Playoff Bound

Lots of baseball for us this weekend. We had friends and family over on Friday night to watch the Brewers defeat the Cubs 5-1 and take a one-game lead in the wild card race. On Saturday, we were present to watch the Cubs win the second game of the series 7-3, putting the Brewers back in a tie with the Mets for the wild card.

To top it all off, we were also in attendance at today's game. The Cubs took an early 1-0 lead, but the Brewers tied it up in the 7th inning on a bases loaded walk. Ryan Braun smacked a home run in the eighth to put the Brewers up 3-1. C.C. Sabathia, who pitched amazingly well throughout the game, took care of business in the 9th. With the win, the Brewers clinched at least a tie for the wild card playoff spot. If the Mets lost today, the Brewers would win the wild card outright.

The Mets-Marlins game was in the bottom of the 8th when the Brewers-Cubs game ended. We stayed in our seats (along with pretty much everyone else) to watch the end of the game on the jumbotron. Chants of "Let's go, Marlins!" rung throughout Miller Park as the Marlins took a 4-2 lead into the bottom of ninth. To make a long story short, the Marlins won, and the celebration was on.

MOVIE of the celebration at Miller Park after the Brewers clinched the NL Wild Card!

We are now hoping for the Cubs to beat the Dodgers and the Brewers to beat the Phillies in the first round of the playoffs, which would result in a Cubs-Brewers NL Championship Series. That would be awesome.

No-No Way!

As Adam and Allison mentioned in the comments, I count myself among a very elite few who had the great privilege of witnessing the first Cubs no-hitter since 1972, when Carlos Zambrano shutout the Astros at Miller Park last week. It was by far the best baseball game that I've ever been to.

The entire game was a fluke - the Cubs were supposed to play in Houston, but due to Hurrican Ike, the game was moved to a so-called neutral site - Miller Park. So along with about 23,400 other Cubs fans, we headed north to witness the Cubs take on the Astros in Brewer territory.

There are no words to describe the game. The crowd was electric, and we all felt like we could witness history from very early on. Zambrano brought his A game and kept it up for 115 pitches.

I'm not a very nervous person - I generally take things in stride, but this had me and everyone else on pins and needles. I got a little worried during 4 and 5, when he walked and then hit a batter - but Zambrano pulled it out.

After about the 6th, any time an Astro hit a grounder, you could hear everyone holding their breath until the throw to first. But the infield was on it. After 7, and especially 8 and 9, there was a loud cheer after every pitch.

And after the last strikeout, it was unbelievable. Nobody wanted to leave - Zambrano got about three curtain calls - Go Cubs Go broke out a few times - they dug up the pitchers mound for him - it was truly fantastic.

And I counted Astros jerseys - I saw 8. Out of 23,441.

I really hope the Brewers can pull out the wild card - because an NLCS at Wrigley and Miller Park would be so fun!

Poke poke poke

Even though I spent the first three days of this week in Nashville at a work-related conference, I didn't find it especially exciting. Maybe that's because the last time I was in Nashville, I ran my best marathon ever.

Anyway, I'd like to post a link to a YouTube video of one of my favorite Bert & Ernie sketches from Sesame Street. Classic.

Is Bert Asleep?

Gonna Fly Now

My good friend, Mark, easily did ten push-ups with Caleb (his son, left), and David (oldest son of Steve & Mary, right) on his back. He can also beat me in running races 10 miles or shorter. :)