POP!!!!!!!!!!!!

That was the sound going off in every Cubs fan’s mind when closer Chad Fox grabbed his right elbow April 26. You couldn’t hear the ligaments snap as he released the pitch, but the internal sound effects were chilling enough.

Fox, who had just been promoted to closer amid the futility of LaTroy Hawkins, gave up a three-run homer before suffering what could be a career-ending injury. Trouble is, Fox entered the game against Cincinnati with a 10-3 lead and had just pitched the night before. And oh yeah, he has had two serious ligament injuries on the same elbow during his career.

The typical fan’s gut reaction: Thank you, Dusty Baker.

In only his third season as Cubs manager, Baker has had a rollercoaster tenure. He guided the Cubs to a division title in his first season and was perhaps one Steve Bartman folly from the World Series.

Last year, even though the team won one more game than it did in 2003, the wheels came off. The team finished third in the division and disorder ruled. Sammy Sosa left games early, Moises Alou never met an umpire he didn’t want to harangue and a relief pitcher nearly came to blows with the team’s broadcast analyst.

This year the team already has endured a seven-game losing streak, and the bullpen continues to fall apart. General manager Jim Hendry, to quell the rumor mills, voiced support for Baker May 6.

With all the controversy and dashed expectations, one could assume that all of Cubs Nation wants Dusty gone. Maybe.

“I’m not mad at Dusty,” lifelong Cubs fan Jason Semme said Monday night at The Sports Corner, located across Sheffield Avenue from Wrigley Field. Between swigs of beer and casual f-bombs, he shrugged and said: “It’s not his fault that they have no talent in the bullpen.”

Just then a beer can hits the table and another man’s head shakes furiously. “Bullshit!” cries Semme’s buddy, Chris Farruggio. “Dusty’s been babying his starters all year because he’s afraid someone is going to get hurt. He’s afraid of expectations and has overworked the bullpen. Of course it’s his fault.”

Then he glares at me. “Next question!”

So opinion on Baker is, safe to say, a little divided. Granted, two guys sitting at a bar hardly count as a public opinion poll.

But Semme has a point. Is it Baker’s fault that Hawkins cannot close a suitcase, much less a one-run game? Or that Kerry Wood can’t give the team a quality start? Or that Hendry passed on signing a closer in the off-season?

Wrigleyville has gone a long way from the “In Dusty We Trusty” T-shirts you could see on bleacher bums and old ladies alike.

But, as it seems I have to end every column on the Cubs’ skids: The season is young. 2003 closer Joe Borowski is on the mend. Derrek Lee is still on a tear. And did I mention the season is young?

Baker may have made a mistake with Fox, but Cubs fans would be making a bigger one by turning on their skipper so soon.

And speaking of mistakes, a small one of my own: Last week I said that the sausage race at Milwaukee Brewer games included five characters. As I witnessed during last Saturday’s game, there are only four: the hot dog, the bratwurst, and the Polish and Italian sausages. Animal rights activists wanted a vegetarian character to join the race, but that idea never left the starting blocks.

Reach Christopher Kenny at [email protected].