Mister Faded Glory | misterfadedglory.com

“Put me out of my misery. All you suicide kings and you drama queens. Forever after, happily. Making misery…”

Soul Asylum, Misery.

Cheers, again, to the Chicago Cubs, division champs, and here’s to next week and a successful postseason. Tonight, in fact, we may even celebrate.

Also, I turned on today’s game to find Rich Hill in the middle of a no-hitter. I’d love for him to throw one, but I have visions of a worn out arm opening game three. Ye gods. Anyway, he gave it up, so bring on the rest.

Frustrated, incorporated. I scarcely need to tell you that for so many years that’s been us, Cubs fans. Anytime there’s a chance, a glimmer, a possibility of changing that, well, that’s reason to celebrate. What a year. And I promise, now, no baseball till Monday.

I guess that’s why you have a 3.5 game lead going into last Monday. You know, so your fans aren’t suicidal after a lackluster road sweep. (Scratches head furiously, points fingers everywhere.) Good win tonight, of course. Cubs are division champs. Enjoy the weekend, we’ll talk baseball again, oh, probably Tuesday.

AC006198. Let’s put some more zeroes on that board. Eamus catuli.

One more quick hit – your song tonight is Who You Are, by Pearl Jam.

“Stoplights, waves and sparks. Well I would say, you’ve got a part. What’s your part, who you are. You are who, who you are…”

That song isn’t apropos for any particular reason, it simply turned out to be the exact song playing after I digested the Brewers loss and retreated here, to my computer, to write. Somewhat nonsensical, sure, but it’s also kind of a fit, for a scattershot team that is hopefully jelling at the right, exact time.

Like I’ve said, I don’t know how good the Cubs really, truly are. But tonight, they’re division champs. And with more wins, well, we’ll just have to see. Baseball is an agonizing game, but the playoffs are truly fun, and honestly, on June 1 — how could we have thought we’d possibly be here?

We’ve seen teams turn seasons around previously after horrific April and May starts – Florida in 2003, Houston in 2004, Minnesota in 2006, Oakland in 2004, Anaheim in 2002, and sometimes, that translates fully into playoff success. As for this year, we’ll have to find out. Enjoy tonight. Enjoy the next few days. Go Cubs.

If I’ve learned one thing in a week of hopeless corporate drudgery – OK, I actually wouldn’t call it learning something – if there was one thing that I took away from a terrifying, time-wasting, motivational self-improvement seminar spanning more than 40 hours over two days, it was this:

“It won’t happen unless you say it will happen.”

Yep, that’s it. If you ever need a intensive seminar costing tens of thousands of dollars for your workplace, and want it to be as simplistic and insulting as possible, I’ve got a referral to make. ANYWAY, I figured, maybe tonight, there’s something to that notion. And maybe, actually, if Dolan can be positive, so can I.  Maybe, time spent at this seminar will pay off after all. Maybe I didn’t lose a fucking hour of my life when the seminar moderator showed a clip of Jerry Maguire, the schmaltzy, overwrought, “You had me at hello” scene, trying to teach us to share more at work.

So, anyway, here it is. Here’s my lesson, applied fully. Thank you, last week:

The Cubs will win tonight. And clinch tonight. It will happen, tonight.

There. Now go do it.

(And seriously, how do I need to share more? I’ve got this blog. If I shared more at work, everyone would know I hate everything. I mean, you guys do.)

I dunno. I don’t know how good they are. I don’t know how good the national league is. All I know, it would have been nice to win two games against the Marlins this season, either in May or now, or both, or total. Because then it would be over.

Maybe tomorrow night we’ll have a jersey to post and a happy ending. Maybe, apropos of the entire year, the Cubs and Crew will both lose out.

But probably not. Two more wins, Cubs. Two more wins.

I guess, if you told me that the Cubs would go 4-2 in the combination of two series against the Marlins and Pirates, well, I would have happily snapped that up. Still, that doesn’t make these last two excruciating defeats at Florida’s hands any less painful.

Consider:

• Three warning-track shots by the Cubs, over two games, all which would have won or tied or made a difference.
• Three bloop-base hits by the Fish, all which drove in runs in monster innings, even off two starters who didn’t throw all that bad.
• One 2-out base hit RBI that anyone but Cliff Floyd would have caught
• A Cubs team that simply isn’t built for this crappy ballpark, can’t exorcise the demons of the Florida Marlins, or has picked absolutely the worst time in the season to go ice cold. (Actually, April and May were just as bad for ice-cold, and if we’d even been .500 in those months, this would all be over. So don’t make this more important than it is. He said while stabbing himself in the eye socket.)
• A young team of smackers that knock the Cubs’ junkballers around, with nothing to play for.
• A one-game lead with four to play is better than the alternative, you would think – which the Cubs faced in 2003.  The frustrating play of the last two days has deadened any optimism, however. (Ed. – I wrote this before the Crew lost to St. Louis. Two games up with four to play.)
• Is this any more heartwrenching than Cubs trips to Houston, or San Diego, or Los Angeles, or Cincinnati, or Texas off of a homestand, all ending with bizarre, frustrating, lackluster losses? It seems different. It’s in September, but any of those other wins all counted just as much. And yes, I’m well aware of how much you detest stat geeks trying to normalize all wins and losses. It’s true, but I detest it, too.

