We'll Take It

It certainly was last night

It definitely wasn't the prettiest Stanley Cup finals game ever played, but the important thing is the Blackhawks took a 1-0 series lead on the Flyers with a sloppy yet highly entertaining 6-5 win last night.  There were five goals in each of the first two periods, and then play settled down in the third when only Tomas Kopecky scored the decisive goal.  I wasn't able to watch the whole thing due to a family graduation party, but here are a few things I noticed while speed-watching on the DVR late last night

• The National Anthem last night was the greatest I've ever heard.  Simply astounding, goosebumps all over.  Don't believe me? See for yourself
• How about that second line of ours? Troy Brouwer with 2 goals, Sharpie with an absolute snipe above Leighton's glove, and Marian Hossa simply outclassing the Flyers on the boards, and feeding Brouwer beautifully on both of his goals.  Even though much is being made about his scoring drought, I simply don't care who's putting the puck in the back of the net at this point of the year, as long as it's getting done by someone.  In fact, none of our top three offensive weapons score: Kane, Toews, and Buff even were without a single point altogether last night, and Hossa didn't score a goal.  But we got scoring from all over the place, with Brouwer potting two, Sharp, Bolland, Versteeg, and Kopecky all netting one.  When the guy you bring in off the bench to replace Ladd gets the game-winner, it shows how absurd the depth of this team is.
• Oh, wait, I think Hossa just picked another pocket along the boards
• Also, Bolland's line was great again, completely shutting down the top Richards line.  And he got another shorthanded goal, his second and the team's fourth of the playoffs.  That's one a round.  That's ridiculous.  It was almost a carbon copy of his shorty against Luongo in the second round, breaking up a pass and taking the loose puck all the way to the other end.  May his great play continue
• How in the hell do we get called for four penalties (all earned, admittedly) while the Flyers are whistled for exactly zero?  I'm not saying it should always be equal, that's not possible - but there's no way Pronger shouldn't be called for a cross check or something with the way he was absolutely mauling Dustin Byfuglien in the first period.  Hopefully this rectifies itself in the next game.  By the way, very reminiscent of game one against San Jose - they get multiple power plays, we get none, but still pull out the victory.  Good sign
• I was not worried at all about Michael Leighton and his three shutouts from the Eastern Finals, and I was correct.  He was pulled after surrendering 5 goals on only 20 shots, which is pretty brutal.  Supposedly, he'll be starting in net again tomorrow night - I like that.  He played well against Montreal, but that team was simply worn down from two absolutely draining series against Washington and Pittsburgh, and just didn't have anything left.  This Hawks offense is vastly superior to Montreal, and I think Philly knows that now.
• Thought the defensive corps, other than the top pair, had a pretty subpar game.  Brian Campbell in particular, and Joel agreed - after his poor turnover that led to one of the early Philly goals, he only saw 14 minutes of ice time.  Fine with me - he has one of those games once in awhile, and we survived this one.
• Thought Antti Niemi didn't play all that poorly - he was on his back for two of the goals, and his support on the ice did almost nothing to help him.  Would he like to have a couple of those goals back? Sure he would; but after seeing the way he played in the third period, I'm confident he'll come back with a great effort tomorrow night.  I'm thinking it's going to be more of a low-scoring affair, so his performance will be highly intrinsic to their success.
• The ratings on NBC were the best for the opening game of the finals in 11 years, proving that it's not just us in Chicago interested in this franchise's resurgence.  Also, love the announcing combo of Doc Emrick and Eddie O, they do great work.  Could do without Pierre McGuire inbetween the benches, though - that gets a little old.  

13 down, only three to go.  It's gonna be a wild ride

Since the last time I wrote about them, it's been a mixed bag for the Cubs.  They've gone 2-3, the two wins being some of their best of the year and the losses being some of their more forgettable of the season.  The two wins were both shutouts, 1-0 over the Dodgers Thursday and 5-0 over the Cards Saturday.  The two starters in those wins, Lilly and Silva, combined for 14 IP, 5 hits, 16 K, and 3 BB.  Oh, and no runs.  That's beyond great; if we get anything close to this from our starters the rest of the year, we'll be OK.  The offense simply has to kick it into gear more consistently, as they've been stifled far too often thus far.  

By the way, Carlos Silva is now 7-0 on the year, the best start by a Cub starter since Holtzman in the 1960s.  Raise your hand if you predicted this in March.  Anybody? Anyone? Bueller? Didn't think so.  This guy's been so, so much better than anybody, even the most optimistic fan, could have hoped and/or wished for, so kudos to him on his great start.  That's more wins than he had in both his years in Seattle combined.  Wow.  Now if only the other Carlos could come somewhat close to these numbers.  Speaking of Big Z, he's returning to the rotation Wednesday, and Gorzelanny is moving to long relief, even if he arguably didn't deserve the demotion.  Somebody had to go, and it turned out to be him. Let's see how Z does...our season really hinges on his performance, in more ways than one.  We've gotta be able to count on him every fifth day to give us a quality start, but that just hasn't been the case the past couple years.  Should be interesting.  

So, a disappointing weekend against the Redbirds.  The game on Friday was over before the Cubs even batted, thanks to six hits and five runs given up by Randy Wells before an out was recorded.  They didn't score again 'til the 9th, but the Cubs just couldn't touch Carpenter (how many times has he beaten us as a Card? 10? 15? Feels like 30).  Yesterday's game was a measure of revenge, but today was just one of those "I'm Albert Pujols, and you're most definitely not" games.  3 HR in 3 AB, 2 BB, 4 RBI - and the three homers, especially the first two which made it easily onto Waveland, were all moonshots.  What can you do? Dempster had 2 strikes on him in those first two at-bats, but he still launched a couple small satellites into orbit.  It's gonna happen every now and then, might as well happen in a blowout.  As a result, we now sit 6 games out of first, and 5 behind the Cards.  Long way to go, but would have been nice to gain a couple games this weekend.  Let's make it back to .500, then go from there. 

But right now, it's all about the Hawks here in Chicago.  Everybody's talking about them, everybody wants to go to the games, it's quite an electric atmosphere.  Let's play a tighter game tomorrow, and head to Philly with the Flyers' backs against the wall.  


Side note - Roy Halladay threw a perfect game last night against the Marlins, the second this season, and third in less than a year (including Buerhle's last July).  That's pretty remarkable (aside from the inherent remarkability of a perfecto) - there's been more than a single perfect game in a season one other time, in the late 1800s (?!?).  Also, it's incredible to think that baseball had one perfect game (Don Larsen's) in forty-one years between 1923-1964.  It's truly been wonderful for true fans of the game, as it's something everyone hopes they see in person, and now it's happened twice in a month.  Good for baseball.  Congrats, Doc Halladay