I stand corrected

By Erik Jacobsen
Staff Writer

I officially stand corrected on the prediction I made last weekend in this space that the Cubs would stand no chance against the Brewers.

Now that the Cubs have gone into Milwaukee and taken the first three games of the four-game series, it's clear that I underestimated the Cubs' character and the overestimated the Brewers' swagger.

With the way the Cubs were tanking after the All-Star break, I felt all signs were pointing to Lou Piniella's squad going belly-up like so many Cubs teams have before. However, with selfless hard workers like Ryan Theriot, Mike Fontenot and Kosuke Fukudome in the lineup and determined winners like Carlos Zambrano and Ryan Dempster on the mound, I guess should have seen this coming.

The Cubs still aren't out of the woods because of their penchant for slumping on offense. However, the chances of this team missing the playoffs now appear to be very slim. A September schedule packed with challenging road trips could cause the Cubs to slip to wild-card status, but this team will be playing in October one way or another.

As for my prediction that the Cubs would be chopped to pieces by the Brewers' buzz saw, I've been wrong before and I'll be wrong again. In the end, it's me and the Brewers who look like bums.