Cubby-Blue

Cards 5 Cubs 4. What Did That Feel Like To You?

Man.
That didn't end well.
Cubs up by 2 in the bottom of the 9th, Kerry Wood comes in and walks Ludwick.
Okay.
Then Molina, who always seems to be in the middle of fun-wrecking, had a pretty brilliant at-bat, fouling off a bunch of pitches and working the walk the hard way.
Little turd Adam Kennedy lucks a liner off the end of his bat past D. Lee and ends up at 2nd, knocking in a run.
They intentionally walk the next guy.
Bases loaded and nobody out.
This is just the kind of thing Kerry Wood needs experience at.
You tell me: did he look scared or nervous?
I didn't think so.
Ground out.
Pop up.
One more stupid out, but he hung one to Ankiel and it was over.

I think by the end of the season Kerry Wood will be a monster closer, it's just a drag that we all had to get kicked in the nads today.
But that's the price of priesthood, my friend.

Mark DeRosa made the car ride back from Wisco sooo enjoyable - everyone was asleep in the car when he hit his homer, and I scared the crap out of them when I yelled.
Aramis broke out of his slump and 2-run homered when Card pitcher Ryan Franklin threw a snack pitch right in the soft chewy center of the plate.
And Ryan Theriot earlier hit a totally clutch single to knock in DeRosa, who'd hit a triple to get into scoring position.
All excellent, but still it's a loss.
Whatever - bring on tomorrow, when it'll be seven and three Todd Wellemeyer.
This will be interesting.
And Kerry Wood you just shake today off and get on with it, bro.

Cubs With The Big W Over The Cards

Not as big as Lake Michigan, but definitely bigger than my house.
I figure this was Sears Tower-sized, this win.
Man, my nerves are all kinda wrecked, and I’m on vacation.
This being banged up and resulting “rough patch” has just not helped on the nerves front at all.
And the Cubs aren’t all better, but maaaaan that was a nice win last night.
Having Carlos Zambrano come back, the pop in the line-up from Kosuke and Geovany, Kerry Wood closing – that all seems more like this year’s club.
And Tony LaRussa trying to upset Edmonds thru the papers is vintage LaRussa.

The radio started working right after Pujols hit his homer, so I didn't hear much.
In the bottom of the 9th Pat Hughes said, “Time to fasten those seatbelts on the 4th of July!”
And then Wood striking out Glaus (I guess he didn’t like that strike zone), the pop-up, the Molina single, and the Ludwick grounder to DeRosa was all must-hear radio.
Totally against the rules to shoot off fireworks here - after all, we are in the woods.
But I said, "Hey Wyatt, go get the celebratory ammunition and the torch."
Lit a couple sparklers.
Happy 4th of July, everybody.

ps: Today about 3, I'm hoping to be within legit Chicago distance to actually hear Ted Lilly whoop up on Kyle Matthew Lohse and the GOOD GOD! A STUPID CHIPMUNK JUST CRAWLED OVER MY FOOT! St. Louis Cardinals.
I'm sitting at a table just outside the lodge where the internet just barely works. Probably got oh, 25 mosquito bites sitting here, but a chipmunk touching my flip flopped foot is just not cool.

psps: I like a little country music pretty much alot of the time, just not the kind you hear on country radio stations (unless it's really old). There's this guy I'd never heard of, Hayes Carll. He's pretty Texas (when he says "moon" it sounds more like "meeaaaan"), but "Trouble in Mind" is a fine bunch of audio digital files, and the perfect compliment to any grilling you may be doing this weekend.

Radio Reception Nightmare

I couldn't get a signal until it got dark, which was just about the time Pat was saying "...once again, the final score for tonight's game, the San Fransisco Giants 8, Cubs 3."
Tiny Tim shut the Cubs down.
Whatever.
Who cares about the stupid Giants?
I guess this morning, the Cubs traveled (that flight had to SUCK) to St. Louis to play the Cardinals.
So, the signal thing is going to be an issue here.
Carlos Zambrano comes off the DL, and he'll be matched up against 9-5 Braden Looper.
Did you see "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"?
Remember when they were being chased by the Law, through all the worst kinds of places?
And Paul Newman kept saying, "Who ARE those guys?"
Why, it turns out they're the Cardinals.
(that sounds like a good illustration...)
If only I had a tv.
Anyway, it'll be good to get a close look at these guys, see how they've kept up like this.
You know, I like this rivalry and all, but for some reason I'm beginning to dislike the Cardinals more than ever.

