I agree with your comments as far as Lou's strategy, however, Marmol had an equally subpar performance in a high-pressure situation in Florida, giving up a painful HR to Miguel Cabrera. Perhaps the comparisons to 2002 K-Rod are out of line.

I liked the team's overall intensity, with the exception of Derrek Lee, who frankly looked like an amateur hitter. I understand that Webb is one of the toughest guys out there, but you gotta give him more of a fight.

I was worried about Davis (being a lefty) but I prefer to recall the ass-kicking the Pirates' 3 lefties (maholm-duke-gorzelanny) received at Wrigley. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Davis would be more of a Maholm than a Gorzelanny... in other words, it's not like we'll be facing Cole Hamels. We should get the win tonight.

Go CUBS!!!

"The question is moot!"

This phrase was given a hilarious off-rhyme echo by the malapropism-ing Piniella a couple weeks ago: "We go to Cincinnati, we win three in a row, and all this talk here is mute."

I have to disagree with you and Lou, Derek, for two reasons:

First rule of playoff baseball managing: win the game at hand. You may not have a game four to worry about if you don't win at least one of the preceding ones. Your odds of winning the series if you win this game are about 67%; if you lose this game, it's only 33%. This is especially true if you're in a tie game: worry about game four if you get to it; you need to win game one right now.

Which brings me to the second point: the game at hand had become a game of bullpen attrition. Both teams have deep, quality bullpens, and this was the kind of game that might be won by whichever team ran out of arms in the thirteenth or fourteenth innings. That's exactly the mistake Clint Hurdle made against the Padres the other day; he pitched a bunch of pitchers for one inning in a tie game, when they quite easily could have gone two. He ended up having to pitch Jorge Julio and Ramon Ortiz in the 13th, while the Padres still had Trevor Hoffman left. Obviously, it worked out in the end for Hurdle, but that doesn't mean the choices he made weren't wrong. If you can get one more inning out of your best pitcher in a tie game in the playoffs, you have to do it. It goes a long way towards maximizing your chances of winning the playoffs.

I defer to the experts above, but I do disagree with planning to pitch your ace on short rest in game 4 rather than full rest in game 5. Someone's going to have to win games besides the ace, so why not maximize his chances to win his starts, rather than minimizing them while still having to find wins by lesser pitchers elsewhere? I never really understood this convention. I mean, I guess if you're facing elimination it seems better to go down with your best, but even if they win that game (which they have a lesser chance to do than if they'd been given full rest), you still have to find another win from someone else.

4 Well, I agree with that decision. In this case, (a) Ted Lilly might actually be their ace, and he will be pitching on full rest because of the weird schedule for this series, (b) the Cubs really only have three good starters, and (c) Zambrano is a horse; if anyone in baseball can pitch on three days' rest, it's him.

3 I certainly get that rationale, and truth be told, that's been the way Lou's managed the team all season. That said, even as well as he pitched, I can understand not being entirely sure what you're going to continue to get from Z going forward. Yes, he's a horse, but he's been prone to giving it up right in that pitch range he was in.

This year, between pitches 76-100, teams have hit .292/.369/.534 against him. There's likely some noise from those instances where he reached that point somewhere in the third inning, but it's something to be concerned about. His seventh innings have also seen an opponent's line of .274/.384/.484. Third or greater time through the order, they're hitting him at a .295/.387/.518 clip. Small sample size and all that, but this is definitely different than how things have been over his career, and it's worth worrying about.

4 Yeah, in this case, if my choice is pitch Z on short rest in Game 4 and Lilly on full rest in Game 5, versus pitching Jason Marquis and hoping to the Gods Above that the Cubs score 746 runs so you can get to your fully rested Zambrano, I'll take Option 1. In addition, Ken makes a good point in 5 that Lilly is a lot closer to being their ace at the moment, if only because of his relative consistency. Predicting how Z is going to pitch this season has been like playing pin the tail on the donkey, the lawn dart version. Put a donkey outline on the ground, don a blindfold, spin for a minute, throw, pray. Sometimes you have a lovely, well placed appendage for your beast of burden, and sometimes you're taking 4 people to the hospital with arterial puncture wounds.

Carlos Marmol has been a sure thing all year. The same cannot be said about Carlos Zambrano, from game to game or even batter to batter. And as Derek mentioned, the stats did little to help his cause. You can't assume he would have made it through the inning clean: Z could have imploded in the seventh, judging from the way he's played this year.

And knowing the way Lou manages, I'm sure going to extra innings was the last thing on his mind. He did what he thought best to at least preserve the tie -- by turning the game over to what's been an effective pen -- and put the onus on the bats to win the game.

True, Game 4 was on Lou's mind, and he said as much, but only because he knew he had a good pen to work with. He had the opportunity to keep Z strong AND keep the Cubs in the game. It didn't work out, but the reasoning is sound. With a weaker pen, the Cubs don't pull Z, simply out of necessity. But such is not the case.

6 Youneverknow, of course. But that's true whatever decision you make. Personally, since Zambrano was throwing well at the time, I would have made sure Marmol was warmed up, but let Zambrano go out there another inning, ready to yank him at the first sign of trouble.

7 Yes, but whether or not to use that strategy should depend on your opponent, too. You have to consider whether your opponent also has a deep pen or a shallow one. I would do what Piniella did in a heartbeat if the Cubs were facing the Phillies, because I'd trust my offense to score against their mediocre middle relief. But against the Diamondbacks, whose bullpen is deeper than yours, you're more likely to need to match them zero for zero for a while.

Let's forget about what Lou did or did not do, the issue can be debated forever. Every fan must focus on sending good vibes so Lilly has a strong start and the Cubs can kick Doug Davis' ass tonight. Get the series to 1-1, ride the talented Rich Hill on Game 3 and a well-rested Big Z on Game 4 (the clincher).

The Cubs should win the series. They clearly have better players, and deserve good luck in Game 2. Looking for the 2007 version of 2002 K-Rod?... look no further: KERRY WOOD. It starts tonight.

Another thing...what about those damn Rockies!!! Sweeping the first 2 @ Philly??? that's just sick.

3 I agree and that was one thing about Joe Torre that I think he does every game the Yankess play whether its game 1 of the season or first game of the playoffs, he always tries to win today's game.

Often this year, I had the feeling that Grady Little was always worried about the next game and they may cause him to keep a guy in to long.

But if this his how Lou managed all year, than I maybe it was the right move.