Bartman: Act II

TALLAHASSEE, FL -- Since there's a "cult following" of college baseball even though it's on for 12 hours straight during the Super Regionals, and 10 straight days of the College World Series, I found it odd that I was the only person of all my friends in sports who saw the "Bartman: Act II" play at Dick Howser Stadium when Wichita State played Florida State Sunday afternoon.

After Florida State's unbelievable offense (which happens to go away only on Friday) scored six runs in the first inning, the Shockers were in deep trouble. Which is to say, the Shockers rely mostly on their pitching and Anthony Capra looked like he needed an L-screen in front of him while pitching the first.

In the second inning with a runner aboard and two outs, Adam Dirks hit a high pop fly headed toward the left field picnic area. The ball was about to be caught by Florida State's Stuart Tapley, when a Cliff Claven-like fan in a Florida State football jersey, did his best Jim Edmonds by reaching over the wall and making the catch.



The ball most likely would have been caught for the final out of the inning. Instead, on the next pitch, Dirks pulverized a two-run home run to right-centerfield cutting the deficit to 6-2. When Wichita State scored two more runs in the third to make it 6-4, you couldn't help but think that play might have made a difference.

Fortunately for Bartman Jr., who was ejected soon after for fan interference, let alone a public execution by Seminole fans; Buster Posey (the first NCAA triple crown leader heading into Omaha since Indiana's Mike Smith in 1992) aka Sir Crush-a-Lot launched a home run and the Seminoles went on to win 11-4.

It's strange, because despite the 92 degrees and hot, humid tropical weather, Dick Howser Stadium was packed to capacity and the Animals of Section B were in full effect, and the guy ended up surviving.

I just have to wonder what would have happened if the Seminoles would have lost?

How My Road to Omaha Fared: Miami still in, UCLA bows out late.

ROAD TO OMAHA -- A lot of people pick the NCAA Basketball tournament every year. It's a mainstay and it's probably the most participated activity done in March next to drinking on St. Patrick's Day. Well, I like filling out the brackets, but I'll pretty much do it in every sport, including the double elimination round of the Road to Omaha.

This year, I picked the 64-team field and had 11 of my 16 picks advancing. Now anyone can pick the favorites and with the eight national seeds it's rather easy, however, who's got the balls to pick a 2, 3 or 4 seed?

Of the 16 No. 1 seeds, 13 advanced to the Super Regionals. Three lower seeds prevailed with one of them being No. 4 seed Fresno State out of the Long Beach Regional.

I correctly picked No. 2 seeds Wichita State and UC-Irvine to advance. You can credit Doc for helping me pick the Shockers out of the Stillwater Regional (Oklahoma State), because I got to see Wichita State play the Missouri Valley Conference championship on Fox Sports Midwest while I was in Crystal Lake for his wedding. I had a pretty good feeling about the Shockers taking out Oklahoma State and I was right.


Call it a hunch, but Nebraska hasn't been as dominating as they were in the past. They had ace Johnny Dorn, and the well ran dry after that. All the rest of their sluggers had graduated or drafted recently and were currently residing in Palm Beach with the Cardinals. The Anteaters were still pretty loaded from their trip to Omaha last year and with Scott Gorgen on the mound, I liked their chances. They didn't disappoint.

Where I went wrong...

I originally had Coastal Carolina winning their regional, but at the last second I picked Alabama. Bold move, went with history and got blasted for it. However, you gotta give credit to the Chanticleers, they played up to their top seed and made the NCAA committee look good.

I had Texas winning the Houston Regional over Rice. Why? Mostly because I feel the world of college baseball hates me and karma magically picks the teams I dislike to advance... like Texas. Nothing worse than seeing the "Hook'em Horns" for three more weeks. Well, thanks to Wayne Graham and his Rice Owls, that's not going to happen. A loss I'll take any day.

I picked Long Beach State to come out of their own regional. Even though I knew that was the most loaded regional in the country with San Diego, California and Fresno State, I thought the Dirtbags would pull it off. They didn't even make it to the championship. Fresno State whacked them early and San Diego squeeked in to the championship game, only to choke again, making me wonder how they'll take being banished to the realm of the unknown again with ace Brian Matusz leaving for the draft this year. On a side note, Fresno State was the one No. 4 I would have picked. But who's going to believe that?

My next loss was a sentimental pick with Kentucky coming out of the Ann Arbor Regional. They finished second to Arizona, but I figured the upstart Kentucky boys were explosive enough to get by Michigan in teh first round (they didn't) and would just let the offense ride against the less deep pitching staff of Arizona (not used to playing in the cold weather of Michigan in late May). It really didn't matter who won this regional because they were the No. 16 seed heading into Miami where they would ultimately get destroyed by the Hurricanes. I highly doubt Andy Lopez will do better than he did the last time he was in Miami for the post-season. All of a 5-foot-8 sophomore walk-on southpaw named Roger Lincoln from Stetson sent Lopez and his Florida Gators packing (literally and figuratively) in the elimination round of the regional.

My last error really hurt me bad because they were my pick to make Omaha all season: UCLA. I saw the Bruins last year on my way back from Stockton, Calif. I was visiting my aunt in Glendale and stopped at Jackie Robinson Stadium to see UCLA play Pepperdine in a midweek game.

