Yet another Disappointment: Cubs Lose 10-3 in Game 2 of the NLDS

Why do I like the Chicago Cubs? Why does my grandmother at 90 years old still cheer on this team? Sure we have the beautiful stadium and the beautiful people. We have Wrigleyville, the ultimate neighborhood for a ball park whether its 1938 or 2008. Our announcers are amongst the best in baseball, Ron and Pat were once again nominated for the Frick Award. The team has history, not of winning, but just uh… history. Generations of generations have passed down their love for the “lovable losers” and it will continue to trickle down. Despite all of this, the Cubs are the best team in the history of sports at blowing it, absolutely flopping the game, dropping the ball when it counts, and accepting failure - all when they are amongst the top couple teams in Major League Baseball. That’s right Cubdom, they are doing it again.  

After a disappointing lose Wednesday (7-2) when our bats where absent and walks were found in goodie bags for almost everyone on the Dodgers team, I thought to myself that Big Z would come out and shut down the Dodgers. Well, he did. Zambrano had some nasty stuff with the intense look on his face that we all were anticipating, but something was wrong with our infield on this chilly Thursday evening and Wrigley Field, and the bats may have well been toothpicks as the Cubs lost in embarrassing fashion, 10-3.  

Remember Angels in the Outfield? The 1994 movie where a little boy and his friend notice angels helping the team win? There is a scene where the angels kick the ball around the infield to humiliate the opposing ball club, awarding them many errors.  Sound familiar?  Last nights game reminded me of that for some reason… O wait! I know why! Every infielder minus Geovanny Soto, committed an error. Absolutely horrendous.

In the first inning the Cubs looked like they were getting on the right track. For the second day in a row our starting pitcher put 3 up and 3 down, except this time there were no base runners. The crowd was standing- letting off every bit of energy as the game began, and again as Manny came up to bat. K! Crowd goes wild and up come the Cubs. Soriano lead off with a sharp base hit only to be followed by two strikeouts and a pop fly. 0-0.

Let the defensive crap shoot begin. Ethier lead off the 2nd with a base hit, and at that moment the legendary Joe Torre began his coaching clinic by running a perfectly executed hit and run where Theriot was forced to go away from the bag and botches Loney’s attempt to move Ethier. Theriot was not at fault here as he was moving towards the bag to cover on the hit and run, taking him away from the ball.  It was the beginning of the end to NLDS game 2. With a man on 1st and 3rd the crowd came to their feet once again, for the third time, and on cue Kemp strikes out. Lets keep this simple. You have now entered a dark cave, a cave in which you cannot see the white of a baseball. Derosa, perhaps still bothered by a calf strain, is slow to getting to the ball and bobbles it, error, run scores and a man on 1st and 2nd. D-Lee felt left out and decided that his gold gloves don’t mean anything when it comes to the playoffs, error, bases loaded. The crowd gets on their feet, AGAIN, and continue to try to get our team out of this hole and Billingsly strikes out, two gone. See, I told you Zambrano pitched well. The crowd remained on their feet and Furcal executes one of the most well executed bunts I have ever seen and a run scores, only to be followed by a bases clearing double by Russell Martin. Here comes Manny, K! Zambrano once again does his job, but for some reason leaves the second inning down 5-0. At their attempt to make this a competition, the Cubs went down in order. 

The third inning was rather dull, but with 2 outs and Kemp up to bat with an 0-2 count, the crowd came to their feet for the 5th time, K! Zambrano does his job once again. To no ones surprise the 3rd inning was another null offensive display, with the exception of Zambrano showing how to work a count and getting a free pass to first base, THAT’S OUR PITCHER!

So, we have our 2nd baseman and sure handed 1st baseman each charged an error, does anyone want to join? I mean you do have that “C” on your jersey, and it is October, so why doesn’t someone step up and keep the tradition going. Wait I see a hand? Ok Aramis, go ahead, the crowd is on their feet for the 6th time now, error, with the pitcher up to bat! Furcal follows with a base hit, and Zambrano hits 66 pitches while we are only in the 4th inning. The crowd came to their feet again! And guess what? Zambrano strikes out Martin, again doing his job. In the bottom half of the 4th Lee tries to make up for his miscue at first and gets a base hit, following it with a good slide into second to save a double play ball hit by Ramirez. Derosa grounds into a double play, inning over. 

It’s the 5th inning and here comes Evil Ramirez - HR! The star once again adding to the whopping the Cubs were already being handed to them. Not only did it cross the ivy border, it was dead center past the brush onto the new addition in CF. Ouch, very ouch. This was in the 5th, but in the 7th Manny decides to do more damage by walking, followed by an RBI from Kemp. Ok so this is where Zambrano started to lose it, but his pitch count was flying through the roof, thanks do his defensive unit. But it was the 7th where the Cubs decided to get things going… I guess. Derosa had a screaming double to right and Edmonds followed with a double of his own. 7-1 Dodgers. Cory Wade replaced Billingsly and we didn’t score again as Fukudome fails again with men on base.

Deep Breath, breathe in- breathe out, breathe in-breathe out. Marmol comes in relief. One of the best relievers in the game right? Wrong. Marmol was like the kid in the back of the playground waiting to join in on all the botchery. Base hit, sac bunt, base hit. That’s how baseball is played, and Furcal has been playing by the manual since the series had started and tallies on another RBI, followed by another RBI by Evil Ramirez.

This is about where I stopped watching, with my head face down on the floor and my friends, not even Cubs fans, feeling terrible for the heart wrenching I am going through once again. Sure, I should probably mention in the bottom of the ninth, D-Lee doubled, Ramirez singled and Derosa doubled to drive them in to give us 2 runs. You know, kind of like when you come in last in Wheel of Fortune, they just give you the minimum winnings because they feel bad. Pie followed with a walk and Soto was robbed on a nice liner to second. I cant believe it, the crowd is standing again for Fukudome, hearing his name being chanted by the 25,000 or so fans remaining from the initial attendance of 42,136- K! O man do we suck!

So, its true, its in our blood along with the blue, the chemical for losing when it counts. I hurt inside, I hurt real bad. I feel bad for all the people who have been through this since 1908, like my grandmother. How is she still alive after all of the heart attacks this team puts us through, for 90 years she has been putting up with this. Ouch, very Ouch. The omen of the day, errors!  Every player on our infield commited an error.  When this happens and everyone fails on a test in school, the teacher usually gives a redo because it was some mistake on their part.  Not in profession sports, no redos here, we lost and we lost bad. The omen of the last two games, errors and walks. This team is in trouble, but I will leave you with a phrase from JP from Angels in the Outfield:

“IT COULD HAPPEN!” - I hope.