MLB.com Gameday for White Sox/Rays -- game time 4:00 pm CT

Today's Starting Pitchers

G. Floyd White Sox vs. A. Sonnanstine Rays 17-8 W-L 13-9 3.84 ERA 4.38 145 SO 124 70 BB 37 30 HR 21 vs. TB -- vs. Chi

MLB.com Gameday for Red Sox/Angels -- starting time 7:30 pm CT

Today's Starting Pitchers

J. Lester Red Sox vs. J. Lackey Angels 16-6 W-L 12-5 3.21 ERA 3.75 152 SO 130 66 BB 40 14 HR 26 vs. LAA -- vs. Bos

It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops. -- A. Bartlett Giamatti, "The Green Fields of the Mind"

Normally, I end my final game recap of a baseball season with Bart Giamatti's words, but this afternoon, as, perhaps not coincidentally, one of those fall chill rains is falling gently in Chicago, it seems more appropriate to begin with them. Let me attempt to put into words the stunning collapse of the team we just knew was going to be the one to win it all.

Usually, one of my game recaps includes a link to the boxscore of the game. Why bother? You all saw it, and you don't need me to tell you or remind you of the series' last game, which, although the score was closer, the Cubs didn't appear to be there, just as they barely showed up for games one and two. Neither did I read any of the local sports pages' articles or columns about the disaster -- and having heard that they were filled with remarks about goats and black cats and curses, I'm glad I didn't. To mention those, I think, is lame and weak and doesn't address the facts.

Which are: it is, even now, a sunrise later, hard to believe that the team we saw all summer, the one that put up the best record in the National League and the team that was, most likely, the best Cub team in three generations, looked like the Dusty Baker-led clown squad that stunk the joint out at the end of 2006. How does this happen? How does a team that looked so good for six months look so bad for three days? Even during their losing streaks of four (in June) and six (in August and September), they didn't look this bad.

Perhaps part of the answer can be found in this New York Times article, one I could read because it was more dispassionate, coming from a source outside of Chicago. Tyler Kepner, the writer, quotes Derrek Lee:

"No question, there’s a larger weight in Chicago," Lee said after the Cubs were swept from the playoffs for the second year in a row. "I hate to call it pressure, because it’s hard to put more pressure on us than we put on ourselves. But you can feel it in the city. They want it bad. It’s understandable. But it’s all about how you perform on the field."

And quotes Mark DeRosa:

"You read about it every day, the 100 years," DeRosa said. "You know about it. Every guy who signs here wants to be part of the team that gets it done. You look at what happened — if I turn a double play, it changes the complexion of Game 2. It’s one of those things; I don’t know. I’m just in shock that this is the end."

"Every guy who signs here wants to be part of the team that gets it done."

That, in one sentence, may be the biggest part of the problem. They put too much pressure on themselves; someone posted here the other day that the 2004 Red Sox, who finally broke that team's long drought (and they've now won twice and have a chance to do it again), called themselves "idiots" as if they didn't care about all the history -- and then they played like it, playing for the moment only, even as they had to win four straight elimination games to even make it to the World Series, then four more in a row to sweep it.

Maybe that's what future Cub teams have to do -- NOT care so much. Play loose, as the Dodgers did. The tightness in each Cub performance showed in pretty much every at-bat and pitch that happened after James Loney's grand slam, and to some extent even before. Don't blame the fans -- we have been here long before today's players were born, and will be here long after they are retired. "Cowboy Up", as those '04 Red Sox said, take the blame -- as Kerry Wood did in '03 -- and next year, get it done.

In the meantime, this feeling is different than 2003 or 2007. In '03, that team roared through September and its first nine postseason games, bringing us to the brink, but they were playing over their heads. Last year's elimination came so fast after a breathless chase to even get there, that we barely had time to be upset, much less angry.

This one makes me angry. This team was the one that was "different", that felt right, that set records and accomplished feats that hadn't been done in decades. And not only do they go out early, they go out with barely a whimper. Maybe what I wrote above has something to do with it, that they put too much pressure on themselves, and the weight of the 100 years does affect them on the field. Thinking about it intellectually, it shouldn't. But intellect and statistical prowess can't always stop things from gnawing into your head -- you surely know this in your own lives, and a professional athlete, highly trained though he may be, is a human being, subject to the same thoughts and feelings as the rest of us. And if you are thinking, "Hey, this was a great season with lots of great things to remember!" -- well, yes and no. Sure, there are a lot of 2008 games that will always carry wonderful memories for me, from Z's no-hitter to A-Ram's walkoff vs. the White Sox to Soto's 9th-inning tying HR to the division clincher.

But the 2008 season -- SEASON, not individual games -- was a failure.

Will I quit? Hell no; I'm a Cubs fan. That's how I grew up; if you're my age or older you have many of these shared disasters, now all of us have 2008. When last night's game ended I took off my division champions T-shirt, that I had been wearing for whatever luck or mojo it could contribute (sure, I know it can't really affect players 2000 miles away), but why not? -- and tossed it in the trash.

