So what was the pennant race all about again? We're less than a week into the baseball playoffs and the Cubs and the Brewers are both gone (and the Whities might be before the day is over).
The Brewers weren't really good enough to win -- bullpen was shaky, starting pitching was shaky once you got past the magnificent CC Sabathia (note to Brewers brain trust: sign him! Sign him! C'mon, back up the Brinks truck!) but there might be hope for the future if Yovani Gallardo is able to come back strong next year. Still a lot of young talent in the Brewer pipeline, too.
The Cubs? I'm not sure what happened. The team that pitched and hit better than anyone else in the National League all season long ceased doing anything against the Dodgers. It was very weird. Just another chapter in the history that the old Chicago folkie Steve Goodman so memorably described in his song "A Dying Cubs Fan's Last Request"
Do they still play the blues in Chicago
When baseball season rolls around
When the snow melts away,
Do the Cubbies still play
In their ivy-covered burial ground
When I was a boy they were my pride and joy
But now they only bring fatigue
To the home of the brave
The land of the free
And the doormat of the National League
For the 101th straight time, just wait'll next year.
4 comments:
It was a good, not great, season for the Brewers. Going forward, changes need to be made. Third base, starting pitching, a closer and perhaps even catcher need to be addressed. The only untouchables, IMO, are Braun, Yovanni and Hardy.
Ugh.
Ya know, for the half-dozen or so times the Cubbies have made the playoffs since I've been alive, I always had hope, but deep down, I also knew it wouldn't end well. Such is the life of a Cubs fan.
This year really felt different, though -- I thought this Cubs team was as good as any in baseball, and I like their chances to at least reach the World Series. I'm stunned that this year's collapse was so rapid and so thorough.
Condolences on the Brewskis, Mark -- until next April...
Mark,
I was pulling for the Brew Crew, but your assessment was basically correct: too many fundamental elements missing. If they don't sign Sabathia, the Brewers front office needs to be traded.
The ChiSox live to fight another day. My main hope is for them to win the Series. My second wish is for them to do better than the Flubs, and they just did that by not getting swept in the ALDS, so I got two things to be grateful for today.
I had a slew of Cub fans giving me major crap when the Sox got forced into the one-game playoff with the Twins last week. Tomorrow's pay back. It is really strange to watch these guys. Every time the Cubs make it to the playoffs, Cub fans have their team playing in the World Series before the first game of the NLDS even starts. It reminds me of Oscar Wilde's line about divorced people getting re-married as being evidence of the triumph of imagination over intelligence.
BTW, I'll be heading up to Appleton on Friday for a couple of days. My son is doing the interview/campus tour at Lawrence on Friday, and then we are going to stay to watch my nephew, who is on the Lake Forest football team, play Lawrence on Saturday. Any sights or restaurants I shouldn't miss?
Regards,
Rich
To paraphrase another Goodman classic:
Good-morning, America, it's over!
Don't you know me, I'm the Chicago Cubs.
I'm the team that always loses in the play-offs,
I'll be gone a long, long time when October's done!
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