Baseball playoffs

I still can't believe the Cubs were ousted in three games again. Which means I could really give a rat's ass about the rest of the postseason.

I was, however, happy to see the Philadelphia Phillies eliminate the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games and advance to their first World Series since 1993. I became a Dodger hater when a couple of guys at work started giving attitude even before the Dodgers played the Cubs in the Division Series. I was told at work last night that one of the guys was taking the Dodgers' ouster pretty hard. Poor baby. I have no sympathy for him or the other guy. Take a lesson from a Cubs fan dude and then you'll know misery. Maybe if you hadn't been so arrogant, I might -- I might -- have felt badly for you. But in this case, you got what's coming to you.

As for the American League, looks like the Tampa Bay Rays (???) are going to move on. If they beat the defending champion Boston Red Sox tonight, they'll host the first two games next week at the Tropicana Dome in St. Petersburg.

Who do I want to win? Who cares? But if I had to choose ...

Go Phillies.

Life is just a fantasy ...

It's that time of year again, Fantasy Baseball. Love it. Live for it. It's better than any other Fantasy sport out there, though the NFL is a close second.

I'm kind of a nut about it. I have four Yahoo! teams and one NL-only auction league team with some guys at work (that one is an homage to former Tigers' pitcher/nut Mark Fidrych).

I've got a couple of live drafts coming up, but one of my Yahoo! teams had its draft last week (in a league titled "Organized Kaos." Funny). I really like this team, for several reasons:

*I have several Cubs, including new Japanese outfielder Kosuke Fukudome. Appropriate considering my team is named "Got Fuku?" Other Cubs include catcher Geovany Soto, Carlos Zambrano and Ted Lilly.
*I also have two-time Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana, closers Mariano Rivera and Jason Isringhausen.
*My position players include Ichiro Suzuki, Nick Markakis, Josh Hamilton, Ken Griffey Jr., Miguel Tejada and Shane Victorino.

Ah, I can already taste the champagne ...

How much can one team take??

Trust me, as one of the biggest Chicago Cubs fans in the world, I am no fan of the St. Louis Cardinals. After the White Sox, I probably hate the Cardinals more than any other baseball team.

But I would never wish this on anybody:

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Josh Hancock, a key member of the bullpen that helped the St. Louis Cardinals win the World Series last season, was killed in a car crash early Sunday.

Police said Hancock, 29, was alone in his 2007 Ford Explorer when he struck the rear of a tow truck at 12:35 a.m. The truck was in the left lane assisting another vehicle that was involved in a prior accident, officer Pete Mutter said.

The Cardinals postponed their home game Sunday night against the Chicago Cubs.

It was the second time in less than five years that a St. Louis pitcher died during the season. Darryl Kile was found dead in his Chicago hotel room in 2002 of a coronary artery blockage.

My prayers, sympathies and best wishes go out to Hancock, his family and the Cardinals.

Pitchers and catchers ...

... It's almost time for baseball. And because I'm such a baseball nut, here's a shot of me and my sister Cheryl at the Metrodome in Minneapolis last season. Not much to cheer about that weekend. The Twins swept my Cubbies. (But notice the Asian couple behind us hoarding in on our picture. They must have been Twins fans. But I digress.)

But of course this year is going to be different for the Cubs. Again.