Okay guys, lets start putting the Cards a little further behind.
Tonight.
Right now.

Fontenot? Fonteyes!

I couldn’t stay up.
But I guess after getting the message from Chief Lou, Mike Fontenot dang near hit one into McCovey Cove to give the Cubs the lead for good over the Giants.
I remember Alfonso saying of Fontenot, “He has crazy power.”
He does, and I REALLY like when he does well.
Dempster pitched a fab game, but didn’t get the win (he needs a road win bad).
I tried to follow on Cubs.com, but every morning I’ve been getting up at 5, making coffee and then dragging a child out onto the lake against their sleep wishes to try and catch the missing musky.
So when it gets to be about 10-ish pm-ish, I’m pretty done.
This illustration started off as a Dick Tracy thing, but then the hair happened like that Dylan album cover (apologies to Milton Glaser), so not really sure what that is.
But I know victory when I read it, and I read it this morning.
Cubs 6 Giants 5.
Also, I’m suddenly thinking I remember that am radio works at night here.
I think you can get stations from like, New Mexico – it’s a wonky thing with the atmosphere or something.
So, I’ll try tonight.
Speaking of which, it'll be Sean The Young Stud against this 9-1, 2.38 ERA guy "Tiny" Tim Lincecum, who I read is a real short guy but throws serious flamage (read about him here - thanks DB!)
A little momentum going into St. Louis would be nice.
The Cards beat the Mets 8-7 on a Troy Glaus 2-outs-in-the-9th homer.
So anyway, why don't you Cubs knock little Tim's ERA up into the 3's or so?
And Carlos Marmol, if you've got a case of whatever Rich Hill got, go to the freaking doctor and get some pills.

My True Musky Story, Part 2

Note: I just read that the Cubs dropped game 2 to the Giants, and now have lost 9 of their last 14 games.
It's a nightmare, but they're still 2 1/2 in front of the Cards, and in some respects I think a couple tough stretches make a good club better.
And I since I haven't actually experienced these last painful games on tv or radio or Cubs.com, the hurt isn't so bad.
So, sorry if I seem blase about it.
Somehow, I'm gonna find the game somewhere tonight, though.
Okay, onto the fish story...

I have a past that includes a couple mild episodes of what I think must be Tourette’s Syndrome.
It's happened when I get a big adrenaline rush.
Once in a high school football game, I got flagged for pass interference and “foul language” literally 5 feet from our coach. I didn’t even realize that that "foul language" was coming out of my own mouth, but coach heard it all, and I got some gift laps to run later.
Another time I was working on print advertising for Busch Gardens, and the client sent me to the park to ride the rides and get feel for the place – it would help me come up with ideas for advertising.
They also gave me a pass that allowed me to cut in line anywhere I wanted.
I got in a car with a mom and 3 children on some crazy new roller coaster.
It took off like a bat out of hell and immediately went down an insane dropoff.
The level of hideous that came out of my mouth would have blushed Richard Pryor, back in the day.
When the car straightened out, I looked at the mom and said, “I am soo sorry – I have no idea why that just happened.”
Then the car went through a loop – de – loop.
Stared all over again.

Anyway, now I’m hooked into a giant fish.
“Rump p*ss m^therf@cker son of b%st$rd b+tch c#ck!” I said, loud enough for the loons to hear.
I fight him for I have no idea how long - probably wasn't as long as I thought.
And now I've got him up next to the boat - he's taking a breather.
He's also the biggest fresh water fish I've ever seen.

I realize a couple things immediately: A) my net is just big enough to go over his head and B) I left my camera in the cabin.

