Clinch Time? Is This the Day?

Top of the First - Ted Lilly looks good. Alfonso misplays one, and Ludwick gets a double. I did not know he was second in the league at SLG. With a runner on Pujols is up, against a lefty. Pujold eats lefties, hitting .411 against them. Who are we kidding? Pujols destroys all pitching... but not this time. Weak grounder to short. Theriot makes kind of a bad throw, but thats just what makes DLee a gold glove quality 1st baseman. He makes the dig look easy.

Lineup time. Good to see Soto in there. Fukudome batting eighth. I don't care what he's hitting. I will never forget his early season contribution, and it very much was worth the entire $48 million. Besides if our economy keeps going so bad, Fukudome may not be rich anymore when he returns to Japan. Just a joke, I'm sure he will be fine.

Jeanie Zelasko is keeping us up to date on Milwaukee, who have CC pitching against the Reds. So far, no score.

Piniero just became a father yesterday. Congrats. but lets not give these kids a birthday present just yet, ok? How about you wait until their first birthday...

McCarver makes a good point about the Brewers. they have to go for it this year, when they have Sabathia and Sheets. Sheets has already said that he will go free agent. Sabathia just might re-sign though, media outlets have reported that he is really liking Milwaukee.

Two solid hits off of Piniero, but no runs.

Top of Second.
Good inning by Lilly.
Bottom of the second.
Great hit by Edmonds. That would have been out of the park in most stadiums! Soriano drives in three witha single to left, that left fielder Brian Barton makes a little-league kind of mistake... that was one of the worst plays I have seen in a long time. The kind that makes you wonder if he even IS a left fielder! But now... all THREE RUNS SCORE!
It'a s big lead... now let's hold it, and Cubtober can be officially proclaimed!

Top of the third
Cards get one on, but Lilly gets a DP grounder to get out of it before Pujols can bat- he was on deck. That's one more reason we are doing so well. That was a great DP. As for the Cardinals, they failed to turn two against DeRosa, which would have prevented the disaster in left field. That was two bad defensive plays by St. Louis in one inning. Technically, they are still alive for October. But they'll never make it that way, and thank you god for that.

Bottom of the third...
Three up and three down. Good inning of pitching by Piniero. Still, 18 outs to go! Cubs 3, Cardinals 0.

Top of the fourth
Ted Lilly still pitching. Pujols to lead off... his at bats are still must-see. He has no lineup protection. Felipe Lopez bats cleanup for St. Louis. AMAZING diving stop by Ramirez! EVEN BETTER PLAY by DLee to get the out... tagging Pujols on the foot while diving for the ball? Two weak outs by Lopez and Glaus. Twelve down, fifteen to go. If only it can be that simple...

White Soxtober? I don't think so. It's time for CUBTOBER!

Bottom of the fourth. Let's pile on some more, guys...
Piniero's pitches have great movement. Too bad it tends to just move out of the strike zone in a way that no one would swing at.
WOW! Would we have any runs if the Cardinals had 9 gold glovers? Well, let's just thank god they don't!
Glaus lets Soto on by just not getting his glove down. E-5. Then, another one hit out to the overmatched Brian Barton in left... off the bat of Mark DeRosa! 84 RBIs by DeRosa this year. And to think we almost got Brian Roberts? you know the old saying... sometimes the best trades are the ones you don't make. Off the wall and rolls away from Barton. Followed by a safety squeeze with Lilly batting. Even though its much too late, Piniero still tries to get the out at the plate. And even Lilly is safe. DeRosa in, 5-0 Cubs!

Top of the 5th.
Before I can even type that, the Cardinals are down to fourteen outs to go... now Brian Barton batting. He'd need to hit about 4 homers to make up for his earlier mistakes. And he's trying to do just that... flyout to left. Thirteen to go. Piniero bats for himself. Not even LaRussa is trying hard right now. Twelve.

