Eh, what are you gonna do?

I really don't know what to say. This wasn't the product of some ill-conceived curse as it was just a team that fell flat and turned cold at the absolute worst time possible.

I followed Game 3 with a sense of impending doom overhead. With each double play I could feel the shoe getting a little closer to dropping. Then it happened. Bases loaded, 1 out, against Livan (6 innings, 5 hits, 5 walks, 2 K's) frickin' Hernandez, and Mark DeRosa hits it right to my new most loathed player of all-time, Stephen Drew.

6-4-3. That was it. What happened in the following innings was of no consequence. This series officially ended right there.

So now what? The next day I put on one of my Cubs shirts and my Cubs hat, and went about my day as usual. You can sit and stew in this if you want, but I'd much rather move on. I realize how horribly hackney and cliché it is, but "there's always next year" is what it keeps us going. While the fairweather fans move on for now until the Cubs make the playoffs again, and while the media turns their attention away only remembering that we lost and it was probably Bartman's fault, the rest of us need to look forward to next year, and there are certainly things worth looking forward to.

A new owner is coming in. We still have a pitching rotation that should be pretty good next year. We have Carlos Marmol, who should seriously be considered as our closer for next season. We have Geovany Soto, who may be the best catcher we've had in a long, long time. We have Ryan Theriot, who seemed to lose steam down the stretch, but after his first real full season under his belt, I see him making the necessary adjustments and coming back even better next season. We have Thunder Matt Murton, who I still strongly believe can make a big impact if he's given a regular starting gig (work on that defense in RF this winter though Thunder). We have Old Style, which thankfully is available at all times, as we self-medicate to get over the pain of 2007 and look to what could be in 2008.

We've got next year. I honestly feel like this team can be back in the postseason in'08, something they haven't done in consecutive years since 1908.

I've blathered long enough. Congrats to the D-Bags. Go Rockies and Indians, and I have nothing more to say.

As some Cubs blogs go into hibernation for the winter, please stop by the Saloon as we should still have plenty to talk about. It may not really be about the Cubs at all, but it should still be interesting to say the least.