Maddon and His Team Have Their Patience Rewarded

"Go Cubs Go! Hey Chicago what do you say the Cubs are going to win today!"

And I am a Chicago White Sox fan born and bred on the almighty South Side of Chicago who spent way more time this season on the North Side at Wrigley Field marveling at the smooth swagger worthy of the Outfit.

Rizzo and Russell brought out their heavy lumber to match them throwing defensive leather. The last time the Chicago Cubs were shut out two consecutive times in a post season was in 1906 when they lost the World Series to the Chicago White Sox "Hitless Wonders".

Joe Maddon is one "Cool Poppa Daddy" along with "Zen Master" Theo Epstein.

Gun play has wounded thousands and killed hundreds on Chicago's mean streets. We need and deserve some good distracting entertaining news.

Seems to me the whole thing turned on the pitch Urias threw when he had two strikes on Javier Baez. Might have been a mechanical mistake, might have been a little overeagerness or even arrogance, but Urias made what turned out to be a fatal error: he offered him something tempting to hit. It was like poking a sleeping bear with a stick. Baez roared, and all the Cubs woke up.

The thinking is that the Cubs will forgive their scapegoat when they win the Series. They don't understand that they won't win the Series until they forgive and embrace Steve Bartman.

Let's play two!

CITY of The BAT SHOLDERS

Bunting,

s o f t l y.

Bunting,

m a s t e r f u l l y.

from

Negatativity Town

on

The Road from

The Friendly Confines

California Dreamen'

On such an Autumn's day

From L A

At Any Moment

They could All Break Loose !

All of a Sudden !

This, Turns into an entirely different direction

California Smog

Traded

for

Wrigly Wind

and

A Pennant

To

Be Flown

In

ChiTober.

Um, well, it would appear that problem went away.

The Cubs choke in October. It's what they do. Yes, the curse is real. They'll never win. Ever. They will lose every NLCS they play in for the rest of eternity. They are the Cubs.

Jason Heyward has declined enormously at the plate. He is effectively an automatic out now.

No matter who wins this series, Tito Francona and the Indians will take care of them in the WS.

All this pleasure talk is troubling. Dr. Freud will come lurking out of the shadows when the Cubs can no longer deny historic framing the team is facing. Fate comes a knocking and no smirk is going to save you from the reaper. In this case the reaper looks a lot like a Dodger relief pitcher smoking batters in late innings.

I think it's time to change course and amp up the anxiety. That would really flummox the slumbering ease that has resulted in a zen like quietude at the plate. This is no Seven Samurai film, this is baseball! Get funky, get mad, get even!

"Good pitching will always stop good hitting and vice-versa." Casey Stengel

The Mets' pitching was really at its peak against the Cubs last year (and Daniel Murphy was Babe Ruth). That's more like hitting a wall with Harvey, DeGrom, Syndergaard and Colon's faces all over it. Kershaw aside, this is a slump. And it's as easy to break out of as it is to fall into. They're a young club with some solid veterans and a great manager. They ought to break out of this. Plus, the Dodgers have Chase Utley. So Chicago NEEDS to break out of this.

And the Dodgers think the Cubs are stealing their signs? Yeah, so efficiently they have 6 hits (?) in the last two games!

The problem with Professional Sports,is it’s first & foremost a business, as much as we would like it to be a fairy tale, where the under dog wins, more times than not, it will break your heart. There is no secret to winning Base Ball Games , which should be called Pitching Games. In a short series superior pitching prevails. It’s not pressure that is defeating the Cubs, it’s the likes of Kershaw, that brought the Cubs back to earth, & made them question their hitting superiority.There is no one in Base Ball like Kershaw, he is one in a million.It’s not the best team that will win,it’s the best pitching.