There have been, since the World Series began in 1903, 103 major league postseasons -- no, I haven't miscounted; there was no World Series in 1904, nor a postseason in 1994.

The Cubs and Dodgers, historic franchises, have participated in 35 of those between them. Between them they've been in 26 World Series (ten for the Cubs, 16 for the Dodgers; only the Cardinals, with 13, and the Dodgers, have won more NL pennants than the Cubs since 1900) and nine other postseasons in the divisional play era without making it to the Series (five for the Cubs, four for the Dodgers). But tomorrow marks the first time in the long history of both these teams that they will meet in a postseason game.

I thought, rather than do position by position matchups, which rarely mean anything (seriously: catchers don't do battle with each other on the field), I'd take a look back at the seven games these two teams played against each other during the regular season -- with the caveat that the Dodgers are a very different team now than they were then, having added Manny Ramirez and Casey Blake to their offense. The Cubs won the season series 5-2 by sweeping the Dodgers at home and splitting four games in Los Angeles.

May 26 at Wrigley Field -- Cubs 3, Dodgers 1:

Ryan Dempster [had his] 11th good start of the season. Yes, all 11 -- look at his previous game log and you'll see that although he had a couple of "not-great" starts, he hasn't been blown out of any of them, and has gone six or more innings in 10 of 11. Today, after getting out of a first-inning jam he caused himself by walking the nearly-unwalkable Juan Pierre by a nicely-executed rundown of Pierre trying to score (my friend and BCB reader bison texted me from California, where he had scored it from home 1-6-4-5-2-3-4), Dempster settled down and retired nine of the next ten hitters he faced, finally running into trouble in the fifth when Mark DeRosa couldn't handle an infield popup and had no play as Matt Kemp, who had doubled, scored LA's only run.

Dempster got himself out of another jam in the 6th, after he had loaded the bases with two singles and a walk to Kemp, and again in the 7th, when no one was warming up, a testament to how overworked the bullpen was in all the extra-inning games in Pittsburgh. Dempster threw 117 pitches, 71 for strikes, and Bob Howry had to do the same thing in the 8th. We couldn't figure out why Scott Eyre, warmed and ready, didn't come in to face two lefty hitters in James Loney and Delwyn Young. Lou explained during the news conference that he thought Howry was throwing better, and it appears he wanted to give Howry a confidence-builder.

That's a risky way to win games, but it worked. Howry struck out Loney and got Young to fly to Jim Edmonds (the ball, not too far away from Alfonso Soriano, had us yelling, "Let Edmonds take it!" (We were threatening to ask the Cubs to put those beeping sounds you hear from trucks backing up near the wall so Alfonso would know when he's getting close to it, either that or yellow crime-scene tape.)

Dempster, for his part, continued pitching well all year -- he only had one or two bad starts the entire season.

May 28 at Wrigley Field -- Cubs 3, Dodgers 1:

[Kosuke] Fukudome, who has been in an offensive funk, snapped out of it with the double, a single and a walk, and made a couple of sparkling defensive plays in right field. How anyone could consider hurting the defense by moving him to CF and putting a minor league first baseman in right, I simply cannot understand. It does appear, as I keep saying, that Jim Edmonds is done, done, D-O-N-E (have I said done?). He went 0-for-4 last night, got booed roundly the last two times, and his bat speed is probably about the same as Cubs hitting coach Gerald Perry's would be if Perry took the field now. Edmonds did make one nice catch going back on a fly ball to the warning track; his fielding is still decent and he catches everything he gets to. I still fail to see how this team is helped by his presence.

Last night's performance by Kerry Wood ought to quiet a similar chorus asking for him to be replaced at closer. He looked dominant and seems to be getting more comfortable in the role each time out. Meanwhile, Carlos Marmol had a shaky outing, loading the bases before getting out of the jam. I'd like to see him rest up some, as he's bordering on severe overwork.

Well, obviously, I was wrong about Edmonds that day in May -- he started hitting right after that and has been an exemplary presence on the field and in the clubhouse. His postseason experience -- he has more than anyone else on the club, even Alfonso Soriano -- will be invaluable in October.

May 29 at Wrigley Field -- Cubs 2, Dodgers 1:

Before a near-sellout of 39,945 on a night that was, by the end, starting to get cold, the Cubs provided 9th and 10th inning dramatics that had Wrigley Field rocking as I have never heard it for a regular season game this early in the year, and Alfonso Soriano shut up his critics (for a day, at least) by poking a single into left field, scoring Mike Fontenot with the winning run in an excruciatingly exciting 2-1 Cubs win over the Dodgers, completing the Cubs' fourth three-game sweep at home this season, moving their home record to a spectacular 22-8, pushing them 11 games over .500 for the first time since the last day of the ill-fated 2004 season...

Remind me again why the Cubs need another starting pitcher? They allowed an admittedly hurting LA "offense" three runs in this series, and the only one Carlos Zambrano allowed last night was on a bases-loaded walk after he had helped load the bases by hitting Matt Kemp. Z admitted in his postgame comments that he knew he didn't have his best stuff or command; he walked four, tying his season high, and had to get, essentially, five outs in that tense eighth inning because his defense deserted him (Mark DeRosa let a ball go off his glove which was ruled a hit, and Ryan Theriot made a throwing error, both of which could have been outs). Z threw an alarmingly high total of 130 pitches -- something we haven't seen since the Baker era. However, Lou said in his own postgame remarks that he'll keep Z on a short leash in his next start...

It was right after that when Z's shoulder started to bark at him and a little over two weeks later, he had to be taken out of a game at Tampa Bay and wound up on the DL. I think Z is fine now, but the staff will have to watch his pitch count closely. (Yet another reason Bob Howry shouldn't be on the playoff roster.)