He takes off again.
Luckily, I had the drag set loose enough so that when it happened the line didn't snap.
Now he's somewhere under the boat, my profane mouth is going, and I think well, maybe if I just started up the motor and slowly dragged him to shore?
Bad idea.
I look around and waaay on the other side of the lake is another fisherman.
Now is the worst part of everything I did this day: I called for help.

Don't tell ANYONE I did that because luckily the guy didn't hear so nobody knows.

I get him back next to the boat, and you know what?
It's time to step up to the plate and get that fish IN the boat right now.
He's taking another breather, floating there.

I'm gonna take my toy net and wrap it around his head and...flip the rest of his body into the boat.
Right?
Just, net his head and..
Okay ready?
One...Two...THREE!

I was holding my pole in my right hand and the net in my left when my net hit the water.
But I don't think I ever even touched his head.
All I could see was an explosion.
And my glasses were blurry with running water.
And when it dripped away I was standing in the boat with half the lure still stuck in my net and no pole in the hand where my pole had been.

So much for stepping up to the plate.
Now all I had was a fish story - the joke kind where you hold your hands out as far apart as possible to show how big it was.
But I swear it's true.
That was 4 years ago, and I've been looking for that musky ever since.

My True Musky Story, Part 1

Note: This is a long story, so I’m gonna break it up into chapters.

I met this guy way up in Northern Wisconsin, Gregg Johnson, and he offered to show me how to fish for musky.
A musky is kind of like a pike in that it’s long and has teeth, but for some reason catching one is really rare – they’re sort of like a unicorn.
A really ugly, angry unicorn with pointy badger teeth.
Gregg has this crazy technique where you take a gigantic lure, throw it at the shore, and then reel back as fast as you can.
Honestly, I thought he might not be…entirely correct.
“They say you only get a musky strike every 10,000 casts.” he says.
See?
Crazy.

On the 2nd to last day of our trip, I was out not catching any walleye when I looked in my tackle box.

Why, I had a gigantic lure in there – a thing called an “AC Plug” that my Dad had given me years ago.
Ah hell, why not?

I put it on my pole and threw it at the shore, and reeled back as fast as I could.

On the third cast, I threw it just past this beaver dam, next to some logs that had fallen into the lake.
The second the AC Plug hit the water, a torpedo shot all the way across the cove.
Don’t know how big that cove was, but the torpedo went about a hundred feet in oh… a second.
My pole started to jerk.
I didn’t know it yet, but a musky had just hit my lure.
I set the hook.

Next: Tourette's and the big fight. (There will be bad language, by the way)

Set Your Alarm For Tonight's Game

I just read the sports page.
I'm a couple days behind.
The White Sox swept the Cubs, Lou got ejected, and the Cubs lose 4 in a row for the first time this season. They head to San Fransisco tonight for 4 games, and then back to St. Louis, who is now 2 1/2 games back.
This is not good at all.
Lou, I would appreciate it if you could pull the guys out of this tailspin so I can enjoy my vacation, please.
Thank you.

(sorry that this gif posted by itself earlier this morning)

Who Won?

Note: This was written on Saturday. I still don't know the scores of Sat or Sunday's games.
I'll look after I post.

“Do I take 90 or 94?”
I’m asking about Wisconsin highways, we’ve been on the road for about 3 – 4 hours.
Kim starts looking through all her printed-out maps.
“I can’t believe it.” She says, not finding it.
“Take 94.”
Of course, we'll find out later it’s the wrong way...

