Now that the World Series is over (congratulations Yanks for the 27th time) and the MLB offseason officially begins exactly a month after the Cubs offseason began, I'm gonna go ahead and post my poll for the best Cubs games of 2009.  There were actually some pretty good games to remember this year... along with the pretty bad ones as well.  Sometimes it got to the point where to some of you, the best game (later in the year) was the game that didn't happen meaning the off-day in which we didn't have to see the Cubs load the bases with no outs and somehow not drive in a run.  I think it was the comments from the "Come here and vent" post in mid-August is a good example of my last sentence. 

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Hey at least they finished five games above .500.  The first winning season without a playoff appearance since 2004.  Now we get to root for any team that faces the Cardinals.  Who would have thought that a year removed from being swept by the Dodgers, we would be rooting for them to do the same thing to the Cardinals. 

18 wins in the final 32 games.  Ironically, the Cubs started winning when Soriano and ultimately Bradley went home.  It just seems like the Cubs fans were always ahead of the curve at making decisions that should have been made a long time ago.  Decisions such as moving Gregg out of the closers role, how many blown saves did Lou need to see before Marmol took over?  I remember listening to SportsCentral on WGN radio in June/July listening to fans say move Soriano out of the leadoff spot, get Bradley out of there, etc.  I'm not saying Lou did a bad job because there are so many things that just didn't go right this year.  I'm not going to make a huge book about it right now because you know the rest.

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I haven't been this disappointed from a swoon month since the 7-22 month of May in 2006, probably because 2006 was the last time the Cubs didn't go to the playoffs and May 2006 was the month that sunk the Cubs that year for good, I hope the 11-17 August isn't the same. 

August got off to a promising start with the Cubs coming off two 12 run wins against Houston and then winning a wild game in Florida 9-8 in 10 innings.  After a roadtrip that ended in a mile-high thud the Cubs were hoping to get some momentum by taking on the world champion Phillies at home... only to get swept.  Then the Cubs took their frustration out on the Pirates 17-2.  Then the Cubs salvaged two possible sweeps on the West Coast for a 2-5 roadtrip. 

Now our Cubbies look to take advantage of the sub-.500 teams most at home the rest of the way out.  On the bright side the Cubs face Pittsburgh 7 more times.

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The Hot Streak finally came!  What an exciting month to be a Cubs fan.  The Cubs won most of the games they had to win and beat the teams that they should beat e.g. Washington Nationals and the Dusty play of the Reds.  It was especially fun for me because I attended two walk off Cubs wins, one being my first ever walk off home run I attended (I was the guy waving the W flag on a stick pointing to the camera during "Go Cubs Go") on July 27.  I also caught my first bleacher home run which was Ludwick's 2nd home run in the nightcap of the Cubs-Cards doubleheader, and I threw the REAL ball back almost immediately and the reception was awesome. 

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The month of June provided us with plenty of extra Cubs baseball with 21 combined extra innings.  If you take out the one rain out that has yet to be made up, that's still 12 extra innings!  But maybe all those extra innings wore out the Cubs' bats because of the four times the Cubs were shutout which ultimately resulted in an 11-14 month of June which brings the Cubs to 36-38 for a 4th place spot trailing by 4.5 games... only 4.5 games, the Cubs are still in this thing!  The Cubs have their work cut out for them as they go up agianst 1st place Milwaukee and 2nd place St.Louis both in 4-game sets at home. 

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The month of May was so inconsistent that the Cubs were once a half game out of 1st place.  Then they went on an 8 game losing streak to bring them to a 4th place slot at the end of the month trailing Milwaukee by 4.5 games.  On a positive note, the Cubs went 15-12 in May as opposed to 10-11 in April (25-24 overall).  Hey, I'd like it to be much better right now but there's still plenty of time left and, it could easily be a lot worse.

There isn't any game that stands out to me as a shoe-in for the best game for May so i'll just include all 15 wins in the poll and let the Cubs nation vote amongst themselves.

Last tuesday I got my Ernie Banks bobblehead doll and it was beautiful.  I think those commemorative giveaways at wrigley are the best giveaways.  The bobbleheads this year are Cubs legends from their MVP years.  I am disapointed that there's no Ron Santo bobblehead (or Greg Maddux hence the last of the retired Cub jersey).  It's probably because Santo was never the MVP.

I was thinking, next year they should giveaway Cubs broadcasters bobbleheads to make up for the absence of a Ron Santo bobblehead doll for this year.  Wouldn't it be awesome to have a harry caray bobblehead in the mold of him singing the seventh inning stretch?  Or Jack Brickhouse with the hey hey literature at the base of the bobblehead.  Think about it, Ron Santo with a mohawk bobblehead, Pat Hughes, Len Casper, or Bob Brenly. 

Maybe our sportsnation can persuade the people that schedule the promotions every year at Wrigley Field to give out Cubs broadcasters past and present (now that I say past I realized I forgot Chip Caray and Steve Stone or for that case Wayne Larrivee) bobblehead dolls.  What do you think?

Which game stands out to you the most?  Was it Soriano's game winning homer in Milwaukee?  Or was it Reed Johnson's "The Catch II" to sit Prince Fielder down?  Was it Ted Lilly's second 1-hit masterpiece on opening day?  Did Alfonso Soriano's go-ahead homer vs. the Cardinals win you over?  Or was it Aramis Ramirez hitting the walk-off shot the next day do it.  Or was it something else???

Choose wisely and leave comments please.

I was just watching last year's NLDS game 2 to remind myself of what the Cubs are trying to avoid doing again, if you know what I mean.  There was a play during the 6th inning where I think it was Blake DeWitt hit a pop fly down the left field line which bounced bounced off the crushed brick before Soriano could field it, and the ball bounced out of play, right into the infamous area known as the Bartman area of the seats.

I attended this game and when that play happened, I heard someone blurt out the phrase "Bartman!!"  Can't some people just forgive and forget?  I have.  But have you?  My point is, the Cubs have lost nine straight playoff games, eight straight since the Bartman incident.  But it seems like every one of those last eight losses have been a one sided affair.  There's a trend in all these loses, Cubs shutdown, the opponent scores a bunch of unanswered runs, and it's de-ja-vu agony all over again for the Cubs. 

I try not to be supersticious (if I spelled that right) but then again, I'm a Cubs fan and I want to see the Cubs win in the playoffs just as much as the next Cubs fan.  Maybe, if Cubs nation as a whole could do something "spiritual" ...if you will, to forgive Bartman (blowing up the Bartman ball and then serving it as cuisine didn't work),  maybe that will put a positive spin on the Cubs in the playoffs, maybe not, but what have we got to lose?

Think about it now.....   any thoughts, comments?  Agree, disagree?  Hopefully I won't have to be defending myself from nasty hateful comments but who cares, I do all I can to treat people the way I want to be treated, expect the same in return but oh well, bash away.