Series sweep over the Cardinals! Maddux pitches like he's 30 not 40. When will Kerry Wood and Mark Prior be back, that's what's even more amazing. You sweep and don't have 2/3 of your staff aces available. Congrats.
Watching last night's game, I saw something from the Cubs I have not seen in a while....smart base running. The announcers made a very interesting point, that the Cubs' roster is younger than it's been since the 70s. With Pierre and Cedeno in the lineup, they certainly have improved their speed on the base paths. I'm sure that the Cardinals will be a major factor in the NL Central race over the course of an entire season, but last night they looked terrible. Twelve straight balls, three straight walks (two by Isringhausen) set the table for Barrett's game-winning GS. Plus, John Mabry got a pinch hit against his old team. For long suffering Cubs' fans, this was a sweet weekend.
Sid you have to straighten me out, I was thinking you were a Reds fan. I know you are a baseball fan and follow things carefully, and if I follow your history you were Reds fan because they were closer to Indy when you were younger and I was thinking you were a Phils fan from your Jersey days as well. Are you primarily a Cubs fan these days? Follow the Chisox as well? Terry
Terry, I thought you knew me better than to ask me to tell a story. :wink: My first live MLB games as a youngster (age 8-12) were the Cubs and White Sox, when my family lived in suburban Chicago. My early heroes were Stan the Man (because I am left-handed), Ernie Banks, and Ralph Kiner. I hated Hank Aaron because he played with the Cubs archrival Milwaukee Braves, and Aaron would always finish higher than Ernie Banks in the stats. This is where my loyalty to the Cubs began. I never felt the same loyalty to the Sox primarily because I evolved into a NL fan over the years. We moved the the Jersey side of Philadelphia when I was 12, around the time that the A's moved to KC, leaving only the Phils. I followed the Phils but never developed the kind of loyalty I felt to the Cubs. We moved to Indy when I was 17 and entering my senior year of high school. That summer I saw my first World Series game in Cincinnati vs. the Yanks. It was 1961, the year that Maris hit 61 and Mantle 54 or 56. Attending that game began my loyalty to the Reds, which slightly superceded my feelings for the Cubs for a long time. Plus, the Reds had always been my Mom's favorite team. She had been born and raised across the river from Cincy in Ludlow, Ky. So you could say that over the past 40 or so years I have had two "most" favorite teams. When we moved to Ft. Wayne in 1975, we moved away from the Reds TV market. Then, along came cable TV and the Cubs games on WGN. Because of the regular TV exposure to the Cubs and my strong childhood connection, I evolved back to the Cubs as my #1 team with the Reds close behind. There. Now, aren't you sorry you asked? :wink:
I'm way ahead of you, Terry. I'm already thinking about the movie rights. I want Harrison Ford or Tommy Lee Jones for the lead role. Unfortunately, my agent, Joey Buttafuco, said that the only person interested is David Spade.
(Sigh)......Wendy. You did the same thing last year. :wink: Actually, I'm glad to see we're not winning everything up front for once. Have a little left in the Gas tank come Oct.