jim edmonds takes the first pitch a strike. edmonds batting lefty against the right handed proir fouls the second pitch back. cubs and cardinals to play two tomorrow starting at noon. then another game at 7:05pm CST. cubs will go over 2.5 million tickets sold this year tonight. edmonds fouls two more back. and then another. he hops after he misses. not a well developed moustache on edmonds. ball low. edmonds is working prior nicely. two more foul balls. ive never liked edmonds. he wears #15 for the red birds, full count. foul ball. prior takes the new ball walks behind the mound takes off his hat takes a deep breath, returns. outside change up, pause, ball four. boos. it was off by a half foot.

rolen fouls off the first pitch. no outs. high inside fastball called a strike. tino martinez on deck. foul tip caught cub catcher damien miller. 0-2. check swing, strike called for going around. fourth k for prior.

1-0 to martinez. outside strike called a ball, 0-2 to the lefty martinez. it seems the outside pitches to right handers is more generous than that for the left handers. high tight pitch high fly to short right taken by womack running backwards. two outs man on first.

renteria takes a good inside curveball that curves over the inside corner. renteria popped up in the second. next pitch is fouled off. 73 pitches for prior already. top of the fourth. crowd cheers, 6-4 force at second.

howard owens

tony womack leads off 1-1. hanging curve over the middle, womack sends it to short center for a single.

sammy sosa is announced to great cheering from the 20k who stayed through to this far. the rain is getting a wee bit stronger. metheny goes to the mound. the speedy womack is at first remember. curve inside taken, strike one. outside fastball called a strike, it was a strike. outside strike swung at, swung through, sammy whiffs. one out.

alou up only batting .252 after the all star break. curve hit as a chopper to rolen at third who aims at second but the slippery ball comes out, rolen then throws to first but alou is safe.

karros high fly ball, back back. wind knocks it down, edmonds basket catch, for some reason womack isnt tagging up. first and second with two outs now.

ramirez with the same goatee as pujols. not trimmed as well. karros looks like an older charlie manson with his untrimmed beard. ramirez 2-1. pick off play at second, safe. outside curveball strike. land of good and plenty that outside corner. groundball to first, out. cubs leave two. cards 0 cubs 0

layne

williams the pitcher leads off 1-1, sweeping curve over the outside corner, 1-2. nice sinker down the middle, ball is called, everyone moans, 2-2. woody fouls back the next pitch. rising fastball, long high drive to center, first out.

drizzle begins. vina and his red bat are up. first pitch taken for an outside corner strike. vina bats left handed. questionable ball, 1-1. curve taken inside, called strike. next pitched fouled off. inside corner looking, called strike three. of course it was a strike. sit down. two outs.

orlando palmerio goes quickly to 1-2. prior is allowed to blow on his hand on the mound. palmerio sends a single right past priors foot and over second base. single. third hit for the cardinals.

pujols the best hitter in baseball is up. curve strike. ends up 2-2. pujols has a well trimmed goatee. outside fastball squeaks past the outside corner to the right hand hitting pujols. low fastball at 96 mph catches pujols looking for a curveball, weak attempt at a swing, strike three. cards 0, cubs 0

welch

long drive to right for the moustachioed ramon martinez who has a little beard too. playing short fo the cubs. wind knocks it down and there probably wont be many homers today, fans.

one out for the catcher damien miller. long foul ball to right, long run for palmiero, hits bullpen safely. 2-2 for miller against woody williams. inside fastball, just missed. full count. inside corner, miller pulls it to left and waltzes into second base.

prior at bat, hitting .228 with 5 rbis. theres sand on the outside warning track because of the rain earlier. prior gets it to 2-0, one out. woody only has given up 48 walks this season. ball three on the pitcher prior. a kid eats a bite from a hot dog. one strike looking, one swinging, full count. williams will be out of the game at this pace in twenty minutes. prior fouls one back. then a long drive to right, caught, miller to third with two outs.

lofton up batting .330 since joining the cubs. two quick balls pitching around lofton? seven game hitting streak. 2-1. 3-1, strike over the middle, taking. full count one big hop to second base, rentaria fields it cleanly, throws lofton out at first. cards 0, cubs 0

fat nathan

scott rolen vs mark prior. 0-2 prior launches a wicked curve ball that somehow rolen gets , sends it to left center, bewilders centerfieleder lofton, rollen to second.

martinez first pitch pop up to left. one out rollen on second. the sun is setting in chicago. the lights are on.

edgar renteria batting .334, big swing on an inside fastball, strike one. 0-6 lifetime against prior. curveball 5 feet outside, ball. renteria is the fourth best hitter in the national league. prior misses three feet high. ball. prior jams him, high pop to right, drifts foul, three cubs after it. rollen tags up. karos tip toes through the wet grass catches the ball near the bullpen area spins and throws weakly to thirdbase, rollen safe standing up.

