"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do, I stare out the window and wait for spring." - Rogers Hornsby

:: Saturday, October 11, 2003 ::

Nineteen

MIAMI -- Nineteen, indeed.

Nineteen years and seven days ago, the Cubs beat the San Diego Padres 4-2 and moved to within one game of the World Series.

And three losses and a lot of tears later, they didn't make it.

I can still remember walking out of Wrigley Field on October 3, 1984, and where I was and how I felt that day.

Now it has taken nineteen years and seven days to get back to that feeling, and although I talked to my friend Craig in Kansas City tonight and he is convinced we are going to the World Series --

-- gosh, yes, I really wrote those words, didn't I? --

there have been, in my lifetime, teams this close who didn't make it -- the 1985 Blue Jays. The 1986 Angels, who got to within one strike and didn't make it.

So we revel, we enjoy, we thrill at tonight's 8-3 blowout of the Marlins, giving the Cubs a 3 games to 1 lead in the NLCS, but we know there is still work to be done. And if Dusty Baker has instilled nothing else in this team, I know he has instilled the work ethic that every single man on the ballclub knows what he has to do.

Tonight, Mike & I both figured the Cubs could hit Dontrelle Willis just the way they did back in July, when they routed him on their way to a 16-2 win. And with Willis apparently nervous and unable to throw strikes, that set the stage for Aramis Ramirez, who may turn out to be the Cubs' best trade acquisition in decades, to hit a grand slam, and eventually tie a 43-year-old record for RBI in a postseason game.

Sheesh, records are falling like flies. The last Cub team to win three straight postseason games was the 1907 World Champions, who won four straight over the Tigers after the first game ended in a tie. I know much of this stuff because we happened to be sitting right in front of the auxiliary press area, and we could hear the loudspeaker announcements throughout the game. Handy!

Credit also to Matt Clement, who threw a wonderful game in a very efficient 98 pitches, and Kenny Lofton and Sammy Sosa, who worked deep into counts and kept Willis and the Marlins' bullpen off stride all night.

It seemed like more Cub fans than last night; we ran into some really nice people who let us hang with them in the parking lot and watch the Yankee/Red Sox brawl, er, game, for a while, and then we sold our extra tickets to two young men, one of whom is 17 and was given the trip to Miami as a graduation present from his sister. My gosh, he wasn't even alive when I sat in Wrigley Field that day in 1984.

A brief digression before I finish -- Mike & I spent the afternoon down at South Beach, the trendy Miami neighborhood which is interesting people-watching; then we walked down the beach itself for an hour or so, something Mike enjoys doing at Lake Michigan at home, and it was nice to just relax and watch the sunbathers and the ships go by on the Atlantic Ocean on a very hot and humid day (saw one time/temp sign that said 90 degrees, and I believe it was).

A few comments on Pro Player Stadium: hate it. Huge and concrete with no soul, although it had another record crowd of 65,829 (NLCS record, and last night when the PA announcer tried to say 65,000, he started saying 6,500, probably being used to that amount from the normal size Marlins crowd) -- even with that, the Marlins fans gave up pretty early and by the sixth inning or so, almost half the people had left, and so almost everyone remaining were Cub fans. I expect there will be even more Cub fans in attendance tomorrow. Jessica, Mike and I all agreed that if the Cubs were down 8-2 in the 7th inning of a home playoff game, a few people would leave, but not half the crowd.

We also ran into Scott Lange of The Northside Lounge and Chris Yarbrough of Yarbage Cub Report, who had driven down from Atlanta. Scott was wearing his lucky Hee Seop Choi jersey and I reminded all of them that the Cubs had never lost a game in which Scott and I had both been in attendance (the two games of the Cardinal series). Of course, that is still true. They offered us a single for Sunday's game, and we are still seeking one more ticket so all of us can sit in the lower deck.

Sign seen: "A date with J-Lo: $100,000; a date with Anna Nicole Smith: 99 cents; a date with destiny: priceless!"

