"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 02, 2004 ::

Congratulations, You Are A Winner!

I KNEW that'd get your attention.

You're thinking, the pressure of the wild-card race has gotten to him, he's finally gone off the deep end.

No, the Cubs didn't win today; in fact, their fifth loss in a row, 8-6 to the Braves this afternoon, , with yet another blown lead, this time a four-run blown lead, finished the final episode of this season (seems like a rerun, doesn't it?), and mathematically eliminated our favorite team, for yet another year.

But I won!

After the sixth inning ended, they called my season ticket number, and after being escorted down to Gate D, I won: two Cubs caps (to add to the approximately 200 baseball caps clogging up the top shelves of a couple of closets), a bunch of coupons for free food at Culver's (Custard! Butterburgers! Arteries Clogged!), which, since all of the ones in the Chicago area are way out in the burbs, I gave the coupons away to Jeff and Phil and Carole... and also, a $100 debit card, courtesy of the Puerto Rico-based bank, Banco Popular.

Well, that was worth it, anyway. When I returned, I had missed only three batters, and first thing I said to Mike was, "Is this inning STILL going?"

The rest of the game was a sad repeat of pretty much every game played in the last week, with a new anti-hero today: Jose Macias, who was given the start in CF over the 9-for-his-last-2000 (no, really only 56 AB) Corey Patterson, lost a ball in the sun, which dropped for a Rafael Furcal RBI double, and of course, he scored the third run in a depressing sixth inning, where Carlos Zambrano, who threw real well today, had retired the first two batters before allowing an Eli Marrero home run.

That homer must have been particularly satisfying to Marrero, because the last time he set foot on the grass at Wrigley Field was during the Typhoon Game, on May 11, 2003, Mother's Day, when the umpires forced the Cubs to play four innings in 40 MPH wind and sideways rain before they called it, and he suffered a serious ankle injury which at the time seemed career-threatening.

But even after that disastrous inning, the Cubs still entered the eighth leading 6-5, only to have Kyle Farnsworth come in and allow two singles -- the second of which was another popup that dropped among Derrek Lee, Todd Walker and Sammy Sosa, and then, of course, Dusty insisted on bringing in the lefty (Mike Remlinger) to face the lefty (J. D. Drew)... except that Remlinger is actually much worse against lefties than righties (.297 BA vs. lefties, .194 vs. righties), and he promptly gave up the game, allowing a two-RBI triple to Drew, so the loss went to Farnsworth.

There's a place where the Cubs have been deficient this year -- there's not been a lefthanded reliever on the staff who is better against lefthanded hitters (Kent Mercker has the same splits as Remlinger, better against righties), so there's something glaringly obvious that Jim Hendry can address in the offseason. Get a lefty specialist, Jim! You don't have one!

I've got lots to say about this and other roster matters, but I think I'll wait for that, until after the season is over.

I told Howard today, that in forty years and over 1700 games witnessed in person, I have never seen anything quite like the last week. There is no question, as Steve Stone said earlier this week (and no, I'm not going to get into that controversy here -- I think it's better left to rest), that this Cubs team ought to have won the wild card by six or seven games.

This one ranks up there with the 1964 Phillies collapse, or the 1987 Blue Jays -- who had a 3.5 game lead with seven to go and a lead with two out and two strikes in the ninth inning -- sound familiar? -- that would have given them a 4.5 game lead with six to go, only to blow that game and lose their last seven games of the season, to the Tigers, who won it, though then lost the ALCS to Minnesota.

You probably don't want to hear this, but that 1987 Tigers team, which was also an older team (and to connect that team with this current series, the '87 Tigers had traded a prospect to get a veteran starter, Doyle Alexander, for the stretch run, and he did go 9-0 for them and helped them into the playoffs -- that prospect, unfortunately for Detroit, was current Braves closer John Smoltz, who got his 44th of the year today), is that they have only had two winning seasons since then, and lost 103 games only two years later.

At least the sun was out this afternoon -- in fact, that bright sun, as mentioned, hurt the Cubs, who lost two fly balls in it, and the temperature, despite being 20 degrees colder than yesterday, wasn't uncomfortable. It was a high-carb day today for me, as Howard had brought the rally Milanos (the Tomato Inning having been retired for the season, perhaps to return in 2005), which did get the Cubs the 6-2 lead, and Jessica had brought a small chocolate Bundt cake (we all said -- maybe we should have given some to Corey Patterson), which had been sliced up and given to everyone, leaving a small chunk ...

... which I said I would eat whole if Moises Alou hit a home run in the fifth.