Bottom of the fifth.
Piniero still pitching. He's been ok, just the Cardinals can't catch. I didn't realize that Adam Kennedy is in right field today. That doesn't make much sense to me. McCarver is rambling but he is on to something. He's talking about what did the Cubs in last year against the Dbacks... the short series. I feel better about us though; we play good defense and have some great pitchers. Double play by St. Louis. Still 5-0.

Top of the sixth.
Jason LaRue flies out. Eleven to go. Now up, Cesar Izturis... Cub reject. I should not have said that - line drive to center. Runner on for St. Louis. Ludwick strikes out. Ten to go. Pujols batting. Walked. Two on, Lopez batting. Double steal by St. Louis! They haven't given up yet. Lopez gets a solid hit. Theriot keeps it in the infield, but now 5-1. Would not have scored without that double steal. Three-run shot, Glaus. 5-4. We took them too lightly. Should have pitched him more carefully than that with Adam Kennedy on deck. Now, it's a game again. Is anyone warming up? Walk to Kennedy. Lilly having trouble now. Cotts and Samardzija up. Now the crowd is getting in to it... with 0-2 on Brian Barton. Barton grounds weakly to short. it's close though, such a slow roller. Exhale. 5-4 Cardinals, nine to go.

Bottom 6. Piniero.
Single, Soto. What a hitter. DeRosa hit it hard, but out. Fukudome batting. great time to un-slump, Kosuke... hit and run called. Did Fukudome miss the sign? Had to have. Soto out easily. Now we're getting sloppy. Piniero throws Fukudome a bad pitch, a hanging slider, but he misses it completely. Awful. Yes, I still love KF.

Top of the 7th...
Josh Phelps, contact-challenged slugger, pinch hits for St. Louis. takes strike three looking. Not good, Phelps. Eight more outs... Jason LaRue, catcher, batting. Strike three. Seven to go. Lilly looking much better. Milwaukee leading 2-1. Ground out! Six to go! Time to sing! Who is it? Well, Im watching on Fox, so I don't know. 5-4. Slim lead, but 6 outs to go.

Bottom 7th.
Ryan Franklin in. Fontenot batting, PH for Lilly. Surprised it wasn't Daryle Ward. I guess Piniella is saving his best option for last, as the Cards don't have a real closer, exactly. Three up and three down. Josh Lewin gets schooled on baseball trivia by Vince Vaughn! Lewin is talking about Alan Benes, who went to Vaughn's high school on the North Shore. Vaughn mentions the older, more successful Andy Benes. Lewin looked a little flushed. He should have saved it by saying he brought up Alan becaue Alan ended up pitching for the Cubs. But he didn't. Carlos Marmol warming up. Is there any other move Piniella can make? No, not really.

Top 8th.
Marmol pitching for the 79th time this year. Goes 3-0 on Ludwick, but Ludwick was intimidated as soon as Marmol got strike 2. Soft fly out to Edmonds. Five to go. Pujols batting... another out. Lopez up, and Lopez down! THREE MORE OUTS!

Bottom 8th.
Let's get Kerry some insurance runs!
Ryan Franklin throwing well for St. Louis. DLee and Aramis strike out. Edmonds grounds out weakly. Kerry walks in from the pen. It's TIME...

Top 9th.
Hopefully, this is the end. Cross your fingers. Cmon crowd, make this deafening! Glaus first. Last time, a homer to give the Cardinals three of their four. Wood walks Glaus. Brendan Ryan pinch runs. I'm reminded of Steve Stone on WSCR at the beginning of the year, saying Wood couldn't be a good closer because he walks the leadoff man too much, and that would leave him vulnerabel to the steal. Greg Maddux always said, don't worry about the steal. Just get the hitters out. Weak grounder to second, DeRosa throws out Ryan (lead runner) at second. One out. Kennedy on first. Two to go! Schumaker batting. Wood embarrasses him with a slider. He hung on as long as he could against Wood's fastball. He was frozen.
last out? Arron Miles... its over, we're in. 2007 and 2008. 1907 and 1908.
Here we are... its done. You should see my face!

You can tell the team is not satisfied. They did the mound celebration but it is kind of subdued...

But for us fans... CUBTOBER is here!!!