Brooms Out in Pittsburgh

Three games down, ten to go for the Cubs who swept their three game set with the Pirates today winning 6-3. The Cubs finished their season series with the Pirates 13-5. Greg Maddux (15-10) won his 15th game of the season which extends his streak going back to 1988. He's now won 304 games in his career, 110 as a Cub. He also topped 200 innings. Except for 2002 when he pitched 199 and 1/3 he's also pitched that many every season since 1988.

In last night's game Sammy Sosa, struggling at the plate (.241/.448/.279) in September saved the game with a nice diving catch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 8th inning.

The Giants continue to win, beating the Astros again last night so as of right now the Cubs are tied atop the Wild Card. However, the Giants are now only 1/2 game behind the Dodgers for tops in the NL West. The Giants will send Jason Schmidt to the mound against young Brandon Backe so I wouldn't bet the Astros will salvage the final game. The Dodgers go with Kazuhisa Ishii against David Wells. If the Giants win and the Dodgers lose the Cubs will be tied in the Wild Card with the Dodgers at 86-66. If the Giants and Dodgers both win Houston will fall to 4 games back with 70 losses and be almost all but out of it.

At this point its tough to know who to root for. Right now best case scenario is for the Astros to win tonight and the Giants to get swept by the Dodgers over the weekend. However, if the Giants win and the Dodgers lose tonight then I'm rooting for a Giants sweep this weekend. The Dodgers do have the easier schedule of the two because of playing Colorado.

It's going to be a great weekend of baseball.

Upcoming schedules:

Cubs
9/24 New York (66-86)
9/25 New York
9/26 New York
9/27 Cincinnati (69-82)
9/28 Cincinnati
9/29 Cincinnati
9/30 Cincinnati
10/1 Atlanta (89-63)
10/2 Atlanta
10/3 Atlanta

Giants
9/23 Houston (83-69)
9/24 Los Angeles (86-65)
9/25 Los Angeles
9/26 Los Angeles
9/27 Off day
9/28 San Diego (82-70)
9/29 San Diego
9/30 San Diego
10/1 Los Angeles
10/2 Los Angeles
10/3 Los Angeles

Dodgers
9/23 San Diego (82-70)
9/24 San Francisco (86-66)
9/25 San Francisco
9/26 San Francisco
9/27 Colorado (65-85)
9/28 Colorado
9/29 Colorado
9/30 Colorado
10/1 San Francisco (86-66)
10/2 San Francisco
10/3 San Francisco