OK, so I ate a chunk of chocolate cake today. I thought I was taking one for the team, but to no avail.

Some of my fellow season-ticket holders were joking today that we all ought to write LaTroy Hawkins a thank-you note for saving us hundreds of dollars in playoff ticket money. Joking is right, because I'd much rather have spent every dime of it, plus every dime of the money I spent on Cardinals NLCS tickets (oh, don't worry, I'll either get my money back if St. Louis doesn't win the first round -- a distinct possibility -- or I'll find some Cardinal fans to buy them), and traveled to wherever, to see our team, the one we live and die for.

No matter how bad it gets, no matter that some of my friends said that they really didn't like this team very much -- and frankly, it's true -- these guys just didn't seem very likable, nor, as I have said, did they seem to be having fun playing baseball, and isn't that what this is all about?... we still do want them to win, and reach the heights, in our lifetimes, because there are generations of Cub fans who haven't , and it's not just for us, it's for all the players who have come and gone without winning, and all the fans who have lived and died without seeing a World Championship or even an NL pennant...

It's for all of them, and all of YOU, all my friends, anyone and everyone who's ever shared that bleacher bench with me for now 25 years in the very same spot, that I persevere, that I walk in every day to the greatest spot on Earth, hoping against hope that this will be the day, that this will be the year, that ... well, NEXT year will be our year.

My friend Ron from LF, who I visited before the game today at his seat, had his strip of playoff tickets with him. I asked why. Answer: "You can't have a wake without a body."

And so tomorrow, on a sunny Sunday, we shall lay the 2004 season to rest, with sadness, but with friends present, and baseball in the air, and hope everlasting.

Keep the faith... forever.

:: posted by Al at 5:40 PM [+] ::
...

Summer's Last Gasp

It's October 1.

And I wore shorts to the ballpark, completing a season in which I wore them at least once in every month, and oddly, it wound up being a cooler-than-normal summer, a weird-weather year in which it was warm in April, cool in August, and then warm again in September and October.

But just as a cold front is going to come blasting through the Chicago area tonight, dropping the temperatures to a fall-like 58 tomorrow, with sunshine (in fact, it's supposed to be sunny all weekend, which will make this year the first one since 1989 in which the Cubs had no postponed home dates), the chill blast of reality hit us flat in the face today, in the form of yet another one-run loss, 5-4 to the Braves, the Cubs' thirtieth one-run loss of the year, and it was only so because of a stirring ninth-inning rally that fell just short, and I say that because for a guy who steals some bases, Derrek Lee isn't very fast, and couldn't beat out a deflected ball in the infield, being thrown out by Braves SS Rafael Furcal, for the final out, after scrubs Ben Grieve and Jose Macias had driven in the three runs.

Oh, I could go on and on about this team, but I'm going to save that for later, because we still could pull out a miracle at this writing. In fact, IF the Cubs wind up tied in a three-way tie with the Giants and Astros -- which is still possible, and which would be the first such tie in major league history -- they would host the Astros on Monday, as the Giants, who had first choice (since they had the best record among the three teams), chose to take the bye and make the other two teams play. And if the Cubs won that game, they'd have another home game vs. the Giants on Tuesday.

That presumes, however, that the Cubs can win two in a row right now, and, of course, get help.

Four days ago saying something like this seemed unthinkable, after the blowout win over the Reds on Monday. I don't have to rehash what's happened since, but this -- if it indeed falls short -- is one of the biggest collapses in the history of the game.

This, of course, brought out the naysayers even in our group. You wouldn't have wanted to hear Dave and Phil today -- they were just about ready to get rid of anyone and everyone on this ballclub, and Howard was about to give up next year and go to more Brewers games, and I knew from looking at him that by the time spring training starts, he'll change his mind, and Jessica brought up the name of Oakland's Nick Swisher, a good-looking rookie who is the son of ex-Cub Steve Swisher, and that brought to mind Swisher's worst moment in the major leagues, the last game of the 1974 season, when he dropped a third strike that would have won the game for the woeful 96-loss Cubs over the Pirates; instead the Pirates wound up tying the game on that play and winning in extra innings. Had they lost, the Cardinals would have made up a rained-out game against the Expos to see if they could force a tie; instead Pittsburgh won the NL East.

We argued about this for a while, because I remembered it as a night game (meaning, in 1974, it would have been a road game), but Jessica insisted it was a home game. Finally I called Mike to look it up and confirm my memory that it was at Pittsburgh.

