Won or Done

I'll come out and say it: A loss tonight and the playoff chase is over. This team cannot afford to drop games to the dregs of the dregs after allowing the hangers-on to come back to life. And they cannot do it without Mark Prior stepping up and becoming a semblance of what he was last year (note to Jim Hendry - get Tom House on a plane to Chicago, stat!). Last year this team smacks down the Cardinals with a 4 wins in a 5 game series. In 2004, the team goes 3 and 7 against their three closest challengers and lays a goose egg in French Canadia.

After tonight, the Cubs head to Florida. The way the Cubs are playing and the way Florida is playing, any reasonable person expects the Cubs to lose the series. And if that happens, the likelihood is that the Giants will have the Wild Card lead.

Oh, and when did the Cubs go into their funk? As soon as their leadoff hitter went into a 2 for 18 with four strikeouts and one walk funk. ***CORRECTION: 2 for 21 with five K's and one walk*** Regular readers will have seen this coming a mile off.

Top and Bottom

Back in April, I would have ranked the Cubs starters from best to worst as:
1) Prior
2) Zambrano
3) Wood
4) Clement
5) Maddux

Talk about topsy turvey! Look at how they've pitched this year:
1) Maddux
2) Zambrano
3) Clement
4) Wood
5) Prior

Maddux as your #1 playoff starter? I don't think so!