The Bruins weren't totally explosive, but they were fundamental, scrappy, used their strengths and had almost everyone returning. I liked guys like Jermaine Curtis, Alden Carrithers, Casey Haerther, Cody Decker, Brandon Crawford, Ryan Babineau, Jason Novak and two-way star Tim Murphy. They looked like they had the formula to make it to Omaha. Cal-State Fullerton ruined that. In fact, Fullerton blew through Virginia and UCLA twice.

UCLA had them too in the first game when they reeled off 17 hits and left 11 men on base, but lost 11-8.

As it is, I shall be pulling for the Miami Hurricanes from here on out and probably Coastal Carolina and if I had to pick a third team it would be Wichita State or LSU. I know LSU has just dominated the stretch run, but how awesome would it be to see Miami and LSU battle it out just like they did 12 years ago when LSU was on the same kind of streak?

That was one of the best College World Series I've ever watched. Hopefully this field of 16 remaining will do the same.

MLB PLayoffs: Yankees Go From "Everybody WANG Chung Tonight" to "Everybody Bang WANG Tonight."

PHOENIX, AZ -- At 1:39 a.m. EST, I was more than excited to turn of my television set after the Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the Chicago Cubs 8-4 in Game 2 of the National League Division Series.

JoJo had to sit there and watch me fall asleep and wake up more times than ever during the game because I was dead tired from my run that afternoon and watching baseball all afternoon really takes it out of you.

The Cubs took a 2-0 lead on Geovany Soto's two-run home run, but that's the last time things would be happy in Cub-ville.

The next inning, rookie lead-off hitter Chris Young pulverized a three-run home run to left field that the second he swung, I yelled out, "GONE!" It was instantly confirmed when Cubs pitcher Ted Lilly threw a temper tantrum by taking off his glove and slamming it into the ground. It was poetry in motion for a Cardinals fan.

I wish someone in the Associated Press would have taken the sequence shot of Lilly slamming the glove down because it's what everyone rooting for the Diamondbacks or against the Cubs wanted to see.

As it was, the ball sailed about 20-25 rows into the left field stands and silenced the Cubs fans in attendance. The one thing you can be certain of, you couldn't see a shot of the crowd without seeing a Cubs fan somewhere.

When Jose Valverde recorded the last out in Arizona, the series would shift to Chicago for one, maybe two games if necessary. Here's my problem with that. The Cubs play at home at 6:00 p.m. If there was ever a team who should play day games during the playoffs, it should be the Cubs. There wouldn't be a problem getting fans to come out for the game, as they sell out regular season day games all year. However, in 2003, the Cubs played six home games during the playoffs, all at night. The Marlins played five home games that year in ass-roasting hot Florida and two were during the day and one mid-to-late afternoon.



PHILADELPHIA, PA -- Watching this game was a perfect start as both teams went to the longball early. Troy Tulowitzki homered in the first to give the Rockies a 2-0 lead. Jimmy Rollins came back with a solo home run to lead off for the Phillies in the bottom of the first.

Eventually, the Phillies took a 3-2 lead, but that was quickly silenced when Kaz Matsui golfed a grand slam into the right field bleachers off Kyle Lohse.

Listening to the Phillies fans boo their team at their mistakes and an inning later be going wild makes me wonder if the Phillies don't have a traveling team psychologist just to ease the minds of being a Phillies player.

The Rockies started to turn Citizen's Bank Park into their own personal driving range, banging shots all over the yard and taking a 10-4 lead. I went out for a run in the bottom of the seventh. About 32 minutes later, I came back and saw the games was in the bottom of the eighth and the Phillies had the bases loaded down 10-5.

Rockies reliever Brian Fuentes walked Tad Iguchi to load the bases and Clint Hurdle went to closer Manny Corpas. Corpas went right to work putting away Carlos Ruiz, who really had issues with Corpas' curveball.

Eventually the Rockies won 10-5, taking the series back to Denver for two games. The worst enemy to the Rockies is an off-day. So far, the Mile High boys have won 16 of their last 17 games, which blows your mind!

The Phillies are struggling, but maybe they need to get out of town in order to focus on playing baseball again. It has been 14 years since they last made the playoffs. The Rockies were in the playoffs two years sooner than that.



CLEVELAND, OH -- This game had a familiar ring to it if you were from Ohio. A first play explosion followed by a complete and total butt kicking after. Reminds me of the 2007 National Championship game between Ohio State and Florida.

Johnny Damon led off the game for the Yankees with a towering solo home run to right field. The initial call was that it went foul, but after the umpires convened, the ruling came back from crew chief Bruce Froemming, home run. Damon, for the most part, was in shock and kept running around the bases regardless of the umpire's opinion.

The Indians came back with three runs off Yankees starter Chien-Ming Wang. Wang won 19 games during the regular season, but the Tribe had no problem getting RBIs from Ryan Garko and Kenny Lofton to highlight the inning.

Andrusal Cabrera homered and the Tribe took a 4-1 lead.

The Bronx Bombers came back with a rocket of a solo home run by Robinson Cano to right field cutting the lead to 4-2.

Next inning, the Yankees started things as Shelley Duncan rapped a pinch-hit single. Damon followed Duncan's lead and two runners were aboard with Derek Jeter up. Joe Torre let Jeter swing away and the Yankees captain went down without moving the runners. Bobby Abreu bailed out Jeter perfectly slapping a double down the left field line.