I tell you all this because until the Cubs rallied in the ninth, the game was deadly dull, punctuated only by a pair of two-run homers, one by DeWayne Wise, who wasn't even in the announced starting lineup, and the other by pitcher Mike Hampton, off Kerry Wood, who winds up with a losing season, and also by two Mark Grudzielanek errors, neither of which figured in the scoring, but both of which resulted in sarcastic cheers every time Grudz fielded a ball cleanly.

As the game went on, there were more and more drunks carted out of the bleachers and for a brief time in the eighth inning, a few cups were thrown onto the field, holding up play for a few minutes, and in the ninth someone a couple rows in front of us kept holding up a sign on blazing orange paper that said, "It's Not Over Till We Say It Is" -- the John Belushi "Bluto" statement from the 1978 movie "Animal House", and security finally had to make him put it down.

It's not over, and I won't lose faith until the Cubs are mathematically eliminated. But this is the last time I wear the Kerry Wood jersey when he pitches; he'd done poorly several times when I'd worn it earlier this year, so I'd stopped for a while, but figured it was worth one last gasp. Nope, never again. I'll wear it when someone else throws, not Kerry.

But really, the bottom line is this: these guys don't seem to be having much fun out there, and that's what this is, after all, a game, and if you're not enjoying playing a game, why be out there?

This has to be Dusty Baker's most challenging year ever as a manager, and as I said earlier, I'll save my comments on the team and the controversies and what comes next, for after the season is over.

For now, let's go out and win the last two games, and hope for our miracle.

:: posted by Al at 7:20 PM [+] ::
...

Theater Of The Absurd

"... and you know... the darkest hour... is always... just before the dawn." -- Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, "Long Time Gone", 1970

Stop me if you've heard this one before.

There are three teams in a wild card race.

One of them, the favorite, has played up and down all year, but somewhat better after acquiring a star player in a mid-season deal.

The second, a not-so-talented squad with one superstar having a monster season, has hung with the better team all down the stretch, to the point where not much more than a game separated them all September.

And the third team came out of nowhere, lurking way behind, but streaking home, suddenly finding themselves ahead with the season slamming to a close.

No, I'm not talking about the Cubs, the Giants and the Astros. The teams I'm referring to are the 1998 Mets (Mike Piazza, the star player acquired), the 1998 Cubs (Sammy Sosa, monster season), and the 1998 Giants, who went on a long winning streak and as we all remember, overtook the Mets and forced the Cubs into a tiebreaker game, which the Cubs won to make the playoffs.

Oh, but there's more to this. The 1998 Mets looked, on the second-to-last weekend of the season, as if they'd clinched, when the Cubs lost a bitter game to -- of all teams -- the Reds, a team they should have defeated easily, on a day set aside to honor Sammy Sosa. Here's what I e-mailed my friend Tom, the Mets fan, on that day, one week before the end of the '98 season:

Congratulations on winning the wild card and good luck in the playoffs against the Astros. After Sunday, they don't deserve to win. I guess the Mets were really the team of destiny. Very, very disappointed. Again, best to your team. You won it fair and square.

Damn, I was never happier to be wrong about that, because the Mets then lost five in a row to -- you following this -- the two worst teams in the league, the Marlins and Expos, and fell out of the race entirely.

Does this sound like the last five days of Cubs baseball? Sadly, it sure does, and today's -- what else can I call it -- absurd, 12-inning, 2-1 loss to the Reds, puts the Cubs in a hole, obviously, though in a season like this, where absolutely nothing has made sense, perhaps we have three more unexpected days remaining.

Here's how absurd it got for us in the bleachers:

Jeff started singing, "The wheels on the bus are falling off... falling off... falling off..."

Dave was ripping the Cubs and Dusty Baker a new... well, you know what, for not moving runners along, not pinch-running for Aramis Ramirez again, and a myriad of other sins.

Jon tried to entertain me with more puns (when Ryan Freel pinch-ran in the 10th, he said, "I have a Freel-ing he might steal". I felt like hitting him with the clipboard, but instead I held back.

And sitting too long made my right knee lock up, and it hurt for a while, but by the time the game ended, I had unlocked it. Maybe they should have sent me out there to pinch-hit, because there didn't seem to be a soul wearing pinstripes today who could do that. The Reds kept trotting out pitchers with 5+ ERA's, including Juan Padilla, who came in with one over 12, and the Cubs were swinging weakly and popping up or grounding out on the first pitch. They left twelve men on base, including the bases loaded three times, the last such time in the eleventh inning.

This wasted Mark Prior's best start of the year. By the sabermetric tool Game Score, it was the second-best start by any major league pitcher this year, the only one better being Randy Johnson's perfect game.