We tried sporadically to find the game on the radio while driving across Wisco, but no luck (although I did hear an amazing song by Donna Fargo called “You Can’t Be A Beacon If Your Light Don’t Shine.”)
So, not only can I not find the game, but we unwittingly add 2 hours to the trip.
By the time we get to the cabin, I have to unpack quickly and drive to Minoqua Sports Rental to pick up a boat motor (the cabin comes with a boat and…oars), because they close in 45 minutes.
There’s a rubber zipper thingy on top of the minivan where we packed bulky stuff, and I’m standing on one of those cheap white plastic stackable deck chairs trying to get the zipper.
An unfortunate combination of old plastic and fat Tim causes the chair to break right in the middle like a trap door and I fall directly through the hole and on my lower back, the chair wrapped around my leg.
DAMMIT!
I carry some stuff into the bedroom, and on the wall hangs a cracked mirror.
DAMMIT!
I’m changing my shirt and my wife goes “Oh MY GOD!” – something bit me and I have a large red welt on my back.
DAMMIT!
And now I’m hauling into town for the motor, also some groceries and beer.
Takes forever.
I’m heading back to into the woods, but there’s a small bar.
Poke my nose in there: “Anybody know the score of the Cubs/Sox game?”
No response.
Back in the minivan, I suddenly remember the Google trick.
I text "Cubs score" to G-O-O-G-L-E.
It always answers immediately.
I take a deeep breath, open the message, and I get…the below illustration.
DAMMIT!
And now I remember that I’ll reach a certain point where the cell service stops.
My phone won’t work here, either.
DAMMIT!

It’s now 10:40 am Monday.
Internet’s out at the lodge, I've just driven 20 miles to a coffeeshop where it does.
Now I'll check the scores...

Be Like Ryan Dempster: Forget Today

I did this illustration last August 3rd, after Ryan Dempster gave up 4 runs in the 9th allowing the Mets to beat the Cubs 6-3.
There's certainly something to be learned from being a closer, although if you're learning correctly you won't remember later.
In fact, it would be better for everyone if we just forget yesterday.
Bad game for sure, and it won't be the last, but it's so not the end of the world...
Do you realize that a year ago Friday, the Cubs were 38-39?
At this time last year, we were all still saying "Yeah but it's early", only for the opposite reason we're saying it today?
So Swisher hit a grand slam and ruined a perfectly beautiful Friday afternoon - we'll all have another.
The Cubs are beat up, they have players learning how to play in the Bigs, shit happens.

Lets see what young Sean Gallagher can do tomorrow.
Hopefully it'll be something we all want to remember.
Go Cubs.

DeRo vs. B-Ro: Stats War!

Ladies and Gentlemen, for the hotly contested statistical competition between Our 2nd Baseman Mark DeRosa vs. Their 2nd Baseman Brian Roberts, the results are in.
(I hope you can read my writing in the illustration up there.)
Bud so graciously put together all the stats, so lets hear him explain:
"Obviously, Roberts had a great series, helping his team to win 2 of 3, hitting .429 with 6 RBI’s and 4 runs scored. But one big stat goes in favor of DeRosa…a .538 On-base % while hitting out of the 7th spot. Roberts had 3 more hits (with one more plate appearance), but DeRosa added 3 walks and a HBP to his 3 hits (in one less plate appearance). By the way…the Orioles #7 hitters (Jones or Payton) were a combined 2 for 12 or .167 INCLUDING Payton’s 2 HR dream night 6/25 (he had 7 HR’s all last year).
Roberts is a solid, veteran 2nd baseman. He’s also a great leadoff hitter. Ours is better…he just happens to be injured. DeRosa also played two games in RF and one at 2B. Defensive versatility is critical, especially when injuries start to show up. Offensively, if he has to be our #7 hitter he’s probably incomparable in that spot."

In other words, DeRo KICKED HIS ASS!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DDDEEERROOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

And about this game that happened at Wrigley this afternoon...not gonna write anything.
I'm about to go on vacation, so...not gonna let one little stupid game ruin anything.
I'll keep Cubby Blue up the best I can, but probably I'll miss a little bit.
Please keep the comments coming because, while I can check sports on my computer, I like what you guys say better.
Lastly, please wish me luck in landing the muskie that, 4 years ago, took half my vintage AC Plug (lure), my whole pole, and all my pride.
He took my Budweiser.
He touched my hat.
He spit lake water in my face and called me "Nancy" and later at the bar he beat me at pool and peed on my flip flops.

I'm gonna get that fish.