Three Nights In August: 2007

In 2005, Buzz Bissinger released a book called Three Nights In August in which Bissinger covers a crucial three game series between the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals in the 2003 season at through the eyes of Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa.

Even though the Cardinals took two-of-three that series, the Cubs revealed some flaws of the Cardinals and only weeks later would take four games of a crucial five game series in Wrigley Field which would be the beginning of the end for the 2003 Cardinals.

Fast forward to 2007 because I see the parallels between this Cubs team and the '03 Cubs, who would go on to win the NL Central and make it all the way to within five outs of their first pennant since 1945.

However, this time the role of the Cardinals is played by the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brew Crew spent over 100 days in first place, but since the injury to star pitcher Ben Sheets who has been out since mid-July, the Brewers have struggled mightily and have fallen out of first place.

The Brewers are a young and exciting team with a bright future ahead of them. A lot of "experts" (i.e. the talking heads at ESPN) made the Brewers a fashionable sleeper team during spring training. And this year, on paper, they have the edge over the Cubs in several positions.

At first base, Prince Fielder is among the leaders in home runs and is outproducing 2005 batting champ Derrek Lee of the Cubs. Brewers third baseman Ryan Braun has 25 home runs in 82 games compared to Cubs All-Star Aramis Ramirez who has 18 in 101 games.

The Brewers have a bit of an edge when it comes to outfield production as well. Their outfield has accounted for 62 home runs while the Cubs outfielders have only 47.

However, I feel that the Cubs hold an edge in the three most important categories.

• Starting Pitching: The Cubs will throw out their three best pitchers this season: Rich Hill tonight, ace Carlos Zambrano on Wednesday and Ted Lilly on Thursday. The Brewers counter with Jeff Suppan tonight, but have not announced a starter for Wednesday or Thursday.
  
• Relief Pitching: White Sox announcer Hawk Harrelson actually gave baseball fans insight when the hiring of Lou Piniella was announced. Hawk, who has seen Piniella work his magic for years in the AL, said that Piniella was a "magician" with the bullpen. Piniella indeed has been a magician balancing the veteran moxy of Bobby Howry and Ryan Dempster and the youthful exuberance of Carlos Marmol, with his mid-90s fastball and K-Rod like filthy slider.
• Managers: Ned Yost is a good manager, he always gets the most out of his inexperienced teams. But Lou Piniella is going to be a Hall Of Fame manager when his time is done with the Cubs, especially if he can win with teams like this. Piniella took a team on the brink of tanking on June 1 (after the Barrett/Zambrano confrontation) to the brink of an NL Central title with the NL's best record since June 3.

One of the fun things about this season as a Cubs fan is the idea that any of the 25 men on this team can play hero. It leads to exciting and entertaining baseball.

At times, the offense was carried by the unlikely bats of shortstop Ryan Theriot, super-utility man Mark DeRosa, and most recently the hot bat of revived center fielder Jacque Jones. And when Zambrano struggled early this season, the rotation was carried by Hill, Lilly, Jason Marquis and Sean Marshall.

It's time for the big boys to step up and carry this team through September and possibly to its first playoff appearance since 2003.

Alfonso Soriano returns tonight after 22 days on the disabled list with a torn quad, which softens the blow of the possible return of Cub-killer Ben Sheets to the Brewers rotation.

Soriano, Lee & Ramirez must put up the numbers Cubs fans were accustomed to the last few years to stay on top of this division and have a shot at their first pennant since 1945 and first World's Championship since 1908.

There's only one more analogy I can draw from this, and that is one from the hit TV show The Soprano's. It's like when Tony Soprano empties out a round of ammo on a victim, then his nephew Christopher would put one bullet in the guys head, then cut scene.

This weekend, Barry Bonds and the San Francisco played the role of Tony by sweeping the Brewers back to .500. By winning this series by either winning two-of-three (or even sweeping!) the Cubs could play the role of Christopher---marking the beginning of the demise of the Milwaukee Brewers.

Let's Go Cubbies!

"It's Gonna Happen"
(Maybe)