No, this has nothing to do with my musical tastes (Read: Kanye, Common, Lupe). It's a mere coincidence. But I'm a huge Chicago Cubs fan. I've been that way ever since I was in first grade. My little league team was the Cubs and I rocked the Rec-Specs, so you know everything was good. You know what the funny thing is? I've never been to Chicago. But don't think about questioning my love for the Cubs. I've had a couple summers ruined because the Cubs were at the bottom of the standings in the central. I felt sick and skipped school when the Cubs blew it against the Marlins.
I intended to do a running diary while watching the Cubs-Dodgers game 1 (going on while I type this). I've been very busy working for my student newspaper today, but I'll hopefully do it for game 2. Here are my thoughts thus far:
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When are managers going to learn? If your pitcher is struggling in the playoffs, yank him.... immediately... as if you just saw his pitching arm fall on the ground and be blown over the left field fence by the Wrigley wind. This is the same thing that happened in '03, which cost us the NLCS and possibly the World Series. Mark Prior was tired and we let him stay in for the 8th. It turned out he had nothing left and we got beat by the Marlins. IT WAS NOT BARTMEN'S FAULT. It was Dusty Baker's.
Ryan Dempster had struggled all game and walked the bases loaded. Guess what happened next? He gave up a freakin' grand slam and we're now down 4-2. Why keep him in? Even if he had gotten though the 5th, then what. Then you replace him with a reliever. What the difference? What's the plus side of keeping him in?
My other thoughts:
Alfonso Soriano has done nothing tonight, and he did nothing last October. There's only one thing to say: he's due. It's clear game 1 is not going to be his night, but it's coming. How many bad games does a guy have to have before he busts out? I'm betting before the series is over, Soriano is going to either have a real clutch hit or a huge game. I'm talking 8 RBIs, 3 stolen bases, 2 outfield assists, a couple epic diving catches which, by law, the announcers have to call "web gems," and he wrestles an alligator while Jim Beluchi sings the 7th inning stretch.
Which brings me to the announcers. They suck. They said the Cubs fans were calm, probably nervous since they haven't won a championship in, what is it? 100 years? Is that right? I never would have guessed, nobody ever talks about that. My favorite quote:
"You know, last night the White Sox fans were up and cheering on ever 2-strike pitch. Cubs fans aren't doing that tonight." Keep in mind, it was the first inning. One minute later, Dempster had a guy 2-2, and the crowd was going nuts. "Oh, I guess they just needed to warm up." No, you just made a statement about how the crowd is acting when it was only the 1st inning.
I got to get back to work, so I'll try to make an update later.
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