Welcome to Go Cubs Go

The Cubs hosted their 2008 Post Season Rally today at Daley Plaza.  There was a lot going on during this hour long tribute to the Cubs’ 2008 season.  Actor Jim Belushi was the emcee and he introduced such guests as the Chairman of the Chicago Cubs: Crane Kenney, legends Ron Santo, Ernie Banks, and Billy Williams, and politicians: Governor Rod Blagojevich and Mayor Richard Daley.

The rally started with some clips of past Cubs teams clinching a playoff berth.  They showed the 1984 and 1989 Cubs in their clinching games along with the 2008 Cubs clinching at Wrigley Field last week.  The voice of the Cubs, Wayne Messmer, started out the festivities with a singing of the National Anthem.

Then came the legends.  Ron Santo only had four words to say, “This is the year!”  While Ernie Banks and Billy Williams said a little bit more.  Ultimately, these guys didn’t speak nearly as much as the rest of the guests.

Mayor Daley started out the second half of the festivities as he donned a Cubs hat.  Daley is very open about being a White Sox fan, but for today, he rooted on the Cubs to do well in the playoffs.  Daley was followed up by the Cubs’ Chairman, Crane Kenney.  Kenney gave a nice little speech with some highlights on the season.  Just as he was saying how the team had no MVP, his hat flew off into the Chicago winds.  Everyone laughed.  Then came Rod Blagojevich, who was booed at first, but received a nice applause after a pretty nice speech about the Cubs and Lou Piniella.

Things continued as a few players from the team came out to show their support.  Derrek Lee, Sean Marshall and Micha Hoffpauir.  Lee spoke briefly about how hard the Cubs are going to work to try and bring a championship to the North Side.

The festivities ended with a singing of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” by Harry Caray.  There was also a music highlight reel provided by WGN.  Finally, Belushi tried to pump up the crowd with his own version of “Go Cubs, Go!” but it was kind of lame.  The only part that he changed was “the Cubs are gonna go all the way.“

Red and blue confetti blasted out of the stage and the real version of “Go Cubs, Go” was played.  Fans exited and went on their way with the hopes that this would be the year the Cubs go to the promised land.

Go Cubs!

In game one of the National League Division Series, the Chicago Cubs will face the Los Angeles Dodgers.  The Cubs have seventeen game winner, Ryan Dempster, opposing Derrek Lowe for the Dodgers.

Lowe faced the Cubs twice this year.  Lowe’s numbers against the Cubs in those two starts:

May 28 at Wrigley Field: (Cubs won 2-1)
7.0 Innings Pitched, 4 Hits, 0 Earned Runs, 2 Walks, 5 Strike Outs

June 7 at Dodger Stadium: (Dodgers won 7-3)
7.0  Innings Pitched, 6 Hits, 3 Earned Runs, 2 Walks, 4 Strike Outs

The Cubs have struggled against Lowe this year as they have a hard time hitting and scoring off of Lowe.  They managed a few runs in the game at Dodger Stadium, however, they only managed to score three times over three of the middle to late innings.  Bottom line, this could be a tough game for the Cubs offense.

On the flip side, Ryan Dempster has faced the Dodgers twice.  In both games, the Cubs won in very close contests.  Here are Dempster’s numbers against the Dodgers this year:

May 26 at Wrigley Field: (Cubs won 3-1)
7.0 Innings Pitched, 7 Hits, 1 Earned Run, 3 Walks, 3 Strike Outs

June 2 at Dodger Stadium: (Cubs won 5-4)
5.1 Innings Pitched, 5 Hits, 3 Earned Runs, 2 Walks, 1 Strike Out

This looks like it’s going to be a good matchup as both pitchers have gone fairly deep in their games and don’t allow a whole lot of offense.  I know that the Dodgers have a new look as well with the acquisition of Manny Ramirez.  The Cubs have not faced the Dodgers with Manny Ramirez this season.  Obviously, Manny brings a different vibe to that offense so that could be the X factor in this series.

If the Cubs can win this first game, they should look good to win the rest of the series.  I think this might be the Cubs’ most difficult game of the series seeing as they have struggled against Lowe in previous games.

Go Cubs!

(REFERENCE: ESPN.COM )

The Cubs regular season has officially ended.  They have posted a final record of 97-64.  The National League playoff picture looks like this:

Chicago Cubs vs. Los Angeles Dodgers
Philadelphia Phillies vs. Milwaukee Brewers

It’s finally time for the playoffs to begin!  It seems like it’s been a while since the Cubs have played a meaningful game.  The Cubs will need to wait a few days until they play their next meaningful game.  According to MLB.com , this is what the postseason schedule will look like, with times in Eastern Standard Time:

Wednesday, October 1st
3:00 p.m. MIL @ PHI
6:30 p.m. LAD @ CHICAGO CUBS
10:00 p.m. BOS @ LAA

Thursday, October 2nd
2:30 p.m. CWS or MIN @ TB
6:00 p.m. MIL @ PHI
9:30 p.m. LAD @ CHICAGO CUBS

Friday, October 3rd
6:00 p.m. CWS or MIN @ TB
9:30 p.m. BOS @ LAA

Saturday, October 4th
6:30 p.m. PHI @ MIL
10:00 p.m. CHICAGO CUBS @ LAD

The rest is the same as it was posted in previous posts.  The times are still to be determined for a potential game four and game five (for the Cubs).

