Another 100 years?

The Cubs really have run out of excuses this time.

Despite a very good performance from Carlos Zambrano (if you exclude the pitch to Martin in the third and Manny's homer), this time there was no Goat Curse, not Bartman to blame it on. In a game where all four infielders committed errors, including a howler by second baseman Mark DeRosa that essentially blew the game for the Cubbies, they are now in a hole that I doubt they'll be able to get out of. With the Dodgers flying, and with one loss in the next 3 games knocking the North Siders out, I suspect that Going Back to Cali will be more enjoyable for the LA natives than the Cubs.

Interestingly, this is a series that the "experts" all got wrong. Of ESPN's ten strong jury, only Jim Caple went with the Dodgers.

Admittedly, this is a little bit late, but here are my predictions:

ALDS: Red Sox over Angels (3-1) and Rays over White Sox (3-1)
NLDS: Dodgers over Cubs (3-1) and Phillies over Brewers (3-0)

CS: Red Sox over Rays (4-2) and Dodgers over Phillies (4-3)

WS: Red Sox over Dodgers (4-1)

As for the Red Sox, I think that unless Dice-K is actually willing to challenge batters on the inside half of the plate and keep his off-speed pitches down (he leaves a lot of them way to up in the zone), the Angels have enough power to take advantage of him. Luckily we should have Beckett on Sunday and Lester either in game 4 on Monday or certainly if needed in game 5 on Wednesday.