matt metheny the catcher with two outs goes quickly 0-2. the crowd gets into it. high pitch fouled away. metheny uses a red bat like leadoff hitter vina. check swing, appeal, ball. the curveball looked like a whiffle ball. as if the moisture is beneficial to prior’s movement. it goes to 2-2, jammed him, towering fly to second baseman who squeezes it with two hands. cards 0 cubs 0

rabbit

just now inspired me to give you an inning by inning bloggy thing about watching the cubs and the cardinals today, labor day, which means, take it easy day.

after a four and a half hour rain delay, the cubs and cardinals finally get the game started. everyones drunk by now, including myself. the cards’ leadoff hitter makes it to second with two outs and the wind knocks down a for sure homer from albert pujols and after a strike out the cubs’ ace mark prior is out of the inning. cards 0 cubs 0

good old kenny lofton leads off with a double to left and moved over to third with a bunt from newly acquired tony womack that gets stuck in the tall wet infield grass, wild throw almost scores lofton, but instead it’s now first and third, nobody out and hot hitting sammy sosa at bat.

the organ cranks the fans cheer. the infield is back to concede the run. sosa is batting .166 against woody williams who gets ahead in the count 0-1 and then 1-1. sammy fouls off a ball and breaks his bat. no cork. of course no cork. still, the crowd sighs in relief. the count becomes full. runner goes at first, sammy strikes out, no throw to second.

one out moises alou. four hour and seventeen minute rain delay they announce officially. a ball about two feet off the plate gets called a strike. followed by woody williams who hits alou on the wrist near the bottom of the bat. trainer comes out, leaves quickly, no injury.

bases loaded for eric karros batting .294. curveball outside a foot, strike. outside pitch to karros, poked to first baseman tino martinez who throws home, fielders choice at home.

two outs bases loaded for aramis ramirez who has 20 home runs this season. known for bat not glove. curveball five feet outside, ball. long drive to left field sure grand slam, because of the wind, out. cards 0 cubs 0

dirty fez

today is labor day and i guess that should mean that we should reflect on the jobs that we’ve been lucky enough to have while walking around gods green earth.

mine started at mcdonalds in santa monica back during the olympics. they first put me on mop detail. i guess thats how you start in life. it didnt matter that i was in college, it mattered that i never had a job before, so where better than cleaning the toilets in a fast food retaurant, and then, naturally, making hamburgers. i remember there being gnats in the shakes, i remember dropping buns on the floor, i remember working six hours one day and feeling exhausted and i do remember the four months feeling like three years. and i do remember making three dollars and seventy five cents an hour. and i do remember quitting. i also remember creating the first double quarter pound cheeseburger in history, which at the time was illegal, while my buddies break danced on cardboard boxes behind the drive thru.

then i worked at a record store which was the greatest job i ever had and i shoulda just stopped there. but then i sold computers and made my first million. felt guilty so worked at a full service gas station in beverly hills for almost a year. then came back but didnt sell computers, sold tvs, stereos the first picture in picture sony xbr, denon audio.

went to santa barbara and worked for the arts and lectures dept as an usher. heard all the great speakers and authors, saw modern ballet, everything. then wrote at the paper and edited and learned. then worked in the cafeteria, then woke up at dawn and delivered donuts to lots of places in santa barbara including an operation that would later recruit me, train me, put things in my head, ruin my memory, teach me how touch a woman proper, fly a helicopter, steal from the theives and utilize esp. then i painted apartments in iv.

then i worked at sears. then i became a sales rep for a multi billion dollar electronics company and helped launch digital cassette that failed and the compact disc interactive that failed and webtv that failed if you consider getting bought by microsoft for a half billion dollars a failure. worked for webtv before the buyout and for microsoft after.

during i sold hot dogs for the san francisco giants in ninety seven the year they went to the playoffs. sold dogs at the playoff game and one guy gave me a twenty dollar tip if i would get him a beer. when i got him the beer he paid for it and tipped me a few more bucks. also during i had my own custom audio video installation company where people would tip and tip and introduce me to their teenage daughters and their daughters really didnt seem to mind.

quit everything and moved to la and worked for a start-up at entry level wages working the graveyard shift and within a few months i was helping out in hiring people and after that i was hiring people and after that i was hiring lots of people and being the mascot and writing and designing the ads that would go in the times and i was counseling people and firing people and advising people and growing the company and getting paid after a little while more money than ive ever been paid and stock options literally out of the ying and then the bubble burst and i was laid off and four hours later rehired because my coworkers all called bullshit simultainously in the finest moment of my life and i was at home working on my website and missed it. then the xbi said how could you get fired and i said i didnt see it coming and they said how did you get rehired and i said i didnt see it coming. and they said youre back to only making $12 an hour and i said yes and they said what sort of crazy company is this and i said who cares, i get to work next to karisa.

and they said well thats cool but after that ends youre coming back to work for us and i said i didnt want to and they said you dont have a choice and i said yes, i could work for the feds and they said youwouldnt do that and i said sure i would i was younger then idealistic and i did it for a while and then i saw the truth and i couldnt handle the truth so i told the xbi that i would work for them if they let me fly chopper one and they said done.

the truth about church and state? + reverse cowgirl + kitty b.