Chicago Cubs: Frustration

Dear Cubs fan,

"Hey, weren't the Cubs winning?" o_O

You are right; this is frustrating >_< No lead is safe with the Cubs on the diamond. Thanks to a blown three run lead in the ninth inning under bizarre circumstances, the Chicago Cubs lost 4-3 in ten innings to the Cincinnati Reds, and gave us a history lesson in the process.

Soto (18) rounds the bases as the Cubs take an "insurmountable" 3-0 lead LOL

Today's game was a microcosm of what you guys witness year in and year out since 1908. Somehow and some way, the Cubs take the lead: Starling Castro, Bryan LaHair, and Geovanny Soto each hit homeruns to put the Cubbies into the lead at 3-0. Cubs fans, who visit the Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati to watch their Cubs take on the Reds, go bananas and the hooting and hollering commences. Then in the ninth inning, as victory looks secure, a critical error on a routine play opens the door to another lost lead: Third baseman and newcomer Ian Stewart misplays a grounder with two Reds on base, which allows one run to score. Not one to point fingers, but in beer league thinking ahead to the rally killing double play happens A LOT!

Birthday boy Ryan Dempster pitched 8 innings, had the win booked, alas...

I remember my buddy Craig in his Cubs T-shirt, and imagine him watching the game, thinking "Oh no, here we go again!" Like a foul ball knocked away from an outfielder's glove by a headphone wearing fan, or a disgruntled fan shouting curses outside the park because he can't enter the grounds with his goat, when something peculiar happens in a Chicago Cubs game disaster is right around the corner (Hi Craig).

Here comes the rain again!

Somehow, in some wacky way, the Cubs lose their lead on a bases-loaded walk by much maligned closer Carlos Marmol, and then an "I Surrender" double play that allows the tying run to score for the Reds. The extra inning, which came as a result of the ridiculous ninth, would seem academic. Would it matter if the Cubs came back and won the game in extra innings? Perhaps on the surface, yes, but since 1908 the Chicago Cubs blew leads both in games, regular season pennant races, and in championship series. Given the Cubs had great ball players like Hall-of-Famers Ferguson Jenkins, Ernie Banks, and the late Ron Santo, there is no history of championship success Cubs players and fan can draw from like the New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals, or the Dodgers; we only know of the well-documented, and somewhat accursed wheel of karma fixed like the red "C" on a Cubs baseball cap. Yes, the Cubs have a long and wonderful history in Chicago and a great following throughout the world, however the defeat today gave me a frustrating look at what success looks like to the fan of a snake-bitten yet lovable team: Snatched away.

As a fan of hockey's Toronto Maple Leafs, I identify with the Cubs. I think I could like them...or not...Go Blue Jays (fist pump). For more on this game, click here!