Kerry Wood, who some here were ready to throw under the bus when he had a tough debut as closer on Opening Day, is now leading the National League in saves.

Once again, this team won with a different hero; last night it was Kosuke Fukudome, who hit his first MLB home run away from Wrigley Field and who drove in the winning run with e perfectly-placed single off his countryman Takashi Saito in the 9th inning.

The Cubs blew an early 4-0 lead when Jeff Kent homered twice, once off Ryan Dempster, once off Bob Howry, who nearly did a Ted Lilly slam-the-glove-down move, rare for him -- you almost never see Howry show emotion on the mound -- but this resilient team came back. Props to Neal Cotts for throwing a scoreless inning -- so far, since his recall, Cotts looks more like the setup man who had a 1.94 ERA for the 2005 champion White Sox, than the guy who got sent down seemingly never to return last year.

Kent won't be playing in this series (and we hope, neither will Howry), and it would be great if Fukudome could get out of his two-month offensive funk and contribute in this series.

June 6 at Dodger Stadium -- Dodgers 3, Cubs 0:

... they just got beat last night when they got shut down by a pretty good pitcher. That kind of stuff happens even to great teams (example: the 114-win 1998 Yankees got shut out five times, including by scores of 7-0, 9-0 and 11-0. This makes three for the 2008 Cubs). [Hiroki] Kuroda not only held the Cubs to four harmless singles, he also struck out eleven and didn't walk anyone.

I posted a long diatribe about Ryan Theriot's lack of range in that recap; obviously, we're long past the time when any change is going to be made (especially with Ronny Cedeno now with a balky shoulder because of the dumb dive he made into 1B in NY last week). Theriot's the SS, for good or bad, for the duration. We can only hope that Kuroda's more hittable in game three than he was that night in June.

Carlos Zambrano actually threw six good innings; unfortunately, his defense deserted him in the seventh, with Aramis Ramirez charged with one error and Kosuke Fukudome dropping a catchable fly ball (the latter would have ended the seventh inning with the score only 4-3 Dodgers). You simply can't give a major league team five outs in any inning and expect to win.

All of this was after the Cubs had fashioned leads of 2-0 and 3-2 against the tough Derek Lowe, and even though Z had given up a ton of hits, he had gotten out of every jam up to the point where Russell Martin homered to tie the game at 2. In fact, all three homers hit today -- Martin's, Alfonso Soriano's, and the killer three-run blast from Matt Kemp that put the game away -- didn't seem as if they were going to go out when they first left the bat. All seemed routine fly balls that wound up carrying; Dodger Stadium seems more conducive to that during the day than at night.

And those defensive lapses were the story of the game; otherwise Z and Lowe matched up pretty well, and once the game was out of hand, Neal Cotts threw an inning and a third without allowing anything else, saving the rest of the bullpen for tomorrow.

So -- the Cubs could have defeated Derek Lowe (who is 2-1, 3.25 in eight career starts vs. the Cubs) if they'd have played a more solid defensive game, and note that the Dodger homers were hit during a day game, when the ball carries better than at night; all the games in the division series are likely to be night games (the first three definitely are).

Apart from Geovany Soto's throwing error on Juan Pierre's first-inning steal, which allowed Pierre to go to third and score on an infield out, the Cubs were nearly flawless in front of the national audience. Jason Marquis -- see, I knew he had this kind of talent, as Mark DeRosa said:

"I think sometimes he becomes his own worst enemy," DeRosa said. "He sometimes doesn't realize how great his stuff is. When he's on, he's tough to hit. He has a good sinker, he had good command of his slider and his split. He's a good pitcher. He's been a good pitcher in this league."

Exactly. Marquis threw strikes last night and had terrific movement on his pitches. If he hadn't run into trouble in the 7th inning, Lou might have let him finish, as he had thrown only 89 pitches when he was removed, but taking him out in favor of Carlos Marmol was the right thing to do.

Marquis probably won't pitch -- much -- in this series, but it's nice to know that he has this terrific outing, one of his best of the year, to think about if he winds up going against the Dodgers. LA, in fact, is one of his favorite opponents; in 9 career appearances against them (8 starts) he's 3-1, 1.99 in 54.1 innings.

So there you have it. For the Dodger fan's point of view please check out our SBN Dodgers site True Blue LA, and I also wanted to give a shout-out to my friend Rob McMillin's site that covers both the Dodgers and Angels, 6-4-2. (And Rob's wife Helen is a Cubs fan and occasional BCB poster.) In case you haven't already looked up my 2008 preseason predictions, there's the link; usually it's pretty embarrassing, but only half so this year. I nailed the NL playoff teams, all four of them. (Not so much for the AL, but at least I'm in good company; hardly anyone would have picked the Rays, White Sox or Twins back in March). I'll stand by my NL predictions for the postseason, too: the Cubs to win this series 3-1, and the Brewers over the Phillies, setting up what ought to be a terrific NLCS.

I shouldn't complain, not after the Cubs win again, 11-7 over the Astros on a muggy afternoon that had hints of yesterday's rainfall even while the sun was shining most of the day.

But I'm going to anyway, just for a moment. What were Lou and Bob Howry thinking? With two out, a runner on second and Carlos Lee at bat and the Cubs hanging on to a precarious 6-5 lead in the top of the seventh, it's an absolute no-brainer. Put Lee, who came into today's game with a .698 SLG and 14 HR in 44 career games at Wrigley Field, on first base with an intentional walk and summon Sean Marshall to pitch to Geoff Blum.

But no. Either Lou told Howry to "go get him" or Howry had Lou convinced that he could get Lee, so instead of doing the obvious, Howry laid a fastball right in Lee's proverbial wheelhouse and Lee deposited it far into the LF bleachers (or maybe even on the street, I didn't see where it landed) for a 7-6 Houston lead; the Cubs had thus frittered away an early 6-1 advantage, hitting the ball all over the yard against Wandy Rodriguez.

