Exile in goatville

The first piece of Cubs news since "the Cubs got swept by the Dodgers" and "the Cubs suck" was released today, not even a week after the schedule for Cubs' players looked like more than just tee times.

Rich Harden will rejoin the Cubs in 2009 after the team picked up his $7 million option.

Not that there were many doubts, considering Harden's dominance when healthy, but the news means more than just the Cubs covering their bases for next season. It means we can look forward, not back.

There were people probably looking forward at the end of Game 2, but at least now, the only Cubs news will be good news. Now that Harden is sewed up for next season, one more piece is in place for the Cubs to make another run of it. Not that signing the same players guarantees anything, but Harden has proven his injury-questioned investment to be a definitely worthwhile one and it will be a pleasure to have him back in the rotation next season if his health provides it.

The next names on the Cubs' list of players to be signed include most notably Ryan Dempster, another move that seems to...more

Where do you start? The Cubs' best on-field product in a century not only loses in the first round, but gets swept for the second consecutive year in the post-season.

It's an embarrassment, it's a failure, and it's something that Cubs' fans don't deserve. Those were easily the three worst games the Cubs played in a row all season and I say that with the significance aside. Mark DeRosa hit a home run in the second inning Wednesday night and after that...silence. Pitching imploding, fielding errors and leaving guys on base. Complete and total failure.

That said, I do need to give credit where it's due. The Dodgers are obviously a much better team or they're at least picking the right time to play like it. After seeing what their starters, bullpen and hitting have done in key situations, they have to be favored to win the pennant and pose a serious threat in the World Series. Tip of the cap to them. I suppose this would be a good time to say "Bob Howry, I hate you" because we should never have played them in the first place.

Anyway, no matter the quality of the team, some of what...more

Not even an upward surge in the stock market, the real estate market, or even a slashing of cook county sales tax could put a smile on Chicagoans faces right now.

When your favorite team put its best team in at least 60 years on the Wrigley Field grass in October, you don't expect to get embarrassed like the Cubs have been over the last two nights. That's what it is: embarrassing. They haven't been playing like themselves. No two games during the regular season did the Cubs' infielders all have an error, no game Dempster started did he walk 7 batters. Why does it all have to happen now?

The game was over last night in the top of the second inning. Say what you want about 8 more innings to go, but no team should expect to win even a spring training game making fielding errors like that and no team deserves it. After getting your spirits crushed on Wednesday, to come out on Thursday and make glaring mistakes like that is just a blow to your mental psyche and the Cubs just weren't going to come back from that. Last night was almost reminiscent of the 2003...more

Ryan Dempster walked 7 batters in the month of September. So far, he has walked 7 in October.

Yes, it's true, nobody is going to win walking that many guys--unless god favors them--which is not the case with the Cubs. But the part that's hardest to stomach is that Dempster was almost unbeatable at home, never walks that many guys and oh yeah, it's Game 1 of the NLDS, where the Game 1 winner has won the series 23 of 26 times.

If you don't think playoff nerves got to Ryan Dempster in his first post-season start, than you obviously have to believe in curses because there's is no other explanation as to why in the first game of the playoffs, your arguably best pitcher has one of his worst games of the year. The way all of his pitches were snapping upward was painful--he was overthrowing and unable to keep the ball down, which is generally his strength.

The nerves didn't just show with Dempster; Sean Marshall, though impressive in his 2.1 innings of work, had some shakiness at the start and Jeff Samardzija was a bit wild and gave up a few big hits. When you think about...more

We're just hours away from the postseason now, which means that Cubs' fans are either a.) getting even more nervous/excited, b.) getting drunker, or c.) all of the above.

It's easy to compare the buzz to 2003, but this is bigger than 2003, it's simply that over half the Cub fan base wasn't alive last time the buzz was this big. The Cubs are actually favored to win the pennant. Heck, if this were beyond the last 25 years or so, prior to the creation of the playoffs, the Cubs would have already won the pennant for the first time since 1945.

But lets forget about expectations. Cubs fans don't do well with expectations. Let's just say the Cubs have the pieces in place to win the pennant and strongly bid for the world title. Getting there could be another wild ride.

The question is which team will show up at 5:30 tonight? The team that was patient and tore its way through April, May and August or the team that left too many men on base and blew late game leads playing just .500 ball in June, July and parts of September?