C.C. Sabathia intentionally walked Alex Rodriguez to load the bases for Jorge Posada, one of the American League's top hitters from the 2007 season. Sabathia was laboring and I figured this was it for him, especially when he fell behind 3-0 in the count.

I felt Torre was going to give Posada the green light, because this could be a huge inning for the Yankees if Posada came through. As it was, Sabathia still had a lot left on his fastball and blew a 96 MPH heater by Posada when the Yankees backstop swung away.

Posada would foul off another pitch, but that's as close as he would get as Sabathia struck him out on some high heat (96 MPH) for out number two. That brought up Hideki Matsui, who popped out for out number three. That's all the Tribe needed. Sabathia got out of the mess on his own and saved the Tribe and his confidence tonight.

Cleveland struck for five runs in the bottom of the fifth. The telling stat by TBS during that inning was New York was 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position, while Cleveland was 4-for-4. That does make a huge difference.

The Indians were crushing balls all over the yard including Travis Hafner, who hit a solo home run. Before you knew it, Torre was going to the bullpen to remove Wang for rookie Ross Ohlendorf.

The night for Yankees fans went from "Everybody Wang Chung tonight!" to "Everybody Bang Wang tonight!" Ohlendorf didn't fare much better as the Indians never bit on his hellacious breaking ball and waited for him to bring his fastball up before unloading it everywhere in the park.

Quite possibly, the biggest outing came from Rafael Perez, who put down the Yankees in order in the sixth. Perez threw two perfect innings fanning four Yankees and kept New York from any chance of coming back. Jensen Lewis and Rafael Betancourt threw the eighth and ninth to mop up the victory.

The Indians bullpen looks as good or better than any in the playoffs and they never even got to AL saves leader Joe Borowski.

However, the best set up man in the playoffs probably resides in the pinstripes as Yankees' rookie Nebraskan right-hander Joba Chamberlain moved from A-ball (Tampa) to the big leagues in less than three months, posting an 0.38 ERA in 24 IP. With him setting up Mariano Rivera, the top pitcher in post-season history, the Tribe better keep scoring runs to keep them out of the ballgame.

Are Yankees fans worried? No. Do the 12 runs matter? Not really. If anything, a blown save by Rivera would have been worse. With 13 straight post-season appearances, the Yankees have seen and experienced pretty much everything you can throw at them. Nothing surprises them anymore. Even if they go home 0-2 to Yankee Stadium, that's still Yankee Stadium and those are still the New York Yankees.

Today should be interesting with the Yankees and Red Sox playing back-to-back.

So Long Uncle Walt! Cardinals and GM Jocketty Part Ways

ST. LOUIS, MO -- Although the formal announcement took place at 4:00 p.m. Eastern time, the news reverberated through Major League Baseball and along the banks of the Mississippi River at about 7:30 when it was announced that the St. Louis Cardinals and longtime general manager Walt Jocketty would be parting ways.

"Parting ways" was a nice way of telling the man, affectionately known throughout Cardinal Nation as Uncle Walt, the locks would be changed on the doors the next time he wanted to come into his Busch Stadium office.

I'll never forget the way all the players, players' wives, family members and stadium staff were out giving Jocketty a hug after the Cardinals won the 2004 National League Championship Series. I never saw an organization so appreciative and close to its general manager. It was something you were proud to be a part of.

The news hit me and the rest of the staff like the perpetual bullet that has continued to rip through Cardinal Nation with bad news all of 2007.

Teams change general managers all the time these days which makes it even more special to realize Jocketty had been in St. Louis for 13 seasons. Just last season, Jocketty engineered the 83-78 Cardinals into the World Champions, the first World Series the club had won in 24 years. It was well worth it. I never saw a set of fans so happy.

Then again, this is St. Louis, the envy of all fan bases in Major League Baseball. When people want to criticize fan bases, most teams are open targets, but you have to carefully choose your words when you go after the Cardinals.

The city of St. Louis is not exciting to say the least. Spending a month there during the 2004 playoffs, I learned very quickly it was a sports town. If there wasn't a sporting event going on, you could fire a shotgun down Chestnut Street and not hit anyone at high noon on a weekday. However, when the Cardinals, Rams or Blues are in town, the place is rocking. The Cardinals, in recent history, have been the lead horse of the bunch winning 105 games in 2004 and 100 more in 2005.

Mark McGwire was the biggest acquisition by Jocketty in 1997 that continuously sold out games at Busch Stadium. In 1998 when McGwire went for the home run title, you couldn't find a seat at Busch (or anywhere else the Cardinals played that season). It snowballed from there. The Cardinals were a mainstay in the playoffs with big names coming in, and despite having a solid but not overwhelming payroll the Cardinals were as good as anyone to be picked as World Champions.

Jocketty was the cornerstone of those years. The thing about Jocketty is that you could always get a smile out of him. People felt comfortable with him steering the ship and he was great for public relations.

In a time where general managers feel an entitlement of appreciation, exclusivity and respect, Jocketty was just real. He had charisma and a look of success, but you never saw him try to avoid fans or click open his cell phone to ignore someone. Granted, in Cardinal Nation, your fans tend to be a cut above everyone else in the area of class.

