three-week stretch has been quite an odyssey

It's finally over: the Homeric 20-games-in-20-days odyssey that was extreme, even for the Cubs.
Having coined the term ''Cubbie Occurrence,'' what would Lou Piniella have called this nearly three-week stretch between days off that has left its mark on the franchise like perhaps no other similar in-season stretch in a generation or more?
That is, if he had made it through the nfl throwback jerseys
stretch instead of starting his retirement early and suddenly after the game Sunday.
''I tell you, man,'' Alfonso Soriano said. ''Too many things going on with this team.''
And almost all, it seems, coming in the last 20 days, including:
- The face of the franchise, Piniella, leaving for four games to tend to family business at home in Tampa, then less than two weeks later leaving for good to take care of his ailing mother;
- The other face of the franchise, first baseman Derrek Lee, taking four days of bereavement leave for his ailing grandfather and less than a week later getting traded to Atlanta;
- Mike Fontenot, another member of the 2008 division champs, getting traded across the diamond to the Giants while the Cubs were in San Francisco;
- Six guys getting called up from Class AAA Iowa;
- Five guys getting sent down to Iowa;
- Micah Hoffpauir getting called up, sent down and called up again -- not counting the time in between he was told to go to the big-league club only to be told a few hours later a mistake had been made and he wasn't eligible;
- Marcos Mateo, Darwin Barney and Welington Castillo becoming the Steelers jersey
seventh, eighth and ninth Cubs to make major-league debuts this season;
- Setting a pre-September record by using six rookie pitchers in a loss to the Padres;
- Beating Cy Young winners Tim Lincecum and Chris Carpenter;
- Losing to Kevin Correia, Jake Westbrook and 11 other guys;
- Knocking the Cardinals out of first place in the National League Central;
- Getting swept in a four-game home series by the Padres for the first time;
- Going 1-9 at home and 6-4 on the road;
- Losing Carlos Silva for the month after he underwent a minor surgical procedure to correct arrhythmia;
- Employing three managers along the way in acting manager Alan Trammell (1-3), manager Mike Quade (3-0) and retiring manager Piniella (3-10).
''Hopefully, the last 30-something games, we can just focus on playing baseball,'' Soriano said. ''The trades, new managers, those things -- we don't need no more. So far, it's not a good season for the team, and having some of these makes it worse.''
That doesn't even count the night of 11 consecutive hits by Colorado, followed by the Vikings jersey
Ted Lilly/Ryan Theriot trade, followed by Silva's night in a Denver hospital -- all of which happened in the days leading up to this 20-day, 20-game grinder.
It has all been enough to make even Quade feel the need for a day off after only three days in the new gig.
''I can't remember looking forward to a day off in Cincinnati like I'm looking forward to [today],'' he said. ''The timing couldn't be any better at this point.''