I’ll be posting up to game one with a look at the matchup and some other things.

Go Cubs!

I thought it’d be cool to post pictures from Miller Park.  I visited Miller Park last year in April for a Cubs-Brewers series.  The game was actually played on Easter Sunday.  Miller Park is pretty cool.  When I think of Miller Park, I think of all of the neat attractions for little kids as it is generally a more family-friendly ballpark.  From Bernie the Brewer and the slide to the sausage race, there are lots of things that make this park stand out from the rest.  Other cool parts of the park are the roof and the “Roll out the Barrel” tradition.  I think that Milwaukee has a pretty decent park and it’s really worth the trip to check this place out.

GO CUBS!

The Cubs are currently down 1-5 in Milwaukee.  The Cubs have been playing this week with not a whole lot to worry about.  It’s been  nice for them to play some teams that could be in the playoffs, but other then that, these games have been meaningless.  On one hand, this is good as there’s no need to sweat what the Cubs do.  On the other hand, it’s getting a little boring watching the Cubs play these kinds of games.

On the other side of town, it has been fun watching the White Sox implode.  I know I’m personally not a big Sox hater.  I personally find teams that collapse to be the most intriguing part of pennant races.  Take the Mets for example.  They’re fun to watch down the stretch as they seemed to find a way to lose two of the four games against a Cubs lineup that resembled a minor league team.  Anyhow, back to the Sox.. they got swept in Minnesota and lost their 2.5 game lead on the Twins.  They are currently trailing the Cleveland Indians while the Twins are currently trailing the Kansas City Royals.  If the scores hold up, the Twins will maintain their .5 game lead on the Sox with the magic number dropping to three.  As for the Mets and Phillies, the Phillies must win one game (or the Mets must lose once) in order for the Phillies to be the Eastern Division kings.  If all goes well for Milwaukee (which it probably will), they will lead the Wild Card race by one game.  The Brewers could potentially clinch a wild card spot tomorrow.

Anyway, October is just around the corner.  I’ll be posting pictures from a trip to Miller Park from last year.

Go Cubs!

The Cubs and Mets are currently tied: 3-3 in the top of the fifth.  This is the Cubs’ final game of this four game series against the Mets.  It may also be the Cubs final game at Shea Stadium.  The Cubs are hoping for their 97th win of the year.

If the Cubs were to win tonight, they will have a 5-6 record against the Mets this season.  The win would set the Mets back in their pursuit of the Wild Card/Divison.  The Philadelphia Phillies currently lead the Eastern Division by 1.5 games.  The Los Angeles Dodgers automatically clinched the Western Division today thanks to the Arizona Diamondbacks’ loss in St. Louis.  The Dodgers have won their first division title since 2004.

Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Brewers are currently underway in their final game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Zach Duke is pitching for Pittsburgh while Yovnai Gallardo will pitch for the Brewers.  Gallardo has not pitched since May 1 when he suffered a knee injury in a game against the Chicago Cubs.  If the Brewers win and the Mets lose tonight, the Brewers will reclaim their lead in the Wild Card by one game.

In other news, the Tampa Bay Rays are on the brink of clinching the American League Eastern Division.  They simply need to win one more game or see the Boston Red Sox lose one game.  The Anaheim Angels continue to win as they are two wins away from a one hundred win season.  The only real drama coming from the American League is in the Central Division as the White Sox hold on to a half game lead over the Minnesota Twins.  The White Sox and Twins play the final game of their three game series tonight.  The White Sox would go on to face the Cleveland Indians in Chicago for their final three games, while the Twins would host the Kansas City Royals for their last three.  If it was necessary, the White Sox would need to play a make-up game against the Detroit Tigers on Monday at US Cellular Field.

Go Cubs!

Hi all,
So I just recently found out the times for the Division series.  Turns out that TBS will broadcast both the NLDS and ALDS.  TBS also hosts the ALCS, which would be why they set their schedule to showcase the American League teams in the primetime slots.  What does that mean for the Cubs?  Well, they are looking at probably having to play a lot of day games in the Division Series.  It’s kind of cool as it doesn’t get much better then day baseball at Wrigley Field.  It’s also kind of not so cool as it’s a playoff game and thus should be broadcast at a more convenient time for viewers.

