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The Phillies and Dodgers are underway with Game 3 of the National League Championship Series.  The Dodgers lead the Phillies 7-1.  Jamie Moyer did not even make it out of the second inning as he gave up six earned runs (five of which came in the first inning).

I just heard a statistic that said a team that leads the Championship series (since the best of seven was implemented) goes on to win the pennant 16 times out of 19.  The announcer mentioned that the only teams to come back from an 0-2 hole were:
1985 St. Louis Cardinals (defeated Los Angeles Dodgers)
1985 Toronto Blue Jays (defeated Kansas City Royals)
2004 Boston Red Sox (defeated New York Yankees)

That would seem to put the Phillies in a pretty good position.

Ok, so the second game of the NLCS has been played and the first game of the ALCS has been played. The Philadelphia Phillies took care of business against the Los Angeles Dodgers tonight.  The Phillies are holding onto a 2-0 lead in the series.   I said it before this series began and will say it again: the Phillies are going to go to the World Series.

As for the action in the American League, Tampa Bay hosted their first ever Championship Series against the Boston Red Sox.  The Rays dropped game one as they were shut out 0-2.  The Red Sox have taken home-field advantage away from the Rays as they are now sitting with a 1-0 lead in the series.

Honestly, if the Red Sox win back to back World Series, I might gag.

So I’m watching the NLCS: Dodgers v. Phillies and I can’t help but feel depressed.

Well, not as much anymore.  Phillies just hit a 2-run home run and the game is tied.

Anyhow, I kind of really want the Phillies to win simply because I don’t care for Manny Ramirez and his attitude and I also just don’t care much for anyone else on the Dodger roster (nothing personal though).  I kind of like the Phillies too as I feel they have a good team all around and I have to respect that they have played well all year, unlike the Dodgers who really only decided to show up once Manny Ramirez joined the team.

In the end, I guess I can really care less who wins as it’s not the Cubs.  I think it would be cool to see the Phillies win a pennant as those fans seem to be just about as die hard about their team as Cubs fans are.  They deserve to see a winner just as much as Cubs fans do.

I’m kind of in a foul mood… probably for obvious reasons.

Pat Burrell just hit another home run and it’s now 3-2 Phillies.  Why couldn’t the Cubs do this against Derrek Lowe?  Makes you kind of wonder what it’d be like if it were the Phillies line-up against one of the Cubs’ pitchers.

My goodness, they look a little better then they have the past two nights but they still look awful.

It’s the fourth inning right now and here’s what happened:
-Geovany Soto leads off with a double.
-Jim Edmonds grounds out to second.  Soto advances to third.
-Mark DeRosa swings on the first pitch to ground out to third.  This strands Soto at third.
-Ryan Theriot intentionally walked.
-Rich Harden is at bat right now with a 1-2 count… will probably strike out.

I just got home so I’m trying to look up what’s been going on but in the mean time, I get the sense from the announcers that the Cubs have defintiely had opportunities in this game.  They also committed another error to make it six errors in the series.  UPDATE- Harden strikes out.

I see the Dodgers scored both runs in the first inning.  The Dodgers managed to score both runs with two outs, thanks to a two run double by Cub killer, James Loney.

I’d like to think that the Cubs can pull this one out, but time is really running out and there doesn’t seem to be much promise.  Yeah, the game is still early but I can see this Dodgers team piling on a few more runs to chase Harden out of the game.  By the time our bats finally wake up, it’s probably going to be too late.  I really hope I am wrong… but still, remember that even if the Cubs were to win this one tonight, they still would have a long way to go.

Anyway, I’ll be watching til the final pitch.

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!

How do you follow up what Carlos Zambrano did last night?  Simple.  Ted Lilly goes out and pitches six innings of no-hit ball.  Fans in Miller Park were loud and rowdy as they hoped to see more history as Ted Lilly picked up right where Carlos Zambrano left off.  Unfortunately, things started getting shaky in the fifth and sixth innings as a diving catch by Edmonds and a play that was ruled an error kept Lilly alive for a no-hit bid.  Following the error, Lilly allowed the first hit of this series to Houston Astros’ Mark Loretta.  Loretta, if you’ll remember correctly, was the Astro that was the most vocal about these games being played at Miller Park.

But that’s not the whole story today.  The Cubs offense got things going early and kept it going through the middle innings.  Home runs by Jim Edmonds, Geovany Soto and Derrek Lee all helped put the Cubs up for good.

It should be noted that the Cubs are 5-0 in Miller Park this season and are likely to be 6-0 at the end of this game.  They currently lead 6-1.  The Cubs play three more games in Miller Park to end the regular season.

With a win today, the Cubs are the first team in the National League to hit ninety wins.  Their magic number to clinch the division drops to six.  Basically, if the Cubs sweep the Brewers at Wrigley Field this week, they will clinch the division.  Oh yeah, and the breaking news story of the day has been that the Brewers have fired Ned Yost as their manager, so it should be fun to see how Milwaukee responds in this upcoming series.

By the way, the Cubs have not made it to the postseason in back to back years since 1907-1908.

Go Cubs!

