FanHouse NLDS

Even though the Cubs lost, everybody still wants to talk about them. We're definitely guilty of it at FanHouse (let me present exhibits A, B, C, D, E, and, um, F-U), though I've tried to put the brakes on it by banning all references to The Team No Longer Playing during our live blogs.

But before we completely move on, we had to share these last two videos. Above (via Deadspin) is a commercial from Walter E. Smithe, a Chicago furniture store, who obviously shelled out big bucks for a 30-second commercial featuring all sorts of Cubbie greats ... only to have the Cubs lose in the first round, before the commercial ever had a chance to air. This summer's gonna last forever? More like "this summer's gonna go three and out."

The NLCS will kick-off in less than an hour, and last I checked, the Cubs aren't playing. But before we completely forget about the lovable losers until spring, here's Jim Hendry's final word on who broke the pipe that flooded Dodger Stadium's visitor's clubhouse. From Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune:

"I have no idea," Hendry said. "And I don't have any interest in finding out. To me, it's not even an issue. Believe me, if I had been in a uniform, it might've been me."

[...] "The [Dodgers] clubhouse people told me it was about the fourth or fifth time it's happened this year," Hendry said. "I guess the nozzle was knocked off the piping on the wall, and it's probably in a convenient spot when you're leaving the dugout to smack it.

As Hendry went on to explain, he would've been more upset had his players not been angry. Can't say I blame him, either. If teams in the regular season were frustrated enough to break the pipe four or five times, the Dodgers should be relieved that a team who just choked away everything they worked for in the regular season didn't burn the whole place down.

Life is not good for Kosuke Fukudome right now. The Cubs are down two games to none in their NLDS series against the Dodgers, he's hitless in eight postseason at bats, kids are getting in trouble at school for wearing his jersey, and those headbands fans used to wear around Wrigley are still being used, but by fans to hang themselves with.

To put it plainly, Kosuke's life just sucks right now. His manager made it pretty clear that he's not going to be playing again anytime soon, and now poor Kosuke is even getting heckled at O'Hare Airport when he's not even there.

Passengers at O'Hare Airport were surprised to hear his name being paged over the public address system in Terminal B on Friday morning.

But it turned out that it was all a joke.

"Paging Kosuke Fukudome, paging Kosuke Fukudome ... Please report to the Cincinnati Reds. You have been traded for a player to be named later."

Some of the passengers waiting for flights laughed, while others cringed.

See, now that's just cold. While Fukudome has struggled mightily for months now, it's pretty unfair for Cubs fans to unleash all their frustration on him. I mean, it's not like he's the only member of the team to disappear in October. The fact that the middle of the Cubs order has disappeared, the infield can't play defense anymore, and the pitching staff can't get anyone out when it counts isn't helping much either.

There's plenty of blame to go around Wrigleyville right now, Cubs fans, so spread the love.

Much has been made in the media about the copious amounts of tickets still available for tonight and tomorrow night's NLCS games at Chase Field in Phoenix. Earlier this afternoon Diamondbacks President Derrick Hall said 4,000 seats remained available for tonight's game and that got me thinking.

The cheapest available ticket for the games in Arizona are $25.00, not too bad when you take into account that a seat in the farthest reaches of Yankee Stadium's leftfield upper deck ran you $42.00 in the division series. Still, Phoenicians aren't biting so why not take a page from Thom Yorke's book and just let fans pay what they want.

Radiohead has released their new album In Rainbows via the internet and if you go to the site and download it, it's up to you to pay what you want. A rather ingenious way of both beating the illegal download system as well as turning on a new fan or two to your music which would then, theoretically, lead them to buy more music in the future.

If the Diamondbacks are having trouble turning people onto their brand of baseball, why not try something similar? You want a full house to support your team and give yourself a home field advantage so why not try slashing prices to ensure a capacity crowd. You'll make a lot of the difference back on beer and hot dogs and, who knows, you might mint a die-hard Snakes fan or two in the process. Oh, and the Radiohead album? Quite good and worth whatever you might want to pay for it.

Now that TBS' coverage of the Divisional Series has ended, I think it's safe to say they did a decent job of covering all the games. Yes, there were a few things about TBS's coverage that I wasn't a fan of. That little 9-foot marker they put over at first base to measure a runner's lead off of the bag? Yeah, that was stupid and pointless. Frank Thomas as a studio analyst left a bit to be desired, and don't even get me started on Dick Stockton and his crazy hair.

Still, TBS must have been doing something right, because the ratings for this years divisional round games are better than they were last year.

Fox, like other broadcast networks, reach more than 113 million U.S. households who own TVs. Cablecaster TBS is accessible in only about 90 million households and doesn't even have the potential reach cablecaster ESPN had on its playoff coverage last year. ESPN also put its game coverage on local over-the-air TV in the cities of participating teams.

So, with less accessibility into TV households, TBS' first-round coverage would logically have lower TV ratings than the first-round coverage on Fox and ESPN last year. That was made even more likely considering that viewer interest, in any sport, usually builds the longer that playoff series last - and TBS had three of its four first-round series end in sweeps.

Funny thing, though. TBS finished its first-round games averaging 3.8% of U.S. households - up 18% from last year's first-round games on Fox and ESPN.

Now that the hearts of Cubs fans everywhere have been broken once again, those same Cubs fans are turning their attention to next season. Actually, no, scratch that. They're trying to figure out who's fault it is.

Is it Lou Piniella's fault for pulling Carlos Zambrano out of game one after only 85 pitches? How about Alfonso Soriano? He didn't do anything that remotely helped the Cubs in their three games. Maybe it's the fact that the Cubs seem to love those inning ending double plays.

Just as long as nobody gives the Diamondbacks credit for actually being the better team. There's no way that can be true.

