Filed: September 7th, 2008 

Meet the real goat.

The Cubs in September are proving to be a sleep to not fall asleep on, albeit for all the wrong reasons. I did after the seventh actually, having watched Sean Marshall work a great six innings, and the Cubs jumping out to a 3-1 lead. I awoke in time to see a hot mess of a ninth inning, in which Ronny Cedeno blew an inning-ending double play, allowing two to score. Jolbert Cabrera would then single to left, sending Wilkin Castillo home for the winning run, and the Cubs off with a 4-3 loss to the Reds.

I keep hearing people explain to me the logic of keeping guys like Ronny Cedeno and Bob Howry on the roster, as it's September, so what the point? The problem is that you're occasionally fooled into using them, no matter how large your roster, today being a prime example. Ronny, who entered the ballgame in the sixth when Ryan Theriot left with minor illness, is not a major league shortstop. I question whether with his lack of fundamentals and poor sense of baseball instincts, whether he's even a major league player. And since this is the 50th example this season of it, I'm going to say it again; for the 50th time.

Back to the ninth though, which proved a microcosm for the Cubs in September. No execution. Whether it was Kerry Wood walking two to extend the inning, the bobble by Jim Edmonds -- yep, even sure-handed Edmonds -- on a Edward Encarnacion single allowing him to reach second, to the tailor-made double play ball hit by Chris Dickerson that Ronny Cedeno whiffs on trying to catch and throw at the same time, it was the worst and ugliest of the 2008 Cubs compacted into the inning. The scorer is calling it a double, but if you missed the game, don't be fooled. There isn't a shortstop in the league that wouldn't have at least gotten the force at second. Well, at least a real one.

As of this writing, the Brewers are getting thumped 10-1, meaning it's likely the Cubs will keep their four-game division lead for at least another day. But Lou's time to right this ship is running out. It looks like the first team to get back to winning is taking this division, and I think the Cubs would go a long way toward making sure that it's them by sending both Cedeno and Howry home.

I'm going to go out now, and try to forget that this game ever happened.