Redman battled Wood to a standstill into the seventh inning of Game Three; he left trailing 2-1 after 121 pitches. In their only regular season meeting, he held the Cubs to four baserunners in seven scoreless innings, striking out nine. If there is any pressure, it's on the Cubs hitters to solve him.

Wood threw only 109 pitches, so he should have plenty in the tank. Prediction? Somebody's going to win 3-2 on a solo HR off a reliever, but I don't know exactly who. It's like playing Clue -- "Sosa, in the eighth, off Urbina."

Nope, the uberprospect makes it 3-0 by hitting a fastball 12 centimeters off the ground onto Waveland Avenue. Prediction: the Fish are going to win 5-2.

So much for my prediction. Miguel Cabrera simply demolished a low fastball, and just like that, the Marlins have taken the crowd out of it with a 3-0 lead.

We missed Pierre's leadoff triple, but joined the telecast in time to see a fine play by Alou to save a run on Castillo's flare. Wood started Pudge off with a curve, threw one in the dirt (Miller saved a run) then blew a fastball by him. Ivan fought back, fouling off a bunch of close ones to eventually draw a walk and set up the rookie's heroics. The Cubs, and their fans, must be stunned.

the uberprospect makes it 3-0 by hitting a fastball 12 centimeters off the ground onto Waveland Avenue.

That moaning you hear off in the distance is Steve Bartman working on his first ever ulcer.

Couple of long fly ball outs but no damage for Redman in the first. Al Leiter, a former Marlins lefty in a seventh game, is doing a nice job in the booth, but they should muzzle Lyons.

Bret Boone joked that should the Marlins win tonight, Bartman would be set up if he moved to Florida.

Almost as bad as the 3-0 hole for the Cubs is that Wood had to throw 33 pitches in the first. Even with Baker managing, Wood isn't likely to go deep in this game at this rate.

If you sent the script of this series (hell the whole post-season) to Disney I think they would throw it out as "too unrealistic". As much as I hate all these teams and do not want any of them to win the WS, I can't help watching the drama.

It may turn out to be a small thing but the Marlins second inning was pathetic. A lead off single after a long at bat by Conine, left Wood having thrown 39 pitches without an out in the second. The next three batters manage to get out on 7 pitches and not one of them, even the pitcher, took strike one. Wood threw first pitch balls to all of them and they all got out hacking on the first strike thrown their way. Not good.

That's rich. They're going on about the nature of the cruel world that is hell bent on making a story of the Steve Bartman affair.

Just how many times did Fox show the replay last night?

Sheesh... Fox showing moral outrage. Pot. Kettle. Black.

Kerry Wood, Hero.

Whoa, Kerry Wood == Babe Ruth. That's at least the second big extra-base hit to/over the wall for Wood in this post-season. The Cubs should sell him to an AL team so he can DH in off days. Or maybe not, what with curses and all.

I can't seem to close my jaw. That homer by Wood by unbelievable.

Alou blasts a hanging changeup out of the park to give the Cubbies a 5-3 lead.

I have no TV, so I'm watching on the internet. But if the Cubs are leading after seven I'm dragging my ass and my reluctant girlfriend's ass to watch the end of this.

I seriously can't believe they might actually win. Wow.

Line of the night: "I don't think he named her sea bass"
...The stupidity behind it almost made me choke on my gum.

The relentless Marlins rally for three runs, with Pudge, as usual, in the middle of it. 6-5 Fish, and Wood is tiring. Josh Beckett is ready to come on in relief. Yes, it's just two days' rest, but he's supposed to throw in the bullpen today anyway and can give them 50 to 75 pitches.

Two excellent catches by Cabrera made it an easy 1-2-3 fifth for Beckett, though Sosa really crushed that ball. He'll get at least one more inning, probably two.

Wood is way over 100 pitches now, and Dusty's in a bind -- Kerry's tiring, but he doesn't have many good options in the 'pen.