One of the players taking heat in Chicago right now for the Cubs lay down is third baseman Aramis Ramirez. The man has gone from being the team MVP to a guy the Cubs should trade this offseason.

Many of their contracts are unmovable, and Alfonso Soriano's deal is on that list, but the one they might be able to unload is the four years and $62 million remaining on the contract of Aramis Ramirez.

The third baseman is overrated defensively, moves only when it seems to suit him, has taken to running out fewer and fewer groundballs and deep flies, and, as you witnessed last week, is a selfish situational hitter.

It should be noted that the writer of that column, Barry Rozner, hates Aramis Ramirez. I'm pretty sure he has a voodoo doll that he performs wiccan rituals with on a nightly basis.

It's been an awfully long time since the Chicago Cubs won a World Series. I realize this isn't news for anyone who wasn't put into a coma after finding themselves beneath William Taft's gargantuan rear end but 99 years is a long wait for anything. John Smallwood of the Philadelphia Daily News has a message for Chicagoans drowning their sorrows in Old Style this morning - Get over it.

He met up with one such Cubs fan after Saturday's season-ending loss and apprised him of the sad state of affairs in Philadelphia sports, including the Cubs 2 to 1 lead in World Series titles over the Phillies despite the dry century.

I told him the sad Philadelphia saga of the 1983 Sixers being the last team to win a championship and that collectively, with the Phillies about to be eliminated in the NLDS by the Colorado Rockies, the city had now gone 93 seasons without a parade.

I said, dude, in that time, Chicago has gotten six NBA titles from the Bulls, a Super Bowl from the Bears and a World Series from the White Sox - OK, so bringing up the White Sox' 2005 title to a Cubs fan was a bit cruel, but I was on a roll.

I explained that the Super Bowl didn't exist the last time Philadelphia won an NFL title, and that the Eagles, Flyers, Phillies and Sixers had won just eight championships in their combined histories. That was just two more than Michael Jordan personally delivered to Chicago.

No wonder Philadelphia fans booed Santa Claus. If I got that much coal in my stocking I'd hate the jolly fat man in red too. Don't get too down though, Philly fans, Sixers preseason starts tonight!

Seriously, who amongst you said at the beginning of the season that the Rockies would be in the NLCS? Raise your hands.

Now put them down, you liars. You should be ashamed of yourselves. Nobody thought the Rockies would be in the NLCS this season. Of course, that's been the script in Major League baseball the last few seasons. No one thought the Tigers would get to the World Series last year, either.

If you thought the Rockies were done surprising everybody this October, just wait until you hear they might try and pull off once their season ends.

Because it has more young players coming, Colorado is positioned to make a major trade. GM Dan O'Dowd reportedly is considering dangling third baseman Garrett Atkins (25 homers, 111 RBIs) and left-hander Brian Fuentes, which would be a strong down payment for a one-year rental on Johan Santana.

Seems crazy doesn't it? As crazy as an NLCS featuring the Rockies and Diamondbacks? As currently constructed, the Rockies are currently ranked 25th in baseball with their payroll. Still, that doesn't mean the Rockies aren't willing to spend money to get players. Remember Denny Neagle and Mike Hampton?

Sure, those moves turned out horribly for the Rockies, but neither Neagle or Hampton come anywhere close to Johan as a pitcher. A package featuring Atkins and Fuentes would be a good start in trying to pry Santana away from the Twins, but I don't think it would be enough. Colorado would probably have to include another youngster or two if they want to be taken seriously.

You could say that the Rockies would be giving up an awful lot for just a one year rental on Santana, but if the Rockies can get to the World Series, who knows what kind of financial windfall that would bring to the organization. They might be able to give Santana the kind of long term extension he's looking for.

It's a long shot sure, but it's no longer than the odds that the Rockies would be where they are today.

Saturday night's Rockies 2-1 victory, and the two that proceeded it, weren't surprising for the fact that they happened. Just the way they happened.

Think about it. This Phillies lineup came into this series with scary, historic numbers ... and they were to take their hacks in two notorious hitters' ballparks. So what happened? The Phillies batted .188 for the series and went down in three games. And tonight, with their backs to the wall, they managed three hits at Coors Field. The wind may have been howling towards the plate, but three hits are three hits.

It's a testament to the Rockies pitching staff. Give it up to Ubaldo Jimenez, who gave up those three hits in six and a third innings, along with five strikeouts. And give it up to the Rockies bullpen, who for the series pitched 11 and 2/3's innings, giving up six hits and one earned run ... and that was all in the second game which was out of reach to the Phillies for most of that damage.

And give it up for Clint Hurdle, who finally gets to look smart after six years managing the Rockies.

For the Phillies, their bullpen finally caught up with them in games two and three. The lesser lights imploded in the second game. And J.C. Romero, who was lights out during the Phillies' unreal stretch run, was touched up for the winning run ... a two out rally capped with an RBI single by Jeff Baker.

For the Phillies, it now truly is lights out, but a miracle division title is nothing to sneeze at ... not in a season which turned around after their manager challenged a Philadelphia radio personality to a fight. For the Rockies, it's a seven game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, in the first NLCS to feature N.L. West teams only. Are you still willing to pick against the Rockies and that bullpen?

No the Phillies haven't been swept yet, but it was quite literally lights out for them and the Rockies during Game 3 of their NLDS series. Soon after the first pitch of the second inning by Ubaldo Jimenez, the house lights went out at Coors Field leaving both teams in the dark. After a delay of 14 minutes, the report was that it was a simple computer error.

(And Aaron Rowand thought hitting with those daytime shadows was bad.)

All right, so we've had gnats in Cleveland, and now darkness in Denver. If I see frogs in Anaheim, I'm never going to a baseball game again.