Thanks to copious amounts of rainfall yesterday we didn’t get to enjoy much of the verbal stylings of Joe Morgan and Steve Phillips on Sunday Night Baseball, though the guys did do a cut-in during Baseball Tonight.  It was as if Steve felt guilty over depriving us all of three hours of nonsense, so he worked it all into about 15 seconds.

Which included, “Aramis Ramirez is not off to a great start…”

To give Steve more credit than he deserves, he was comparing E-ramis’ start to Alfonso Soriano’s.  Soriano, who normally spends April trying to bat with six hoodies layered under his jersey is hitting .292 with a league leading five homers and nine RBI.  That bodes well for the rest of the season.

E-ramis, however is hitting .333 with three homers and 11 RBI.  In nine games.

But we come here today not to mock Steve Phillips, but rather to praise E-ramis, the clutchiest, most underrated slugger in all of Major League Baseball.

For all of the good and bad that Jim Hendry has done in his seven year reign as Cubs’ GM, it’ll be awfully hard for him to ever top the grand heist of July 23, 2003 when he traded such greats as Jose Hernandez, Matt Bruback and three weeks later Bobby Hill (he was the player to be named later) to the Pissburgh Pirates for Kenny Lofton and E-ramis Ramirez.

The deal filled two cavernous holes in the Cubs, giving them a real leadoff hitter in Lofton to play center and E-ramis would come to be the Cubs’ first real third baseman since Bill Madlock (who left in 1976.)

Not that at the time everyone was thrilled with the acquisition.  The Cubs were still being criticized for allowing the Cardinals to trade what seemed like a similar pittance to the Phillies near the end of the 2002 season for Scott Rolen.  That deal at least included real major leaguers like Placido Polanco and Mike Timlin (and the great no-hit legend Bud Smith).  Rolen played well for the Cardinals at the end of 2002 and was on fire in the playoffs until Alex Cintron ran into him and tore up his shoulder.  That’s always been one of my favorite and most unlikely injuries, ever.  Cintron weighed maybe 170 pounds and Rolen’s 240.

People were down on E-ramis’ defense, hey, we didn’t start calling him E-ramis for nothing.  He had 23 errors at the time of the trade.  Yikes.

He made 10 more errors in his 63 games with the Cubs, and he didn’t hit for much of an average (.259), but he hit 15 homers in those last two months, and then four more in the playoffs, including a grand slam in game four in Miami that put the Cubs on the precipice (that they would fall off of).

Since then, his fielding has dramatically improved.  He only made 10 errors total in 2004 and his defense has actually gotten better every year since.

He’s also hit 30 or more homers in four of his six full seasons as a Cub (and hit 26 and 27 in the other two) and has driven in 100 runs or more in five of six (92 in the other).  He’s hit over .300 four times and never less than .289.  His walk totals have increased and he hasn’t struck out as many as 100 times since 2001 with Pissburgh.

It hasn’t all been roses, of course.  In the final years of the Dusty reign, E-ramis embarrassingly didn’t hustle several times.  From time to time he’s nursed sore legs and in those instances Dusty said he’d “ordered” E-ramis to take it easy.  But that doesn’t excuse most of it.

There was still too much Cadillac in him as recently as 2007, but last year it seemed to disappear.  Maybe he’s growing up, maybe he’s worried that Lou will put a boot up his ass, whatever, effort is not a problem.

He was gone, out the door, say goodbye to the Cubs and hello to the Anaheim Angels in 2006.  He had exercised an option to leave the Cubs and November 12 marked the first day to sign with another team.  The Angels wanted him badly and offered a crapload of money.  He announced he’d come to terms on a new deal.

With the Cubs.  Eight days later, Alfonso Soriano turned down the Angels to sign with the Cubs.  I shudder to think what this team would look like without either one of them.

What E-ramis is best known for these days is sending the Wrigley throng home happy.  A Cubs’ championship season does not officially start until E-ramis walks off.

My personal favorite was this one, Cubs down a run, bottom of the ninth, Milwaukee closer Francisco Cordero on the mound and the Brewers about to extend their NL Central lead to eight games.  E-ramis parks one, Cubs win, and here’s the aftermath.

[Youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrEouiFvS_8]

June 20, last year.  The Cubs go to to the bottom of the ninth tied with the White Sox and what Joe Morgan insists is the greatest bullpen he’s ever seen.

[Youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS8e4ytj5yc]

And Saturday, game tied in the 11th, two out, a runner on and Albert Pujols due to bat in the top of the 12th.  Fox executives are crapping bullets because they’ve got NASCAR about to start and can’t go to that until the baseball game ends.  E-ramis obliges.

[Youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v7vulD30bQ]

One of these days, E-ramis is going to win an MVP.  This year seems like as good a time as any.