Alongside the play-by-play of the ongoing global economic calamity, Friday's Wall Street Journal doles out attention to three former Cubs.

In a sidebar on the evolution of baseball bling, former Cub pitchers Turk Wendell and Jerome Williams are mentioned.

Of Wendell, the Journal says...

This rugged individualist...wore a necklace made of the teeth of things he'd killed while hunting. While he didn't set a trend...he contributed to a gradual evolution away from jewelry-store neckwear.

As for Williams...

The native Hawaiian...resurrected the puka-shell necklace more often seen on hippies and surfers. He helped clear the way for macho ballplayers to wear neckpieces that convey environmental consciousness rather than just a big salary.

(Funny—I always assumed Williams wore the shells because he thought they looked cool.)

Finally, in the paper's coverage of the House of Representatives' deboning of former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, there is this:

Rep. John Yarmuth, Democrat of Kentucky, hit Greenspan close to home, calling the avid baseball fan one of "three Bill Buckners." That was a reference to the Boston Red Sox' first baseman whose flubbed handling of a routine grounder cost his team the 1986 World Series. Former Treasury Secretary John Snow and [SEC Chairman Christopher] Cox, who sat alongside Mr. Greenspan, also got tagged with that comparison.

With blame being launched at Greenspan from every direction and the former Chairman admitting his fingerprints were all over the current fiscal mess, the hearing sounds like it was quite dramatic, certainly more so than any of the Cubs' recent playoff defeats to the Dodgers.

Too bad that Buckner's name had to be dragged into the proceedings simply so a politician—a politican, for God's sake!!!—could make himself sound clever.

(Note to Rep. Yarmuth: the Buckner play happened 22 years ago. A Rafael Furcal reference would have been far less cliché and much more topical.)

Just to prove that I still remember how to do this blogging thing, I have written a post at The Cub Reporter concerning the possibility expressed by Paul Sullivan that: a.) Cubs color man Bob Brenly may become the new manager of the Milwaukee Brewers in the next week, and, b.) that Diamondbacks color man and former Cub Mark Grace might get Brenly's job in the booth.

I liked Grace as a Cub, I have never liked him as an ex-Cub, and I don't think he is much of an announcer.

I hope Brenly and his knowledge of Cubs personnel stays right where it is, and I hope that Grace stays in Arizona or anywhere not named Wrigley Field.

One of the hazards of getting fat and lazy and not keeping up with my blogging:

I had a prediction all cooked up which has come to pass, and now I don't get to take credit for it. Damn!

Anyway, I SWEAR TO GOD that, while watching the Blackhawks/Nashville game the other night—the Hawks' home opener; a game they wound up losing in a shootout—I had a premonition that the team was going to can coach Denis Savard and that in the next few days, Chicago sports fans would all be treated to the sight of John McDonough's sad moon face in front of the cameras and microphones, as he talked about how integral a part of the organization Savard was/is and, you know, "This is just a move we had to make at this time, as much as it pains me."

NOW IT HAS HAPPENED! At least, the firing part has happened. Moonface's press conference will be at 4:30 Thursday afternoon.

I want to be in line for some predictive credit, so listen for the following during McDonough's announcement:

• References to Denis Savard's "loyalty" and "work ethic"
• "slow start"
• "players have been underperforming"
• "a change was necessary"
• "one of the hardest things I've ever had to do in sports" (firing Savvy, that is)

By the way, Savard's replacement, former St. Louis Blues and Colorado Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville, has a lifetime record of 438-283-118 in 11 NHL seasons, including a 44-31-7 mark last year with Colorado. He was fired this past May over "a difference in hockey philosophy" with Avs GM Francois Giguere, according to the Denver Post. Finally, Quenneville, who was arrested last month on suspicion of DUI, has never won a Stanley Cup, which automatically makes him a perfect fit for the Blackhawks.

And no, I'm not writing this much about hockey because I can't bring myself to think about the Cubs.

Well-stated analysis of our heroes' fall by Chris Jaffe at The Hardball Times, from which the above headline was lifted.

Here's the moral of his story:

...how can you have any faith in this bunch in the postseason? They've had two consecutive Octobers when they wet their pants every time they stood on the field. The onus is on them to prove they have the mental fortitude to make their physical gifts worth a damn.

By the way, I expect to get back to more of my regular writing schedule this week. After watching the Bears wither yesterday afternoon, I have concluded that I will find no salvation in following any other Chicago sports team. Therefore, I might as well come to grips with my Cubs grief and get back to work.

Post-season washouts or not, the Cubs remain first in the hearts of their fans and joke-writers everywhere. (See Bill Murray cameo about two-thirds of the way through the video, from Thursday night's special Saturday Night Live.)

The Tribune's Fred Mitchell has proof.

Update: My post several days ago about which Cub players were at the ends of their contracts was, well, almost completely wrong. Considering that my wife now has responsibility for balancing the family checkbook and managing our finances and does a far better job of it than I ever did, I should know better than to try to evaluate or understand Major League player contracts.

