straight entering today's series finale against the Braves, with the frustration continuing after Carlos Zambrano's beatdown of Michael Barrett on Friday in the dugout and clubhouse.

"It all starts with playing bad baseball," general manager Jim Hendry said. "When you play as poorly as we have now for a few weeks time, a lot of frustration sets in because you do have a lot of guys that care and a lot of guys that expect to win. Nobody's anything but extremely disappointed, frustrated with where we're at."

Things were not supposed to turn out this way! Chicago blew $300 million in the offseason to keep and sign new players, including the addition of free-agent superstar Alfonso Soriano. The one player that hasn't gotten paid? Big Z.

So far this season, it's been the same song to a different tune for the Cubbies, who haven't won a championship since 1908 and haven't appeared in a World Series since 1945.

[Chicago Sun Times] | [Bleed Cubbie Blue]