8/06/2003 10:04:00 AM by Rob

Oh, what a relief that is!

In my office I have seven framed photos of the loved ones in my life, and from left to right, here we go: Mrs. Sloth, Wendy and I; son Nick and girlfriend; the entire Sloth family; son Mike in Cub Scout uniform; son Nick at Confirmation; step-daughter Brittany; and Mark Prior.

Yep.

What a relief that he was able to come back and dominate last night. Every single national sports writer, to a man (or woman), says that he is the real deal. In a world of Dontrelle Willises and Rich Hardens, the one man that everyone expects to be THE dominant pitcher in this decade is Mark Prior.

So it seems that the club has been anally cautious with his arm. FINE. Good by me. Hopefully there will come a time when a level of trust is built, so he won't have to miss any more crucial starts because he has "some soreness". Hell, anyone who makes a living throwing a ball is going to have a sore arm. I get sore wrists and hands from typing all day, but that doesn't mean I have to go visit Dr. Jobe tomorrow.

Some of my Cub fan brethren are setting themselves up for a mighty fall, by declaring that "this is the year". The Central IS down, and it is quite conceivable that the Cubs could end up on top of it, when it is all over.

So what? We'll enjoy about three days of superiority, then we'll get swept out of the water by Atlanta, the Giants or Philly, whoever we end up playing. Then, the guys can go golfing, Yosh and his minions can clean out the lockers, and we can sit here, look around, and realize that we aren't much better off than the Mutts.

If you aren't going to the Fall Classic, then winning the division doesn't mean much, except for the souvenir leeches who will make millions printing up their cheap t-shirts, pennants and bumper stickers. And that's just from me...

Anyway, the point is...what happens this year, in the standings, means nothing to me. I cannot get excited about any team with Eric Karros playing first, The Golden Sombrero playing short, and Kenny Lofton in center. All I wanted to see this year was progress. I wanted to see Choi, Hill, Patterson, Prior, Wood, and Farnsworth progress.

Injuries aside, Choi gets a fail, Hill fail, Patterson pass, Prior pass, Wood needs to now work on his consistency, and Farnsworth fails because Joe Borowski is still closing games for us.

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