Prior was nearly unhittable, striking out sixteen (including Adam Dunn three times, the second of which was his 190th of the season, breaking the single-season record held by Bobby Bonds, which had stood since 1968), and making only one mistake -- a pitch that Austin Kearns rocketed to left off the foul pole, and if not for that, the Cubs would have come out with a 1-0 victory. Incidentally, Sammy Sosa also made a bit of history today -- his 34th homer, a rocket onto Waveland, was the 573rd of his career, tying him with Harmon Killebrew for 7th place on the all-time list.

I don't have anything to say about the rest of the hitters, because they themselves were silent this afternoon.

Summer tried to hold on today, gripping tight with fingernails in the slowly fading sun, as the temperature hit the low 70s with bright sunshine, and I trotted out the shorts, and my Expos T-shirt from last year's trip to Puerto Rico -- I thought that was appropriate given the announcement yesterday that the Expos are no more, but instead the Cubs played like this year's version of the Expos (well, except when the Expos were playing the Cubs, but you get the idea). It is supposed to be warm again tomorrow, and then fall will hit with a vengeance over the weekend, with temps only in the 50's Saturday and Sunday.

It's just this simple: the Cubs need a three-game winning streak right now and some help. Kerry Wood, Carlos Zambrano and Greg Maddux will throw against a team the Cubs last played almost exactly six months ago. The history of baseball is littered with stirring comebacks even more amazing than this one would be -- one example I thought of today was the 1980 Astros, who went into Los Angeles on the final weekend of the season needing to win only one game to get in, and got swept -- but then won the tiebreaker game.

We have to keep hope, my friends, until all hope is gone, and though it seems bleak right now -- remember the musical phrase I quoted at the top of this post.

And remember one other connection this Cubs team has to the 1998 wild-card race:

Neifi Perez.

Without Neifi, there'd have been no tie-breaker game, because the Cubs and Giants went into the final day of the season tied, and the Cubs lost in Houston, and literally 30 seconds later, Perez, then playing for the Rockies, beat the Giants with a ninth-inning homer. I have a sense, a feeling, something inside me, that says that Neifi Perez, mediocre player that he is, will produce something similar for the Cubs this weekend.

There are three days left, and heroics to come. Keep the faith.

:: posted by Al at 7:55 PM [+] ::
...

Want To Make Your Eyes Glaze Over?

Read this description from the Cubs website on how a three-way tie between the Cubs, Giants and Astros for the Wild Card would be broken:

If the three tied clubs have identical records against one another in the regular season, the Office of the Commissioner shall supervise a draw that results in the clubs being designated Club A, Club B and Club C.

If the tied clubs do not have identical records against one another in the champoinship season, they will be designated Club A, Club B and Club C based on their records in head-to-head competition during the championship season as follows:

If Club 1 has a better record against each of Clubs 2 and 3, and Club 2 has a better record against Club 3, then Club 1 shall choose a designation as Club A, Club B or Club C. Club 2 shall choose a designation from the remaining two designations, and Club 3 shall be assigned the remaining designation.

If Club 1 has a better record against each of Clubs 2 and 3, and Club 2 and Club 3 have the same record against each other, then Club 1 shall choose a designation as Club A, Club B or Club C. The Office of the Commissioner shall supervise a draw between Clubs 2 and 3, the winner of which shall choose one of the remaining two designations. The remaining club shall be assigned the remaining designation.

If Club 1 and Club 2 have the same record against each other but each has a better record against Club 3, then the Office of the Commissioner shall supervise a draw between Clubs 1 and 2, the winner of which shall choose a designation as Club A, Club B or Club C. The club losing the draw shall choose a designation from the remaining two designations. Club 3 shall be assigned the remaining designation.

If Club 1 has a better record against Club 2, Club 2 has a better record against Club 3, and Club 3 has a better record against Club 1, then the three clubs shall be ranked on the basis of overall winning percentage within that three-club group, and the club with the highest winning percentage from among that three-club group shall have first choice among designations as Club A, Club B or Club C. The club with the next-highest winning percentage among the group shall have the next choice between the two remaining designations, and the club with the lowest winning percentage shall be assigned the remaining designation. If two or more of the clubs within this three-club group have the same winning percentage among the group, the Office of the Commissioner shall supervise a draw between the clubs so tied to determine priority of selection among the designations.

Club A shall play Club B at the ballpark of Club A on Monday. The following day, the winner of the first game shall be the home club in a second game against Club C. The winner of the game between Club C and the club that won the Club A-Club B game shall be declared the [division] champion.

