Some Quick Thoughts

- Watching JD Drew's HR leave the Big A last night caused me to flash back to this game. Not quite the same way that 2000 NLCS game ended, but boy - to watch the Angels fight back to tie, then lose in the ninth - the similarities were eerie.

- A Wild Card team has reached the World Series every year since 2000. Continuing the spooky trend, the leagues have actually alternated (bold means won WS) sending the Wild Card team to the World Series (they both went in 2002):

NL: 2001 (Arizona), 2002 (Giants), 2003 (Florida), 2005 (Houston), 2007 (Colorado)
AL: 2002 (Angels), 2004 (Red Sox), 2006 (Detroit).

Think the Red Sox know that interesting statistical anomaly? They're the AL wild card this season.

- Has Dale Sveum always known that interference rule he went out to discuss with the umpires in Game 3 of his series, or does Milwaukee have a 'managing for dummies' course they require all their managers to go to, complete with required memorization of obscure rules?

- Craig Sager looked like rainbow sherbert last night. Very tacky. My wife's comment, upon seeing him: 'Who's the retard?' I think that sums it up nicely.

- Thanks to Milwaukee for winning Game 3. I was getting tired of seeing the same teams win in each series. At least one of the LDS series is interesting now.

- It's hard to believe this is the first time the Dodgers have won a postseason series since 1988, and the first time they've swept since guys like Koufax and Drysdale prowled the mound (1963, to be exact).

- In all seriousness, did we really expect another result for the Cubs than what they got? Piniella mis-managed Game 1; there was no sense leaving Dempster in to pitch to Loney when (a) he had just walked the bases loaded, (b) he had struggled throught his 4 and 2/3 innings to that point, (c) ball 4 to Ethier was his 101st pitch of the evening, and (d) Piniella had men warmed up in the bullpen. That HR will join the 4 things I listed in my last post as the ones that drove a nail in Cub playoff aspirations.

After that HR, everyone - and I mean, EVERYONE - in Wrigley tightened up. Except the Dodgers, who suddenly believed they could win the game. TBS continued, helpfully, to show Cubs fans in various stages of agony. Cubs players began to think, "Oh shit, here we go again." Lost that game. Played an awful Game 2 and got buried. Then, tonight, with the season on the line, they did the worst possible thing by giving up 2 in the first, because I'm sure the 'here we go again' thoughts started moving through their heads. Not to mention those two first inning runs nearly blew the roof off Dodger Stadium, if that was even possible given the energy in that building before the game started. After D Lee struck out on a pitch he couldn't hope to hit to end the fifth, flung his bat towards the dugout, and fired his helmet into the ground, I told my wife 'The Cubs are done."

This was, you'll have to believe me, before TBS zeroed in on that act as a prime example of Cub frustration.

I would have won a lot of money if I had predicted the Cubs would be the first team out in the 2008 postseason.

- One final thought - did you know the Cubs have NEVER won a World Series at Wrigley? That's right, they played their first game there 8 years after winning their last WS title. So, of course, the solution to their woes is simple. Build a new stadium on the site of their last WS win and tear Wrigley down. The Red Sox waited 86 years to win a WS, but their 1918 title was won with Fenway as their home ballpark.