Steve Goodman Said It All

Tonight is Game 1 of Cubs vs. Diamondbacks in the NLDS.  You can bet your ass I'll be glued to the TV with my fingers crossed hoping for black cats, billy goats, and Steve Bartmans to stay far far away.

The highly emotional, inconsistent, yet often dominating Carlos Zambrano starts tonight against the very talented Brandon Webb who, earlier this season, destroyed the Cubs lineup.  I'm looking for Soriano to continue his power streak, Derek Lee to drive in runs with some well-placed doubles and Ryan Theriot to leap out of the batter's box regardless of where he hits the ball.  In the 8th inning Carlos Marmol will then help hold the Diamdbacks with his 1.43 ERA and Dempster will then close the game.   Simple as that.

One of my new favorite Cubs Ryan Theriot had a comment on this year's playoffs.

"We can't control what happened the last 100 years, or maybe the past five years. To win here and move on to the next round and win there would put us right where we want to be. The 100 years before that, that's for the fans. We want to win for the city of Chicago. We want that for them. I'm not that old, but I know there are people out there who have been Cub fans for awhile, and they deserve a championship club. Hopefully we can give it to them.€" - Ryan Theriot