I seriously can't believe they might actually win.

They were just teasing you, Andrew. Farnsworth deflects a possible DP ball and the seventh run scores.

Dave Veres! Dave fucking Veres!! If the Cubs win this, it won't be because Dusty didn't try to lose.

That worked out perfectly for the Marlins -- two more runs on Gonzalez' double, then he gets thrown out at third so Beckett doesn't have to bat. Josh needed just 21 pitches for two innings, so he should be OK for one more. Nine outs left for a Cubs miracle.

gid, are you a programmer? == is pure geek!

Poor Bartman. Regardless of whether it was his fault or not, if he's as big a Cubs fan as they say he is, he'll live with this guilt the rest of his life, assuming he doesn't get killed first.

They were just teasing you, Andrew.

Yeah. And now, barring miracle, we have a Marlins World Series to look forward to. Great.

I can't believe McKeon didn't hit for Beckett. 36 pitches is plenty.

gid, are you a programmer? == is pure geek!

Hah, yeah, I didn't even think about it.

Coach, there appears to be a discrepancy here:

Josh Beckett is ready to come on in relief. Yes, it's just two days' rest, but he's supposed to throw in the bullpen today anyway and can give them 50 to 75 pitches.

Later,

I can't believe McKeon didn't hit for Beckett. 36 pitches is plenty.

At that rate, at least another inning looks like a good possibility, no? (At this point he just finished the 8th with what seems to be a low number of pitches.) Are you counting warmup pitches before the innings?

Leiter was forecasting as few as 20-25 pitches for a throwing session on Beckette's second off day.

gid, the first time I was talking about a maximum, with no consideration of when he'd return. After three good innings, especially with his spot leading off, I would have pulled him, thinking he could start again on Saturday. Jack wanted one more inning, and got three more quick outs, so he gambled and won. For sure, they should go to Urbina now and not push their luck. It will remain to be seen whether they give Josh an extra day now, and how effective he is this weekend.

Marlins win!

Given up for dead by everyone but themselves, they beat Prior and Wood in Wrigley, so they deserve it.

Horribly disappointing.

And how nice to see Loria glorying in the victory. Bet he's so happy, he might not try to contract anyone.

Seeing the Cubs fans crying at Wrigley, me Grimlock feel extremely sorry for them. As a long suffering Leafs fan, me Grimlock remembers what he felt after they lost Game 6 to Carolina in 2002, and Game 7 to LA in 1993.

Sorry I missed all this, I was over on Primer IRC.

A normal side session - as I understand it - is 20 minutes, usually around 60 pitches I guess.

The Marlins deserved this victory, like Coach said.

Whether the Marlins deserved it or not, a Florida-Yankees WS would make me vomit repeatedly.

I'm having difficulty typing this, but... go... Red Sox...?

I hate these playoffs.

I have to reluctantly agree; I'm meekly pulling for the BoSox. Only because I hate the freaking Yankees, and Florida is owned by Loria.

At this point a Yankees-Marlins series would be fine by me. Despite the fact that these playoffs have produced a lot of very good games, I'm not overly enamored with any of the teams who made it, so in a weird way I'm hoping the Yankees win just cause everyone seems to be suddenly in love with Boston and Chicago.

Hopefully they sweep the Marlins and I never have to see Loria on a nationally televised game again. Once attendance goes back down, he has to resign Pudge, etc., we'll see how much of a great owner in Florida he is. As far as I'm concerned he and David Sampson are on roughly the same level as Peter Pocklington and Donald Sterling, simply pathetic.

http://economics.about.com
Man, this serious was *awesome*. It went 7 games, a team came back from down 3-1 in the series, and the Cubs implosion is going to be talked about for the next 100 years. Even as a diehard Expos fan I enjoyed that. If you like baseball drama and you aren't a Cubs fan, you've got to enjoy that!

