The Gist: Game #118

Fresh off an unusual drubbing by the hapless St. Louis Cardinals, the Cubs entered Sunday night's game with only a 3.5 game lead on J.O. Sampson's Milwaukee Brewers. Ryan Dempster started the game opposing the newly resurrected Chris Carpenter. Yes, that Chris Carpenter who has largely been absent since the end of the 2006 campaign.

Speaking of Carpenter, ESPN decided to run a montage of his injuries and various trials and tribulations. In the background of the montage was a still picture of a homemade sign which said "Jesus was a Carpenter". In other words, ESPN wants you to know that Chris Carpenter is Jesus. Screw Cardinal fans for making such a blasphemous sign and ESPN can piss-off for airing it.

Quality baserunning and a fundamental lapse in the Cardinal outfield allows A-Ram-Ram to score on a sac fly.

Gammons goes into the details of the Cubs sale and the fact that Mark Cuban is the highest bidder. It's no secret that Cuban is actively working the system in Chicago to garner support, but ultimately it's still going to boil down to Bud Selig and the "Good Ol' Boys Club". If he remains the man willing to drop the most money, it will be very, very interesting to see if and how the old men can keep him down.

Along that line of thinking, could you imagine Cuban, Wood and Dempster going out drinking? You can't really expand the tiny-ass clubhouse in Wrigley, but in what other ways would Cuban coddle the players? Would Cuban tend to his business interests on a Friday afternoon sipping beer in the bleachers?

Awesome diving catch by Edmonds to save two runs closing out the bottom of the third inning. OK, fine, I'll accept Edmonds after this weekend. It's all officially water under the bridge. But I still have my eye on him.

Two solid strokes by Soriano and Lee off of Cardinal Jesus and the Cubs are up 2-0 in the sixth. Then in the midst of an at-bat against Edmonds, Cardinal Jesus pulls up lame and has to leave the game. So much for his resurrection. His departure is followed by Edmonds hitting a sharp grounder that zips right under Adam Kennedy's glove to score another run, and DeRosa shooting a ground ball by Izturis to score Cedeno.

Samardija makes a one out appearance in relief of Dempster, allowing a double to Poopholes but striking out Ludwick. Wood makes quick work of the Cardinals in the eighth, with Marmol and a fabulous diving catch by Fukudome taking care of the degenerates from St. Louis to wrap up the 71st Cubs victory of the season. Go Cubs Go!

Final Score: Cubs win 6-2.