It might take them a week just to figure this out. I'd love to be in Bud Selig's office when this sort of thing is going on.

Incidentally, here are the head-to-head records of the three teams:

Cubs 10 wins, Astros 9 wins
Giants 4 wins, Cubs 2 wins
Giants 4 wins, Astros 2 wins

As best I can read the eye-glazing text above, that would make the Giants "Club 1", the Cubs "Club 2", and the Astros "Club 3".

Keep the faith.

:: posted by Al at 8:42 PM [+] ::
...

Bring Me The Head Of LaTroy Hawkins, Part Deux

Here's what Dave said after Hawkins blew another save eerily reminiscent of the one last Saturday in New York:

"How long do you have to wear a major league uniform before you learn not to throw pitches like that on 0-2, with two out and nobody on?"

Hawkins got a ball up, rather than wasting one, and D'Angelo Jimenez, who has been a Cubs pest, tripled, and then he got another pitch up and Austin Kearns doubled, and that blew the save, and the Cubs lost in 12 to the Reds, 4-3, when Kearns hit a two-run homer off Jon Leicester.

That homer, hit after about half the crowd had gone, sucked pretty much all the life out of those of us who were left. Howard remarked to me that he couldn't remember a time when the Yard had been that quiet.

The Cubs tried to come back in the bottom of the inning, and we all thought that when Joe Valentine made a throwing error on a comebacker, putting two on with nobody out, that it was a sign -- but to no avail.

Moises Alou (more on him anon) hit into a double play, scoring a run, and then Aramis Ramirez singled.

It was then that Dave said, "Why aren't they running for him?" Ramirez is running VERY slowly right now, and he wouldn't have scored on anything but a triple or homer. Now, the Cub bench was depleted, but a pitcher (Greg Maddux? Sergio Mitre?) could have run for him, and the Cubs have two other catchers, and Michael Barrett has played over 100 major league games at 3B (OK, not very well, but you get the point), and in an extra-inning emergency, you have to think outside the box.

Dusty doesn't do this well, and Derrek Lee made it moot by swinging at a pitch about 100 feet out of the strike zone to end the game.

This was after our savior, Glendon Rusch (without whom we wouldn't even be sweating out this final week of the season), not only threw six excellent innings (allowing only an Adam Dunn bomb and a harmless third-inning single before running out of gas in the 7th), but hit his second homer of the season, a shot that Jeff and I both said was one of the longest right-field homers we'd ever seen hit by anyone, much less a pitcher. The announced distance was 390, but it had to be at least 450, as it bounced across the street on Sheffield.

Rusch and the Cubs deserved better, though they also left eleven men on base and nearly blew the game open in the third, when Sammy Sosa hit a ball caught by Kearns with his back to the wall with the bases loaded.

Sammy had a good day today -- two hits, some good at-bats, and played well in the field. Unfortunately, most of his teammates phoned in their performances, especially Corey Patterson, who struck out three times before drawing a useful leadoff walk in the 12th. That's 164 strikeouts for Corey, which, I suppose I don't have to tell you, is awful for a leadoff man.

OK, more on Moises, as promised. He had a lousy day, going 1-for-4, and hitting into the aforementioned double play. We all agreed that the Cubs were absolutely getting jobbed on every check swing, including several on Moises, and while it's inexcusable for umpires who are supposed to be professional and impartial to do this, you can see that Alou brought it on himself by his incessant whining.

This is NOT the way to win championships.

It was another gorgeous early-fall day, with the temperature in the mid-60's and bright sunshine, I was able to sit the whole game in the "Greetings From Wrigleyville" T-shirt I bought at the Cubs' "tent sale", that they have every year during the last homestand. Howard arrived in the fifth inning, having to put in some extra work, figuring he'd see four innings, and getting eight, and wishing it had been only four. Therefore, there was no sandwich (and I'd pigged out at work earlier, since both our morning and 11 am shows had food today, and food that's WAY off my diet -- pizza, cheesecake and tacos -- but it was a rough work day, and I was hungry, so I indulged), and so no Tomato Inning today. Would it have helped?

We will never know. However, the sandwich will return tomorrow.

And then, to add mess to insult, my sweatshirt, which I had taken off and put on the bench along with a jacket and Howard's jacket, in a pile, kept falling on the ground and now it smells like beer. Bleah.

It's just this simple. At this writing the Astros/Cardinals game is just beginning, and the Padres/Giants is two hours away.

It is absolutely possible for the Cardinals and Padres to win, and if so, the standings will remain the same for another day, and the Cubs will still be tied for the lead, with four games to go.