You've all read here (and maybe in Sports Illustrated too, which quoted this very blog in this week's issue in Steve Rushin's column; I'd provide a link but you have to be a subscriber to click on it -- go buy it!) about my ritual at work, having my co-workers say "How about those Cubs!" and I say "They suck!"

Well, you can credit tonight's win to Mike and Pat, our ABC-7 crew here in Miami; I ran into them outside the stadium and without prompting they did this for me, shook my hand, and the rest is, to be trite, history.

Our ship is approaching port, with hope and all the love that all Cub fans have for the team, our very ill Ron Santo who is at his home in Arizona, and for each other.

Hold on tight, everyone. We hope tomorrow is the day we have been waiting for.

:: posted by Al at 11:27 PM [+] ::
...

Two Days Till The End Of The World

MIAMI -- I spent a tremendous amount of money on tickets for these games, and it wound up being even more when I had to eat one ticket; I had three extras because I thought more people were coming, but so many of my friends couldn't get on flights.

It was worth every penny.

Mike and I agreed, and between the two of us we have been at literally thousands of baseball games -- this was probably the single greatest game we have ever attended in person.

In front of a rocking, loud crowd of 65,115 which included at least 15,000 Cub fans, the Cubs beat the Marlins in a -- well, I have no superlatives for this -- 5-4, 11-inning game which gave them a 2-1 lead in the NLCS and put them two wins from the World Series for the first time since 1984.

Before I describe our emotions during the game -- and it's a good thing this isn't a talking blog because my voice is pretty well gone -- let me tell you about my attempt to sell the extra tickets.

One guy bought two right away, and he and his friend sat with us. They got pretty drunk (they were Cub fans, of course), and somehow they decided to leave in the eighth inning. I was actually amazed at the number of people who left this tense game after nine innings. Maybe they all figured Bud Selig was going to call it a tie. About 10% of the crowd, I'd say, didn't stay till the 12:35 am ET ending, but I'd also say not a single Cub fan left.

I see I'm digressing. In my travels around the parking lot to try to sell the other ticket, I met a cool Cub fan from Ft. Myers Beach who had driven down, and offered me a grilled sausage from his grill -- it was really good! He didn't buy the ticket but might buy some of the three extras I have for tomorrow -- say, if you want them, e-mail me!

Pro Player Stadium is huge. This is my first trip here, and it is so much better designed for football. The ramps and signage are somewhat confusing, and I didn't get to my seat until about half an hour before game time, so my trip around the park will have to wait for tomorrow or Sunday. I did have a chicken sandwich which was decent, and I'll try some of the other ballpark food later on. The seats in the RF corner were OK, and that was the side that most of the Cub fans were on, and we were loud -- I hope that came across as well on TV as it did in person. That has to be the largest group of visiting fans at any league championship series game ever. I will say something about Pro Player -- that it was surprisingly easy to get out of the parking lot. The main lots were filled, two hours to game time, so we had to park across the street, which actually was a good thing, because one right turn out of the lot and we were on I-95 going south to the hotel.

Two fans were overcome in our section and had to be carried out by paramedics. I have no idea if it was the baseball, or something else. Hopefully, they'll be OK.

In the tenth inning, a fight broke out across the aisle from us, and I have to say, stadium security took its time getting there, and it was only after dozens of people pointed out the culprit, that they took away the right guy. For the most part, though the Marlins fans waved the white towels they were given when we came in (Jessica spent the day tying hers in knots), they just didn't seem as into the game as we were at Wrigley Field.

By the way, tonight's game broke a long losing streak for me. Before today, I had attended five Cub postseason road games (2 in San Diego in 1984, 3 in San Francisco in 1989) -- all losses.

So you see, cosmic things are happening.