Whoever gets Jocketty now will get a prize beyond their wildest dreams. Other teams, such as Pittsburgh and Houston are kicking themselves that they jumped the gun on other general managers, rather than waiting for the off-season to see where all the cards (no pun intended) fell.

Jocketty's successor and interim GM, John Mozeliak, is about as good of a replacement you're going to get in the meantime. Mo is described as a liaison between the civil war that seemed to be brewing between Jocketty and the player development office. Hopefully he will be able to bridge the two areas and keep the Cardinals as a contender. It's hard to see Mo without Walt. They always seemed to be together. Yet, I have no doubt Mo can pull off the job as general manager.

There are outside candidates proposed, but the only other person I could see coming into St. Louis and keep things going while working with player development is the Los Angeles Dodgers' Logan White. White has always impressed me from a distance and in person as a down to earth guy who is very well-versed in the game, its players and knows how to bring out the best of his scouting and player development personnel. Anyone other than Mo or Logan and I will have a hard time seeing it through.

I have never experienced the parting of a general manager while working in an organization until this year, and it hits you like a lightning bolt... and just one year after a World Series Championship.

So long Uncle Walt! Good luck where you land. I know there will be a well-deserved welcome party when you arrive.

USA Women Scorched by Brazil, Coach Ryan "Scurry's" Away From Solo

CHINA -- Everyone who heard about it couldn't believe it. Coach Greg Ryan of the US Women's World Cup team, winners of 51 straight matches, pulled 26-year old (not to mention extremely hot!) goalkeeper Hope Solo in favor of veteran Briana Scurry because Scurry had a much better track record against the Brazilian team.

While most people should start referring to Ryan as Viktor Tikhonov (if you're failing to make the connection, see 1980 USSR hockey coach), who also yanked his goalie, Vladislav Tretiak, after the first period of the Miracle on Ice game (but at least Tretiak got to play), I would rather see him not on the sidelines for the US Women.

It's simple, you don't change goalies in the middle of a win streak, and one you're dominating. Like Kevin Costner said in Bull Durham, "You don't f--- with a winning streak." Not saying that I wouldn't take my shot at Hope if she was offering during the winning streak, but there is no good reason she should have been taken out.

I'm a numbers guy and I appreciate stats as much as the next geek, but sometimes you gotta throw the damn numbers out and play logic over the numbers. Besides, Solo said something like, you have to live in the present and now. That's a very true statement. Let's put it into prespective.

Scurry's record against Brazil was a different team and a different time. The players have changed on both sides. At one point the Romans had a pretty good record against the rest of the world too, but you have to go with what's working.

Plus, it's not like Scurry is a pitcher who is taking on the Brazilians by herself. The 36-year old Scurry may have slowed down, lost skills over the past couple years. It may sound sexist, but the reason you're not seeing an abundance of 30-40 year old players on the US National team is women tend to drop off faster and their skills are obsolete by upcoming college players. For some reason, men can seem to keep from falling to the same fate in men's athletics. Plus, the US was winning with Solo.

Critics are saying the way the Brazilians played, they would have beat anyone, but I don't think that's a relevent argument. I don't believe the Brazilians didn't change their approach with a different keeper. Each player has their strenghts and weaknesses and I'm sure the Brazilians factored this in.

Another comment people are saying is that Solo shouldn't have called out her coach and Scurry following the game. In the whole sports cliches and world of unwritten rules, I can see where that's coming from, but you have an upset 26-year old girl who played her tail off and did nothing wrong to merit a demotion or getting pulled. The coach played the numbers, which are skewed as it is. This is the USA, where freedom of speech is more appreciated in sports than anywhere else. If Solo didn't say it, everyone else would have. Might as well catch it from the horse's mouth.

You can't say Solo is not a good teammate for her remarks. She was honest, truthful and she said what everyone was thinking or hoping she was thinking. How can you not be upset if you were her? This is the World Cup! This may not mean much in the USA where soccer is still riding a distant fifth to football, baseball, basketball and hockey (possibly golf with Tiger Woods popularity), but to the rest of the world, this is it. Women's sport or not, this IS a big deal!

I think Ryan should be pretty thankful he didn't get the axe immediately after the loss or worse. I remember when Andres Escobar of Colombia was shot and killed after scoring an own goal to lose a match to the USA team after the 1994 Men's World Cup.

I think this was a huge loss for the USA Women's team and one that will always be evaluated and brought up in years to come. People will remember this.

However, do you want to know the saddest part about the entire thing? How relevant and important would people be talking about this if Hope Solo wasn't as attractive as she is?

Think about that one for a bit.

MLB Playoffs Go Down to the Wire

BRONX, NY -- Okay, for those of you who have a hard time keeping up with all the teams I pull for, I'm going to make it simple for you concerning the Major League Baseball playoffs. I'm rooting for the New York Yankees... and the Colorado Rockies, if they make it.

And for all you Boston Red Sox fans, you haven't won anything yet. The 20-game winner Josh Beckett you've been boasting about all year lost to Gibbs HS (FL) phenom Boof Bonser last night, as Joe Nathan struck out Jason Varitek and Kevin Youkilis with the bases loaded in the ninth inning.