I'll recover it, of course. Anger will fade, as will the feelings of "it's NEVER gonna happen", to sarcastically paraphrase the sign that's been all over Wrigleyville the last couple of years. I don't really have the stomach to watch a lot of what's left of the postseason, though I may catch a game or three before it's over. In normal times I'd probably have deleted 2/3 of the posts all of you have made, but under the circumstances I'm leaving all of them; I figure you all need the catharsis (as one was titled) and to let out your emotions. It's way too early to talk about how to retool this team for '09 -- and yes, it does need changing, just as every team does, including whichever one is the last one standing this year -- but keep this in mind: what do you do to "retool" a team that blew through the regular season so easily, leading the league in virtually every important stat category? What do you add to it (or subtract from it) so that the team that does enough to get into the postseason is strong enough (physically and emotionally) to win eleven games in October?

I don't think any of us knows that answer. Hell, Jim Hendry probably doesn't know the answer, or he'd have done it and I wouldn't be writing these words today.

I have, sadly, a funeral to attend tomorrow (not for the team, though that'd be appropriate, too), and so I may be scarce for a couple of days. If any of you wishes to start a discussion thread for any of the remaining division series days, go ahead.

And keep the faith. We are Cubs fans. We hope, someday, that our turn will come, while we still inhabit the Earth.

And when I say "nothing", I mean it.

I am not opening comments on this post. Eventually, I will post a recap of this utter disaster, but it may take me a day or so. Until then, I want this post to stand alone on the front page as a monument to the worst performance I have seen in 45 years as a Cubs fan.

Good night.

Random baseball-reference.com page

Random baseball-reference.com page

Random baseball-reference.com page

Random baseball-reference.com page

Random baseball-reference.com page

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It's not as easy as willing it all to be right
Gotta be more than hope that it's right.
I wanna hear you laugh like you really mean it
Collapse into me tired with joy.

-- Snow Patrol, "Hands Open"

It never rains in California? It just might, today and tonight:

Today: Rain likely, mainly after 11am. Cloudy, with a high near 67. South southeast wind 8 to 11 mph becoming west southwest. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

Tonight: A 20 percent chance of showers before 11pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 55. West southwest wind between 5 and 8 mph.

The Dodgers have played in Dodger Stadium for 47 seasons (since 1962). There have been 17 rainouts -- the last one was on April 17, 2000. You can bet that if it's still raining at game time, they will wait forever to play this game, rather than disrupt the entire postseason schedule.

There's not much more to say here that hasn't already been said. Win or go home with an extremely bitter taste. I'm a Cubs fan. I feel better than I did after Thursday's disaster, and won't give up until there are no more chances. Seven times in 54 five-game MLB playoff series, a team has done what the Cubs must do to win -- come back from an 0-2 deficit. That's 13% of the time.

I do have one more set of numbers which may be of interest. Remember how the Cubs were blowing everyone down at home all year, and how big the home-field advantage seemed to be? Not any more. Including the game of July 23, when the Cubs stopped a losing streak by winning at Arizona, the Cubs went 21-8 in their last 29 road games. In their last 29 home games (including the two NLDS losses), the Cubs are 16-13.

Maybe playing on the road will be better.

The mojo of the Gratuitious Geo Photos appears to have run out... so he won't be appearing today.

Just win, baby. Just win this one, and onward to tomorrow. Keep the faith. I will never lose mine.

Today's Starting Pitchers

R. Harden Cubs vs. H. Kuroda Dodgers 10-2 W-L 9-10 2.07 ERA 3.73 181 SO 116 61 BB 42 11 HR 13 vs. LA -- vs. Cubs

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As has been the case all summer, the stat line above reflects Harden's numbers with the Cubs only. See the pitcher box above for his full-season stats.

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On June 6 at Dodger Stadium, Hiroki Kuroda threw a four-hit shutout against the Cubs and struck out 11 -- the only hits were singles by Soriano, Theriot, Lee and Edmonds. He gave up only one earned run to the Cubs at Wrigley Field on May 27, in a game the Cubs won. So naturally, with a 0.59 ERA vs. the Cubs this year, Dodger fans will be expecting him to shut down our team. However -- in all other games this season besides those two, Kuroda's ERA is 4.13. Someone is hitting him (Soriano is 3-for-7 in the two games). Why not us?

Rich Harden has never faced the Dodgers. This, of course, got the national media saying things like, "Well, he's facing hitters who have never seen him before." Wrong. Manny Ramirez faced him quite a bit in the AL. This isn't necessarily a good thing for Harden; Manny is 3-for-11 against him, but all three hits are homers. The only other Dodger Harden has faced who is likely to start tonight is Casey Blake; Blake is 0-for-8 vs. Harden with five strikeouts. That's the kind of performance we need out of Harden against all the Dodgers, in order to win.

I'll be watching on TBS with the rest of you, the first Cubs postseason game I haven't attended in person since game five in Atlanta in 2003. And before you suggest that if they win, I don't go to other road games, keep in mind that I also went to Miami in 2003, where the Cubs won two of three.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Once again, a reminder that you can find the overflow comment threads, including the first pitch thread, on the right sidebar of both the front page and any interior page in the box headed "RECENT STORIES IN GAME THREADS". As for the other two NLDS games, the first pitch thread goes up shortly before the first pitch -- tonight at 9 pm CT -- then overflow threads will post every 45 minutes after that, at 9:45, 10:30, 11:15 and midnight CT.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

MLB.com Gameday for Brewers/Phillies -- starting time 5:30 pm CT

Today's Starting Pitchers

D. Bush Brewers vs. J. Moyer Phillies 9-10 W-L 16-7 4.18 ERA 3.71 109 SO 123 48 BB 62 29 HR 20 vs. Phi -- vs. Mil