Will we see 3-for-4 with 3 RBI...more

Lou Piniella says there are a couple handfuls of MVPs on this team. Analysts all over the sports world applaud the Cubs' depth in this sense, saying it's impressive that the NL MVP candidate numbers-wise is not a Cub.

My opinion? The fact that the Cubs don't have an MVP-caliber player will either be what wins them a World Series or holds them back.

For the Dodgers, the situation is the opposite. Their MVP is Manny Ramirez and he has a supporting cast of a few guys that also have stepped up to drive in runs, guys he's basically inspired to start hitting better.

To see that clearly, I present my hitting breakdown.

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Statistics

If you look at the hitting numbers, the first thing you'll notice is that the Dodgers have the 5th best team batting average in the league and the Cubs are 2nd.

In terms of team home runs, runs scored, and run production, the Dodgers are among the NL's worst, which is surprising but fortunately. The Cubs were far and away the best run-producing team with over 800 RBI, and were in the top 5 in home runs. The Dodgers are the 4th worst in the...more

Welcome to the first of three posts I promise to deliver leading up to the month we've all been waiting for: October.

As you know by now unless you've blocked out all connections to the world of sports, the Cubs will be facing another historical team in the Los Angeles Dodgers come Wednesday night. This is of course due to Bob Howry giving Ryan Braun a lollipop yesterday to let the Brewers take the wild card and force the Cubs to play a division champion in the first round.

Good thing LA plays more like a wild card team. Bad thing Bob Howry is on the playoff roster. I know a bunch of people who will likely snipe Howry if he comes within 15 feet of the mound in the playoffs.

So that brings me to my first major discussion/analysis of the NLDS: Pitching.  I start with pitching because I believe pitching, emphasis on starting pitching, will be the most important factor for the Cubs to move on to Round 2. 

Let's take a look at the starting pitching for the first three games. The most important thing to note is that these match-ups are dominated by right-handers. This will...more

Not too long ago, I alluded to the fact that as much as I think Carlos Zambrano lights more of a fire under this team than even Alfonso Soriano's presence in the lineup, I had my concerns about him being the Game 1 starter in the playoffs.

Zambrano's consistency has been a mystery almost all season. While he's had at least a dozen outings going deep into games and winning them easily and he is the proclaimed "Ace" of the staff, he's felt more like the "Joker" or "Wildcard" recently.

So when Lou Piniella named Ryan Dempster the Game 1 starter for the NLDS beginning next week, I applauded him. A manager like Dusty Baker might have said "He's our No. 1 guy and we're sticking with him" (or maybe I'm just thinking of Lovie Smith...?) but Lou realized that there's no ego with this rotation. 

Dempster has, the most consistently of every Cubs pitcher, gone out and pitched deep into games, especially at home. I've seen Dempster make a few starts at Wrigley this season and anyone else who has can tell you that you have a lot of confidence with him on the mound. Dempster is also...more

Not too long ago, I alluded to the fact that as much as I think Carlos Zambrano lights more of a fire under this team than even Alfonso Soriano's presence in the lineup, I had my concerns about him being the Game 1 starter in the playoffs. Zambrano's consistency has been a mystery almost all season. While he's had at least a dozen outings going deep into games and winning them easily and he is the proclaimed "Ace" of the staff, he's felt more like the "Joker" or "Wildcard" recently. So when Lou Piniella named Ryan Dempster the Game 1 starter for the NLDS beginning next week, I applauded him. A manager like Dusty Baker might have said "He's our No. 1 guy and we're sticking with him" (or maybe I'm just thinking of Lovie Smith...?) but Lou realized that there's no ego with this rotation. Dempster has, the most consistently of every Cubs pitcher, gone out and pitched deep into games, especially at home. I've seen Dempster make a few starts at Wrigley this season and anyone else who has can tell you that you have a lot of confidence with him on the mound. Dempster is also shy...more

Not too long ago, I alluded to the fact that as much as I think Carlos Zambrano lights more of a fire under this team than even Alfonso Soriano's presence in the lineup, I had my concerns about him being the Game 1 starter in the playoffs.

Zambrano's consistency has been a mystery almost all season. While he's had at least a dozen outings going deep into games and winning them easily and he is the proclaimed "Ace" of the staff, he's felt more like the "Joker" or "Wildcard" recently.

So when Lou Piniella named Ryan Dempster the Game 1 starter for the NLDS beginning next week, I applauded him. A manager like Dusty Baker might have said "He's our No. 1 guy and we're sticking with him" (or maybe I'm just thinking of Lovie Smith...?) but Lou realized that there's no ego with this rotation. 

