Filed: September 15th, 2008

The very next game after Carlos Zambrano's historic no-hitter of the Astros, Ted Lilly makes his attempt to up the anty, taking his own no-hit bid into the seventh, and combining with Jeff Samardzija, Carlos Marmol, and Bob Howry for a one-hitter against the same team. In the end, the Cubs win 6-1 going away, and leaving Houston, well....ready to blast off.

Let's get something out of the way first. I understand Cecil Cooper's likely expletive-filled rant to the commish. You gotta say something. And less we forget why the games were moved, let me share my concerns for the people of Houston, and all affected by Hurricane Ike. Frankly though, Drayton McLane is something of a buffoon. And he's proved that yet again with this move. Drayton, you can't have it both ways. First, you absolutely refuse to leave Houston, insisting that not only was the park going to be playable, and that you could assemble the 1000 people or so needed to put a game on in the middle of a natural disaster, but that 60,000 - 100.000 people would somehow be interested in catching baseball in the middle of the aftermath.

Then, after finally relenting, you scream like an infant, demanding ticket concessions, and trying to maximize gate. And that's beside the fact that MLB now had to find a place not likely to be rained out itself on short notice. You think you can get 24,000 people into Kauffman at the drop of a dime? The Braves can't pack people in when their own team play in Atlanta, so that's iffy. So what do you expect MLB to do? The best thing you could have done was suck it up, expense getting the players' families to wherever they needed to go, and with any logistical support they required, and moved on. MLB and the Cubs didn't do this to you; an act of God did.

Why do I mention this? Because it probably would have refocused the Astros, and maybe kept them playing closer to what they had been entering the series. Instead, they get beaten like rented mules over a two-game set. First Zambrano, then Ted Lilly, who really was just his normal self. There was nothing spectacular there; just a nicely spotted fastball, a good curve, and some good location. But Houston couldn't do a thing with him, only coming close in the seventh when the no-hit bid fell apart.

Bless the baseball Gods, for you know that they require all honor to ultimately be earned. A hard-hit ball by Reggie Abercrombie to start the inning was graciously scored an error by the scorekeeper, allowing the bid to last a bit longer. It was a hit though. A sharp grounder to third , that bounced up, before being fielded by shortstop Ronny Cedeno, who threw to first. You have to earn these things, and Ted didn't earn that error. At that point, I knew it was just a matter of time. The next batter, Mark Loretta, then singled sharply to right to end the bid officially. Oh well. Ted then briskly closed out the seventh, and turned it over to the relievers, who pretty much had their way with Houston too.

There was just too much good for the Cubs to complain about. The win of course, reducing the magic number to six. A good inning out of Bob Howry, who I'm forced to hope comes out of his stinky season. Homers abound, with Geovany Soto, Jim Edmonds, and even Derrek Lee going yard; a rarely-seen sight of late that always puts a smile on my face. About the only bad thing was Micah Hoffpauir, who appears to be falling back to earth. 0-2 yesterday, and 1-10 since his recall. I'd feel alot better with even some league-average production from right, but I suppose championship teams have gotten by with worse.

Lastly, the news out of Milwaukee of Ned Yost finally getting fired. Now -- and I say this with no disrespect intended to either Brewers management, or their fans -- Ned Yost is something of a nitwit. I wouldn't have him managing men in any capacity from what I've seen of his managerial talents. So, I don't question the decision. However, I do the timing. How desperate must you be to make this move with less than two weeks left in the season? How badly has this team quit on Yost? If your team can't sustain and band together better than this during a bad two-week stretch, then you lost that team a long time ago. And if that was the case, why wasn't he let go then? And what pressure does this put on interim manager Dale Sveum to try and right a ship in 13 days? It's nutty. But all signs point to the Brewers not wanting to eat that contract. This is what you get when you go cheap. Personally, I consider Ned Yost something of a cautionary tale. Yes Dorothy, a manager actually can make or break a team.

Now go beat the Brewers, and close this thing out.