Well, if you were in most of the Chicagoland area last night, you got to enjoy one of the most spectacular storms that the city has seen in years. Almost like the sky opened up and dumped all its sorrow out. If you were in Wrigley though, you got a start, stop, start-again, stop-again game that ultimately ended with a rain-shortened 2-0 Cubs loss. Sorry.

This is one of those rare games that I'm happy that the Cubs lost, or at least as much as I can be, and truthfully I was hoping that they would call the game after the first rain delay at the top of the sixth inning. Instead, we were treated to a 2 hour, 45 minute delay before play resumed. During that time, a massive storm -- tornadoes included -- blasted through the city on a Northwest path; soaking downtown, Lincoln Park, Lakeview, and any other neighborhood heading north out of town. Amazing and beautiful to see, but incredibly dangerous to play in. When play resumed, starter Ryan Dempster was lifted for Chad Gaudin, followed by Neal Cotts. Both were effective, which was great to see, and you did get a sense that the Cubs might have had another comeback in them offensively. But when a lightning strike appeared to come down inside Wrigley, the Astros said enough, and fortunately everyone else agreed.

So, Ryan Dempster was saddled with his second home loss of the season; a shame really, as he was reasonably effective through his five innings of work. His big mistake though was a bases-loaded walk to Humberto Quintero in the fourth that sealed the deal. The Cubs, sitting Mark DeRosa, Derrek Lee, and  Ryan Theriot, couldn't put anything together versus Brian Moehler. He did a real good job of working the outside corner, and took advantage of some high fastballs to keep the Cubs under control. They're hot; the Astros are now winners of their last four. It's almost a pity that they didn't get better pitching in the off-season, as they might have a more realistic shot at the wild-card if they did. You know what they say though; you don't win championships in January, but you do lose them.

In other news, I'd be remiss if I didn't say a goodbye to Skip Caray, long-time broadcaster of the Atlanta Braves. Caray in Chicago synonymous with friend, and I feel like we've all lost a great one today. He was 68.

Here's to better days. You've got a good matchup this afternoon in Rich Harden vs. Wandy Rodriguez, and Kerry Wood may be back from the DL as soon as today.