Dempster has, the most consistently of every Cubs pitcher, gone out and pitched deep into games, especially at home. I've seen Dempster make a few starts at Wrigley this season and anyone else who has can tell you that you have a lot of confidence with him on the mound. Dempster is also shy...more

Not too long ago, I alluded to the fact that as much as I think Carlos Zambrano lights more of a fire under this team than even Alfonso Soriano's presence in the lineup, I had my concerns about him being the Game 1 starter in the playoffs.

Zambrano's consistency has been a mystery almost all season. While he's had at least a dozen outings going deep into games and winning them easily and he is the proclaimed "Ace" of the staff, he's felt more like the "Joker" or "Wildcard" recently.

So when Lou Piniella named Ryan Dempster the Game 1 starter for the NLDS beginning next week, I applauded him. A manager like Dusty Baker might have said "He's our No. 1 guy and we're sticking with him" (or maybe I'm just thinking of Lovie Smith...?) but Lou realized that there's no ego with this rotation. 

Dempster has, the most consistently of every Cubs pitcher, gone out and pitched deep into games, especially at home. I've seen Dempster make a few starts at Wrigley this season and anyone else who has can tell you that you have a lot of confidence with him on the mound. Dempster is also shy of a playoff...more

Not too long ago, I alluded to the fact that as much as I think Carlos Zambrano lights more of a fire under this team than even Alfonso Soriano's presence in the lineup, I had my concerns about him being the Game 1 starter in the playoffs.

Zambrano's consistency has been a mystery almost all season. While he's had at least a dozen outings going deep into games and winning them easily and he is the proclaimed "Ace" of the staff, he's felt more like the "Joker" or "Wildcard" recently.

So when Lou Piniella named Ryan Dempster the Game 1 starter for the NLDS beginning next week, I applauded him. A manager like Dusty Baker might have said "He's our No. 1 guy and we're sticking with him" (or maybe I'm just thinking of Lovie Smith...?) but Lou realized that there's no ego with this rotation. 

Dempster has, the most consistently of every Cubs pitcher, gone out and pitched deep into games, especially at home. I've seen Dempster make a few starts at Wrigley this season and anyone else who has can tell you that you have a lot of confidence with him on the mound. Dempster is also shy...more

A week left in the season and the Cubs' already have the NL Central title. What am I supposed to do with myself now? I've tried working out a lot more, doing some reading...

The truth is that this week is vital, a privilege, but a vital one for the Cubs, especially this series against the New York Mets, the team the Cubs would play if the playoffs started today.

Lou Piniella said that he will treat this series as such and not as he did with that AAA Iowa All-Stars lineup he put in on Sunday (that still trounced the Cardinals by the way). With home field advantage throughout not clinched quite yet and a good opportunity to test a playoff-worthy team, this is very much so the right call.

In general, the National League playoffs tend to be carried by momentum. With last year's Rockies and the 2006 Cardinals, how a team plays heading into October seems to be more important than anything else.

So yeah, we should all keep watching, or at least checking scores on the internet via mobile devices regularly.

 

Step 1: Clinch a second straight division championship

Step 2: Advance to the National League Championship Series

Step 3: Advance to the World Series

Step 4: Win the World Series

 

It's time to cross off Step 1, Cubs fans, congratulations.

Go out tonight and crack open an Old Style (or if you have real taste buds, something more sensible) and enjoy it. It's been a long season and now its time to work out so we can be emotionally fit for the playoffs.

Now that Hurricane Ike has blown over, hopefully the Cubs losing ways have officially done the same.

While you definitely had to hold your breath in St. Louis during Kerry Wood's two save appearances, the good news was that this time it turned out in the Cubs' favor.

Now they have finally won a September series and find themselves 6 games up on the Brewers. How we came out of this storm in that situation blows my mind, but the magic number is now 10.

As damaging as Ike has been, Cub fans have to feel somewhat relieved not to face (for the moment) a Houston Astros team putting together a surge of Colorado Rockies-like proportions. While they won't come close to catching the Cubs, the wild card is certainly not out of the question at 2.5 games back.

So, what should Northsiders be preoccupying themselves with in the meantime? I think I would personally like to see a bit more consistency in the lineup. While I don't mind the Cubs waiting until September to go on a tear, you'd like to see this offense explode for more than 6 runs every 3 or 4 games just to...more