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Dear Cubs: No fake rallies tonight, please. My heart can't take it.

Hopefully no DBack has 150 RBI this series with a .940 batting average like Clark had. no doubt...Clark was amazing. That series really hurt me. Let this be a lesson to all Cubs pitchers this series. If the catcher walks out to the mound to have a word with you, and you want to throw a fastball, don't say "I'm thinking fastball" without covering your mouth with your glove like Maddux did, otherwise your ball will be sent into orbit, like Clark's was.

Hopefully no DBack has 150 RBI this series with a .940 batting average like Clark had.

NYYAAAAHHHHH START THE GAME ALREADY DAMMIT!!!! How have the other 2 games been in terms of start times? Obviously they'll have to introduce all the players, their wives, their pets, their former teachers, friends, relatives, barbers, etc. Will first pitch be at 9:07 or whenever?

Good luck with that.

Low ball pitcher who requires a lot of patience. I'm predicting Soriano and DeRo have a good night. There's going out on a limb if I've ever seen it. Here's hoping you're right! God, Webb would pitch a 1-hitter if Dusty was still at the helm.

I'd much rather win this game than tomorrow, not that I don't want to win both. If we can beat their ace on the road and go back to Chicago at least tied, we're in good shape.

What's the scouting report on Webb? What's the best way to beat him?

He's obviously had someone in his ear, because he's been quoted saying that he has to remain calm and not get too amped. Edit - that doesn't necessarily mean he will be able to control that. True. I wouldn't object to a fist pump or something if he gets a big strikeout, but I don't want him jawing at the ump and snapping at the ball.

I'm worried about which Z will show up tonight. I'd put money on Webb being himself. If Z is the ace we know he can be, I like our chances, but if he gets rattled, stomps around like an idiot, and acts like a petulant child, it'll be a long night. I'm really worried that something like a blown call at first base will set him off and then he'll get shelled.

Yayyy Lou has Ramirez cleanup. Too bad Theriot isn't batting 8th and DeRosa 2nd. That would be the optimal lineup.

Will Ron Santo be in the booth tonight? I know he missed all of the 2003 playoffs with some health issues. I felt bad for him. Although it was probably for the best that he wasn't in the booth for Game 6 and 7. He may have jumped.

Augie Ojeda does not belong on a major league roster. Now watch those words come back to haunt me as he has 5 rbi tonight.

Z better have his ace stuff tonight, because I don't see us scoring more than 2 off of Webb. If Z can keep us in the game, we have a good chance. If he sucks, then tomorrow is a must win.

I agree. But I'd give each side 2 challenges instead of 1. Although I could see your system working as well.

I want whatever will make A-Rod opt out of his contract but not be too expensive for the cubs. In that case I'm rooting for him to go 0-for-the playoffs and get booed out of the stadium.

Are those at Wrigleyville Sports? How big do they come?

Ok, who voted for the Cardinals?

I honestly didn't know that basketball or hockey used instant replay? What are the circumstances those two sports use it for? In basketball, the only play I can imagine needing instant replay for is determining whether or not a player got the shot off before time on either the shot clock or game clock expired. I'm curious to know for those two sports, because I know all about it in football, and I firmly believe that there are enough fundamental differences between football and baseball to justify keeping it in football and not having it in baseball. My main reason for not having it wouldn't be because of the human element or the sake of the history. I think those reasons are pretty stupid. My opinion is that there are so few games whose outcome would be definitively changed (I can't think of a Cubs game all year long where a single blown call on a reviewable play would have turned a loss into a win or a win into a loss), and there are so many games in a season, that the ultimate benefit of instant replay would be negligible at best. Last night's one play would change one Padres loss into a tie game with two outs in the bottom of the 13th with bases empty, giving them a very good chance of surviving until at least the 14th inning. It turned what should have been a 50/50 shot into a loss. Given the timing, it's easy to say that the one blown call cost the Padres their season, but they only have themselves to blame for giving up the 3 consecutive extra base hits, and they only have themselves to blame for losing 73 other games this season and being in that playoff to begin with. The sample size of a baseball season, and even a post-season series, is large enough that instant replay is not necessary to make sure that teams get their fair shake. Baseball has 162 games per season, football has 16. If you compare time spent on the field in one game compared to the entire season, a game of baseball roughly equates to six minutes on the football field. yet football is only allowed two challenges per game. Should baseball teams only be allowed one challenge per week? Per five games? Or should football teams be allowed one challenge per six minutes? Just because they performed poorly in the final inning or at other times does not mean they should have gotten screwed though. Yes, they did peform poorly down the stretch, and yes Hoffman blew it for them, but that doesn't mean they didn't deserve for the right call to be made.

I don't necessarily think video would influence an ump's decision on the field, unless that ump was deliberately thinking about screwing some team and then thought better of it, which I think is very unlikely to happen. Even the best, most non-biased umpires blow a call from time to time, as McClellan did last night. I just think it would be best for the integrity of the game to make sure the correct call is made, and therefore the correct outcome of the game is reached. Someone upthread made the argument that bad calls even out over the course of the season. Maybe they do, maybe they don't. I can't say one way or the other in the Padres case this year. I'm sure they got the benefit of some bad calls that they took advantage of, and I know they got screwed by at least one bad call. But if replay was there you wouldn't necessarily have to worry about that. I read a statistic somewhere that on average, 98% of calls are made correctly. But if that 2% comes at the right time, it can really have an impact on a team's season. I just don't see how anyone could be against the right call being made, and therefore the correct, undisputed outcome happening.

I don't know. I'm just asking hypothetically if replay would be a good idea.

After the epic San Diego/Colorado wild card playoff in which there were two big blown calls, how would you feel about instituting a replay system in baseball on some level? I'm not talking for balls and strikes, but mainly for fair/foul, safe/out, homer/not a homer calls. And if you feel that replay shouldn't be instituted because "that's just part of the game," then please explain why you are against making 100% sure the correct outcome is reached.

I'm pumped for all four matchups. Usually there's one that doesn't interest me that much. But this year I'm interested in all of them. I find it wild that either Philly or Colorado will be in the NLCS.

I really didn't get that. The greatest closer ever still blew it pretty bad. Twice in a row, too. He converts the save Saturday or today, the Rockies don't make the playoffs. Very unlike Hoffman. When was the last time he blew two saves in a row?

Does anyone else smell a bit of a suspension or something coming for McClelland(sp?)?? Or at least being unable to ump the rest of the playoffs?? Extremely hard to tell, maybe his hand got in as it was coming out from under Barrett's foot, but sure didn't look like it. In the end, I think Colorado probly wins it, but still... WOW!! Has an ump ever been suspended for one singular blown call?