And I trotted out something I usually save for desperate situations -- when Doug Glanville came up to pinch-hit, I said: "If you never get another hit the rest of your life, get one now!" He did. Jessica could barely watch the bottom of the 11th, and Mike Remlinger had to get four outs when Paul Bako dropped a third strike, and almost had to get a fifth out when Aramis Ramirez bobbled Derrek Lee's grounder, only to have Luis Castillo caught in a rundown.

This was the game the Cubs had to win, with Kerry Wood going, and Wood was a mere mortal tonight, throwing well but throwing one really bad pitch, the one that Ivan Rodriguez inside-outed to right field to drive in the go-ahead run. But after that, there were so many Cub heroes. Kyle Farnsworth threw well. Randall Simon (my friend Phil would say: "Randall Simon: Professional Hitter") hit a two-run homer. And finally, Glanville and Remlinger (who got his first save in more than three years).

We wouldn't have cared if the game ended at four in the morning, as long as the result was as it was. That's where playoff baseball can take you -- to the heights, or to the depths. Tonight, we are soaring, and it is now nearly 2 am, and in some ways I don't want to sleep, I just want to savor this night, the night of one of the most dramatic wins in 127 years of Cub history.

Of a St. Louis Cardinal playoff win, the late Jack Buck once said, "Go crazy, folks, go crazy!" We did.

And in two days, we hope we will again.

:: posted by Al at 12:52 AM [+] ::
...

Greetings From Miami

MIAMI -- I thought I left tropical weather behind a month ago in Puerto Rico, but at this moment it is pouring rain. Like most tropical places, I suspect this rain will pass rather quickly, and there will be no problems for tonight's game.

There's not too much more to be said about the game itself that hasn't already been said.

I expect Kerry Wood to keep his "A" game going tonight, as he has for the past month, and to have a 2-1 series lead tomorrow morning.

Keep hope alive. Let's win it.

:: posted by Al at 2:26 PM [+] ::
...

Movie Review: "School of Rock"

Spent part of this NLCS travel day seeing a movie, and this one came highly recommended by several people, and the critics loved it, and darned if they're not all correct.

At first glance this looks kind of stupid: Jack Black, who was so good in "Shallow Hal", plays a down-and-out rock musician ridiculously named Dewey Finn who seems mired in the '70s; he does stupid stage stunts, can't really sing, and his band hates him, even though he was the band's founder.

So when he's fired, his roommate and the roommate's snippy girlfriend (Sarah Silverman, ex of Saturday Night Live) try to throw him out because he owes them thousands of dollars in rent and he has no job.

Then the happy coincidence that fires the plot happens; a phone call comes in for the roommate (even more preposterously named Ned Schneebly) to be a long-term substitute teacher at an expensive prep school, so Dewey impersonates him and takes the job.

At first it seems really stupid: the kids (who are aged anywhere from about 8 to 12) seem pretentious and boring and Dewey hates them and hates school itself.

But then he brings his love of music and rock into class, and begins teaching the kids the history of rock music, how a band is formed, and brings out special talents in each of them. The actors playing the kids are so natural, and you can probably feel something of yourself in each of them. And as Dewey teaches them, he learns something about himself.

The principal of the school is played beautifully by the multitalented Chicago native Joan Cusack, who seems almost too skinny here (so many of her roles have been as the chubby-but-adorable woman who just can't get a man), but her pinched-tight lips and pinched-tight voice are perfect for this role, even as we see Dewey try to open her up and show her real personality.

Dewey's old band is performing at a "Battle of the Bands" and so Dewey's plan is to get the students to become his new band and win that contest. I won't ruin the plot by telling you how it comes out, only that the performance is a winner, and many people learn a lot about themselves after it's all over.

This is not only a very funny movie, but thoughtful and sweet, and Jack Black's frenetic performance makes it a must-see.

AYRating: *** 1/2

:: posted by Al at 8:25 PM [+] ::
...

E-Mail

This afternoon, two e-mails, just for fun and interest on today's off day.

