Well, So Much For A Cubs World Championship

I found this over at The Big Lead and couldn't stop laughing. Why would Sports Illustrated do this to the Cubs? Chicago is in first place in the NL Central, a game ahead of the Cardinals, just minding their own business and enjoying their place in the sun for once ... and then SI has to pummel them with their jinx bat? This is the sports equivalent of you stomping on the elaborate sand castle that your little brother had spent six hours constructing. The thing had a working drawbridge! Bastards.

Taken aback by this development, the Cubs began their inevitable fall from grace with a 10-7 loss to the Brewers, who collected 17 hits off of five Chicago pitchers (Jason Marquis started and went five innings, taking the loss). Mike Cameron, Corey Hart, Bill Hall and JJ "Kid Dyn-o-mite" Hardy all had three hits for the Brewers. With Alfonso Soriano returning from the DL on Thursday, the Cubs will get about beating this jinx business. But just in case, I'm learning how to say Epic Fail in Japanese.

• The Yankees Have Jumped The Shark. Alex Rodriguez has been placed on the 15-day DL, a development that has caused much wailing and gnashing of teeth in the Bronx, but at least Jorge Posada now has some company. The Yankees celebrated this news by losing 6-4 to the resurgent Tigers, as Gary Sheffield and Curtis Granderson had homers and Kenny Rogers earned the win. Detroit (12-15) has won six of its past eight.

• The Sky Is Falling On Roy Halladay. If you've got kids, you've probably seen the movie Chicken Little, and the baseball scene therein. In that scene Chicken hits a home run to win the game, and takes about an hour rounding the bases, with all manner of comical missteps along the way. Such was the scene on Tuesday with David Ortiz, who scored from second on Kevin Youkilis' single in the ninth to give the Red Sox a 1-0 win over the Blue Jays. Vernon Wells helped by butchering the ball in center as Ortiz chugged around third. Jon Lester threw a one-hitter over eight innings for the win, and Roy Halladay went all the way for the loss; his fourth straight complete game, and third loss. Damn.

• The Joe Saunders Show. This Angels-Athletics rivalry is getting to be an entertaining thing. Joe Saunders went to 5-0 as LA/Anaheim/Fullerton beat Oakland 2-0, moving into a first-place tie with the Athletics in the West.

• Torre On A Roll? The offensive stylings of Jeff Kent — a two-out single in the ninth — broke a tie and gave the Dodgers their fourth straight win, 7-6, over your still-in-first-place Florida Marlins.

• Your Padres Update For Today. Maddux gives up, will skip over win No. 350 and go directly to No. 351.