We cannot give up. The players cannot give up. Dusty Baker has brought teams too far, too many times, to give up. I know he won't, and I know they won't.

Keep the faith, everyone. The Cubs passed the 3 million mark in attendance today (3,015,993, to be exact, with four dates left), and every one of those people must remain hopeful.

But just to make sure, I wouldn't let Hawkins near a ninth-inning lead again.

:: posted by Al at 7:05 PM [+] ::
...

Do NOT Panic!

As I told Mike and Howard, and as I think every one of you will agree, the Cubs needed to take three of four in the series against the Reds, and so could afford to lose one game.

Well, there it was: a boring, flat, lifeless, cold 8-3 loss to the Reds tonight.

Remember. Pennant races have these types of games, and teams come out of it just fine. Last year the Cubs lost games just like this to teams just as bad -- come to think of it, they lost 9-7 at Cincinnati on September 25 last year, and had to get help from the Brewers, and sweep a doubleheader, to win it.

Panic not, my friends.

Yeah, it looked really bad. Greg Maddux had trouble with his control, and I don't want to be one of those complaining about strike zones, but plate umpire Mike DiMuro was all over the place tonight, for both teams -- though the Cubs didn't take advantage of it, they spent their time swinging wildly at stupid pitches, and give Reds third baseman Felipe Lopez some credit, because he made at least four really nice stops on sharp grounders that otherwise would have gone through.

Since Maddux counts on pinpoint control and hitting his spots, and if he thinks he's hitting them and he's not, what happened tonight is absolutely predictable -- home runs. Unfortunately, Greg hit batters before each of the first two homers -- one of which was an absolutely inexcusable two-run bomb by a guy hitting .169 at the time he hit it (Darren Bragg). You can forgive solo shots, but the two-run versions put the Cubs in too deep a hole, and then when Adam Dunn hit one that landed behind us -- an amazing shot on a day when the wind was blowing in at a reported 20 MPH and seemed harder, that was the end of it.

Today's designated Todd Wellemeyer bad-inning thrower was Michael Wuertz, who actually had pitched pretty well in his last dozen or so outings, only to throw nine consecutive balls when he first came in tonight, leading to another run, and then Dusty did one of the pitching changes that drive me nuts, after Wuertz settled down, he insisted on bringing in Kent Mercker -- lefty vs. lefty, you understand -- and he caught the walk bug, and then gave up a run-scoring single to a guy hitting ZERO SIXTY THREE (pitcher Josh Hancock -- and there was another Cincinnati Josh, Hall, who came into Wrigley Field last September and shut down the Cubs in just this same sort of way and hasn't been heard from since), for heaven's sake, and man, it was just ugly.

Of course, after it was all pretty much in the books, THEN Sergio Mitre comes in and throws two of the prettiest innings we've seen all year. Figures.

Again, no matter what happens, the Cubs will have no worse than a share of the wild-card lead after tonight. Houston has won 2-1 -- I swear, the Cardinals are laying down for them, so they are a half-game behind the Cubs, and even if the Giants win their game at San Diego (in progress as I write this), the Cubs will be tied with them.

It was one of those nights. The game-time temperature was 59 degrees, and with the wind it felt colder, and it was as if summer just decided to pack up and go south overnight, and with the blowout game early, there seemed to be an inordinate number of ejections from the bleachers, though most of it was for pretty harmless stuff. This happens when games get out of hand -- the drinking gets heavier, but it wasn't anything security couldn't handle today. Brian brought a couple of his firehouse mates, but by the middle innings they were deep into beer (and some of those disgusting nachos, which they re-christened "Rally Nachos" and made me eat one. Didn't help, though the Cubs did score two runs in the Tomato Inning, the fifth), and all three of them decided they'd had enough and left in the eighth.

Let's be optimistic, shall we? This was the last regular season night game. Tomorrow, sunshine returns to the Yard, and sunshine will return to our team. Onward to victory, onward with faith and hope, and never give up.

:: posted by Al at 10:25 PM [+] ::
...

OK, You Can Breathe Now

About the seventh inning, Kevin, who came tonight and was sitting in the second row next to Howard, asked him this trivia question:

Who was the first Atlanta Brave to wear #49 after John Rocker?

Give up?

The correct answer was: "He's sitting next to me."

Kevin had brought his friend and Frontier League champion Rockford Riverhawk teammate Scott Sobkowiak, who had a cup of coffee in the majors with the Braves in 2001.

