September, 2007 (Oh, What A Night)

Sweet Bajesus! The Cubbies are now up 2 games in the Win column and 1 in the Loss. Tonight's game against the Cardinals felt in hand the entire game, until the bottom of the 9th (and a split second in the 6th). In the top of the 9th, Zambrano had thrown a 4 hitter giving up 1 run through 8. A true Ace performance from our ace. That's why he gets the big bucks.

While up 2-1 in the top of the 9th inning, the good guys had the bases juiced and Sweet Lou had to pull Big Z in order to get Ward in the game for a pinch hit. It was not a foregone conclusion with Z only having thrown 90 something pitches and a doubleheader tomorrow (it would be nice to rest the bullpen). But as always, Lou made the right move and pulled everyone's favorite 90 million dollar man for Daryl Ward. Ward rewarded the skipper by clearing the bases with a hard hit gapper for a double.

Now (after Fonzy Ks) the score is 5-1 in the bottom of the 9th. Bum Ryan Dempster comes in and gets Pujols out. Gives up a homer to Edmonds. Gets an out. Gives up a homer. Now it is 5-3. When one of the Catchin' Molina Brothers singles, Lou finally pulls Dempster. What an outing! Comes in with a 4 run lead and puts the winning run on deck. 2 outs and a man on first, Howry comes in. Then the winning run comes to the plate, because he gave up a single as well. Taguchi pinch hits and hits a frozen rope to center. Wunderkind Pie comes up throwing and actually holds everyone on. Bases loaded, 2 outs and finally Howry gets a ground out.

Kaboos Akata, so I switch over to the Brewers game. The Brewers happen to play my 2nd favorite team every night. Tonight it is the Reds. It looked in hand because the Reds had also been up all game. 6-3 in the 9th. The Reds get 2 quick outs, but then give up an infield hit and a homer. Now 6-5 in the bottom of the 9th. Luckily this one didn't get as crazy and the Brewers left the tying run at the plate. 1.5 game lead for My Cubbies.

So that game's over and I switch to the Yanks and Sox 4 hour and 43 minute epic (2 minutes shy of the MLB 9 inning record). I won't go in to too much detail, but the Red Sox were up 7-2 in the 8th when the Yankees batted around and took the lead for good at 8-7. What a night of baseball! There is nothing better than baseball playoff races and October. I love it!

Oh Captain, My Captain

Well, Lou's well-timed blow-up yesterday might earn him a couple days off. According to a Yahoo Sports article, he is out indefinitely. I do not think this is an entirely bad thing. Makes him a bit of a martyr to the players, since it was basically a fairly normal tirade (par for the course). It can accomplish his goal of rallying the team and hopefully gives them a new focus in a very tangible way (not having their skipper).

I think the article overlooked something pretty major. The article describes the tirade, but burries the reason he will be gone in the third paragraph, bumping the ump. You can't do that. Lou is not being suspended for kicking dirt or throwing his hat. Contact with an umpire will get you tossed and suspended for sure. But like I said, I'm not sold that it is a bad thing.

Also of note is that the savior, our top minor league prospect, Felix Pie has been recalled by the big club. Daryl Ward is out on the 15-day with a hip issue.