Has to be hard watching Mariano Rivera do that about a week ago, then watching Joe Nathan, Mr. Ice Water in His Veins stick it in your grill at Fenway Park? Varitek says he didn't see the scoreboard when the Yankees knocked off the Devil Rays. Unless he's blind, he did. He can use all the cliches he wants, the fact is, the Red Sox scoreboard people keep that score monitored better than the secret service watches the president.

Remember in 2005 when the Yankees won the division on the last day of the season? It can happen again, especially since the Yankees won the tie-breaker by beating the Red Sox more times this season. Since May 29th, the Yankees ar 71-38. Division or not, that's not a team I'm looking forward to playing in the playoffs.

Now onto something more exciting, like the National League...

Recently, I've been able to take in a couple Marlins-Cubs games. The Cubs brought the fans, the Marlins brought the artilery. At 7:13 p.m. on Thursday, the Marlins just swept the Cubs for the season (6-0) and extended their win streak to 10 consecutive wins over the Cubs, the longest current streak in MLB.

This put a wrench in overall happiness on the north side of Chicago, but kept the Cubs from being able to clinch the division (the NL Central has no shot at a wildcard) in Miami. They were definitely scoreboard watching because St. Louis was playing Milwaukee. Cubs fans would rather sell their first born (or name it Albert) than root for the Cardinals. However, the Brewers were closing fast and looked like they were on a roll heading into the playoffs.

I have an issue with rooting against the team behind you. If you're in first place, you control your own destiny. You shouldn't need any help. But that's Cubs fans. They're desperate.

There's something called "thinking" that more managers and teams should do, especially down the stretch of the season when chasing a pennant.

The Brewers were having their way with the Cardinals. The Cardinals didn't seem to mind at all. They had nothing left to do but go through the motions and get Albert Pujols his 100th RBI. Pujols has been playing through pain to finish the season. Whether the record was part of that or not, who knows, but the guy is a warrior and that's one of the reasons St. Louis loves this guy.

With a 2-0 lead on the series, the Brewers' Prince Fielder was hit by a Brad Thompson pitch. There are times to retalliate and there are times to play for the win. The Cardinals weren't showing any threat to the Brewers, on the scoreboard or anywhere else, but Ned Yost and the Brewers took Thompson's pitch personally. I know Brad, he's not the kind of guy who's going to try and whack Fielder in the melon for kicks on a Wednesday night.

Right about now, what's the stupidest thing the Brewers could do? Yep, that's right, go after Pujols. Scott McClung stuck one right in the middle of El Cinco's back causing McClung and Yost to get ejected and suspended. That wasn't the worst part. They woke a sleeping giant. The Cardinals haven't been that impressive down the stretch, but they really haven't been given a reason to play.

I said it before... let sleeping dogs lie. When McClung let that pitch fly they gave the Cardinals a reason to beat them. Think the Cardinals care who wins the NL Central? They're the defending World Champions. Until the Chicago Cubs and all of Wrigleyville can pull of 10 World Series rings in the last 81 years (let alone one), we'll deal with that when it comes.

St. Louis put the hammer down and smacked the Brewers bullpen around for four more runs. No more Mr. Niceguy, we're coming after you Ned! A critical loss for the Brewers who could have cut the lead to one game in the NL Central.

Last night, they lost to San Diego at home 9-5. The Padres are in a battle for the NL West crown, let alone wildcard if they lose. Milwaukee is going to have to go balls to the wall and pray for the best coming out of Cincinnati.

Speaking of the Cardinals, they dialed up a 3-0 shutout of the New York Mets, who have lost 10 of the last 14 games. Joel Piniero and Jason Isringhausen combined on the three-hitter. No one in Flushing has the foggiest of what's going on with the Mets, and to see the 74-84 Cardinals come in for a makeup game and put the screws to them must have been like a huge kick to the nuts.

Once again, Pujols came through big, as did Rick Ankiel. St. Louis is losing draft position, but gave the Mets a parting shot before heading to Pittsburgh for the three fastest games you will ever see in a series between the two teams considering they have nothing to play for. If you're a betting person, take the over in counts that don't run past 1-1.

The Mets are now tied with the Phillies who saw Kyle Kendrick get a longball from Ryan Howard and other help on their way to beating John Smoltz and the Braves. Here's the catch though:

Arizona leads the NL West by a game over the Padres, who lead the wildcard by a game over the Phillies, Mets and Rockies. Are you getting all of this? Yes, that means whoever blows the division between the Mets and Phillies will probably have no shot at the wildcard.

Now onto my reason why I'm pulling for the Rockies. The Rockies have won 11 straight and came out of nowhere to be one game out in the wildcard. I'd personally love to see them win the division, and that's not entirely out of the question, even now!

See, Colorado plays Arizona to finish the season. They sweep Arizona and the Padres lose twice, the Rockies win the NL West. Yes, it can actually happen that way!

The Padres lose twice and the Cubs drop the series to Cincinnati and there's a one game playoff at Wrigley Field between the Cubs and the Brewers. The Cubs would be flying in from Cincinnati, while the Brewers are at home and just need to take a bus south.

To be honest, I can't remember a year when this many teams were separated by a game and seven of the 16 teams in the National League were involved in the pennant race with three games to go. Seven teams, but only four make it. Not one division winner has been decided yet.

Think about it... There's not one team who doesn't use the designated hitter that has popped the cork to a bottle of champagne after 159 games.