It marks the first time we've ever had a major league player, past or present, sit with us for an entire game. He was friendly and knowledgeable, and though he's now 27 and over the Frontier League age limit, he said he's still hoping to hook on with a major league organization next spring, or if not he might pitch for Newark in the Atlantic League, a place where several players have gotten major league jobs.

It was that kind of night, a night where we all let a deep breath out, laughed and had fun, and I think the Cubs players did too, and realized that the last two days were the aberration, and in front of a loud and festive crowd, the Cubs blew out the Reds 12-5, and it wasn't that close, as the saying goes.

It was for a while, as the Reds halved the Cubs' two-run first inning with a run of their own in the fourth, but in the bottom of that inning (the Tomato Inning, incidentally), the Cubs showed everyone why the Yankees keep giving up "prospects" who turn out to be nothing, as Brandon Claussen, tonight's starter (Mike said he was in a pickle that inning -- I think he's been hanging around Howard and Jon too long), acquired from the Yankees for Aaron Boone, proved he has earned the nearly six-point ERA he came into the game sporting (he left it with that number at 6.60).

Everyone hit. Suddenly Nomar, who missed a lot of time and looked terrible in New York, was hitting the ball all over the yard, two doubles, a single and a walk; Todd Walker homered and drove in four, Sammy (whose "spot" in right field, the one he kicks into dirt with his spikes, had been completely resodded during the road trip) doubled and walked... in fact, the Reds gave the Cubs TEN walks tonight, which accounts for most of the three-hour-and-eight-minute game time, and is about a week's quota for the Cubs.

Meanwhile, Carlos Zambrano was just OK, not truly sharp, though he allowed only five hits and struck out seven in getting into the seventh, Dusty had to pull him at 123 pitches when he got into a bit of trouble, and he kept going deep into counts. It was good enough for his sixteenth win of the year, and he'll throw on Saturday against Atlanta, and the Braves were rained out tonight from the remnants of Hurricane Jeanne, and so will play a doubleheader tomorrow, which might switch around their pitching rotation, and which they cannot be happy to have to play.

The only discordant note tonight was Todd Wellemeyer's two-thirds of an inning, in which he could barely find the strike zone, and allowed four runs, including a monstrous home run that cleared the right-field foul pole by Adam Dunn, who also struck out for the one-hundred and eighty-fifth time this year, only four short of the single-season record, held by Bobby -- that's right, BOBBY Bonds, and has stood for thirty-six years, since 1968, but it should fall during this series, so in addition to everything else going on, we ought to see a bit of history, perhaps Wednesday, when the Cubs will also go over the 3 million mark in attendance for the first time ever.

It was one of those days when you want it to still be summer, sunny all day, and 74 degrees at game time, with absolutely no wind (the box score said 6 MPH, but that's wrong -- the flags were completely limp at game's beginning), and that fall hint of cool air wafting around the ballpark, with a full moon (it's the Harvest Moon, but Mike called it the Atonement Moon, and the Cubs sure atoned for a lot of their sins of the last couple of days tonight), almost telling us to just hang on for the ride. I said to Mike when he got to the park, "This is what we live for every season, to come to the park at this time of year to see meaningful games", and of course he agreed, and now we've had it two years in a row, and tonight gave the sense that we'll see more than just a week's worth...

Howard brought his father-in-law and a couple of other friends, who I regaled during the eighth by telling them I had a secret for knowing which of the four attendance picks was correct -- and no, I'm not telling here!

Also, Other Brian and his wife Elise showed up. They had been sitting in LF most of the game, and I had blamed them (jokingly) for a June 30 loss when they left early, so they stopped by when the score was 12-1, to ask me if it was OK for them to leave early!

It was, as I said, that kind of night.

The win finally evened out the Cubs and Giants in terms of games played, after the Cubs had games in hand ever since the Hurricane Frances cancellation of the Marlins series three weeks ago, and the Cubs are a game up with six to play, and even with the Houston win tonight over the Cardinals, the Astros have only five games left and remain a game and a half behind.

Hope is happy tonight. Keep the faith.

:: posted by Al at 10:58 PM [+] ::
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Thank You, Dodgers

That is something I hope we say at least three more times in the next week.

After a tense weekend, the Cubs return home exactly where they were when they arrived in New York -- half a game ahead in the wild-card race, thanks to the Dodgers' 7-4 win over the Giants today, in a game that took only slightly less time than the glaciers did to overrun Europe during the last Ice Age.

I spent the latter half of the afternoon, when the Cubs were probably on their flight home, watching the SF/LA game via MLB Extra Innings, and I can tell you one thing that didn't make the game summary.

