I Can't Help Looking Ahead

Everyone can talk ad nauseam about taking it one day at the time, and they'll be right. The Cubs must take care of business against a weaker team, keeping their momentum. Still, there's this: the Reds blow, and the St. Louis series is this weekend. I've been looking forward to this series all year.

I love when the Cubs play the Cardinals. I get much more excited about these series than I do about any interleague series, including the White Sox series. The last few years, these have been some of the best series we've watched.

On our way to see a pair in St. Louis last May, we listened to the first game Friday night during the drive. That was the night Farnsworth & Hawkins kept walking Cardinals in a tie game until Hawkins walked in the losing run in the ninth. In the car was my roommate who is another Cubs fan, but also a pair of Cardinals fans (who would become my next roommates). The way Pat & Ron talked about how Wood was pitching that night, it seemed like the Cubs were certain to win. We were getting excited. Then, those bullpen walks blew the game, as we sat there alternating between fits of silence and blurting out "I can't [effing] believe it." What a brutal car ride.

Saturday, though, Matt Clement owned the Cardinals. It was raining lightly all night, and we moved out to the bleachers after a few innings. Nearly all of the Cubs fans stayed out in the bleachers despite the rain, cheering on the win, while two thirds of the Cardinals fans sought shelter. Borowski saved it, and all was right in the world.

Sunday, Zambrano went 7 innings without allowing a run, striking out 12. He was brilliant. Hawkins finished the 8th and the 9th innings without incident, too. Heading into the 10th, it was still 0-0. Enter Farnsworth, who promptly walked the bases loaded before giving up a single. We left, and drove back to Chicago. What a brutal car ride.

The year before, we all remember the Cardinals series in the beginning of September, where the Cubs took four out of five and went on to the playoffs. I was in the bleachers for the one they lost, the second half of a double-header. (The first one went 15 innings, you'll recall, then they had to empty the park before letting the night crowd in.) Kerry Wood pitched 7 innings, allowing one earned and one unearned run, with two walks and nine strikeouts. Receiving his typical lack of run support, the Cubs lost 2-0.

Still, in 2003, that series launched the Cubs into the playoffs. There is no doubt about this. Winning that series sparked the Cubs for the rest of September. Since then, every Cubs series against the Cardinals has felt a little bit more intense. The rivalry is at high tide.

And don't forget that it was against St. Louis when Nomar went down. This was not their fault, but still -- it punctuates the injury. It would have to happen against the Cardinals, wouldn't it.

I'll be watching the Reds series as closely as anyone. I know that the team can't look ahead at the expense of the game they have to play today. Yet a little bit of my attention will be thinking about the series this weekend. I can't help it. I'm fired up. I'll be more fired up if they win at least 3 of 4 against the Reds, but I still have Friday on my mind.

Zambrano will start it off, and he's pitched well in St. Louis. Besides the game we saw where he took a shutout through seven, earlier this year (the Nomar game) he dominated the Cardinals, and would have finished the game if he hadn't developed a blister that took him out in the ninth. Factor that in with how well he's looked his last two starts, and maybe the Cubs can take that first one on Friday...