I know the Cardinals aren't in the pennant race and will miss the playoffs a year after they gave the city of St. Louis one of the best open houses for new Busch Stadium, but this is a pretty damn good alternative.

BIG GAME FISH! Marlins Whack Cubs for Ninth Straight Win Over North Siders

MIAMI, FL -- On the schedule, this game meant a lot more for the Chicago Cubs than it did the Florida Marlins. The way the Cubs are playing and running for the National League Central Division crown, people would have thought the Marlins would have folded and the Cubs would take an easy sweep, maybe 2 of 3 at worst.

However, there's something about Underarmour commercials (We must defend this house!), Dan Devine's speech in the movie Rudy (Nobody, and I mean NOBODY comes into our house and pushes us around!) and Home Alone (This is my house, I have to defend it), that kicked in for the Marlins... This is our house, and we're going to defend it.

When you pulled into Dolphin Stadium, you had to double check the weather, the sun and pretty much the hot women to make sure you were still in South Florida. Yes, this was Miami, but it looked like Wrigley Field South. Cubs fans were everywhere. It felt like a road game when you walked by a Marlins fan, you were eager to say "Hi" and let them know you were on their side.

However, I knew this was a battle ground, and there's nothing more satisfying than to remind the Cubs exactly who they are, so I grabbed the St. Louis Cardinals 2006 World Series Champions hat and put it on to go with my Marlins shirt.

Cubs fans can come in all shapes and sizes... literally. They tend to not keep up-to-date on player transactions as I think I saw a ton of Moises Alou jerseys. Hey, if they want to remember the guy who blamed the playoffs on a fan, go ahead. The guy actually won a World Series for the Marlins in 1997.

I got into my seats and just couldn't believe how many Cubs fans were coming in. I remember thinking how bad this had to feel for the Marlins when the crowd erupted into cheers when Alfonso Soriano took the field to warm up. Sometimes I think the Cubs fans overdo it on the road, just to show they are there. That's a lot for a team who hasn't won a World Series in 100 years.

The Marlins were outmanned on the mound as Daniel Barone was going up against Jason Marquis, but this is baseball and the Marlins have a lot of passionate hitters.

When Soriano stepped up to the plate, the crowd roared. I don't know how the Marlins felt at that moment, but it had to be awful to be playing a home game and have to deal with that. Barone was up to the challenge retiring the side in order.

Up came the Marlins and a spattering of applause came for lead-off batter Hanley Ramirez, who was having a much better all-around season that Soriano. Ramirez put it all out there by singling and stealing his 51st base with Dan Uggla up. Two batters later, Miguel Cabrera slapped a single to knock home Ramirez and the Marlins crowd came to life with Florida up 1-0. When Todd Linden struck out to end the first inning, it was doubly bad because the Cubs fans were all on their feet to cheer on the third strike.

The Cubs came back on Barone cracking a couple hits and a two-RBI single by Jacque Jones gave the Cubs the lead and the volume in the stadium was deafening for the 19,051 in attendance.

Florida had to get something going and silence the home crowd of Cubs fans, as absurd as it sounds. Matt Treanor led off the second inning with a single. Alejandro De Aza followed with a sharp singled through the right side. Barone struck out on a bunt attempt which brough Ramirez up with a runner in scoring position.

Ramirez hit a hard grounder to second base, a sure double play ball if the Cubs played it right. Mark DeRosa's backhanded toss to Ryan Theriot sailed wide as De Aza slid hard into second base causing the ball to go into short left field. Third base coach Bo Porter kicked up the windmill directing Treanor home to the plate with the tying run. That's when the Marlins felt the home faithful. The Marlins fans, the ones that were there, exploded as Cubs fans saw something all too familiar in clutch situations.

"There's the Cubs we know!" shouted one fan. "There's the Cubs we know!"

Even a couple Brewers fans were starting to cheer for the Marlins, or against the Cubs.

With two outs, Jeremy Hermida sliced a ball down the left field line. De Aza scored easily and the speedy Ramirez had no problem scoring by beating the throw to second to get Hermida. It's no secret that hustling has never been big with Hermida, but he did his job and knocked home two runs before getting gunned down at second base by Soriano, among the N.L. leaders in outfield assists.

The Cubs sliced into the lead in the third as Derrek Lee pulverized a home run to dead centerfield. Jones would knock home another run in the fourth inning to tie the game at 4-4. Chicago threatened again and had Soriano up with two outs. Fredi Gonzalez emerged out of the Marlins dugout and brought in right-hander Ross Wolf. With the pitcher's slot due up in the next inning, this was it for Wolf, one objective: get Soriano.

Wolf fell behind 2-0, and then 3-1. It took a lot of balls to do what he did next as the young right-hander with an ERA of 10.24 blazed two fastballs by Soriano, stunting the Cubs rally and silencing the standing Cubs fans. Something they would get used to as the night continued.

Florida didn't score in their half of the fourth, although a broken bat single by pinch-hitter Robert Andino had Marquis cowering away from shrapnel that didn't come close to him. It didn't matter that the Marlins didn't score, the fact was they were fighting and they were coming out throwing everything they had.

The Cubs came up in the fifth and out of the bullpen came right-hander Logan Kensing. Kensing has been on the disabled list most of the season, and the few appearances he made in the minors while on rehab weren't exactly promising.