You'll find an authoritative summary of the contract status of the current Cub players, authored by The Cub Reporter's inestimable Arizona Phil, right here.

The numbers never lie. Well, actually they lie with alarming frequency, only this time they're speaking the painful truth.

Following a season in which many of us marveled at how the Cubs ranked at or near the top in virtually every telling statistical category, we saw a post-season in which the numbers tell us, accurately, that the Cubs were putrid.

Shown are the cumulative offensive stats for the four League Championship series. Apart from the Cubs' sickening line, one thing I notice right off is how poorly the Brewers performed at the plate. Lots of strikeouts, few walks. Ironically, I tuned in to WTMJ in Milwaukee during the Brewers' Game 4 defeat to the Phils and the announcer (not Uecker) was lamenting those very facts.

That said, at least the Brewers, like the Angels and (ugh!) the White Sox, pulled themselves together long enough to win a game in the series and give their fans, however briefly, some hope that a miracle might be in the offing.

(Stats from Baseball-Reference.com)

That's tonight's summary of the 2008 season. More to follow when I'm not as tired and not as angry.

Unbelievable.

Simply, utterly, absolutely unbelievable.

A post-season performance like the Cubs' is enough to inspire even level-headed fans to call for wholesale personnel changes before Spring Training 2009. But the fact is that Lee, Zambrano, Ramirez, Soriano et al, are making too much money and locked into too-long contracts to afford Cubs GM Jim Hendry much decision-making flexibility (as if he would consider moving any of the aforementioned anyway).

That said, the game on Saturday or Sunday or whenever the Cubs decide to end this historic choke job could well mark the final appearance in a Chicago uniform for some or all of the following players whose contracts are expiring:

• Jim Edmonds (2-for-7 with 1 double, 1 RBI in NLDS)
  
• Ryan Dempster (0-1, 7.71)
  
• Kerry Wood (1 R, 2 H, but 0 ER in 1 IP)
  
• Bob Howry (has not played)
  
• Henry Blanco (has not played)
  
• Chad Gaudin (ineligible)
  
• Reed Johnson (has not played)
  
• Daryle Ward (0-for-2)
  
• Neal Cotts (0 ER in .2 IP)
  

(Contract information from Cot's Baseball Contracts)

The 97-win season is ancient history, friends. We're back where we belong—the Official Laughingstock of Major League Baseball.

The closest I can come to finding some point of interest in this series is trying to predict which missed opportunity or failed play will become the signature moment; the '08 version of the Bartman ball or the Alex Gonzalez error from Game 6 in 2003.

My nominee right now is Mark DeRosa's flub on what should have been a double-play ball in the 2nd inning tonight, when the Dodgers scored five runs, effectively locking up the game and, most likely, the series. That would be a shame, since DeRosa had a career season and, maybe along with Edmonds, has stood out among the Cub hitters in this series because he isn't flailing away, at-bat after at-bat, as though he were swatting at butterflies.

I'm pointing at the DeRosa play and yet, I think the Cubs lost tonight's game when it was still scoreless and Alfonso Soriano was standing at second base with nobody out in the bottom of the first inning. Ryan Theriot was batting, there seemed to be tension and expectation in the Wrigley Field air surrounding the possibility that the Cubs could jump out to the early lead and wipe away the memory of last night's embarrassment...and Theriot wet the bed. Then Lee and Ramirez did likewise, and the game remained scoreless until the Dodgers came to bat in the second, and then the circus really began.

Lee, Ramirez, Soriano, Fukudome (!)—these guys should be humiliated. I'm sure they are.

I hope this ends Saturday.

I sure didn't think this would happen.

Then I saw Ryan Dempster huffing and puffing in between pitches as if it took all of the resolve and concentration he could muster to make a good pitch (even though he was leading 2-0 at the time).

Then the good pitches got fewer and farther between as the number of walks issued to Dodger batters climbed.

And then came the grand slam gopher ball. And then the Cubs really settled into their offensive feebleness. And then I turned the channel in search of previews of tomorrow night's Vice Presidential Debate, which I am planning to watch instead of Game Two, because I don't expect Carlos Zambrano to be the guy who will get us back on track so the Cubs can head out to L.A. with the series tied, and I just can't handle that much more disappointment.

I sure didn't think this would happen.

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You'll find a more thoughtful, detailed analysis of tonight's humiliation at The Cub Reporter. Transmission proved to me what a strong stomach he has by recounting all of the grisly details.

My stomach isn't strong enough to even allow me to read the recounting of all of the grisly details.

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Update: The Cubs, who were given a 52% likelihood of winning this first-round series yesterday, according to The Hardball Times' statistical analysis, are now given a 32.8% likelihood of reaching the NLCS.

I figured you probably weren't already depressed enough this morning and so, decided to pass that on.