It was all I could do to stay alert and awake through the bottom of the ninth of Tuesday night's seemingly interminable Cubs-Rangers game.

Actually, it was more than I could do. I dozed off after the bottom of the eighth and then awoke in time to hear Len Kasper gushing over Ryan Dempster's strikeout of Gerald Laird for the second out in the bottom of the ninth.

All in all, a dazzling effort by the Cub bullpen tonight: five perfect innings with nine strikeouts; 67 total pitches thrown, 44 of them for strikes.

And though Sean Marshall was tagged tonight, the Cubs outhit the Rangers overall, 11-5, with two of the Ranger hits (both home runs) and three of the Texas RBI coming off the bat of second baseman Ian Kinsler.

If we can just hire someone to hide his car keys tomorrow and prevent his ever getting to the ballpark, it could be smooth sailing for Jason Marquis.

One other thing that will cause me to have sweet dreams tonight--we kept Ol' Musclehead from hitting #600.

(AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)