Here was Kensing in a tough atmosphere and a tie game, facing the top of the Cubs lineup and he sliced and diced through it like a hibachi chef. What's more, he made it hurt. He twisted the knife. The first batter he retired was Theriot on a slow grounder to Cabrera who fired to first, getting saved on a nice scoop by Jacobs.

The next batter was Lee, who homered the previous at bat. Lee was up on the plate and Kensing buried a 93 MPH fastball into his right shoulder. Cubs fans were on their feet yelling and booing. I couldn't help but allow a smile. That's old school baseball. "You want to be on top of that plate? It's going to cost you!"

Cliff Floyd was next and he crushed a line drive to deep right center. Hermida didn't take the best route to the ball, but it was smoked, so it hit off the wall. Lee was coasting into second, but Hermida's throw kept Floyd to a single.

Aramis Ramirez was next. His 26 HR and 100 RBI were glowing on the LED scoreboard. Kensing was overmatched in experience and stats, but he had a lot of pride left. He let Ramirez know he was there by repeatedly hammering 93-95 MPH fastballs in different locations, combined by snapping off an 80 MPH breaking pitch that would die and hang a left on right-handed batters.

On a 2-2 count, Kensing reached back and looked like he was going to throw a fastball, but the wrist broke and so did the ball as Ramirez whiffed big time. Once again, the standing Cubs fans took one in the grill.

DeRosa was up next and belted a high fly ball to left field. Linden looked up first as he ran back to the wall. Cubs fans were already giving high fives, but Linden hauled in the ball right in front of the out-of-town scoreboard. Look, the Yankees are winning 11-2 over Tampa Bay. Cool! Oh yeah, by the way, DeRosa's out. Inning over.

The Marlins needed to make a move as Kensing's outing had definitely thrown a right hook to the Cubs. With two outs in the fifth, Linden crushed a high fly off the left field scoreboard. Lou Piniella went out to the mound to talk to Marquis. With Treanor up, packing a .270 average and 17 RBI on the season, I couldn't see this being a long talk. De Aza, a left-hander with speed, was on deck, so they wouldn't bypass Treanor. Marquis pitched to Treanor and the Marlins catcher slapped a single to left field that fell right in front of Soriano to give the Marlins the lead 5-4.

Kensing went right back to work retiring the Cubs in order. He started the frame by fanning the veteran Jones on three pitches. The last pitch was a vicious curveball that bellowed at Jones, "Who's your daddy?".

He finished the inning by setting down pinch-hitter Sam Fuld on a called third strike that was a perfect setup. Kensing reminded me of another Texan and ex-Marlin who came in during the middle innings of a big fall game against the Cubs and shut them down.

The Cubs went to the bullpen and brought in Carlos Marmol. Marmol has been lights out for the Cubs out of the bullpen this year. His delivery leads batter to set up for a fastball and then the curve comes making them look silly. He made De Aza look bad, then pinch hitter Brett Carroll. I wasn't sure how long Kensing could go, but thought at the time, "This may have been a bad move the way Kensing was pitching." I looked down to the bullpen and saw flamethrower Matt Lindstrom warming up. That's who I would have brought in and Gonzalez was in the same mindset. Was it me, or was Gonzalez managing this game that good? Yes.

Lindstrom came out of the bullpen and started firing bullets. Once again, Soriano had the fans on their feet, and once again, he went down waving at a Lindstrom bullet for out one. Two batters later and the Marlins were six outs from a win.

The seventh inning would be critical for the Marlins as it would be the last time the middle of the order could do some damage to create a cushion.

Uggla flew out for the first out. Marmol seemed to have the upper hand. Hermida fouled off a ball here and there staving off a strike out. Somehow between the first pitch and the final pitch of his at bat, Hermida figured out that if you stay back and wait curve, and unload at the last second you could still get good wood on the ball... and he did, smacking a high fly ball off the left field scoreboard for a double.

Marmol would make his biggest mistake to the next Marlins batter.

Question: How do you silence 18,000 Cubs fans at once?

Answer; M-I-G-U-E-L C-A-B-R-E-R-A

Cabrera rifled a line drive to left field that just kept rising. I was yelling out, "Get up! Get up ball! Get up!" Which would piss off most Cubs fans knowing that's Cardinals radio voice Mike Shannon's home run call.

Home run Marlins! Finally, I could see who were the other Marlins fans, they were the only one standing at that moment. Finally, the crowd was taking over as good as they could. You could see the excitement on the Marlins players face from the guys waiting for Cabrera at home plate all the way out to the bullpen.

It was playoff atmosphere baseball and the Marlins were playing the game the way they knew they could. This was a franchise which had been there before, and one of them was Cabrera. Although the 24-year old Cabrera is still very young, he performed like a seasoned veteran. His 34th home run was a career high for a single season.

The Marlins held a 7-4 advantage going into the eighth inning and left-handed specialist Taylor Tankersley came out of the bullpen. He would only face one batter, Cliff Floyd. Although Tankersley hadn't allowed a run in his last 16 apperances, Floyd doubled off the right field wall. Gonzalez was already out to the mound. Amid catcalls and heckling, Tankersley left the mound and in came Justin Miller.

