God, I love this stuff like a fat kid loves cake.

 

This collapse

is cruelest of all

 

Prior, Wood losses make NLCS defeat even harder

for long-suffering Cub fans

 

COMMENTARY

 

CHICAGO, Oct. 16 ? As though the devil himself had planned it, the seventh-inning stretch at Wrigley Field on Wednesday night arrived at exactly the moment when the heart of every Chicago Cubs fan had just been smashed like a rotten pumpkin. What a time to ask 39,574 fans, all in the mood for a dirge, to sing, ?Take Me Out to the Ballgame.?

 

THE LAST BATTER OF THE TOP of the seventh inning blooped a hideously meek double, inches out of the reach of diving center fielder Kenny Lofton. Two Florida runners scored, giving the Marlins a 9-5 lead that felt like a 40-run margin. The Marlins hitter was thrown out stretching for a triple. The Cubs trudged off the field. And the harshest of baseball realities quickly swept over everyone. The Cubs really were going to blow the pennant again.

 

Staring them in the eye was the worst moment in the entire 128-year history of the franchise that outstrips all others for disappointment. The collapse of 1969 was just preamble. The NLCS fold in 1984 to the San Diego Padres couldn?t match this. Not only were the Cubs about to lose their third straight potential pennant-clinching game, but their last two defeats came in games started by Mark Prior and Kerry Wood ? two of the top strikeout pitchers in baseball ? against virtual nonentities named Carl Pavano and Mark Redman.

 

 

So, Wrigley fans, now that we?ve all been kicked in the stomach by an 800-pound gorilla, let?s stand for a rousing, cheerful rendition of the late Harry Caray?s favorite tune. Led, naturally, by the singer from Smashing Pumpkins.

You never heard such a forlorn rendition of baseball?s anthem in your life. When the crowd got to ?I don?t care if I never get back,? it sounded distinctly like all 39,574 in attendance ? the crowd might have been 39,575 but wasn?t there one empty seat down the left field foul line? ? seemed to sing, ?I don?t care if I never come back.?

Somewhere, Steve Bartman, the 26-year-old Cubs fan who knocked The Foul Fly Ball out of Moises Alou?s glove in Game 6, may have sung, ?Take me out of the Midwest, take me far from the crowd. Buy me some airfare and fake ID. I?m real sure that I?ll never come back.?

?I don?t care what anybody says. . . . We didn?t lose the pennant. The Marlins won it. . . . We were close and the Marlins took it from us,? Cubs Manager Dusty Baker said. ?Nobody even expected us to be here. . . . But our guys got a taste of it. Next spring . . . ?

 

Oh, next year. That would be No. 96 in a row without a world title and No. 58 without a pennant. If the Cubs had lost this NLCS to the Atlanta Braves or San Francisco Giants ? proven 100-win teams ? then Baker?s analysis would probably be correct. But the Cubs had a three-games-to-one lead against an inexperienced wild-card foe that had seen three of its starting pitchers pummeled in their first outings. The Cubs got to start and end the series at home. And they held the Prior-Wood hammer at the end. The Marlins get credit for doing plenty of winning in these last three games. But the Cubs did just as much to lose.

?We weren?t even supposed to show up for these last two games against Prior and Wood,? said Marlins Manager Jack McKeon, whose team scored 17 runs ? a dozen off those two starters ? in the last two games. ?I?m not going to get into that hex-jinx-goat thing you guys got going [in Chicago]. . . . I think we?ll be the darlings of baseball the rest of the way. We?re going to have some fun wherever we go [whether to Boston or New York]. We?re going to give the American League a tough shot, too.?

McKeon may be right. This 9-6 victory was built on the dramatics of two infant Fish stars who will probably someday be household names. Miguel Cabrera, 20, greeted Wood with a three-run homer in the very first inning, then drove in a fourth run later. In the outfield, he ran down six Cubs drives, three with catches worthy of Roberto Clemente. Josh Beckett, 23, who shut out the Cubs on two hits on Sunday in Game 5, appeared in relief on only two days of rest and allowed just one run in four innings.

McKeon, old enough at 72 to be the grandfather ? or even conceivably great-grandfather of his best players ? managed circles around Baker as he has this entire series. Baker couldn?t hide his distrust of his second-line players in tight situations and managed around them. That erodes confidence. Until this final all-hands-on-deck Game 7, McKeon kept everyone in his role, building confidence. If Trader Jack tells you to go fishing with a dumbbell for bait, just do it. You?ll probably catch a gold-plated whale.