This is not over, not by a long shot. But how has Florida beaten the Cubs five straight times? When can the Cubs trade for Jeremy Hermida, just so he doesn’t have to face them? This is ridiculous. The Cubs go from packed stadium full of base hits to barren concrete box with near misses and bad calls. If they can get out of Florida with a one-game lead, maybe we should be thrilled. Wait, never mind that.

The nice thing is there is still tomorrow. Such as it is. It feels like the Cubs may never win again, but in Cubland, all losses carry that awful stigma. They’ll be fine. Tonight’s loss is no longer the year’s most important game. It’s tomorrow’s.

By the way, number 18 is “Ignore the smoke,” from Blue, by A Perfect Circle, perfectly appropriate.

And it’s dedicated to a neverending cycle of sports radio, which gave the Cubs a 90 percent chance to reach the playoffs, started talking about rotations in the postseason, mentioned that no team has blown a 3.5 game lead in the last week (except Brooklyn, so not unprecedented), and generally consisted of a rush of sportswriters attempting to be correct. The Cubs are going to win this thing, in spite of all of this garbage. They can and they will. I hate saying keep the faith, I hate beating the drum, I hate sounding like a cheerleader, in the midst of the din – relentlessly positive on Sunday night but now full of whiny disbeliefe. Ignore it. The Cubs will win this. And, no, I still have no freaking idea if this team is any good or not.

It can never be easy, as the Marlins — whom the Cubs are 0-4 against this season — prove. Seems like whenever the Cubs leave home, they lay a huge egg in game one on the road. Can anyone back me up? Five more games. Does two wins get the Cubs to the playoffs? How about three? With the Brewers’ bats suddenly alive at home, I don’t know what to think.

So while I’ve been in corporate lockdown – training seminars – the Cubs have managed to look like a competent baseball team, surviving miscues by some, picking each other up when they’re down, and finding a little bit of power during the last couple of days. Alfonso Soriano and Aramis Ramirez deserve jerseys on the MFG wall, but we’re a little pressed for time.

In a move designed just for me, WGN decided to cut to its fan cam in the eighth inning with a cover of Tom Petty’s I Won’t Back Down, by Pearl Jam. They’ve done this song occasionally, and on the last Saturday of the home season, it fits. It also clocks into our hopelessly narcissistic, myopic and unending countdown at No. 19. Clearly, WGN knew I’d be watching.

“There ain’t no easy way out. Hey, I, will stand my ground. And I won’t back down.” 

Speaking of not backing down, Bobby Cox handed the Brewers last night’s game on a silver platter, as Tim Hudson cruised into the eighth with a 1-0 lead, and got 2 outs on a rocket lineout and deep catch by Matt Diaz. So, with Ryan Braun and Fielder coming up, a scant lead, clinging for life in the division, Cox leaves Hudson, clearly gassed, in the game. Braun, rocket single. Fielder, smacked up the middle. Corey Hart never surrenders, and flips a base knock into right field. Ballgame.

Thanks, Bobby. Really, appreciate it. This must be how they won all those playoff series.

10, 20, 30, 40 …

Tell me that you wanna hold me … Tell me that you wanna bore me … Tell me that you gotta show me … Tell me that you need to slowly…

10, 20, 30, 40 …

Sonic Youth, Bull in the Heather

It’s three weeks till I’m thirty. I mean, like, exactly. If anyone tells me that “thirty is the new twenty,” I’m gonna punch their lights out.

No matter if the Cubs rally to top the Reds tonight (Seriously, Z, what is it with Wrigley? Seriously, Cubs, what is it with Aaron Harang? Take a pitch!) … nothing is more infuriating than watching a team fold up its tent against a division rival, when not a week ago it acted like two series against the Cubs were its World Series. Sure, we may yet lose this thing by failing to beat crappy clubs, but at least they’re attempting to play us.

OK, no matter. Ten games for the title. Twelve for the Brewers, after their date with Houston. I know this year’s been a success anyway, and 2008 should be better and the first two months were blah, and that’s what killed the Cubs, but dammit, I wanna see ‘em win this thing. Go Chicago.

Exorcise the demons!

An early lead by the Cubs against our inexplicable nemeses, who knocked us away from the playoffs in 2004, the Cincinnati Reds. Check. Two hits by Bronson Arroyo, as always. Check. A comeback led by Jeff Keppinger and Brandon Phillips, somehow figuring out our starters (In 2004 it was Wily Mo Pena and Austin Kearns.) – check. Enter David Weathers, who has always owned the Cubs.

Till tonight, and the Cubs’ three-run ninth off Weathers, featuring a Riot walk, D-Lee single (he was 1-19 lifetime against Weathers! He was due!), Aramis triple, and DeRosa single. Ballgame. The Cubs preserve a one-game lead in the division, with 11 left.

Biggest victory of the year. Each game is the most important of the season, now. Add this one to the file, but tomorrow’s game is, of course, even more important. Go Cubs.

[Annoying postscript: I'm in my office/loft, where my TV only receives ESPN traditional, instead of ESPNews, which is easily their best channel. Since Pat and Ron signed off and I wrote this post at 10:30, I watched the Eagles fall against the Redskins, and SC begin at 10:50. It is now 11:20, and there have been no baseball highlights. It's September! The Eagles are not going to bench Donovan McNabb, so stop worrying about it! Please, ESPN, I know MNF is your property and you've completely lost playoff baseball, but seriously. This is important! Fifteen minutes on the football game, fine. Then switch to baseball! You've got Red Sox/Yanks and Mets/Phils getting closer, the NL Central cluster (see above!), and the NL wild card mess! Tons to talk about.]