From my dad, who served in the US Navy during World War II:

During the 1945 World Series, our destroyer, part of the Third Fleet (which was a key part of the force that had just conquered Japan), was anchored off the Yokosuka Naval Base, south of Tokyo. I was the communication officer of the ship, and tuned in to radio station KBMG (Honolulu) which was transmitting the game. Over the weak signal and the static, we were able to hear a couple of the games. I've been waiting for 58 years to get a Cubs "replay."

From Carole:

Entering CTA hell on my way home last night, I passed a curious scene at the Irish bar on the corner of Clark & Roscoe (sorry, the name escapes me at the moment.)

They had a truck on the south side of Roscoe in front of their bar. It had huge screen TV's on 3 sides of the truck. There were several people gathered there when I arrived with more gathering each moment. They were showing the bottom of the ninth of Yankees-Red Sox. Everyone was rooting for the Red Sox. It almost matched the fervor of the Cubs. Of course, I stayed to watch the end of the game before I continued my walk home. I had to walk to Schubert & Clark & wait 10 more minutes before I finally got a damn bus.

I'm off to Miami in the morning!

:: posted by Al at 1:39 PM [+] ::
...

Ecstasy

We brought out all the superstitions tonight.

Carole got caught in what she calls "CTA hell"... waiting over half an hour for a bus, with no buses coming. OK, that makes me wonder why she just doesn't start walking toward the ballpark, especially on a gorgeous night like tonight. But she did make the first pitch easily.

I wore my shorts. It's October. We are in the playoffs. And I am wearing shorts.

Incidentally, today is the latest calendar date that there has been baseball at Wrigley Field in my lifetime.

And finally, the one that really did it -- I was waiting in line with a few other people just before gate opening at 5:05. I had my backpack, a newspaper and my Super Big Gulp. As I was trying to open the bag for inspection, I kicked over the drink.

That did it. That's three this year, and it's always good luck, and runs spilled out of the Cubs' batting order just like that drink spilled all over Waveland Avenue, in a fun, rollicking, exciting 12-3 blowout of the Marlins, evening the NLCS at one game each.

It was the first blowout win for the Cubs since the 9-2 pasting they gave to the Brewers back on September 7, and they needed this one big-time after last night's tough loss. This is a way not only for the team to prove to itself that losing a heartbreaker doesn't break them, but to show their opponents that they have no fear.

Mark Prior is the perfect pitcher to do this. He never shows fear, and although he didn't have his best stuff tonight, he didn't really need it, as the Cubs hit early and often, and led by eight after only three innings, chasing starter Brad Penny, which also unleashed a torrent of bad puns from Howard and Jon ("The Marlins are now Penny-less" and when Brian Banks pinch-hit later, "Since they're penniless, they had to go to the Banks." Yes, I yanked on Jon's ponytail for those).

Everyone joined in the fun. Sammy Sosa hit a monstrous home run that clanged off the top of the center-field TV camera hut and then dropped into the juniper bushes. It was indicated on the scoreboard at 495 feet, but I think that's a little overzealous on the part of Gary Pressy, the organist who also doubles as a homer-measuring device. I'd have put that one at about 450 feet.

Aramis Ramirez also launched a rocket into the seats, and Alex Gonzalez, who normally hits well early in the season, must have seen the stat sheet showing he only has five at-bats, and he's started hitting all over again like it's April, hammering two homers. The teams combined for six homers and nearly equaled the record for homers in a postseason game (seven, established way back last night). Mark Prior lost focus for a brief moment and gave up back-to-back homers to Derrek Lee and Miguel Cabrera in the sixth, but apart from that and a double-play-scoring-grounder, that was it for the Marlins today. Personally, I would have lifted Prior an inning earlier, but that's been Dusty's pattern his whole career, to ride his starters harder than necessary. If anyone can handle it, it's Prior.

My dad called in the first inning after an idiot fan interfered with Paul Bako trying to catch a foul popup, saying that the fan should have been ejected. I told him I'd pass that along to security, and in fact I do think the fan was thrown out.