So, silence now holds Wrigley in its melancholy arms. A wonderful game by Alou will be forgotten. His two-run homer went where no fan could possibly interfere with it ? straight into Waveland Avenue. Three times, he robbed the Marlins with catches in left field. Alou did all he could for Bartman, the fellow for whom he expressed so much sympathy and wanted to unburden with a final victory.

But, in the end, the demons that have reigned here for almost a century remain firmly in possession of the most beautiful ballpark on earth, like a glorious mausoleum atop generations of buried dreams. Perhaps two moments on this evening, both involving Wood, captured the potential for elation and the reality of ultimate Cub dejection.

In the second inning, Wood hit a two-run homer to tie the score, 3-3. Fans always cheer and clap, sometimes they scream. But when Wood connected, everywhere you looked, people jumped, danced, waved their arms and seemed to hover in midair with elation, like Snoopy on a joy jag in ?Peanuts.?

Four innings later, Wood shuffled off the mound after being tattooed for four singles, a double, a triple, a home run, four walks and seven earned runs. He kicked at the grass like a dispirited little boy, lost in despondent thoughts as he approached the dugout. All the dejection of 95 years of Cubness were written in his demeanor, though he has worn the luckless uniform for only six seasons.

As Wood ducked into the dugout, he flipped his glove disgustedly into the crowd, even though his team trailed by only one run and might have won. If body language could speak, that disgusted flip said, ?Cub Curse wins. We?re dead meat.?

Within seconds, though no one requested it, the crowd tossed Wood?s glove right back onto the field.

For Cubs fans, that?s how deep the disgust and depression now cut. For the faithful of Wrigleyville who have been jilted for so long, these are the dark hours when love fades, even love passed from generation to generation like a community heirloom. Perhaps the spring training which Baker invokes will revive the romance. Winter, especially in Chicago, is so long and April so sweet. But now, if Wood ? or for that matter perhaps even Prior or Sammy Sosa ? throws his glove into a Cubs fan?s lap, that worthless hunk of leather comes flying right back.

After all, whatever the Cubs have could be contagious.

The Marlins will have their Series frolic. But, for the Cubs, let?s end this evening with the saddest of possible words. No, not ?Tinker to Evers to Chance.? Rather they are the words that Bartman, a Notre Dame grad, wrote in a statement of penance before this game: ?I am so truly sorry from the bottom of this Cubs fan?s broken heart.?

So are we all.

 

? 2003 The Washington Post Company

Waaa!!!!!!!!!!! Stop your crying assclown! Give the Fish their due. They kicked butt and they are going to keep kicking butt! :fyou

Like the Cubs didn't get some meek hits in this series? Losers are so one-sided.

Let me shed a tear for them...ready? :crying

Let me shed a tear for them...ready? :crying

McKeon, old enough at 72 to be the grandfather ? or even conceivably great-grandfather of his best players ? managed circles around Baker as he has this entire series. Baker couldn?t hide his distrust of his second-line players in tight situations and managed around them. That erodes confidence. Until this final all-hands-on-deck Game 7, McKeon kept everyone in his role, building confidence. If Trader Jack tells you to go fishing with a dumbbell for bait, just do it. You?ll probably catch a gold-plated whale.

 

that is my favorite quote from the whole story. i remember when we went back to chicago for the first game i was highly upset McKeon hadnt switched Lee and Lowell on the lineup. Then i had to sit back and say to myself look Jack knows what he is doing. he obvioulsy has a reason for trusting Lee. If he trusts him then you can trust him. Jack knows best.

 

I'm so glad i decided to have faith in his decisions. Made it feel like it was my victory too when Lee hit that double. It felt like a really good, loud, I TOLD YOU SO

 

Damn I love this team

Let me shed a tear for them...ready? :crying

The best thing about the Cubs losing (aside from the fact that Sammy is upset) is the fact that their entire fanbase got spanked and sent to their rooms until next April. Look at it this way, if you think it's too long of a wait between the World Series and opening day, just think it will only be 5 short months until we have to deal with these idiots again.

i'm so glad that i wont have 2 wait so long for next years opening day!

i'm so glad that i wont have 2 wait so long for next years opening day!

Why not go on up to WPB and see them in March?