Man, what a wild end to a great baseball season. Less than two months after notching his 300th win, Tom Glavine takes the mound at Shea Stadium for the most catastrophic start of his career — giving up 7 earned runs in 1/3 of an inning to the Florida Marlins — as the Mets complete one of the worst collapses in major league history.
Meanwhile, down in Philly, Jimmy Rollins becomes only the fourth player to ever rack up 20 or more doubles, triples, homers and stolen bases in a single season — by odd coincidence, Curtis Granderson of the Tigers also did it this year — and leads the Phillies to the NL East crown. (Which, ahem, I predicted they would win back in March.)
The Brewers, no doubt still pissed about being knocked out of the NL Central race by San Diego on Friday, lower the boom on the Padres, forcing them into a one-game showdown with the Rockies, who stay alive by taking two of three from the Diamondbacks over the weekend.
Of course, the best thing about the final day of the season was that I was able to savor it while basking in the glow of the Cubs' Friday night clinching of the NL Central, their first divisional crown since 1989. (Which, btw, I also predicted — to not a little bit of razzing from my dear Robe readers — back in March. Boy, is my face red now!)
I'm not gonna make any grandiose predictions of World Series glory for the Nort'siders, because the team as a whole has been maddeningly inconsistent all season, and I'm definitely not sold on their bullpen. But I do think they can take the D'backs in the NLDS... and after that, who knows?
In the meantime, Cubs fans, let's enjoy a rousing celebratory sing-along — no, not of Steve Goodman's painfully lame "Go Cubs Go", but rather "Pennant Fever," the 1969 single inadvisably cut for Chess Records by several Cubs stars (Billy Williams, Ron Santo, Don Kessinger and Randy Hundley) and scrubs (Nate Oliver, Gene Oliver and Willie Smith), mere months before the team stumbled down the stretch and lost the division title to the Mets.
If the Cubs' "singing" leaves a little something to be desired, you've at least gotta love the pic sleeve shot of the players in their civvies — dig Hundley's high-waisted Sansabelts! — swigging beer from cans while belting out the lyrics. And the flipside, a groovy organ-driven instrumental called "Slide" by a combo billed as the Chicago Cubs Clark Street Band, is actually far easier on the ears...
Good to see your post mentioning "Go, Cubs, Go" by Steve Goodman. He often doesn't get his due. You might be interested in an eight-year project of mine that has come to fruition -- an 800-page biography of Goodman published in May, "Steve Goodman: Facing the Music." Sorry to see you feel "Go, Cubs, Go" is lame, but perhaps you'll feel differently upon reading that "Go, Cubs, Go" would not exist if not for Goodman's other Cubs song, "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request." Please check my Internet site below for more info on the book. Just trying to spread the word. Feel free to do the same!
Clay Eals
1728 California Ave. S.W. #301
Seattle, WA 98116-1958
(206) 935-7515
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[email protected]
http://www.clayeals.com
Posted by: Clay Eals | September 30, 2007 at 05:30 PM
And you also picked the White Sox in the AL Central and the Rangers in the AL West...
The playoffs in both leagues look to me more wide open than they've been in years; I can't wait to see how it all unfolds. I'm still waiting for the inevitable Phillies meltdown, but I'll enjoy yesterday for a long, long time...
Posted by: Will | October 01, 2007 at 01:14 AM
Will - Yeah, I made some unfortunate choices; but I also picked the Red Sox to win the AL East, which makes me three out of eight for '07 pre-season predictions, and which I'm willing to bet is a better batting avg than most of the ESPN.com staff came away with. In any case, congrats to you and your Phils; they're a very solid team and could well go all the way.
Clay - Best of luck with your book! I have a lot of respect for the late Mr. Goodman, but - whatever the circumstances of its creation - "Go Cubs Go" sounds like he cranked it out in three minutes or less. I will admit that part of what annoys me about the song is the Cubs' recent decision to play it AFTER every home victory, when Goodman clearly meant it as a pre-game anthem. Thousands of Cubs fans singing "Hey Chicago, whaddaya say, The Cubs are gonna win today" after they've already won? C'mon, that's just retarded...
Posted by: Dan E | October 01, 2007 at 08:47 AM
Didn't the Cubs win the Central in 2003? Or did they take that one away from Dusty?
Oh, and a dying Cub fans last request is more lame than Go Cubs Go, btw.
Posted by: TomesoR | October 03, 2007 at 12:32 AM
I stand corrected, Tom. I could've sworn they were the Wild Card that year, but nope -- 2003 NL Central Champs.
Posted by: Dan E | October 03, 2007 at 06:16 AM
In case you meet with some hard situation, you must try to overcome it without any hesitation .willpower is essential to happiness.
Posted by: coach sale | June 30, 2010 at 11:58 PM