Fucking Bullshit

MILWAUKEE 8, CUBS 5
W - B. Shouse [1-0, 2.02 ERA]
L - R. Dempster [1-4, 4.54 ERA]
S - D. Turnbow [22, 3.41 ERA]

If there's a better picture out there to symbolize and sum up our team right now, I have yet to see it. We scrape, battle, fight, gnash and stagger towards victory, only for it to elude us like a greasy groundball to third with runners on the bases. It slips from our grasp, and the manners and methods that seem to illustrate our defeats become all the more depressing with each passing day.

Tonight, it was the blown save again, Dempster's 4th of the season, and that was not the troubling part. Tonight, it was the fact that we had come back from deficits of 3-0 and 4-3 to take the lead in the 8th inning, only to watch Brewers' baserunners score with the consummate ease of Wilt Chamberlain. As always, errors were a blown save's best friend, with 2 huge mistakes in that fateful 9th frame -- the first when Dempster fielded a sacrifice bunt [with runners on 1st and 2nd and 0 outs] and tried to throw out the runner at third, only to send the ball high into left field, allowing Koskie to trot home easily from second base. Then, again with 0 outs and runners on 2nd and 3rd, a hard-hit grounder to Cedeno somehow squeezed through his legs, allowing another run to score. Two sacrifice flies later, and the Cubs fall 8-5.

If I were Carlos Zambrano, I would demand a trade. After a recent article in ESPN: The Magazine, where they portrayed him as an unfortunate star who is a winning franchise away from a Cy Young, he once again strapped this feckless bunch to his back, pitching 8 strong innings [8 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 8 K], and had played himself into contention for the win by also hitting a 2-run home run in the 5th inning.

What more can the guy do? Throw a CG every night of the week, hit in the 3 spot, catch for himself, call his own games, write the lineups, wash the jerseys? I bet that he would be willing.

To add further fuel to an already raging inferno, we have welcomed Derrek Lee back and promptly lost each of the 3 games he has played. While true that he has gone 3-13 since returning, at least we have our talisman back, the man set to strike fear into opposing pitchers once again. Our results do not reflect that.

Recent articles on Yahoo! Sports reflect the steadily rising ire of Cubs fans, not to mention the increasing heat under Dusty Baker's seat as the manager of this sullen group. After nights like this, it is almost certainly justified.