I also ran into Fred, a fellow worker from ABC-7; he had four seats in the bleachers and had been offered $2500 for them today. He turned that down. It's a lot of money, all right, but to miss this? This is what we've all waited our whole lives for.

Sign seen: "My Dad Paid For This Ticket With My Wedding Money". Love it!

Stupid sign seen: "Tim McCarver, Shut Your Mouth". Um, Tim McCarver is doing the Red Sox/Yankees series, not this one.

So, it becomes a best-of-five series, and with Kerry Wood throwing on Friday, I feel confident, confident enough to say to everyone as we left...

"See you Tuesday... or a week from Tuesday."

Three wins to go. I'll report from Miami this weekend. There are quite a few bleacher season ticket holders making the trip, including Mike, who was given a real nice bonus by his boss today -- a plane ticket to Miami. Mike's only been on an airplane a couple of times, and he ought to see this, I think. Bill from Rockford is coming down with some of his family, and Ron, who I hung out with in Puerto Rico, got some really good tickets on eBay, and will also make the trip. I got all the tickets I needed for Friday and Saturday. This will be my first trip to Pro Player Stadium, and will be the eighth ballpark I have seen the Cubs play in this year (Wrigley, the Ballmall, Miller Park, Camden Yards, Skydome, PNC Park, and Hiram Bithorn are the others).

Our journey continues. The best is yet to come.

:: posted by Al at 11:11 PM [+] ::
...

Afternoon Update

* Received this interesting e-mail from reader Cullen Caughron:

I'm a lifelong Cub fan who found your blog through a Rob Neyer article. It's great to read about people going through the same hope/heartbreak I am, as New Jersey does not have nearly enough Cub fans (at least not that I'm aware of).

Regarding Grudzielanek's missed tag, the one thing nobody seems to mention is it doesn't matter if Grudzielanek tagged Pierre or not. When he attempted to tag Pierre, Pierre jumped out of the basepath to avoid him! The umpire should have called Pierre out as soon as he jumped into the infield grass, regardless of the tag!

Unfortunately, it's just another umpiring mistake the Cubs will have to overcome this year. Similar to Lofton's catch in game 5, the team (& the fans!) have to put it behind them.

Excellent point, Cullen, and thanks.

* Also forgot to mention that the ivy is turning a very nice shade of brown, with some red mixed in. It seemed noticeably browner at the end of the game than at the beginning.

:: posted by Al at 12:59 PM [+] ::
...

Agony

Well, they've done it for 95 years; why should now be any different?

I don't mean losing; I mean bringing us to the heights, then dropping us to the depths.

Instead of taking 95 years, the Cubs did it all in one night in what will be remembered as one of the most incredible postseason games ever played, an excruciatingly exciting, but ultimately disappointing 9-8 loss to the Marlins, who take a 1-0 lead in the NLCS.

Here, let me turn over this space to a couple of e-mail correspondents, beginning with, of all people, my dad:

I see a necessity to install instant replay on baseball games. I think the call that the Cubs fielder "bobbled" the ball then tagging the Marlins player was absolutely wrong. Instant replay should prevail over umpires' visual calls except re balls and strikes.

Also, characteristically, Baker let Zambrano stay in the game way too long.

If you need any further expert commentary on baseball, please advise the writer.

Well, how can you argue with that? Even if he did, as he told me, vote for Arnold Schwarzenegger.

And last night's loss was partly Jessica's fault, as you will see:

I am at least partly to blame for tonight's loss - I got so giddy in the first that I DID NOT EAT THE LUCKY TUNA SANDWICH (which I ALWAYS eat in the bottom of the first) Doesn't ALWAYS work but has a good track record

Trust me, she will be reminded to have the tuna sandwich tonight.