Mike

What a shame for the Cubs!! If you made this stuff up, people would tell you it's too contrived. Is it just me, or, does baseball alone lend itself to these kind of dramas? I don't hear of many football stories about the Super Bowl that live from year to year, for example, but, in baseball you have scads of them!

As a life-long Indians fan, I know what the Cubs' fans are feeling. I guess my take is, we all die in the end - - unless you can buy your way into heaven because you're a Yankees fan. But look at all the great teams over the last ten years: my Tribe, the Braves, the Mariners of 118 wins, the Cubs, the A's . . . all of them ultimate losers. I tried to make this point with my wife, though she didn't think it was too cool, but, maybe baseball is like life more than we know: no matter what, we should remember going in that it's going to end sadly. Hopefully, after a short while, even Cubs fans will appreciate, though, that it was a good ride getting there.

Retribe

http://economics.about.com
Memo to Non-Yankee Fans: Lighten Up.

Seriously kids. Money does not guarantee championships, in any sport. Look at the Leafs or the New York Rangers. Heck, look at baseball circa 2002.

My baseball team has been to the playoffs *once* in their history. They'll never win a World Series. Ever. But I don't go around being bitter and depressed all the time. I mean, seriously, it's just a game.

Mike

Last night before the game, there were a few thousand
fans hanging out on Waveland Avenue. Hoping, daring
...

Suddenly one of them shouts, "Hey look what I found!"
as he produces a magic lamp.

As the crowd gathers 'round for a closer look, the
fellow shines the lamp until a genie pops out.

Meanwhile at the game the Marlins pop out to a 3-0
lead. The fans inside have no idea what is going on
out on the street. They begin to fret.

The genie says to the folks on the street "I can grant
each of you one wish and one wish only, now line up in
single file so I can hear your demands".

The first guy steps up to the genie and says "Please
genie, let my Cubs win this game."

Inside Wrigley things begin to turn, with the Cubs
clawing back to take a 5-3 lead. Dare we begin to
dream?

The second guy in line hears the first guy, he hopes
for a bit more. "Please genie, not only would I like
the Cubs to win this game, I want Prior and Wood to
pitch well in the finals"

The third guy, getting bolder, since each of them only
has one wish decides his wish will be a Cubs WS win.

The guy behind him wants a 4-0 sweep for the Cubbies.

Next up is a guy who wants back-to-back championships.

This type of wishing goes on down the line, each wish
more bold than the rest.

As the back of the line is neared, a guy is seen
rubbing his hands in glee, cackling to himself with
manic laughter.

The other fans look over their shoulders, wondering,
but go on with their wishes.

As the last guy reaches the genie, he pulls off his
jacket to reveal a Marlins jersey, "Genie he says,
make the Cubs lovable losers again!"

Mike,

You're right, money is not a guarantee of a championship. Any number of examples from within baseball can be used as anecdotal evidence of this.

That being said, the Yankees' finances put them in a much, much better position to win. They are not as negatively impacted by bad decisions, or ones that don't work out (e.g Irabu, Weaver, Acevado) as organizations with lesser finances would be.

It also allows them more flexibility when trading prospects for the one player to put them over the top. Smaller market teams have to cling to their propsects like gold, because that's their only chance of winning. The Yankees can trade prospects for a guy who will be a free agent in two months because they know, if they like him, no one will outbid them. And if they don't like him, they can pay anyone out there who fills the same role.

Teams like Oakland, Minnesota, or (dare I say it) Toronto may be only one or two key players away from being able to beat the Yankees. But because of finances, they have to hope their internal prospects fill that role, instead of purchasing proven commodities.

There is also the issue of players who decide 'I want to win.' They then finagle their way over to the Yankees (via trade or free agency). The Yankees are in a position to readily accomodate them, salary-wise, and a self-fulfilling prophecy is created where good players go to the Yankees because they want to win (see Knoblauch, Clemens), and so the Yankees win every year.

