I was driving to Michigan Sunday night and listening to the Cubs game for as long as WGN would come in as I cruised down I-94. As the Cubs scored five runs in the first two innings (including a first inning leadoff home run) and Zambrano appeared to be dominating I found what I’ll generously call my “competitive side” coming out. By that I mean I was encouraging the Cubs to not only beat the Astros bought to destroy the players’ spirits to the extent that they questioned their decision to choose “professional baseball player” as their vocation.

I’ll admit my strong feelings might be partly because of the attitude of the Astros’ owner and his insistance that the games be played in Houston despite the fact that most of the residents there had evacuated, there was no power and it was questionable whether or not the stadium would even be standing because of Hurricane Ike. I understand that every game is important right now, but if your team can’t adjust and play what was in essence just another road game then they don’t really deserve a playoff spot.

The Cubs, of course, won Game 1 thanks to Zambrano pitching a no-hitter. Game 2 was a comparative slug-fest, with Ted Lilly pitching a one-hitter, though that one hit was a home run.