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Cubs Trying to Reverse the Curse
By MFSKEN | October 4, 2008
The Chicago Cubs travel to Los Angeles to face the Dodgers in Elimination Game Number One (Game 3) of the National League Division Series Saturday night.
I call it Elimination Game Number One because in my book, there will potentially be three such games in this series.
Yogi Bera infamously once said “It ain’t over till it’s over.” For Cubs fans everywhere I hope he was right.
All four Division Series stand at 2-0 and the Cubs are the favorites to be the first team eliminated.
Losing two games at home after posting the National League’s best record doesn’t exactly speak well of your chances of advancing. Let’s be serious, these games were over by the third inning.
Game 1 was painful to watch. Chicago had enjoyed exceptional pitching throughout the season, generally getting quality starts from Ryan Dempster, Carlos Zambrano, Rich Harden, Ted Lilly and Jason Marquis.
But Dempster’s start in Game 1 was a disaster, walking seven in 4 2/3 innings and giving up two home runs.
He’d only walked seven batters during the entire month of September. Cubs’ pitchers walked eight batters and gave up a total of three homers to the Dodgers.
The Cubs’ batters weren’t patient at the plate and failed to get the timely hits that came so easily in the regular season.
Despite out hitting the Dodgers, Chicago didn’t get any production from the top of the order, with the bottom three supplying the only offense.
In Game 2 it was errors and stymied bats that cost the Cubs’ chances of winning the game. Two errors in the second inning led to five unearned runs and the game was over from there.
The Dodgers’ starting pitcher Chad Billingsley was solid as he scattered five hits and gave up only one run.
The four errors by the Cubs tied the Division Series record for most errors in a game, tying the 1981 Expos, the 1985 Rockies and the 2003 Braves.
As bad as things seem, there’s hope for the Cubs. In the history of five-game series, including League Championship Series, seven teams have rallied to win after dropping the first two games.
Only once, however, has a club lost the first two games of a Division Series at home and come back to win it. The New York Yankees rallied from a 0-2 deficit against the Oakland Athletics in the 2001 ALDS.
It’s clear that manager Lou Piniella needs to shake things up. “This is not time for words anymore,” he said Friday. “This is time to go out on the field and play to the best of your ability and relax and get the job done. That’s it.”
I’m feeling sorry for Japanese import Kosuke Fukudome. Cubs’ fans love the guy, but they’ve been booing him lately because he’s only batted .217 since the All-Star break.
He’s been in the lineup because of his defense, but his lack of production has hurt the Cubs offense. As a result of Fukodome’s hitting woes, Piniella announced that Mark DeRosa will start in right field and Mike Fontenot will play second base in Game 3.
The Cubbies will send Rich Harden to the mound for Game 3. Harden was 5-1 with a 1.77 ERA in 12 starts with the Cubs this season after being acquired in a trade with the A’s.
Harden was 3-1 following his team’s losses this year and Chicago will need him to add a fourth win tonight.
The Dodgers will counter with Hiroki Kuroda, who was 9-10 with a 3.73 ERA this season. Kuroda baffled the Cubs in his two previous starts against Chicago, posting a 0.59 ERA including a complete-game shutout in Los Angeles.
Ironically, Harden is looking for payback against a Dodger team he has never faced. Harden’s Athletics went up 2-0 in the 2003 American League Division Series against Boston. The Red Sox came back to win the next three games and knocked him out of the postseason.
“It happened to me and it’s not fun,” said Harden, who took the loss in Game 3 of the 2003 ALDS. “I think we’re quite capable of doing it to them.”
The Cubs’ are finding out the Dodgers are a much different team than the one they faced during the regular season, a team that didn’t have Manny Ramirez in the lineup.
If Chicago has any chance of getting back into this series, Harden will have to find a way to stop Ramirez. The Dodgers’ leftfielder has already hit two home runs and his presence in the lineup gives Los Angeles opportunities to score even when he’s pitched around.
Chicago will have to eliminate the walks and errors that have killed them in the first two games of this series. The Cubs will also need to find their batting strokes that seem to have escaped them.
If not, the Curse of the Billy Goat will have worked for the 63rd consecutive year and Chicago will officially have not a World Series for 100 years.
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Tags: Carlos Zambrano, MoonDog, Hiroki Kuroda, MLB, MFSKEN, Chad Billingsley, Manny Ramirez, National League, Ryan Dempster, Los Angeles Dodgers, NLDS, Division Series, Rich Harden, chicago cubs, Major League Baseball
Topics: Major League Baseball |






























October 5th, 2008 at 8:06 am
Better luck next time.