The complaint department is now closed. Mike said he wasn't worried even after that; he said the Cubs had been hitting the ball hard all day (they had) and figured they had a few more runs in them. He was right -- they hit relievers Chris Sampson, Wesley Wright and Doug Brocail just as hard if not harder than Rodriguez, tying the game on a couple of hard-hit balls by Reed Johnson and Mark DeRosa and a Kosuke Fukudome sac fly, and then after Daryle Ward drew his second pinch-intentional walk in the last week (giving him three pinch IBB for the year and ten pinch walks; the ML record for a season is 18), Alfonso Soriano won the game with his 20th HR of the year into the second row in left field.

This made a "winner" out of Howry -- well, he gets credit for the victory, yet more proof that individual pitcher wins are meaningless. The team win -- and this was yet another win with virtually everyone contributing -- is, of course, the goal every single day and to me, it doesn't really matter how they get there. Incidentally, the win made the Cubs 42-16 at home and thus clinched a winning home season -- with 23 home games remaining.

Rich Harden had his worst outing as a Cub and it still wasn't all that bad -- eight strikeouts, but two HR allowed, including a two-run job by Blum that cut the lead to 6-5, after many hits and walks by virtually everyone in the lineup in the first two innings had brought six Cubs home. Reed Johnson got hit by a pitch for the eleventh time this year in the first inning, loading the bases for Mark DeRosa, who doubled home two with a bloop; in the second it was Harden bunting -- attempting a sacrifice -- but winding up with a hit, his first as a Cub, and Soriano and Derrek Lee (who went 4-for-5) contributing with key singles.

And then it almost got away till Soriano's blast. After that, Kerry Wood made his return from the DL. Let's be honest -- he wasn't really fooling anyone today, as all four Astros hit the ball fairly hard off him, but three of them hit it right at Cub fielders. Wood threw only seven pitches, six of them strikes, and looked just fine; this was a good tuneup for his eventual return to closing. Carlos Marmol threw 15 pitches (11 strikes) in finishing up today in a non-save situation; he could probably go again tomorrow, or Jeff Samardzija could close if needed. Scott Eyre was DFA'd to make room for Wood, and that gives the Cubs a week to work out a trade. Eyre has cleared waivers and there's apparent interest in him from several AL contending teams. The Cubs will likely have to eat about $1 million of his contract -- that's fine with me, as long as some sort of useful prospect comes in return.

One more small quibble with today's game: Astros catcher Humberto Quintero walked again. That's two days in a row after 65 PA this year without a single base on balls. How do you DO that?

After last night's deluge it was nice to see the sun today, and after a cold front passes through the area tonight, the rest of the homestand should be played in delightful weather conditions, perhaps muting the recent calls for more night games. It truly has not been a hot summer in Chicago -- there's been quite a bit more rain and storms than usual, although until last night, there hadn't been many rain delays and no rainouts, and last night was the first Cub home game shortened to less than nine innings by weather since a 5 1/2 inning, 4-2 win over the White Sox on July 3, 2004.

Note to all: at the last minute I have available two bleacher tickets for tomorrow afternoon's game. Price $45 each. Email if interested -- I will meet you at the ballpark tomorrow. My email link is on the left sidebar. Thanks for your emails -- tickets are gone.

Onward to tomorrow and let's win another series. Go Reds! Go Dodgers!

MILWAUKEE -- There comes a time in virtually every season put together by a championship team to which you can look back and say, "That was the play -- or the game -- or the series -- where it all came together."

It is, of course, far too early -- there remain two months in the regular season, and we hope, a month of postseason play -- but if the Chicago Cubs do indeed do what they seem capable of, what we have hoped and dreamed for all our collective lives, it seems clear that this four-game sweep of the Brewers in Milwaukee is that moment.

Just five days ago, after the dispiriting 3-2 loss in 12 innings to the Marlins on Saturday, at which time the Cubs found themselves barely hanging on to first place and having gone 3-6 since the All-Star break, that many here were ledge-jumping and worrying and panicking... but the players never did. The turnaround started with the win over Florida on Sunday, and continued through this dominant rampage through Miller Park, where the Cubs outscored the Brewers 31-10 (and it really could have been 31-7, a football-type score; the last three runs were a sloppy gift from Scott Eyre, who hadn't pitched since being activated eight days ago) and, apart from the close game on Monday, were never challenged.

The heroes of today's 11-4 Cubs win over Milwaukee included Jim Edmonds, who homered twice including a grand slam, which got a rousing standing ovation -- and Edmonds was given another standing O from the more-than-half-Cubs-fans crowd when he came up to bat in the seventh inning. The grand slam was particularly rewarding because it happened after the first two batters in that fourth inning were retired easily by Dave Bush; a two-out walk drawn by Aramis Ramirez started the rally, continued with a Kosuke Fukudome double and then Mark DeRosa being hit by an 0-2 pitch from Bush.

After that it was Rich Harden, relaxed and dominant, blazing through the Brewers lineup like they were minor leaguers. Just one mistake -- a HR pitch to Prince Fielder, no shame there, since that guy can hit -- was the only thing marring Harden's outstanding effort, and one of the keys to his success today was the total in the "BB" column. ZERO. He threw 71 strikes in his 105 pitches and it seemed effortless.

After leaving 15 men on base Wednesday night -- and I'm certainly not complaining, because there were baserunners galore then and seven of them scored -- the Cubs didn't leave a runner on base until the ninth inning today, when Mike Fontenot drove in the final two runs with a single and then was stranded. All the runs prior to the 9th inning had scored as a result of homers; Alfonso Soriano, hot right now just as he was the last time he came off the DL in May, hit his 18th, and Fukudome slammed a rocket to right for his 8th. It seems, after a long funk perhaps partly due to the calf injury he suffered in June, that Dome is back on track; he also doubled today and his average has poked back above the .280 mark.

What a special, wonderful season this has been so far. By the end of the game virtually all the Brewers fans had departed, so the remaining part of the 45,346 -- Milwaukee's 11th straight sellout, pushing them past 2 million on their 55th home date -- were Cubs fans, and we all gave the club a roaring sendoff after Sean Marshall struck out Rickie Weeks to end the game, after Eyre couldn't keep the Brewers down. Lou didn't seem very pleased to have to come out and yank Eyre; since it's past the trading deadline Eyre's probably staying a Cub, at least for now.

About the ejections of Eric Gagné and Prince Fielder in the 9th -- well, frankly, I think Doug Eddings isn't a very good umpire. If Gagné had wanted to throw a purpose pitch at Edmonds, why did he wait till the count was 3-0? I think Gagné just didn't have any command today. Still, perhaps the ejection was justified; Eddings did warn both benches after that, in an effort to prevent future bad blood between the teams. The ejection of Fielder may have been more justified -- after flying to left, Fielder came back and jawed at Eddings repeatedly, continuing after Eddings had tossed him. A fine is likely to be in Fielder's future. You can understand the frustration of the Brewers, I suppose, after getting swept in their own park where they had been 32-19 before this series. Meanwhile, the Cubs improved their road record to 26-30, better than it was -- and remember, there are only four teams in MLB with winning road records this year (Yankees, Angels, Phillies and Cardinals).

While this series was a huge statement, remember that 53 games remain in the season and that's a long time, and the Brewers are a good team and aren't going anywhere -- if the Cubs do win the NL Central, it's a pretty good bet that the Brewers will be the wild card team, setting up a possible matchup in the NLCS. I don't want to get too far ahead of myself, because there is much baseball left, including a tough road schedule for the Cubs in September (after September 3, they will play 16 of their final 22 on the road, although three of them will be in Miller Park, where they just swept, and three others in St. Louis, where they have played well this year).

So, onward to August and early September, where between tomorrow and Sept. 3, 22 of the next 31 Cubs games will be at Wrigley Field, where the Cubs have dominated this year. That'll have to continue, and the Cubs will be facing the Pirates minus Jason Bay, who was traded to Boston in the three-way deal between the Red Sox, Dodgers and Pirates that sent Manny Ramirez to LA. Make no mistake, the Pirates got some good young players, including Brandon Moss and Craig Hansen from the Red Sox, and uniting Andy LaRoche, acquired from LA, with his brother Adam, the Pirates' first baseman.

Bring 'em on. Till tomorrow. What a week, what a year. Each day, remember where you were, what you were doing, who you were with, when you remember each of these wins... because if the Cubs do reach the Promised Land, you will want to remember these moments forever.

If last night's 6-4 Cubs win over the Brewers had been a postseason game, it would have become legendary.

The game had so many memorable elements -- three lead changes, power galore from the Brewers, clutch pitching from Cub relievers, and a suddenly-hot Alfonso Soriano helping lead the charge with a double, homer and stolen base.

Let's get this quibble out of the way right now, then -- Soriano almost embarrassed himself in the first inning when he went into a home run trot on his deep fly ball to left, only to see it come up just short of "over the wall" and had to hustle into second base, just safe. Fortunately, he scored moments later on Derrek Lee's single.

Another moment that might have been seen as a momentum-turner had the Cubs not come back and won was 3B coach Mike Quade's ill-advised decision to send D-Lee home from second on Mark DeRosa's single in the sixth with the Cubs up 2-0 and only one out. Lee, still apparently slowed from having fouled a ball off his knee a couple of innings earlier, was thrown out easily. I started to have a "Wavin' Wendell" flashback. And when J. J. Hardy and Ryan Braun homered in the last of the sixth off Ted Lilly (just about the only things Lilly did wrong last night) to tie the game, all of us had visions of the power-laden Brewers running away with the game.

But darned if it didn't happen. The Cubs got a break in the 7th when Rickie Weeks threw away a DP relay throw (on yet another Lee grounder that could have been an inning-ending DP); credit to Reed Johnson for an excellent slide that broke up the DP. An earned run scored on the FC, and another one on the error, giving the Cubs the lead back.

Which was promptly coughed up by Bob Howry, allowing a pinch-HR to Russell Branyan.

OK, so I'm not going to yell "DFA Howry!!" here. But I seriously wonder why Lou keeps putting him in these situations, when he hasn't proven he can handle lower-pressure affairs like the game in Arizona last week, and especially considering Howry's flat fastball (CSN's pitch speed meter had that one at 90 MPH) is like raw meat to a hungry power hitter like Branyan. Once again, Scott Eyre sat gathering mold in the bullpen last night. It appears Eyre's on the trading block, possibly to the Rays, Red Sox or Tigers.

You could, I am sure, feel the tension through your TV, if you were watching -- I did -- as Chad Gaudin struck out the side in the 8th inning, and then as the Cubs put together their winning rally, helped out by two key walks to Soriano and the Wonder Hamster, and then D-Lee's double slicing down the RF line, to cheers just as loud from the large Cub fan contingent at Miller Park last night -- they set a record with their 8th consecutive sellout, and of course expect to sell out the rest of the series.

Carlos Marmol looked fine last night in closing, even when he had apparently struck Gabe Kapler out to end the game, only to be forced to throw one more pitch when the umpires ruled that Geovany Soto didn't catch a pitch swung at by Kapler. That was the ruling, right? Why couldn't Soto have just tagged Kapler out? Doug Eddings, the umpire who A. J. Pierzynski snookered in the 2005 ALCS, was the 3B umpire last night. With a chance for redemption, he did nothing. Anyway, all ended well when Kapler flied to left.

Whew! What a night, and that's just the first of four, with playoff intensity, and the Cubs made a huge statement by defeating CC Sabathia. If Carlos Zambrano -- who has pitched very well in his career in Milwaukee -- can win tonight, the pitching matchups tilt into the Cubs' favor starting on Wednesday night -- I can't wait to get up there!

Final note: thanks to BCB reader Hammer, who noticed something that nobody else did -- not the rest of us, nor the players, nor the official scorer -- the umpires called a balk on Ted Lilly when Lilly had apparently picked Rickie Weeks off second base in the third inning, clearly visible when he replayed the play. The official scorer credited Weeks with a stolen base. In the end, it didn't matter, because Lilly got Hardy and Braun to end the inning with no runs scoring.

When Mike Jacobs' second homer of the day (and yes, it was definitely a HR, the umpires got it right -- it hit off the concrete facing behind the basket, above the yellow line) left the Yard in the third inning, making the score 5-0 Marlins and you could hear the sound of anguished wrist-slitting all over Wrigleyville, I was contemplating how I'd write up a recap of what appeared to be the makings of another mess of a game, and was thinking I'd write a couple of sentences and shut the computer down -- if I even could; when I left my house my cable was completely out and I had no TV, phone or internet service.

About two hours later, Jeff Samardzija had his first major league save and the Cubs had a come-from-behind 9-6 win over the Marlins, not a moment too soon, and that, combined with the Astros' 11-6 win over the Brewers (and when Houston's seven-run fifth inning was posted on the Wrigley Field scoreboard, a huge cheer rippled through the crowd of 41,017), put the Cubs back in first place by a game, awaiting the four-game showdown with the Brewers in Milwaukee starting tomorrow.

Dave said to me when Samardzija came into the game in the 8th and started mowing down Marlins hitters, "He could do for the Cubs what Bobby Jenks did for the 2005 White Sox", and I think that's an apt comparison -- although Jenks, of course, became the closer, and Samardzija won't (unless some really strange things happen). But the Shark could take over a key setup role and it's clear already that Lou trusts him in a game situation. Today, Samardzija seemed more in control of himself -- wasn't overthrowing, the fastest pitch I saw on the ballpark speed meter was 95, and he threw strikes again (16 in 25 pitches). The game ended on a throwback play, Jim Edmonds laying flat-out like he was ten years younger, and catching Jorge Cantu's line drive into the left-center field gap. (Did you ever think you'd hear a standing ovation like that one for Jim Edmonds? At Wrigley Field? Told you this was one special season.)

The game began to turn when Alfonso Soriano tied it with a three-run homer in the fourth. And even though Jason Marquis coughed it right back with a HR allowed to Dan Uggla -- the eighth hit in the series by the Marlins -- give credit to Marquis for eating up innings again. He managed to finish six innings on a warm, though not too humid, afternoon, saving most of the bullpen. And in that sixth inning, we were sitting in LF shaking our heads at Ryan Theriot again, as he just didn't quite have the range or arm to throw out Hanley Ramirez on a grounder to deep short. But then, Theriot followed that with a diving stop and flip on Jeremy Hermida's ball that looked like it was going up the middle, and Mark DeRosa nearly turned it into the slickest DP of the year (WEB GEM!). When Cantu hit into a DP to end the inning, it seemed to energize the Cubs, though it took them one more inning to break through against Mark Hendrickson.

Derrek Lee homered to tie the game. But the key plays came later, when Hendrickson threw a wild pitch while pinch-hitter Daryle Ward was at bat. That prompted Fredi Gonzalez to order Ward intentionally walked (how many times have you seen a pinch-intentional walk?), loading the bases for the Wonder Hamster.

I still can't figure out how a guy that small hits the ball that far. I said to my son Mark (now with a 9-1 record), "You're almost as tall as Fontenot!" (He is, too: 5-2, at almost 13.) His double over Josh Willingham's head cleared the bases and won the game. And though it had no effect on the final score, Fontenot's heads-up baserunning play on Soriano's subsequent grounder to third prolonged the inning for one more batter.

Must-win? No. But "important win"? Definitely, and it'll put the Cubs in a good frame of mind for the series starting tomorrow night (can you figure out the Astros? They take two of three from the Cubs at home, two of three from the Brewers in Milwaukee, and in between get swept by the Pirates).

Finally, a little musical interlude, prompted by watching Scott Eyre get up ... and sit down ... and get up ... and sit down ... at least that many times in the bullpen today, without getting into the game. In fact, since being activated on Wednesday, Eyre has warmed up every day without ever getting into a game, even the 12-inning game yesterday. So with apologies to the Kingston Trio, here is "Scotty Never Got To Play":

Let me tell you the story
Of a man named Scotty
On this and every day
He put on his uniform,
Went out to the bullpen
But he never got to play

Scotty got the call
From the man in the dugout
So he threw a few baseballs
But when he thought he'd go in,
"Sit on down, Scotty!"
Scotty couldn't get in the game

Chorus:
Did he ever return,
No he never returned
And his fate is still unlearned
He may sit forever
On that bullpen bench
He's the man who never returned.

Yeah runnin' down a dream
That never would come to me
Workin' on a mystery, goin' wherever it leads
Runnin' down a dream -- Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, "Runnin' Down a Dream"

That's the song they've been playing as the Cubs take the field for the last few days, and it fits real well, I think -- that's exactly what they, and we, are doing, pursuing a dream that hasn't come, so far.

It seemingly got a bit further away today, that dream, as the Orioles blew out the Cubs 11-4, their worst loss since a 9-0 shutout at the hands of the Reds on May 7, and their first series loss at home since April 29-May 1 vs. the Brewers.

Yes, it was bad. Real bad. Jason Marquis was bad today -- he had little stuff or command, and yet he was one strike away from getting through the disastrous third inning without any runs scoring. Once the floodgates opened, no Cub pitchers could stop it, and that's a bone I have to pick with Lou Piniella. Today was a perfect opportunity to use Jon Lieber, who's supposed to be a "long reliever", to finish out the game; he came in at the top of the fifth with the score 7-0. But after one mediocre inning and only 20 pitches (17 strikes, typical of a Lieber appearance), Lou yanked him. This meant that the team went through most of the bullpen, with Scott Eyre (who left with groin discomfort, and no wonder, after having been idle for a week), Michael Wuertz, Bob Howry and Neal Cotts all seeing action.

This isn't how you manage a blowout, Lou -- and we should be congratulating you today for being named a NL All-Star coach, replacing former Mets manager Willie Randolph. Lou sounded quite pleased on the postgame show, saying he'd be happy to go back to Yankee Stadium for the last time, having spent so many years there as a player, coach and manager. In any case, today, Jon Lieber should have thrown at least three, maybe four, innings; now what happens if you need someone like Wuertz, who threw 30 pitches today, tomorrow, if the game goes into extra innings?

OK, I'm done, with that, anyway. Sometimes even good teams have games like this, where nothing works right; example: the 2001 Mariners, managed by Lou, who blew through their schedule, setting an AL record with 116 wins, went into Kansas City on July 23 that year, with a 72-27 record, leading their division by 18 games, and lost two straight to the Royals -- who at the time had a record of 38-61, 34 games worse than Seattle's. It happens. The good news is that the Cardinals also lost today, blowing a 9th-inning lead and losing 3-2 in 10 innings to the Tigers.

So who's in worse shape? The Cubs, who lost and got to rest some regulars for half the game today and have a road series in their hometown, or the Cardinals, who played till 1 am yesterday and extra innings today and have to go play in Kansas City this weekend against a team that swept them in St. Louis last week? I think you know the answer.

In any case, the less said about today's game, the better, except that I met BCB reader Shanghai Badger, who came up and introduced himself to me in line (sorry you had to see such a bad game!), and we had a nice talk with two Cubs fans who live in Washington, DC, who came in for the series (one of them originally from Sydney, Australia, and he got a BCB card -- if you are here, welcome!). My friends Brian and Kristy brought their ten-month-old baby today -- fortunately, it wasn't the baby's first game, or she'd have nightmares about her first experience at Wrigley!

What I will say is that today, I heard more about the Cubs' possible pursuit of C. C. Sabathia. I can't go into too many details, but let's say that I do know that Jim Hendry IS looking into this, that it's more than just our wishful thinking, and that it could happen sooner rather than later with the Indians having fallen into last place. We already know that Sam Zell has green-lighted Crane Kenney and Hendry to do whatever they think they have to in order to win this year. While I'd be leery about trading for Sabathia unless the Cubs had a real good chance to sign him to an extension -- there's no doubt that Sabathia could make a great 1-2 punch with Carlos Zambrano (who threw today off flat ground and will probably have a bullpen session on Sunday) for several years to come if they can sign him; after a terrible start Sabathia is 4-4, 2.42 in his last ten starts, and in the four losses the Tribe scored nine runs. C. C. would probably thrive with the higher-powered Cub offense.

Go get him, Jim.

And go get the Sox again, starting tomorrow.

This recap is going to be mercifully short, because that's about all the space it deserves.

The Cubs lost 8-3 to the Rays last night after Sean Gallagher had thrown six very good innings, allowing only one unearned run. And what's up with that? The run was unearned because Derrek Lee couldn't handle a ground ball that he could normally field in his sleep.

I'm worried about D-Lee. He doesn't look himself either in the field or at bat.

Carlos Marmol wasn't himself last night -- he threw only seven strikes out of twenty pitches and two of those non-strikes hit batters. He had hit two batters in 43 innings (162 batters faced) before last night; now he's doubled that total by facing four hitters. Scott Eyre put the game away by allowing the grand slam to Carl Crawford, and then giving up three more hard-hit extra-base hits. During all of that Eric Hinske stole third base.

Ugh. This is getting nasty and I may have to clean off my keyboard after typing all of this. Suffice to say that the Cubs have now lost nine straight games in the state of Florida (this series, three last September to the Marlins, and three in May 2006 to the Marlins) -- this does not bode well for the Marlins series coming up next month -- and they should be glad to say goodbye to artificial turf for this season.

That said, this was not the pushover (Devil) Rays team of the past, even the one managed by Lou Piniella to its up-to-now best record ever in 2004, 70 wins. This Tampa team has already broken the franchise record for wins before the All-Star break -- nearly a month before the All-Star break. Just as the Cubs have been terrific at home (29-8), so have the Rays (29-11). They have swept two other first-place teams in their goofy dome: the Red Sox in April and the Angels in May.

Feel better now? You should. The Cubs will be home in just a few hours to play the White Sox, in a series that, perhaps for the first time since interleague play began, has real meaning, real playoff implications. The game thread will be up in about three hours. To transition from this post to that series, here are Mike's thoughts:

Click on image to open a larger version in a new browser window.

LANSING, Michigan -- Traffic was terrible!

That's what I get for staying till the end of today's excruciatingly exciting 3-2 Cubs win over the Braves; I didn't hit Lake Shore Drive till 5:30, which meant running into some of the departing ballgame traffic as well as rush hour; that combined with a stop to eat and a couple of wrong turns getting off I-69, didn't get me in to my overnight stay here in Lansing till after 11 local time.

That's just the beginning of what I hope will be a fun road trip, with some more victories by the team which has now had a better start than all but five other Cub teams (see the box on the right sidebar).

But back to this hot and humid afternoon's fun, which began with no Cub batting practice but watching the just-recalled Micah Hoffpauir and Eric Patterson standing in left field, in their high-socked throwback uniforms, taking fungo after fungo hit by Alan Trammell. Truth be told, neither one of them looked that good, but Patterson got the start. He did get his first hit of the season, but otherwise had an uneventful afternoon.

The rest of the Cubs -- well, we had yet more new heroes this afternoon; the once-hated Jim Edmonds received an enormous ovation when he tied the game in the bottom of the ninth inning with his one-out HR off Blaine Boyer. And then, Reed Johnson won it by -- doing nothing except standing there and taking a pitch off his back leg with the bases loaded, the only pitch thrown by Braves reliever Jeff Ridgway. On WGN on the postgame show, Johnson said he'd been watching Ridgway in the bullpen and said that Ridgway had been trying to warm up by throwing what would have been inside pitches, busting him low and inside, so Reed was on the watch for exactly what he got.

Smart, winning baseball. What a refreshing change, isn't it? I'm sure there have been other games that have ended this way, but I personally recall (and witnessed) only one other -- this one on August 26, 1972, when Joe Pepitone took one for the team and won a game 10-9, where the Cubs had blown a 7-4 lead.

The throwback events were fun -- I know it must have been just as much fun to see the black & white TV images for the first two innings, and I understand (but have not yet heard) Len Kasper made a nice tribute to Jack Brickhouse calling Edmonds' HR in the 9th inning. They didn't have to go all the way back, however, and make the PA system go out -- as it did in the 10th inning, preventing "Go Cubs Go" from being played for the 11th consecutive home game. Even the Lakeview Baseball Club rooftop on Sheffield got into the fun, changing its sign to read AC000239 (I hope to have a photo of this to post tomorrow morning). Some of the other team employees, including ushers with old-style hats and vendors wearing bowties and white shirts, joined in the festivities.

It was also an old-fashioned pitchers' duel for seven-plus innings; Z threw pretty well, making only one mistake, the two-run HR hit by Jeff Francoeur. I said to our group (which today included BCB reader sparkles721, and also a couple other BCB readers, and I apologize for forgetting your names, stopped by to say hi) after that happened, "Two runs won't win this game". Turns out I was right, but I was thinking about the wind howling out about 25 MPH, not an extra-inning walkoff HBP. There were some other fly balls, but nothing near the bleachers until Edmonds' blast. Tim Hudson matched Z, finally getting yanked in the 7th inning when the Cubs cut the lead in half on a sac fly by Edmonds (yes, I had the requisite visit to the men's room in the middle of the 7th inning, a new tradition any time the Cubs are trailing at that time). I was surprised at a number of strategic moves in this game, not the least of which was allowing Z to bat in the 7th, once that run had scored, with a runner still in scoring position. Hey Z: you're a good hitter, but that situation really cried out for Micah Hoffpauir. Hoffpauir, for his part, wound up being wasted in the 9th, when with two out he was announced, at which time Bobby Cox countered with Will Ohman (who entertained the bleacherites before the game, as was his routine when he was a Cub). Lou sent Ronny Cedeno up to face Ohman -- we figured the game was over, but instead Ohman struck him out.

The real stars of this game, apart from Edmonds and Johnson, were the members of the Cub bullpen -- all of them. Every single man who relieved Z, from Scott Eyre (who REALLY looked 1948-ish in that baggy uniform) to Carlos Marmol to Neal Cotts (who looks 2005-vintage since his recall) to Kerry Wood, who was throwing absolutely filthy sliders, did their jobs; although a few baserunners were allowed, each of them got out of their respective jams, and the Braves stranded fourteen runners.

Each day brings new heroes, new ways to win, and another victory on the way to what seems, to me, to be the most special season I can remember. This is the best Cub team since at least 1984, and perhaps many years before that. As I have said before, enjoy each moment, each victory, each piece of the story as it is written.

Onward to Toronto. More in the morning or early afternoon after my arrival.

After enduring a spring that Mike described to me last night as "First cold rain, then hot rain", the sun came out, puffy clouds dotted the sky, a healthy breeze wafted warm air over Chicago and Wrigley Field yesterday, and the Cubs just kept on rolling with a 10-5 win over the Braves, their ninth consecutive home victory dating back to May 18.

The Cubs got solid pitching, timely hitting and outstanding defense. Really, what more can any of us ask for?

It didn't start that way. Ted Lilly had a shaky first inning, walking Yunel Escobar to lead off the game. After a single and two strikeouts, Lilly gave up a three-run homer.

To Greg Norton. Who has been around so long that one of his teammates in his first September callup was Harold Baines. Who was hitting .176 at the time. Uh-oh. This didn't feel very good. But you know what? After Lilly gave up a triple to Omar Infante, the guy who was a Cub for about five minutes last winter, in the second inning, he retired the next 11 Braves in a row and left to a standing ovation in the 7th, after the Cubs had hacked away at Tom Glavine and taken a lead (we wondered why Glavine was yanked after three innings; turns out he's got elbow trouble, which, combined with the loss of John Smoltz, may end any Atlanta playoff hopes). Lilly wound up allowing only four hits, walked three and struck out eight, and lowered his ERA to where you can almost see it (5.13).

A lot of this was thanks to excellent defense -- Lilly ought to buy Reed Johnson drinks or dinner or both after Johnson made several good-to-spectacular catches of balls Braves hitters launched into deep center field (he might have caught Infante's triple, too, had the entire OF not been playing so shallow). Aramis Ramirez made a couple of slick fielding plays, too, including on the DP grounder that, at last, ended the game.

When Lilly got into trouble, Carlos Marmol came in and ended the threat in three pitches, getting Escobar to line right at Ryan Theriot -- and that worried us in the LF corner, because we figured Lou was going to leave Marmol out for another thirty-pitch, inning-plus appearance. It was a pleasant surprise, then, to see Bob Howry trot out for the 8th. Pleasant, that is, until Howry gave up hard line drive after hard line drive, and Scott Eyre had to be summoned with the score 6-5. Eyre's strikeout of Gregor Blanco with the tying run on 2nd was the biggest out of the game.