In the ninth inning, Barry Bonds hit with two out and with two strikes, and nubbed a little bleeder past Eric Gagne and beat it out for an infield hit. OK, props to a 40-year-old guy for doing that, but replays showed that he did something wrong running to first base, and as he walked off the field to be replaced by pinch-runner Jason Ellison, it looked like he had tweaked his groin in some way.

Cameras showed him leaving the dugout for the clubhouse with the trainer, something I doubt he'd have done in a tense, pennant-race game like this unless he was really hurting.

Hey, I really don't want to see anyone hurt, but if Bonds has to miss any games this last week -- well, the Giants without Barry Bonds are the Colorado Rockies.

So the Cubs lost two of three on the road, including today's game, another depressing one-run loss, 3-2 to the Mets. The Giants lost two of three at home, and they're a much better team at home, where they have played their last game of 2004. Meanwhile, the Cubs, who finished their road season at a respectable 44-36, come home tomorrow, where they have a 43-32 record, with Carlos Zambrano on the mound.

Here's more good news: Kerry Wood threw six innings of six-hit, one-walk, no-run baseball.

Unfortunately, that was after one of the worst first innings of his career, where he walked two, hit two, and put the Cubs, who seemed to have left their bats in Pittsburgh, in a 3-0 hole. Then the offense couldn't hit its way out of it, though they came back to within 3-2 in the fourth, and maybe it'd have been more if Nomar's RBI double hadn't bounced into the stands for an automatic double, although Sammy Sosa actually drove in the run from third with a groundout. I suppose that's an accomplishment considering how poor Sosa has looked lately, and his average is now down to .249, his worst in, well, nearly forever, since he was a 22-year-old strikeout king with the 1991 White Sox, and he hit .203 that year.

Man, I tried everything today. Since the Cubs lost yesterday when I was sitting in the La-Z-Boy, I switched positions to the couch. Didn't help. Then I went down to my computer room in the basement and watched on the TV in there for a while. That did get the two-run rally, so I went back to the La-Z-Boy. No dice.

However, once I simply sat there for the entire LA/SF game (with time out for dinner), it worked, as the Dodgers won. I think I have it figured out, but I'm not revealing that here.

Anyway, for the Cubs, it's time to step up. It's time to stop trying to hit the ball out of the ballpark with every swing, as Corey Patterson and Sosa have been doing. It's time to stop bitching about every missed call, as Moises Alou did again today.

Yes, plate umpire Bill Miller jobbed Alou on a couple of calls. Has Moises ever considered that he doesn't get any breaks because of his constant whining? Here's Alou, from today's AP game summary:

I think because I argue, they're after me. Is it a coincidence? I don't know, but I've got to do something about it. I got a letter that said if I get thrown out again, I'll get suspended. Maybe they know. Maybe they're baiting me. It's like guarding Shaq with five fouls.

Are those the words of a champion?

No.

Just shut up and play baseball, Moises. Just win.

Anyway, the math gets simpler. The Cubs could still win it without anyone's help, by winning their remaining seven games. Yeah, I know, sounds real easy, doesn't it?

But I'd suspect they won't, and I also suspect the Astros and Giants won't win all of their remaining six, either. The players say they don't scoreboard-watch, but do you believe that? I sure don't. In any case, they won't be able to for the Giants games, because every one of them will start after the Cubs game for that day is over, except for Tuesday night's SF/SD game, which begins at 9 PM CT, probably about the sixth or seventh inning of the Cub game. As for the Astros, they'll start tomorrow and Tuesday at the same time as the Cubs in St. Louis (and now, all of us are the world's biggest Cardinal fans for the next three days), then play Wednesday night after the Cubs' 1:20 day game is over.

One more stat reminder: with seven games remaining a year ago, the Cubs were a game and a half behind Houston, and won anyway. I like this year's position much better.

It's funny how your perception changes. When this road trip began, I thought it'd be great if the Cubs went 8-4.

Well, they did exactly that, and now everyone's all depressed. When you get to 8-2, you certainly want more.

But 8-4 is a really good road trip -- they just won an extra game in Pittsburgh and lost one in New York. Let us not lose this perspective.

Finally, I saw a funny local promotion for Fox Sports Bay Area during the SF/LA game... you see an accident scene, or fire, I'm not quite sure, and a man is lying obviously injured in the street. The paramedics arrive, rip the man's jacket open to start trying to help him... and discover he's wearing a Cubs T-shirt, after which they quietly walk back to their truck.

Clever, guys. But I hope your team loses.

Keep the faith.

:: posted by Al at 7:25 PM [+] ::
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