Oh yeah, and on a random note, I read from a poster on the Northside Baseball message board that if everything were to hold up, MLB would be loving the postseason teams.  You look at the teams that would be in: Boston, Chicago (x2), Los Angeles (x2), New York, Philadelphia— the biggest markets in the country… and you’ve got Tampa Bay, the Cinderella for everyone else to root for.  Doesn’t get much better then that, huh?

Ok, here are the playoff times, note that these are EST:

NLA = Wild Card team vs. NL Division winner
NLB = 2 other division winners

GAME 1
Wednesday, October 1:
1:30 pm or 3:00 pm – NLA
5:00 pm or 6:30 pm – NLB

GAME 2
Thursday, October 2:
1:30 pm or 3:00 pm – NLA
5:00 pm or 6:30 pm - NLB

Friday, October 3:
OFF

GAME 3
Saturday, October 4:
5:00 pm or 6:30 pm – NLA
8:30 pm or 10:00 pm – NLB

GAME 4
Sunday, October 5:
7:00 pm – NLA
10:30 pm – NLB

GAME 5
Tuesday, October 7:
5:00 pm or 6:40 pm – NLA
8:30 pm or 10:00 pm – NLB
GO CUBS!

Well, the Cubs have officially clinched home-field advantage through the National League playoffs.  While there doesn’t seem to be much at stake in these final six games, there is still something to play for.  The Cubs are playing these final six games against the New York Mets and Milwaukee Brewers who are both fighting for the final playoff spot (Wild Card).  It’s very beneficial for the Cubs to get a look at both of these teams right before the playoffs begin as the Cubs will have an advantage of scouting out their potential opponents’ weakness.

Anyway, that’s not really what I wanted to post about today.  I visited Shea Stadium last month and since the Cubs are playing at Shea Stadium right now, I figured it was only approporiate to post some pictures from the old ballpark.  Shea Stadium, also known as the house that Ron Santo hates, opened its doors in 1964.  The Stadium will be closing at the end of the season as the Mets will move next door to the new Citi Field.  I really didn’t care much for Shea Stadium, for a few reasons.  With all of the outfield advertising and lights and scoreboards, it felt a bit overwhelming at times.  Also, the one thing I hated the most was that the ballpark is LGA Airport adjacent so every couple of minutes the roar of an airplane fills the stadium.  I do think that there were some cool aspects like the neon figures on the stadium’s facade, the songs that were played between innings (I think it’s hilarious that they play “Lazy Mary” and all the fans get so pumped for that), and the “Home Run Apple” that pops out of a magician’s hat whenever the Mets hit a home run.

Basically, if you never made it out to Shea Stadium, you didn’t miss much.  You’ll probably have the same experience when you go over to Citi Field as I’m sure a lot of the same elements will be transfered over there.  Anyhow, here are some photos I took, enjoy.

GO CUBS!

I found this on MLB’s website and thought it would be appropriate to post it here.  It is the postseason dates for the National League playoffs and World Series.

NLDS:
*Game 1, Oct 1st (Wed)
*Game 2, Oct 2nd (Thur)
Game 3, Oct 4th (Sat)
Game 4, (If nec), Oct 5th (Sun)
*Game 5, (If nec)Oct 7th (Tue)

NLCS:
*Game 1, Oct 9th (Thur)
*Game 2, Oct 10th (Fri)
Game 3, Oct 12th (Sun)
Game 4, Oct 13th (Mon)
Game 5, (If nec) Oct 15th (Wed)
*Game 6, (If nec) Oct 17th (Fri)
*Game 7, (If nec) Oct 18th (Sat)

World Series:
Game 1, Oct 22nd (Wed)
Game 2, Oct 23rd (Thur)
*Game 3, Oct 25th (Sat)
*Game 4, Oct 26th (Sun)
*Game 5, (If nec) Oct 27th (Mon)
Game 6, (If nec) Oct 29th (Wed)
Game 7, (If nec) Oct 30th (Thur)

* indicates game would be played at Wrigley Field

GO CUBS!

The Cubs won their final regular season game at Wrigley Field this season behind a line-up that featured many late season call-ups.  Ryan Dempster pitched well for the Cubs today as the Cubs cruised to a 5-1 victory against their rivals from St. Louis.  The win gives the Cubs their 94th on the year.  They finish their regular season home record at 55-26.  Believe it or not, the Cubs have only had a better record at home twice in their long history at Wrigley Field.  They went 56-23 in 1933 and they went 56-21 in 1935.  It’s pretty amazing to see so many long droughts being broken by this 2008 club.

NOTE: With one more loss by the Phillies or one more Cubs victory, the Cubs will have clinched home-field advantage throughout the National League playoffs.

I will post pictures from today’s game later.  Until then…

Go Cubs!

EDIT: here are pictures: