Yesterday sucked. Today was much better

Proving once again most prognosticators don't know what they're talking about, yesterday's game looks like it will be the best-pitched one of the series. Looper pitched his butt off, only making two mistakes - both of which Edmonds hit out. As the game dragged on, it became increasingly clear it would turn on which bullpen blinked first.

Cardinal high wire act Franklin (at least recently) navigated the 10th. Cub arsonist Howry retired the side in the eleventh. Franklin, sent out for a second inning, walked Lee to start it. Bad bad bad. Single (first and third), Intentional walk (loaded 'em up), Single. Ball game.

To be absolutely fair, this loss wasn't the bullpen's fault. It was a game where the Cardinals should have scored more than two runs. The failed suicide squeeze in the fifth (although the pitch Looper got was completely unhittable). Soriano makes a perfect throw in the sixth to nail Mather at the plate. Izturis left at third in the ninth. And so on. Woulda coulda shoulda. The big difference this day was, the Cubs made a play when they needed to. The Cardinals didn't.

Because I live on the west coast, and because the Yankees/Angels games was also being broadcast by Fox, I figured there was no way I'd see today's game. We had a family function to go to anyway. So, around 1415, with the boys down for a nap, I flipped on the TV. In time to see the top of the fifth. I noted the Wrigley faithful seemed unusually quiet. I found out later that's because it was 5-2 Cardinals. I turned it off - I'm not superstitious, but they were doing so well without me. I turned it back on to see AP score on Lopez's single to make it 6-2.

Then comes my favorite sequence of the game. Psuedo-brushback pitch to Glaus. Remember, Zambrano is a bit of a hothead. Next pitch was deposited in the RC bleachers for a 3-R dinger that blew the game open. Think the Big Z regretted both those pitches? I suuuure hope so.

Zambrano didn't make it out of the fifth. After watching him torture the Cardinals over most of the past 4 seasons, that was especially sweet. As you know, the final was a 12-3 romp.

A Most Gratifying Day.

So we're better than I hoped we would be going into Sunday. They have a chance to win the series in Wrigley. I haven't seen who's been named the starter tomorrow -

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ESPN.com says Carpenter. EXCELLENT. Carp/Dempster should be a good one. Take 2 of 3 from the small bears, boys. Not as good as 3 back, but 5 back is a whole lot better than 7 back. Let's get there.

This season isn't over yet, not by a long shot.

When's Adam supposed to return?