Here is a recap of an article in El Nuevo Día (Nov. 11, 2008) about Geovany Soto's press conference last night in San Juan Puerto Rico.

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I was just watching Mike Francesa's show on New York TV. Talking about baseball he showed these numbers about Alfonso Soriano. The following are Soriano's post-season numbers since he hit that epic HR against Curt Schilling in the 2001 World Series:

116 at bats, .181 batting average, 2 Home Runs, 11 RBI, and the tell-all: 5 walks and 38 K.

38 strikeouts!

As Al says, discuss amongst yourselves. To me, that is a very telling number.

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I can't believe the lack of leadership in the Astros' clubhouse. Instead of making the players focus and play, Manager Cecil Cooper is allowing them to play with a t-shirt under their uniforms that reads: "Bud killed us."

You would have thought that almost a week after Hurricane Ike struck the Houston area, the Astros would have regained their composure and started playing baseball. Yet, they're still lifeless and sulking.

A good manager would have stopped the nonsense and would have forced the team to focus on the playoffs days ago. But I guess Cecil Cooper is bitter himself and is whining along with his players.

It doesn't matter to the Astros owner that by instigating all this whining he buried his team. The only thing that matters to him now is to deflect any blame from himself. And if you listen to the national media, Drayton McLane appears to have succeeded in his effort.

So, I ask the media: Isn't a week long enough to whine about this? Move on, please!

The New York Times has a story on its Sunday, August 3rd, edition, profiling Cuban's effort to buy the Chicago Cubs.

The current co-owner of the Red Sox, John Henry, praised Cuban and Bob Dupuy, MLB President, expressed no objection to him. Also of interest is the revelation that John Canning didn't make the cut as a bidder to buy the Cubs because he "miscalculated" the cost of repairs to Wrigley Field.

The only people surprised by the series outcome are those analysts who underestimated the Diamonsbacks. That team was the winningest team in the NL and they showed why.

I've been a critic of Lou, sometimes unjustifiedly, others with good reason, but I can't fault Lou for the outcome, just as we can't credit him for turning the team from last to first. The Cubs only won 85 games (exactly as predicted) but were the beneficiaries of a revamped lineup and the downfall of their competitors in the Central Division. I credit Lou, though, for motivating the players and turning them into believers in themselves. This average team played as such and that was enough to get into the postseason. They performed as predicted while the rest of the division didn't.

But it was inevitable for the Comedy Central to produce a laugher. The Cubs attempted to win a series with only three starters. That caused Lou's mistake in Game 1 when he took out Zambrano to save him for a game that after all, isn't going to be played. However, that wasn't why the team lost. As usual, good pitching prevails, and therefore, the team with the best pitching performances won.

In the end, all of the Cubs' failures got magnified in a short series. They had a leadoff man who was incapable of jumpstarting a rally, the team hit into many DP and they had no real cleanup hitter. Their inconsistency at the plate showed. Also, the starters seemed unable in the last month to last past the 5th inning and two of the three repeated those performances in the NLDS. In the past two weeks this team could only beat a decimated Reds club. The Cubs were swept by the teams with the worst (Florida) and the best (Arizona) records in the league.

At least the Cubs decided to exit quickly without teasing the fans. Now we know this was no championship team. Many improvements have to be made and we don't know how the change of ownership will affect that.

There will be time to discuss this. For now, I congratulate the Arizona Diamondbacks. As for the Cubs, winning the division, no matter how, is a good stepping stone.