(Dusty asks, “Who doesn’t know pitching?  Who?”)

The only Cub fan feeling great this October is Steve Bartman, as Chicagoans are finally regarding him and the 2003 playoffs as ancient history for the much more recent sting of 2007. The new Man to Blame is none other than Lou Piniella. As Paul Sullivan writes in the Tribune, Cub fans are boiling three full games of post-season suckage down to one easy to remember Baseball For Dummies bumper sticker of Blame: Piniella Pulled Zambrano Too Early. Sullivan gives Piniella’s reasoning here, but leaves out an important fact: Piniella put Zambrano on a three man rotation, meaning he had even more reason to pull him for an ace like Marmol when he did. Writes Mr. Sullivan:

Now Piniella will hear about the move forever, or perhaps even longer if they have sports-talk radio in the afterlife.

Those who know Piniella best say he was thoroughly stunned by the Chicago media’s intense scrutiny of the move. He’d been bringing in Marmol in the sixth or seventh innings all season, and no one had criticized him. Piniella assumed everyone would at least acknowledge that he’d been doing it all season with great success.

That didn’t happen, and now Piniella will have to live with a moment that will go down in Chicago sports lore with Scottie Pippen’s headache, Jerry Dybzinski’s baserunning gaffe, the ball through Leon Durham’s legs and other infamous postseason debacles.

Piniella will get over it. He’s too confident to let any criticism affect his self-esteem.

But Piniella’s prolonged honeymoon with the Chicago media might have ended after Game 1, just as Dusty Baker’s honeymoon ended after the Game 6 meltdown in the 2003 National League Championship Series. As Baker learned, perceptions are hard to ditch in Chicago.

Being a major-league manager is no picnic, but Piniella has big shoulders and has been second-guessed before. One reason for his success is that he doesn’t let the possibility of criticism enter his head when making a tough decision.

“That’s part of the business, as far as when things don’t work,” bench coach Alan Trammell said. “This game, next game, next year, Opening Day, it doesn’t matter. There’s always going to be that thought process.

“That’s what I love about Lou. That doesn’t distract him at all. He does what he wants. Obviously, your decisions are not always going to work. But you know what? More often than not, they do.

“It’s not a coincidence why he’s been so successful. If we would’ve done what maybe some people thought [and left Zambrano in], does anybody really know that it would’ve changed the outcome? I’m with Lou 100 percent. That’s just another reason I enjoyed working so much this year with Lou. This guy is sharp.”