A helluva lot has happened since the last time I posted here. A day after the Carlos Zambrano pitched a no-hitter in an Astros home game in Milwaukee (something that the Astros are still pissed about, never mind the fact that their owner approved playing there), Ted Lilly took a no-hitter of his own into the 6th. On Thursday, the Cubs came from behind to beat the Brewers 7-6 in 12 innings after rallying from down 4 in the 9th inning, capped off by a 3-run Geovany Soto home run (it's hard to imagine him not winning NL Rookie of the Year now). Then, on Saturday, the Cubs beat the Cardinals 5-4 to clinch the NL Central, marking the first time since the league went to divisional play that the Cubs have won their division in back-to-back years, and giving the Cubs back-to-back playoff births since (nearest I can tell) 1907 & 1908.
The Cubs have actually gone 3-1 since clinching the division, despite not playing some of the starters, showing the depth they have as a team. As of right now they stand at 95-60, and have clinched home field advantage in both the NLDS and NLCS (the AL will have home field advantage in the World Series since it won the All-Star game). They managed to win last night against the Mets--who are now even with the Brewers in the Wild Card and behind in the division-- 9-6 in 10 innings, despite the Mets having a man on third with no outs in the 9th against Bob Howry. Zambrano pitched just 4 2/3 innings last night allowing 5 runs in his 2nd bad start in a row since his no-hitter against the Brewers. This is perhaps the only big unnerving thing about the team going into the playoffs, although that was most assuredly his last start of the season and he'll now have about a week to get ready for his first NLDS start against whoever they're playing. Chad Gaudin has recently come off the DL and has gotten rocked around a little bit as well. Hopefully he can come around, as he was a great middle reliever early in his Cubs tenure when the Cubs were absoltuely on fire as a team.
As I type this, Micah Hoffpauir is 3-for-3 with a homer (the first in his career) against Pedro Martinez in the last game of the four game set with the Mets. His average is currently sitting at .367. Meanwhile, though he's had a couple of very clutch hits, Daryle Ward's average at the moments stands at .219. Would Hoffpauir make the playoff roster over Ward? Might be an interesting question going into the weekend. The Cubs have 3 games Friday to Sunday against the Brewers to close out the year.
In more depressing news, the Bears are now 1-2, following up their great season opener win in Indinapolis with back-to-back losses, blowing 2nd half leads in both of them. After the initial optimism that followed the Colts win, fans are ready to jump off a bridge again and are throwing out the ususal rotation of complaints: the playcalling is too conservative, the Bears don't throw downfield enough, the Cover-2 sucks and the Bears need to blitz more, the Bears don't have the "killing instinct" that other teams do... Personally, I think the Bears have just made mistakes in key situations (last week against the Bucs, Peanut Tillman got called for unsportsmanlike conduct for thowing a punch on what ended up being the game-winning drive in OT), and I don't think their overall philosophy, which hasn't changed much since 2006 when they went to the Superbowl, has much to do with it. Despite consisting of Kyle Orton and a hodge-podge of journeyman recievers, the offense has actually been decently consistent. A bright spot has been Matt Forte, who might have a shot at Offensive Rookie of the Year.
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