Listening to the new Springsteen CD,The Rising. Not that great so far, but maybe I need to read the lyric sheet.

Great ball game in Chicago this afternoon. The Cubs took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the seventh over San Diego, but anyone who follows the Cubs knows their bullpen has been awful all season, and has blown the last three games (including a 9-4 lead in the bottom of the 9th Sunday). And today was no exception, with Kyle Farnsworth on the mound. Triple, single, out, single, double. Tom Gordon comes in and gives up a homer, and it's 7-3. Surprisingly, Mark Bellhorn hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth, but with ace closer Trevor Hoffmann on the mound, it seemed useless. Yet they had two on with two out in the bottom of the ninth, and Hoffmann got two quick strikes on Alex Gonzalez. Hoffmann didn't put the next pitch far enough off the strike zone, and Gonzalez hit an opposite-field double, scoring both runs. Chicago announcers Pat Hughes and Ron Santo weren't saying the Cubs would use this as a springboard back into the NL Central race (unbelievably, they were saying it was possible as recently as Sunday), but they sure were happy.

The wild card race continues. The Mets lost, but so did Los Angeles and San Francisco. That leaves the Dodgers, Giants, Reds, Astros, and Mets separated by 4-1/2 games. I suspect one or more teams will fall off the pace in the next few weeks (probably New York, unfortunately), but it looks like a good race.

Karen and I may catch a double feature tomorrow (whose idea was it to pair up Stuart Little 2 and Austin Powers in Goldmember?). I will report back.

Sorry about the double post, if that occurs.