Mister Faded Glory | www.misterfadedglory.com

You don’t know this, but the Cubs finally rebounded after that abysmal stretch versus Houston simply because I changed my viewing habits.

It’s true. I was obsessing, falling apart at the seams, practically turning into a BCB-message-board wonk. I looked toward the ledge nightly, before consciously making a decision to avoid the Cubs, checking in on the score late at night. Against St. Louis, they blew one, then won two.

After Drayton McClane painted the Astros into a whiny corner by refusing to bolt Houston, sending the media into an apologetic tizzy and causing Lance Berkman to burst into grease-ridden tears – Carlos Zambrano tossed his first no-hitter. Guess the shoulder is OK.  Don’t believe what Jayson Stark and Buster Olney tell you – the Astros could have ridden their hot streak by leaving Houston, presumably with families in tow, after Thursday’s game. They did not.

Then, Ted Lilly dominated the Astros, leading to another round of hand-wringing, complaining of the awful treatment MLB delivered Houston. (No one raised a fuss when the Marlins turned a home series into a road series in 2004 to avoid a hurricane. Only McClane steadfastly hoped to hold a series in Houston, ordering his players to stay in harm’s way in the city – the fuck you say? – and summarily forcing MLB to then find the closest dome to play the games. Karma’s a bitch.)

So I’ll be honest, with a hands-off approach, watching the magic number dwindle after its painful stall then became, well, actually relaxing. I even felt cautious optimism Tuesday night, fully expecting the Cubs to beat Sabathia. Apparently Chicago is the only NL team that can. (By the way, doesn’t Dempster have to deserve more Cy Young consideration than CC, after outdueling him? My vote is for Carlos Marmol. You read me.)

But even this afternoon, at work, I agonized, breaking my string and preferring to tune in via Gameday. A horrendous gamecast, at that – errors, Ks, double plays, walks to ever Brewer hitter and then some. The Brewers’ replacement-level pitchers had thrown 74 pitches into the eighth inning, Rich Harden threw 700 pitches in the first inning, the Cubs had all of three hits, and Jeff Samardzija and Mark DeRosa were doing their best to punt a close game, and the Cubs were down 4 runs in the ninth. I shut the thing off.

Ten minutes later, simply out of happenstance, I clicked on Cubs.com, cushioning myself that I would just check – in case a monumental, can’t miss rally occurred. I mean, I wouldn’t have believed what actually happened – next thing I know, you’ll tell me Bob Sanders is out for 6 games. (By the way, what the hell is with the Colts and injuries? Every starter but Wayne has been hurt over a calendar year, beginning with that gut-punch loss to New England last year. I mean, we didn’t even win that game! Tell me karma’s a bitch!)

You know the rest. 6-6. Cubs. Soto. Marmot. Kerry. Derrek. A savory win, one of those calendar dates you circle once the regular-season is over. Great win, unbelievable comeback, and deserving of its place alongside the two separate Rockies comebacks, the lengthy Mets duel in April, the sweet comeback against Florida, Daryle Ward’s comeback against Florida, Z’s no-no, and Hank White’s walk-off against St. Louis. Just wow.

Magic number is now 2. And this will probably conclude our intermittent Cubs wraps for the year. Tomorrow, Mr. Faded Glory makes a sojourn to familiar stomping grounds – New York City. Yes, we will be at luxurious Shea Stadium for the Cubs-Mets series, opening with a “Marquis” matchup on Monday.

Hopefully we’ll be relaxed. Hopefully the Angel Pagan 29 jersey doesn’t anger everyone in our section. Hopefully we’ll quit the plural-first-person. And hopefully we’ll talk to you next Monday.