Cubs Were Cursed With Baker’s Mismanagement

It wasn’t about a billy goat.

It was about a stubborn manager who refused to pull his pitcher when he was braying with exhaustion.

It wasn’t about a hex.

It was about a vexing decision to allow a shortstop to swing a bat with the pitcher on deck.

The Chicago Cubs did not lose because they were cursed.

They lost because they were worse.

Although other explanations for the Florida Marlins’ 9-6 victory over the Cubs in Game 7 of the National League championship series Wednesday will sound more mystical, let’s get real.

The Cubs did not incredibly blow a two-game lead in this NLCS -- and with it their chance to go to the World Series for the first time in 58 years -- because of fate.

They blew it because they weren’t good enough. They blew it because they weren’t smart enough.

“We had the lead and couldn’t hold it,” said Moises Alou, shrugging instead of sobbing. “They played better than us. That was it.”

They blew it not because of demons or ghosts or jinxes, oh my!

They blew it because they blew it.

On Wednesday night, the Cubs led in the fifth inning, 5-3, with one of baseball’s best young pitchers on the mound.

That wasn’t a black cat who walked rusty pinch-hitter Brian Banks on five pitches. It was Kerry Wood.

That wasn’t some overzealous fan who, one walk later, allowed a first-pitch RBI double to Ivan Rodriguez. It was Kerry Wood.

At that point, Wood had thrown 91 pitches and was clearly laboring and guess what?

Dusty Baker, the Cubs’ manager, allowed him to face seven more hitters before he departed in the sixth inning, ultimately allowing seven runs.

Just because your team is supposedly haunted doesn’t mean you have to manage like you’re invisible.

And just because your team hasn’t won a World Series in 95 years doesn’t mean that, one inning later, you can challenge old-fashioned baseball knowledge by allowing the weak-hitting Alex Gonzalez to bat with two out and two men on base and pitcher Josh Beckett on deck.

Gonzalez doubled, knocking in two runs and hammering the final blows in a coffin that will be surrounded today by mourning Cub fans everywhere chanting, “Why us?”

Please. Give it up. If you think decades of whining is tough, what about those of us who must listen to it?

Why you? Because for most of the last century, the Cubs have not been built for championships. And even in this most stunningly despairing hour for the most loyal fans in sports, that has not changed.

Yeah, on Tuesday night, the Cubs needed to win just one of two games at Wrigley Field to advance to the World Series. They had baseball’s two great young pitchers on their mound.

And yeah, less than 30 hours later, their season was finished.

And, indeed, in both losses, they had the lead, five outs from victory on Tuesday, and five innings from victory on Wednesday. Certainly, from afar, it might look like voodoo.

“Before now, I never believed in that curse stuff,” said Jon Hewak, a student sitting on a Waveland Avenue curb late Wednesday, his Cubs-cap-covered head in his hands. “But now, how do you explain it? How? It’s mind blowing. I swear, it’s mind blowing.”

Here’s how you explain it.

First, the Cubs don’t have a great bullpen. No great middle relievers, no veteran closer. When you don’t have a great bullpen, you blow leads.

So even though they should have closed down Wednesday’s 5-3 advantage, they couldn’t.

“Tonight, I knew we would need three or four more runs,” said Alou. “It’s sad to say that, but that’s how you feel.”

Second, the Cubs don’t have a great fielding team. They make some spectacular plays, but sometimes struggle with the routine stuff.

So, please, grow up and stop complaining about the guy -- we’re not naming him here, look it up yourself -- who knocked that foul ball out of Alou’s hands Tuesday in Game 6, seemingly leading to the stunning Marlin comeback.

Stop calling his house. Stop knocking on his door. Stop threatening him.

Why are you mad at his hands, but not mad at the hands of the Cubs’ Alex Gonzalez’s? Remember, it was Gonzalez’s error two batters later which really fueled the rally.

“This is going to be hard to swallow,” Gonzalez said. “It’s hard to go home happy with a lead like that.”

Finally, the Cubs don’t have a great game manager. Like the San Francisco Giants used to say, Dusty Baker is the manager of the year for 23 hours a day. But it’s those critical moments in the dugout that have given him problems.

Baker helped cost the Giants the World Series last fall with strange Game 6 and 7 decisions against the Angels. And so it has happened again, this clubhouse mastermind again proving to be a dugout curiosity.

About Wood, he said, “If I thought I left him in too long I would have taken him out. But he was still throwing well.”

About the series he said, “We tried to put them away, but they wouldn’t go away.”

That’s because the Marlins had more weapons, more ingenuity, and more grit.

Those notions might not play well in Wrigleyville, but they’re the truth. And until the Cubs’ management builds a team that matches the incredible endurance of its fans, it will continue to be the truth.

Of course, with Wrigley Field always selling out and the team a marketing phenomenon nationwide, why should it?

Late Wednesday on Waveland, amazingly, a guy was selling “Cubs National League Champions” T-shirts for $5.

Even more amazing, people were lining up to buy them.

People who deserve better than a team built on a wing and a curse.

Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com.