Unlike the Division Series, where the teams print their own programs and the Cubs gave us basically their regular scorecard (OK, so it was surrounded by a $5 magazine rather than a $1 magazine), in the LCS and World Series, MLB takes over and prints their own program, which costs $10. They did get it updated, at least; it has Cub and Marlin rosters and photos, and it contains scorecards for all seven possible games, so you can keep score without having to pay $10 for an additional program every day. The only downside is that MLB, in its infinite wisdom, plastered an ad for a website (which I will not give any PR to by repeating its name here) right in the middle of the scoring boxes for both teams, making it very difficult to read some of your own writing. They also left room for only ten innings, though that's no different from the regular season Cub scorecards. Unlike the Cub scorecards, where I can insert one of my blank scoring sheets for 11-plus inning games, I don't really want to shove a piece of paper inside the program, so last night's 11th inning resides in the "At-Bats" column, and later today when I get a chance to total the stats, I'll just blow out the "Errors" column, and move AB/R/H/RBI over one. There's also no identification numbers for the umpires, and though they did get on the message board, they weren't announced, and I only saw the RF umpire's name (Mike Reilly), and got the rest, except for LF, from an old scorecard I found in my backpack. Oddly, Reilly wound up behind the plate after Jerry Crawford left the game (we never did find out why), and that did have some impact -- Reilly's strike zone was quite different from Crawford's, and I wonder if some of the pitchers had trouble adjusting.

Yesterday morning, Stacey Baca was looking for story ideas. So I sent her over to Mike's, to see his collection and talk to him about our common obsession; he made last night's 6 pm show and this morning's show also at 6, and he reported to me that the crew was properly impressed with his autograph collection.

And as he told me on Saturday, he wanted drama. Well, he got it. Last night's game set NLCS records for: extra-base hits; total home runs by both teams; and home runs in an inning.

I have absolutely never in my life heard any ballpark rocking as loud as it was last night after Sammy Sosa's game tying homer in the 9th; and the most amazing sight of all after that was Dave, who is always so critical (and justifiably so given his coaching and managing experience in professional baseball), standing and applauding Sammy with the rest of us when he ran out to right field.

The biggest problem I think the Cubs are going to face in this series is that they are basically down to a three-man bullpen: Farnsworth, Remlinger and Borowski. JoeBo can be excused for yesterday, because the Marlins' closer Ugueth Urbina had just about as bad an outing as he did, so that's a wash, and any closer can be forgiven one of these.

But frankly, I would not let Dave Veres or Mark Guthrie near a close game again in this series; Antonio Alfonseca actually threw pretty well. I'm almost willing to forgive Guthrie, because even though he did hang a breaking pitch to Mike Lowell, the almost-Cub, Lowell's game-winning HR was wind-blown and barely made the basket. The security guard who retrieved it threw it on the field.

The wind will be blowing out tonight again, on another unseasonably warm day (I may bring out the shorts, just to say I wore them in October), but this time, Mark Prior is on the mound. With Prior and Kerry Wood scheduled to throw four of the remaining six games, I still have confidence that good pitching will shut down good hitting, which is what the Marlins have.

They're a good team and a hot team, but so are the Cubs. The Cubs have not lost more than two in a row in over a month, and not two in a row in more than two weeks, and I expect Prior will even the series tonight.

It's only one game. That's not just fan support speaking. The Red Sox lost the first two games of their division series on the road, and still won the series. The Yankees lost the opener of their series at home to the Twins, and looked really bad doing it, and still won the series. Even the Marlins lost game one of their own series, and then beat the Giants three straight.

One of the most spectacular examples of such a comeback was the hated 1986 Mets, who lost the first two games of that World Series at home, and still won, in what is remembered as one of the best World Series in history.

Mike, my friend, I'll take that kind of drama, any time.

Hope remains alive.

:: posted by Al at 7:48 AM [+] ::
...

Tradition

Well, here we are at the championship series dates, with some of the longest-standing, most tradition-laden franchises participating...

the Yankees, with their dozens of World Championships...

the Red Sox, with their fans in Red Sox Nation and their agonizing history of losing World Series...

the Cubs, with their national following and their quest to end 58 years (NL pennant) and 95 years (World Championship) of futility...

and the Marlins ????