Geovany Soto then put the game out of reach with a three-run HR into the LF basket to make the score 10-5 after the Cubs had run themselves into a couple of runs with steals off Brian McCann and a D-Lee sac fly (nice to see Lee perhaps coming out of his slump with a long HR and the RBI sac fly). This got Kerry Wood to sit down and Jon Lieber up -- and Lieber was a bit shaky, allowing two baserunners and getting Wood up again just in case, which was when Ramirez started the nicely-done DP.

Last night BCB reader Damen Jackson sat with us, snapping photos for his own website, which I'm going to link on the right sidebar later today, and he also snapped this shot at my request of the upper deck side scoreboard, one for you numerologists:

Click on photo to open a larger version in a new browser window. Photo by Damen Jackson

And that's the kind of fun you can have when you are 17 games over .500 (the last time the Cubs were more than 17 games over was in 2004), and winning games seemingly at will. Ted Lilly perhaps expresses it best:

"You just feel like you’re never out of it. We’re tough and we’ve had a lot of come-from-behind wins this year," Lilly said.

Yes, indeed. If you like, you can also credit my son Mark, who is now out of school and joined us last night. He has yet to see the Cubs lose this season -- 7-0. He'll be back in the bleachers during the White Sox series. I also met BCB reader buckmulligan last night -- thanks for stopping by -- and wanted to let you know that Wrigley Field concessionaires have responded to the tomato/salmonella health scare by removing all tomato pieces from the condiment stands (they were also gone from Murphy's, where I stopped to get a cheeseburger before the game).

Finally, some photos from David from last night:

One of Reed Johnson's fine defensive plays, this one on Brian McCann's drive in the 7th

Kosuke Fukudome steals 2nd in the 7th

Alfonso Soriano catches Mark Teixeira's fly ball in the 8th

Geovany Soto's HR swing in the 8th

Cubs outfielders celebrating the win

W flags in the LF bleachers

Click on photos to open a larger version in a new browser window. Photos by David Sameshima

HAMILTON, New York -- I had just arrived at my 30-year college reunion, set up the computer to watch a bit of the game via MLB.TV before heading out to check out campus, and the score was 7-0 Rockies. And then it was 8-0, and I figured, "Hey, we'll get 'em tomorrow."

I came back an hour later to find out that the Cubs and Lou had likely conceded the game, too, by pulling Geovany Soto and Derrek Lee -- and wouldn't you know, their replacements, Micah Hoffpauir and Henry Blanco, helped key a come-from-behind win that hasn't been seen, perhaps, since this game on August 29, 1989, a comeback from a 9-0 deficit against the Astros for a win by the same score as today's 10-9 comeback win over the Rockies.

That 1989 win was a key to that year's division title. It was in August; this one's in May. But the way the Cubs have been winning, you can see the confidence growing in this team every single day, with every single win.

Since I wasn't there, I'll let you all revel in this victory, provided in part by Jim Edmonds' best day as a Cub -- a HR, his first in the blue pinstripes, and three RBI; this, after he dropped a fly ball in the third inning which helped the Rockies to three unearned runs. Kosuke Fukudome also homered, as did Mark DeRosa and Henry Blanco. Blanco's usually a slow starter, but he's currently hitting .353. Incidentally, you can forget about the Hoffpauir-in-RF idea; Lou says Fukudome's staying where he is:

"Fukudome is playing so well in right field that I'm thinking let's just not even mess with that unless you have to," Piniella said Thursday. "He's the best defensive right fielder in this league."

Fukudome has a knack for limiting potential extra-base hits to singles, a rocket right arm and a comfort level manning right at Wrigley Field uncommon for a rookie. Then again, Fukudome isn't like other rookies.

"He charges the ball well," Piniella said. "Right field is a tough field to play here. It's not a picnic here. He goes to the line well. He gets a good jump on the ball. I've been of the thought that the less you disturb that, the better."

So, maybe Hoffpauir will get a start occasionally backing up Derrek Lee. I still don't think he's much more than a cuppa-coffee type of player, but he's still hitting the way he was in spring training. Ride that horse as long as you can, Lou.

Lou also said that Carlos Marmol, who threw absolutely filthy sliders today, won't be getting a Joba Chamberlain-like change to the rotation. Good, I say. Marmol's too valuable in the role he has, and he's already failed at starting, two years ago. I don't think he has the stamina for starting.

The question was raised on one of the SABR email lists I subscribe to, "When was the last time, before now, that the Cubs had the best record in baseball this late in the season?" I believe -- and have not confirmed, if anyone else has other info please post it -- that the answer is June 28, 1977, when they beat the Expos in Montreal to go 47-22. In those days not all games were televised, and that one wasn't; I will never forget Lou Boudreau saying on the radio, "They're 25 games over .500 -- they can kiss the .500 mark goodbye!" Of course, that team collapsed and finished exactly at .500 -- and had to lose their last 5 games to do that.

That '77 team wasn't that good and I think we knew it even at that late June date. This team is far better constructed and more solid, so, revel in this, everyone. I'll celebrate with my old college classmates tonight (even if a lot of them are from the northeast and are Mets fans). I feel like a college student again already: the rental car I got has 1970's style manual windows and door locks. Until tomorrow.

Here are a couple of photos from Thursday night, that I got late this morning from David:

Alfonso Soriano catches Garrett Atkins' fly ball in the 3rd inning Thursday night, complete with bunny hop

Micah Hoffpauir scores an insurance run in the 8th inning Thursday night

Click on photos to open a larger version in a new browser window. All photos by David Sameshima