TV RATINGS: One will never know for sure but I believe if the Cubs and Red Sox would play a consolation 3rd Place World Series opposite the Marlins-Yankees World Series, the Cubs-Red Sox consolation 3rd place World Series would get better television ratings than the actual World Series.
posted by Thomas at 5:10 PM
WORLD SERIES PREDICTION: I went 1-1 on my LCS predictions. Sadly I was wrong about the NLCS. So here comes my World Series pick: New York Yankees over Florida Marlins.
posted by Thomas at 5:08 PM
NLCS GAME 7 VS. FLORIDA: Cubs up 5-3, blow lead, blow game, blow series. Lose game 9-6. Lose series 4-3 after being up 3-1. Add another year to the list of great Cubs chokes.
YEARS OF THE GREAT CUBS CHOKES AND FLOPS: 1969. 1984. 2003.
YEARS THE CUBS JUST LOST: 1989. 1998.
posted by Thomas at 5:05 PM
NLCS GAME 6 VS. FLORIDA: You know what happened. Cubs cruising 3-0, eighth inning, one out, Mark Prior on the mound, nobody on base. Next thing you know a hit, fan tries to catch ball Moises Alou would have had, error on Alex Gonzalez, some more Marlins hits, next thing you know the Marlins are ahead 8-3. Cubs five outs away from victory are now looking at a Game 7 tonight at Wrigley Field.
MEL ROJAS AWARD: The Mel Rojas Award for poor relief pitching by a Cubs relief pitcher to Kyle Farnsworth. Farnsworth pitched 1/3 of inning, giving up the lead on a sacrifice fly. Farnsworth gave up 1 hit, 2 intentional walks, and 3 earned runs.
FANS EMOTIONS: In the innings prior to Prior and the Cubs' collapse in the eighth inning, most everybody at Wrigley Field looked like they thought the Cubs were going to win. It was in the bag they thought. Not me. I sat at home quietly watching this game, not thinking the Cubs were going to collapse but knowing we had not won anything yet. We still had a few innings to go. I had seen the Cubs enough over the years not to expect victory. Sure it looked like the Cubs
should hang on to win but not necessarily. Or as Rickey Henderson once put it, "Baseball can be summed up in
two words. You never know."
THE FAN AND THE REST OF THE 8TH INNING: I too was upset the fan tried to catch the foul ball into the stands instead of letting Moises Alou catch the ball but it was not the only reason we lost. Gonzalez made an error and Prior lost it and Kyle Farnsworth never had it. It was not entirely the fault of this one thoughtless fan.
THE FAN: That said, either banish this guy from Cubdom for all-time or check to see if maybe he is a White Sox fan who camouflaged himself in Cubbie blue and came to Wrigley Field on Tuesday night with plans to sabotage the Cubs.
AFTER THE GAME: About an hour after the game the shock and depression hit me. I could not believe how close we were to the World Series and then suddenly it was all gone.
AFTER TODAY THIS IS EITHER GOING TO BE FORGOTTEN OR WILL BE TALKED ABOUT FOREVER: If the Cubs win tonight, the fan's attempt to catch the ball and the blowing of the lead will be forgotten. Tonight and years from now, nobody will talk about the fan. All everyone will talk about is finally, the Cubs won the National League pennant after 58 years. But if the Cubs lose tonight the fan's attempt to catch the ball will become this infamous moment replayed over and over again. It and the collapse of the 2003 Cubs will be added to the list of Cubs collapses.
RAZOR BLADES, GET YOUR RAZOR BLADES: If you run a souvenir stand outside Wrigley Field you might want to stack up on them.
posted by Thomas at 11:14 AM
NLCS GAME 5 AT FLORIDA: The Cubs had their first bad game of the playoffs on Sunday when the lost to Florida 4-0. The Cubs still lead the series 3 games to 2.
posted by Thomas at 10:08 AM
ONE WIN AWAY FROM WINNING THE NLCS: All we have to do is win one game out of three to win the NLCS and go to the World Series. The easy story to write here is 1984 and how the Cubs blew it against San Diego. That is history. Today is all we have to live for. Go Cubs!
posted by Thomas at 10:04 AM
NLCS GAME 4 AT FLORIDA: Unlike the nail-biter on Friday night/Saturday morning, Game 4 was a pleasure cruise for the Cubs as they easily won 8-3. Matt Clement pitched very well last night. We really needed a victory in the playoffs from someone other than Mark Prior and Kerry Wood. Now we know we can win with Clement in the playoffs and do not have to rely on Prior and Wood to be starting in order for us to win the game. Aramis Ramirez two home runs. A grand slam in the first and a solo home run in the seventh. The Cubs now have a 3 games to 1 lead in the NLCS.
posted by Thomas at 9:57 AM
NLCS GAME 3 AT FLORIDA: Game 3 wore me out as the Cubs and Marlins played a wild see-saw game. The Cubs were ahead 2-0 but Kerry Wood clearly did not have his best stuff in this game. The Marlins came back to tie the game 2-2 in the bottom of the seventh. Then later in the bottom of the seventh inning with Mike Lowell on third and Ivan Rodriguez at the plate, Baker chose to pitch to Rodriguez who promptly banged a base hit to right field and the Marlins led 3-2. At this point I was thinking we are going to lose this game. But in the top of the eighth, Tom Goodwin tripled and then Randall Simon hit a home run to give the Cubs a 4-3 lead. And I am yelling, "Hey! Hey!" But before you could savor the lead the Cubs gave it up in the bottom of the eighth and we were tied 4-4. The Marlins had a chance to win it in the ninth but Joe Borowski got out of a bases loaded situation. In the eleventh the Cubs won it on a triple by Doug Glanville that scored Kenny Lofton to take the lead for good. The Marlins looked like they might have a chance with one out in the bottom of the eleventh as Luis Castillo reached first on a dropped third strike then got to second a fielder's choice hop back to Mike Remlinger. Then Derek Lee hit a ground ball to Aramis Ramirez who bobbled it but was able to get Castillo in a run-down and then tagged him out and the Cubs won 5-4.
PRESTON GOMEZ AWARD: The Preston Gomez Award for bad managing by a Cubs manager to Dusty Baker. I agreed with most of Dusty Baker's decisions on Friday night/Saturday morning but I disagreed with his decision to pitch to Ivan Rodriguez in the seventh inning with first base open and the go-ahead run on a third base. Rodriguez got a single to right field to give the Marlins a 3-2 lead.
posted by Thomas at 9:48 AM