This upstart franchise has now made the postseason twice in its first 11 years of existence, both times as a wild card, and this time almost totally unexpectedly, after firing their manager, Jeff Torborg, when they were 16-22. They nearly traded their only All-Star, Mike Lowell, to the Cubs of all people, and instead wound up losing him anyway for a month with a broken hand. They lost A. J. Burnett, one of their best pitchers, for the season. Didn't matter. They are now probably the hottest team in the postseason, having gone 21-8 to finish the regular season and 3-1 in the NLCS (though the Cubs went 19-8 and 3-2, only a game or so worse).

The Marlins took advantage of every break they were given against the Giants. By all rights they should have lost game two, only to capitalize on some horrid San Francisco errors and baserunning, and had SF won game two, they'd have probably swept the series. But once the stuffing was taken out of them, then having to go on the road, that was it. Give credit to Jack McKeon for preparing his team well to take advantage of things like that.

But the Marlins didn't see pitching like the Cubs have in the Division Series. And when they did see it this year -- Kerry Wood pretty much shut down their offense, as did Carlos Zambrano, who will have to step up big-time tonight.

The Florida offense, though good, doesn't have the big thumpers that Atlanta does, and the Cub staff shut them down anyway. What is key in this series for the Cubs is to keep Juan Pierre and Luis Castillo, the top two men in the Florida lineup, off base. If they can do that, this series can be won easily.

From the Cub offensive viewpoint, it is time for Sammy Sosa to step up and wear the superstar mantle he's worn for the last six seasons. Even missing 25 games this year, he scored 99 runs, drove in 103 and hit 40 homers, and with his injuries, it's a credit to his tremendous talent that he even got that far. But he's been pretty invisible in the postseason, and it's time for him to be "SAMMYSOSA", the guy who carries a team, as we have seen him do so many times, but not this season.

Even though ideally, the Cubs would have liked to have Wood and Mark Prior throwing the first two games of the series, they are now tabbed for games six and seven (Prior, then Wood), and that could work as well as the Johnson/Schilling tandem did for Arizona in so many postseasons. If Carlos Zambrano can step up and win game one tonight, with Prior and Wood in games two and three, this could be a very short series.

I don't want to get overconfident or make any predictions. But it is time. We have suffered enough.

Let's win it.

:: posted by Al at 2:36 PM [+] ::
...

Random Thoughts

* Your intrepid correspondent finally got on a flight to Miami, leaving on Friday morning, so I will be at games three and four. So far I have the flight, a place to stay, and a rental car. Tickets? I will get in, somehow. Two other members of the Cubs Blog Army -- Scott Lange of The Northside Lounge and Chris Yarbrough of Yarbage Cub Review will be at game five, so we've got all seven games covered, since I'll be at all the home games.

The magic number is eight. Eight wins to the Promised Land.

* The weather the next two days here is supposed to be absolutely spectacular -- highs in the 70's and gametime temperatures in the upper 60's -- wonderful for mid-October.

* Watching the spray-champagne celebration (and I always wonder: why do they waste that stuff spraying it? Why not enjoy it by actually drinking it?) -- it occurred to me, Kenny Lofton must have had more champagne sprayed on him than any active player, maybe than anyone ever. He's been in the postseason virtually every year, from his days with Cleveland, his one year in Atlanta, last year with the Giants, and now two locker-room sprays already this year.

May there be two more.

Will post some thoughts on the matchup tomorrow.

:: posted by Al at 5:36 PM [+] ::
...

The Monkey Is Dancing Tonight

The first thing Mike said to me when I called him was:

"What do YOU want?" (in a very harsh sounding voice)

Of course, he was kidding, because it was time for kidding, time for happiness, time for joy tonight.

