The Cubs

Wrigley Field was ominously silent.  There was plenty of sound in the stands, but on the field the bats belonging to the Chicago nine were strangely quiet, quiet enough that you can’t help but think of last year, when the Arizona Diamondbacks swept the heavily favored Cubbies out in three straight.

Last year the Cubs managed just six runs in the sweep, and after one game they are on pace to match that number.  In the 2007 season the Cubs managed to get just 7 hits, 3 run and no RBIs from their 3-4-5 hitters, and 2 of those hits belonged to Mark DeRosa, who batted 5th in game three last year.  DeRosa went 3 for 9 in that series and scored twice - making him the Cubs offensive MVP of that series.   He’s also on a pace to be the offensive MVP for the Cubs again this year as both of the runs scored and 2 of their nine hits came off his bat today.

The Cubs can’t live with that.  They need production from the heart of the order, not just their number seven hitter.  If Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez and Geovany Soto don’t hit the Cubs will be in for another swift departure from the playoffs.

We’ve already seen the Mets depart in last year’s fashion are the Cubs about to repeat history too?  They still have time to correct the trend, and at least we’ll be pretty sure that Lou Pinella won’t be pulling Carlos Zambrano when he’s pitching well in a 1-1 game tonight.

The Dodgers

Give credit where credit is due.  Derek Lowe made a single mistake, James Loney came through in the biggest at bat of his career and Manny Ramirez was, well he was Manny.

Forget the Cubs well balanced offense, game 1 was about the LA thunder, a grand slam off the bat of Loney to erase a 2-0 deficit, while Manny and Russell Martin added a solo shot each.  Simply put everything came together and in a single evening the Dodgers made a real case that they should be, and can be the team who’ll represent the National League in the World Series.

They needed one game at Wrigley and with that already in their pocket they can almost drive a nail into the Cubs coffin and tip their hat to the billy goat curse by taking today’s game.

Anyone that thought the Dodgers weren’t scary going into this series should look again.  Since the team added Manny Ramirez and Casey Blake the team is playing .570 baseball and that was without the healthy Rafael Furcal or Takashi Saito.

Incidentally since coming over to the Dodgers Manny Ramirez is batting .398 over 54 games. 

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