By Matt Veto, mveto@qconline.com
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My friends over at IvyEnvy were writing about putting things in perspective after the Cubs failure. I thought I would try to do the same as an epilogue to the season.
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What makes this so hard, naturally, is history. The Cubs don’t make it to the playoffs every year. I’m trying, also, to put things in perspective. I mean, really, this could happen — and has happened – to many teams.
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Look at the Angels. The team with the best record in baseball is on the brink of failure, too. No one probably expected that, but since they’ve won the playoffs five times in the last seven years, and won a World Series the people didn’t need to ride a horse to go see, it’s not going to be as hope-dashing as the Cubs failure.
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Look at the Yankees. It was a minor “frustration” to not make it to the World Series over the last decade and a half. For the Cubs, who have way too many fans buying into “curse” talk, it’s dream-shattering.
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By Matt Veto, mveto@qconline.com
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Choke.
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Have you come to grips with that word yet? Because there is no other way to describe the Chicago Cubs showing in the NLDS.
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The Dodgers are good — probably better than expected. But I have an awfully hard time believing that they were that much better than the Cubs. The Dodgers outscored the Cubs 20-6. Alfonso Soriano, Aramis Ramirez and Kosuke Fukudome — millions of dollars worth of talent — combined to go 4-for-35.
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It’s the kind of showing that makes “next year” really hard to swallow, and it makes it seem really far away.
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Last season, right around this time of year, under pretty much exactly the same circumstances, I wrote on the VetoPower blog that “next year” had a truly real feel to it this time. The Cubs were back in 2008 with more experience and even better talent.
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By Matt Veto, mveto@qconline.com.
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I haven’t listened to pundits or paid attention to what anyone thinks the Cubs are going to do.
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I’m just ready to them to do something.
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The waiting is the most difficult part of the playoffs (that I’ve experienced … what … three memorable times in my life?) The days off are grueling. We have to put up with our White Sox and Cardinals fan friends telling us this and that about how the Cubs “are really choking, aren’t they?”
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The Cubs are not playing like who we thought they were. And neither are the Dodgers.
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By Matt Veto, mveto@qconline.com
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Panic.
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Yep, I suppose it’s time.
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I choose a controlled panic by pointing out the good things the Cubs have going for them, while trying to hold onto the last drop of optimism that was nearly sucked out of me after Thursday’s disgusting 10-3 loss to the Dodgers in the second game of the NLDS.
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The Cubs have won at least three consecutive games 15 times this season. The “odds” of winning three straight games don’t change. Three straight wins is three straight wins.
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It’s just that there’s a perception that it’s more difficult to accomplish in the playoffs. That perception, I suppose, is based on … well … factual history. Only the New York Yankees have managed to come back to win a series after losing their first two games “at home.”
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But, my friends, the Cubs have managed some incredible things this season. They’ve reached milestones not sniffed in my lifetime, and probably not in the bulk of yours either. Is it likely that the Cubs go on to win this series?
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That’s ridiculous.
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But equally ridiculous is claiming that it’s “impossible.”
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By Matt Veto, mveto@qconline.com
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For about five innings of the Cubs eventual 7-2, Game 1 NLDS loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, I was having a grand old day at the Fineran’s “Backyard Pub” in Moline. And although the disgusting contest brought the spirit down, it was still a great place to watch a game.
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It’s the perfect, outdoor pub that screams “October atmosphere” — an atmosphere that is synonymous with playoff baseball.
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Fineran’s “Pub” represents half of the home of the IvyEnvy Cubs blog that has been managed all season by Corey Fineran, Andy Round, Tim Shook and “new writer” Kurt Tucker all season. They’ve been supporters of the VetoPower blog all season, so we were in good company.
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It’s just a darn shame the Cubs played like that.
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