This is why we go. This is why Jeff and I sit out there and freeze our butts off in April, and get soaked seemingly every other day; this is why we all sit through 95-loss seasons year after year; this is why we wait, and wait, and wait, and we say, "Maybe next year."

The monkey is off our back, everyone, and dancing up a frenzy tonight. May I say: WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Next year is NOW, my friends. One of the other things Mike said to me, and it's surely true, is that THIS is the barrier that had to be broken. Whether or not the current Cub players have anything to do with the 95 years of failure (and they don't), there is a mystique, a seemingly insurmountable obstacle, that year after year of Cub players has not been able to conquer.

Kerry Wood and the Cubs conquered it tonight, in a surprisingly easy 5-1 win over the Braves in Atlanta in game five of their National League Division Series, winning the series three games to two. It is only the fourth time that the Cubs have won as many as three games in a postseason series.

If there was ever a doubt over whether Kerry Wood has the mental makeup to be a dominant force in baseball, tonight removed those doubts forever. He dominated the game from the very first pitch, and having thrown 117 pitches, he probably could have come out to throw the ninth inning, but I think it was smart of Dusty not to do so; Kerry will throw game three on Friday in Miami, and on normal rest, so he ought to be absolutely ready to go.

As I told you yesterday, I went to a Yom Kippur service tonight. The rabbi, who as Howard told me, is a Cub fan, made no mention of the game itself, which started about half an hour after the service began. He did, in his opening remarks, start talking about this time of year in the Jewish tradition, being a time of "self-denial". Howard and I gave each other knowing winks at that.

After the service we came back to Howard's place, and watched the game with Jon, and Jeff & Krista, who are temporarily living with Jon while they figure out where to move. Jeff started something during the Cardinal series -- standing by the back fence of the bleachers when things got tense. So he spent the last four innings sitting on a staircase kind of half-hidden from the rest of us.

It didn't matter. The Cubs were the team that looked dominant tonight. Even when Alex Gonzalez booted a ball in the 8th, it went right into Mark Grudzielanek's glove, and he completed the putout. Even when the umpires blew the call on the ball that Kenny Lofton caught in CF in the sixth (and he would have turned it into a triple play, since both runners were way off base), the result was only one run, and the Cubs got out of it with a double play.

Even CBS football announcer Dan Dierdorf got into the action -- when Paul Edinger kicked a field goal to lead the Bears to their last-second, upset win over the Raiders this afternoon, Dierdorf immediately said, "The Cubs are going to win tonight."

Prescience? Maybe. Krista drove me home, since I had been dropped off at Howard's, and we saw many people along the way honking and waving Cub pennants; there was apparently a huge street party outside Wrigley Field tonight; I'm saving that kind of partying for the next round.

Right now I'm working on trying to get a flight to Miami to get there for at least a couple of the games next weekend, but almost everything has already been snapped up. If the airlines are smart they'll start adding flights -- I'd expect perhaps as many as 30,000 Cub fans in Pro Player Stadium, which can seat as many as 67,000 for baseball playoff games.

Today is a day that will always live in the memories of Cub fans everywhere; where you were, who you were with, what you did, indelibly stamped, by this improbable team, which is now the favorite, of all things, to win the NLCS and move on to -- I can hardly believe I'm writing this -- the World Series.

It begins at Wrigley Field Tuesday night, Carlos Zambrano vs. Josh Beckett. The Cubs won four of six from Florida during the regular season (including a 16-2 pounding in Miami the last time they faced each other on July 20, a game Zambrano pitched, incidentally), and just briefly now (I'll write some more tomorrow on the upcoming series) -- the key to winning is to keep the Marlins' speed guys and leadoff men, Juan Pierre and Luis Castillo, off the bases. Do that, and the Cubs will be 2003 NL champions.

Till then, my friends, raise a glass and enjoy, savor the moment, appreciate what this is, because generations have lived and died without seeing the Cubs win an October series. We are privileged. Never forget.

:: posted by Al at 12:06 AM [+] ::
...