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Two words, guaranteed to strike fear into the hearts of all who experience them. "Flu-like symptoms." Yes, that's what I'm suffering from today. Actuallly, it might the foll-on flu, but no-one in baseball ever gets that. I'm going to follow suit and go with the old standby, "Flu-like symptoms." My voice sounds like the guy who dies the movie trailers ["It was a time of trouble..."] or possibly an announver at a gentleman's club ["Now coming to the main stage, the very lovely...Jezebel..."], and something appears to have crawled into my sinuses and died. Whatever it was, appears to have had tentacles.
Good win yesterday, and today, we get to face Ted Lilly. We love Ted Lilly. Every time we face Ted Lilly, it brings back memories of Game Two in last year's NLCS where Ted Lilly gave up a three-run jack to Chris Young and Ted Lilly threw a temper tantrum on the mound, hurling Ted Lilly's glove to the dirt like a petulant Little Leaguer. 3.1 innings pitched, six earned runs, on seven hits and four walks. Let's just remind Ted Lilly of that moment, how much the Arizona Diamondbacks enjoyed facing Ted Lilly.
Gonna be a tough series though, as the Cubs have been hammering the ball, especially at Wrigley where they have scored 7.2 runs per game, and are hitting a collective .315/.401/.505. I'd happily settle for two of the three: Zambrano is the most obvious issue, but we likely are inside Lilly's head after his October meltdown, and I am optimistic we can pounce on that and take the opener.
Jackson back in the lineup, which is good to see; still no Hudson though, and he's replaced by Burke. Young stays in the three-spot, but we are stuck with Byrnes batting lead-off once again. While Byrmes does seem to realize there's an issue, I can't say that is really much help at this point, since we all know that. Fixing it is what we want to see, and the friendly confines of Wrigley would be a good place to start.