Hey Hey!  Look at this, the Cubs are finally playing a game!  With a two day break due to Hurricane Ike, the Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros are just starting their series.  The game in underway in Milwaukee and the Cubs are on top: 5-0 in the bottom of the sixth.  Carlos Zambrano has pitched very well so far as he is, well, he is pitching very well.

It’s pretty awesome to see the Cubs playing well after that short break.  On the flip side, it’s pretty amazing that the Milwaukee Brewers are also stumbling along quite nicely.  They have dropped three of four to the Phillies and are well on their way to being swept in Philadelphia.  If Philadelphia wins, the Brewers and Phillies will be tied for the Wild Card lead.  Personally, I don’t really like the idea of Philadelphia in the playoffs for some of the same reasons why I wasn’t too hot on the idea of Arizona in the playoffs: the starting pitching, Brad Lidge, Cubs killers: Jason Werth, Pat Burrell, etc.  I’m kind of hoping that if it must happen, that Philly at least wins the East so that the Cubs can face the Dodgers/Mets in round one.

Anyhow, another amazing note is that the Cubs’ magic number currently sits at nine.  If Milwaukee loses tonight (which they probably will), it goes down to eight.  If Zambrano can hold onto this lead, the number goes down to seven.  If the Cubs manage to win tomorrow, that brings it to six.  With the Cubs playing the Brewers this week, the Cubs are looking at the possibility of clinching the division at Wrigley Field this week during their final homestand of the season.

Wow.

Go Cubs!

Rather than discuss the game right now (0-0, top 5), I want to just write on this whole weekend series craziness.

The Houston Astros were set to host the Cubs this weekend for a three game series.  Sounded great at first and then came Ike.  Hurricane Ike, which is projected to be a category three or category four hurricane, is rolling into Houston this weekend.  We knew about this for at least two weeks, yet, there was no consideration towards this upcoming series.  Now that the hurricane is coming and arrangements need to be made, there has been so much craziness going on this week about how these games are going to be played.

Don’t get me wrong; a hurricane is a horrible, devastating event and I don’t intend to make light of the situation.  I think that the Astros, however, are being slightly ridiculous with all of this back and forth about how the series will be played.  They started the week saying that they’d play the Friday game and then a double header on Saturday.  Then, as the storm’s path changed, the organization changed their minds too, possibly rethinking playing these games in Houston.  Understandable.  The Cubs organization has offered suggestions as to playing the games at a neutral site rather than make both teams have to make these up on off days later.  The Cubs suggested Miller Park, or St. Louis, but the Astros declined both saying it would provide too much of an advantage for the Cubs.  We get it, you’re the home team in this series… so maybe why don’t you all come up with some other place to play these games?  I don’t understand why the Astros don’t go with Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, or Turner Field in Atlanta.  I think both places are far enough away from Chicago to not give the Cubs a home-field advantage with fans; plus, both stadiums are vacant and seem to have good forecasts for the weekend.

It seems as though the plan is to play a double header on Monday in Houston and to make up the final game on September 29, after the Cubs final regular season game.  Do the Astros not understand that is probably not going to be worth all of the hassle in the end?  Hurricane Gustav just roared through Louisiana on August 26 and people are still without power. That was just under the status of a category three hurricane.  Do the Astros genuinely think that it will be possible to host three games immediately following the hurricane?  It all seems like pretty bad logic.

And besides, the Astros aren’t going to win the wild card, even with the easier schedule and streaky playing as of late, so why go through all the hassle?  It is getting pretty obnoxious to see the Astros decide that baseball season begins after the All-Star Break every year and winning 22 of 30 games or whatnot.

I’m sorry for sounding really angry and annoyed and making this a ranting post.  Thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by IKE…

Go Cubs!

Seeing as we are in the month of September, and the Cubs are coming off of an amazing 20-8 month of August, it would be nice to revisit a previous post about the Cubs winning 100 games.

Back when I wrote, I said the Cubs would need to win two games in every series in order to finish with exactly 100 wins.  The Cubs are actually one game over that mark right now as they swept the Pittsburgh Pirates last week.  Therefore, the Cubs would still need to win two games in every series (they can only afford to lose one series), if they want to finish the season with 100 wins.

Take a look at the final schedule; Cubs currently at 85-52 record

3 vs HOUSTON (Cubs with 6-6 record in 2008)
3 at CINCINNATI (Cubs with 7-5 record in 2008)
3 at ST LOUIS (Cubs with 5-4 record in 2008)
3 at HOUSTON
3 vs MILWAUKEE (Cubs with 6-4 record in 2008)
3 vs ST LOUIS
4 at NEW YORK METS (Cubs with 2-0 record in 2008)
3 at MILWAUKEE

With the exception of Cincinnati, the Cubs play only teams that are above the .500 mark.

Meanwhile, the Cubs are on their way to their third straight loss as they trail Houston 0-2 in the top of the eighth: situation: two on, nobody out.  Roy Oswalt has shut the Cubs down the entire game thusfar.  With Milwaukee having lost earlier today, the “Magic Number” continues to decrease, however, it seems as though the Cubs will not pick up another game on the Brewers today.  A wild pitch by Jeff Samardzja has put the Astros ahead 3-0.

Go Cubs!