With Miller, you never know what to expect. Yet, he did his job retiring Ramirez before striking out DeRosa on a called third strike that bore into DeRosa having him question the decision of plate umpire Mike Reilly. It was a good pitch and one DeRosa wasn't expecting. Miller just got the best of him and that was it for Miller as he gave way to Renyel Pinto.

The Cubs fans were getting very impatient with all of Gonzalez's pitching changes. I wasn't sure if it was the delays in the game making them impatient or the fact it just reminded them of all the changes Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa makes during a game.

Pinch hitter Matt Murton was brought in to face Pinto. He wasn't wasting any time and hammered a shot to deep centerfield. Cubs fans got up cheering in excitement... but oh wait, it's 404 to dead centerfield and De Aza is a rocket out there. De Aza caught it at the edge of the warning track in full stride, punched the padding of the wall and headed back toward the infield.

The Marlins went down in the eighth and Gonzalez brought in Lee Gardner to close out the ninth. Gardner has been filling in for regular closer Kevin Gregg and pulled off the save last night.

Jason Kendall hit a gound ball to Ramirez to lead off the inning. I haven't seen Ramirez pulling off unbelievable range and plays this late in the season. Whether it's the long haul of the season wearing on him or just the fact the Marlins aren't playing in meaningful games, it wasn't the Hanley that impressed everyone defensively on his way to the majors. With Kendall, who runs better than most catchers, Ramirez was going to have to hustle and fire. Sure enough, he fielded it on the run and unloaded a strike to Mike Jacobs for out number one.

Daryle Ward was the pinch hitter and crushed a double to right-centerfield. That's when I saw it. Ward missed first base. Practically everyone in our section saw it, even the geezers with the Harry Carey coke bottle glasses. Jacobs definitely saw it and called for an appeal.

Gardner stepped off the mound, threw to first and veteran umpire Jeff Kellogg at first base blew the call by signaling safe. Gonzalez went out to argue and I'm pretty sure the conversation went something like this:

Gonzalez: You didn't see it! You didn't even watch it, because you were too busy trying to get your mechanics right of trailing the runner to second, while Coop (second base umpire Eric Cooper) was out trailing the ball.

Kellogg: How much confidence do you have in Lee Gardner?

Gonzalez: Quit dodging the point. Just admit you f--- up?

Kellogg: Yeah, I screwed up. Just don't report me to the league like Mike Winters. I didn't realize we could actually get suspended.

Okay, so that's probably not even close, kind of like Kellogg blowing the call that wasn't even close, but that's a free out for the Cubs, whose fans were back on their feet with Soriano up at bat.

Gardner fooled the free-swinging Soriano and got him to pop up meekly to Uggla for out number two. One out left and Theriot was the batter.

Theriot was down 1-2 in the count, when the Marlins fans started to get the clap going for the third strike. The Cubs fans either were confused and started cheering for the hell of it (a common occurance to casual baseball fans) or they honestly though Theriot was going to keep this rally alive.

Theriot tried to drop a single into left field, but Linden was on his horse and scooped it up on a sliding catch.

Van Halen's "Standing On Top of the World" starting blasting on the speakers, the Marlins hustled out for the post-game handshake and 18,500 depressed Cubs fans headed for the exits realizing the Marlins just beat them for the ninth consecutive time, the longest current streak in Major League Baseball.

I was grinning like a butcher's dog, and you really can't surpress that while walking out of the ballpark. The Cubs fans were miserable, but at least they were together. I don't think they really cared about that. There was no Steve Goodman playing over the loudspeakers, and even though St. Louis was now beating Milwaukee 4-2, the Cubs still had that loss and a two game lead in the Central. It's like they knew what was coming.

During a visit to the concessions earlier in the game, a fan and his buddies were looking at my attire and said, "So what's with the Marlins and Cardinals stuff? Which one is it?" loading up for either one. I just looked back slyly and said, "Does it really matter?"

It doesn't. The Cardinals won the World Series last year and the Marlins in 2003, knocking off the Cubs on the way. Bear in mind, the Marlins were down 3-1 in that series and won the last two games at Wrigley Field against Mark Prior and Kerry Wood.

I drove out of the parking lot heading toward the Upper Deck in Hallandale Beach to join Marshall, Karsten and Rich for a post game drink. While driving through the parking lot, I could see Cubs fans scoping out my Cardinals plate on the front and staring at it like an evil ghost was laughing at them on their way out.

The Florida Marlins played the game like champions tonight. They took on a hostile crowd at home and a team on a mission and turned the tables. They won their crowd and didn't allow themselves to get down in the Cubs overwhelming support. They fought for their house and their pride as ballplayers. For this night, they put the glitz and glamour of being a Major League ballplayer on the backburner and played the game for the very reason people start playing the game, because they love it. They were the underdog and fought their way out with everything they had.

I found myself holding on to every pitch, every out, every decision made by Fredi Gonzalez and it was fabulous to experience a playoff atmosphere game at the end of the season.

Guys like Logan Kensing, Matt Lindstrom, Lee Gardner, Matt Treanor, Jeremy Hermida and Todd Linden played to their full potential and showed people why they were in the big leagues in the first place. Stars like Miguel Cabrera came through in the clutch and in a big way.

It was downright inspiring to watch and reminds you why you love this game.

Tonight and the previous night, the Marlins were Big Game Fish!