I'm ready to be shown, statistically, how Gregg is "not really having that bad of a year", how he actually "compares well stat-wise to other closers", and how "we have much worse problems than Gregg".

i said it early on this season - this guy is not a closer, or not an effective one.  He doesn't intimidate.  His stuff isn't good enough to get big outs.  His control is fragile at best, and he simply doesn't have a strikeout pitch to get that 0-2 or 1-2 strikeout.

As a result he ends up throwing lots of pitches, having 0-2 and 1-2 pitches fouled off again and again, letting the hitters see more pitches and get more comfortable, drive the count up and jump on him.

And blown saves, in big games, take their toll on the team in many ways.

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I'm know I'm certain to draw the ire of many of you with the timing of this post, but as of now it's 4:03 and it seems the deal with the Pirates is the only deal the Cubs will make.  To which I say...

Is that It!??

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make it even more obivous how bad it is to let these guys go.

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I said it in this post.  Many of you questioned it and ridiculed me, saying we are supposed to do worse against better pitching.

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We can argue over whether the moves made this offseason were the right ones, and talk about the injuries, the matchups, whatever.

But how this team, with this payroll, after the year they had last year, can look this bad is incomprehensible. I'm at a loss, completely.

It's basically the same question I was asking myself in the NLDS - how a team that looked so good in the regular season, could look so bad in the playoffs.

We beat up on terrible pitching, but make mediocre pitchers look like Cy Young candidates.  And when we face actual Cy Young candidates, we might as well not show up.  And guess what kind of pitching you see exclusively in the playoffs?

We have no leader.  We have no fire.  We have no emotion. We have, maybe, one clutch hitting.  We have no fun. So far, we have no accountability.

At some point, blame has to start falling, and not on the players we *dont* have, but the players we do.

I got flamed pretty badly last night.  And I'll be the first to say that my tone was affected by my frustration.

And while I won't use the "g" word again, I will stick to my general assertion.  This team doesn't have what it takes to win a championship.

You can call it "finding ways to to lose", "head not in the game", whatever you want.  But going 3 for 30-something with RISP...your game 1 starting pitcher walking 7 in 4.2 innings...or your 3 time gold-glove first baseman booting a ball and circling around looking for the ball..there is no silver lining here.

For all of you who said "they just had a bad game" last night, and tonight after the 2nd inning were probably saying "they just had a bad inning", I think the implication (or hope at least) , was they would bounce back strong as they have done all year. Maybe even get mad.  Maybe show some fire. But they didn't.  They look terrible and have managed only 2 hits.

Something has to be done, and I'm not sure what.  IMO we need to swap out some of the DNA and try some new blood.  You can see what Manny and Blake have brought to the Dodgers - well we need some of that next year.  I don't know where you get it, and who you give up.  But I hope they find a way.

Dempster was pathetic.  Sitting watching Lester mow down the Halos, Dempster is no Lester.  And he can forget about ever being in Beckett's league.

Soriano was pathetic.  Show up or sit down.

DPLee as usual.  Where is the guy that beat us and won the WS in 2003?

The crowd - beyond pathetic.  No f#$%ing excuse. Not the ticket prices, not nervousness.  I was embarrassed to be a Cubs fan during that game.

I'm a lifelong (37 year) die-hard fan.  And I've maintained to all of the encouraging comments people have made during the year, that this team lacks the killer instinct.  They are not a championship team.  They can't relax, they don't have fun even winning, not like the Rays, Red Sox, and Angels.You can call it tempering my expectations, planning for the worst so as not to be let down.

But they proved me right tonight.

Will they step up, or fade into the same first-round loss obivion as last years team?

"No guts, no glory."