You're right, it's only a game. But despite being a Yankee-hater (long before they started their current 'dynasty'), I'm not consumed by bitterness or anything. I get p.o.'d, but I'm not going to go postal on the Yankee dugout or anything.

However, I really think Yankee dominance DOES negatively impact the game. And it negatively impacts my enjoyment of a sport I've loved for a long time. Sport is at its essence a competition. If the competition is skewed, if one participant has an inherent substantial advantage, then the legitimacy of the competition is compromised, and therefore the legitimacy of the sport is compromised. If year after year the Yankees sign free agents their original, small market team can't afford (Giambi, arguably Mussina), or they deal questionable prospects for a high priced player a small market can't afford (Neagle, Justice, Wetteland, Boone), then the playing field is not level. And it becomes harder to justify watching baseball, if it at least appears that the outcome is as preditermined and predictable as the WWE. And how long can fans of small market teams be expected to support their team? What is the point of watching a competitive event, if the competition is heavily weighted towards one or two participants? Which would you spend your money on, watching Oscar De La Hoya fight Shane Moseley, or one of them fight Joe the Insurance Salesman? Assuming you're a boxing fan, of course....

Anyway, that's my rant. Maybe I should go lie down.

However, I really think Yankee dominance DOES negatively impact the game. And it negatively impacts my enjoyment of a sport I've loved for a long time. Sport is at its essence a competition. If the competition is skewed, if one participant has an inherent substantial advantage, then the legitimacy of the competition is compromised, and therefore the legitimacy of the sport is compromised.

One word: Soccer

Mike

You know, I wish I knew how you guys do that italicizing thing. Anyway...

One word: Soccer

I can't stand the game at all. Never followed it. So if you're saying the description applies to Soccer, I'm glad I don't!

You can get italics with simple HTML: Just surround the text you would like litalicized with < i > your text < /i > (remove the spaces around "i"). For future considerations, < b > + < /b > will give you bold text and < u > and < /u > will give you underlined text. To insert a link, you use this tag < A HREF="http://www.yourlink.com > the text you want to make a link here < /A > (remove the spaces at the beginning/end of the tag but "A HREF" needs a space...be sure to use "http://" at the beginning of all links).

I just hate soccer. For many reasons but the selling of players bugs me. I know it's the concept behind most sports trading but being exchanged for other players seems far less slave-like.

Correction: I forgot a quotation mark in this tag, < A HREF="http://www.yourlink.com" >

http://economics.about.com
I know it's the concept behind most sports trading but being exchanged for other players seems far less slave-like.

The key word being seems. There's no difference at all, except that using money as a means of exchange allows for far more complicated transactions than a pure barter system.

I'm not much of a soccer fan either, to the great dismay of my Danish in-laws. It *is* however the most popular sport in the world and in most premier leagues the same two or three teams win every single year (check out the history of the Dutch league). It doesn't make the sport any less "legitimate".

Mike

I don't contest the smoke screen that exists for the system in place currently.

The root of my discontent for soccer is that I find it brutally boring with little strategy involved compared to baseball or NFL football. Though I do enjoy World Cup play but more because of the competition than the game itself.

http://economics.about.com
The root of my discontent for soccer is that I find it brutally boring with little strategy involved compared to baseball or NFL football.

That's pretty much my thoughts on it as well. Well, I find American and Canadian football really boring as well. Plus my old grade 9 gym teacher and our highschool football coach is in real hot water. Not sure what that has to do with anything, other than I always think about it when I think about football.

My biggest beef with soccer is the whole soccer culture. I hate it when they tap into each other and one of them falls down like he's been shot, then is back up 30 seconds later. Too many games are won by the team who can fake the most injuries. If I want to see people flailing around to win points from judges, I'll watch figuring skating.

Mike

Thanks, A

You've all pretty much summed up my thoughts about soccer, the game. Especially Mike's comments about diving. I don't follow it, so wasn't aware of the economic issues