I caught the final three innings of tonight's Cubs game against the Astros, and whew! what a way to finish. Just when you thought there'd be another spoiled loss on the road--and with Dempster on the mound, of all people--the Cubs pull off a 3-6-1 double play to eliminate a scoring threat and win to pull even again with the Brewers.(I kind of blocked out the portion where the Brewers were briefly in the NL Central lead, and thank goodness for that)
Even better news is that the Cardinals are getting a dose of karma (check out Rick Ankiel's recent game log and tell me if there isn't something he needs to get off of his chest) and have dropped six straight now, making the Central once again a two-horse race. I'd rather have that than any scent of the Cardinals looking like Cinderella sweethearts. No thank you. Tomorrow's starting Cubs pitcher: the Lysol spray bottle that is Steve Traschel. The Windy City turns its lonely eyes to the Redlegs for some inspiration.
Speaking of those Reds, they deserve at least some commentary on a lost season. Most people living outside Cincinnati look at their pitching and say, "Well geez, outside of Aaron Harang they have absolutely nothing." I say, that's why you don't trade away Austin Kearns for marbles. I honestly wonder if that momentum-killer of a trade still harbors bad effects with what's going on right now.
As most sports fans know, when you look up the term "mid-market" in the dictionary you find a picture of Mr. Red. And God knows teams without the money the Cubs, White Sox, east coast teams, etc. get to play with have to get their success the old-fashioned way: through good scouting of prospects and making your blockbuster trades without disrupting team chemistry, which happens, naturally, all the time.
Without looking it up, which two teams are renowned for their scouting and drafting? That's right, the Twins--who unfortunately may not have the money necessary to keep a great team like that together, seeing as what's happening with Johann Santana--and the Cleveland Indians. Last time I wrote about the Indians, I said they did well to improve their playoff chances. Now, in mid-September, I'm thinking they could be one of the best teams in MLB for the next five years.
It's tough to make winning baseball happen in Cincy in the post-Bruce Coslet era. The heyday was in the 70's and had a renaissance with that amazing '90 squad, but one can't ignore the apathy the city has shown the team ever since Griffey had his injury woes (only to bounce back in his late 30's). Now that the Bengals are winning regularly (and perhaps luckily, considering what happened Monday night), Major League baseball is an afterthought. I'd dare say high school football gets more attention at times than the Reds do.
The good news for Cincy is, you can't have a worser season than this. The tough news is, how the heck to you make baseball relevant in this city again?
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