Instead, here are the only numbers that matter: The Cubs are down 0-2 in the best-of-five series after two home games, and only one other team has ever gotten out of that hole to reach the League Championship Series since the three-tiered playoff system debuted in 1995. That was the 2001 Yankees team that rallied to beat the Oakland Athletics. The manager of that team now manages the Dodgers, and Joe Torre is hoping for a little karmic payback of his own after being forced out of the Bronx after 12 straight playoff appearances. The Yankees, you might have noticed, are nowhere to be seen in the postseason for the first time since before Torre showed up there.
Piniella has to be wondering what's going on. His most dependable pitcher at Wrigley Field (Ryan Dempster) couldn't find the strike zone in Game 1, and his entire infield came unglued Thursday. All four Cubs infielders made an error as the Dodgers pounded out a 10-3 victory in Game 2.
"The last two days, that's probably been the two worst games we've played all year, from a walking and errors standpoint," Piniella said afterward. "It wasn't fun to watch, I'll tell you that."
It wasn't much fun for the two sellout crowds in baseball's version of the Heartbreak Hotel. There are a lot of Cubs fans who believe in the curse, and it's hard to blame them, but it's more likely the weight of their outsized expectations this season combined with the heaviness of 100 years of history to ramp the pressure up too high at Wrigley.
The odds are stacked against them going into Game 3 tonight at Dodger Stadium, but it's still possible destiny isn't done with them.
If they are looking for an inspirational precedent with some interesting human interest tie-ins, they might want to go back to 2004, when the Boston Red Sox were down 0-3 in the best-of-seven American League Championship Series against the Yankees.
The Red Sox also had a little history to get out from under and staged an unprecedented comeback to defeat another team managed by Torre before sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series to break the Curse of the Bambino.
But Manny Ramirez was the main man on that team and now has teamed with Torre to push the Cubs to the edge of another quick exit from the playoffs.
Don't think you can blame it on the goat, but the Cubs and their fans have a right to wonder whether somebody up there doesn't like them.
Listen to Peter Schmuck on WBAL (1090 AM) at noon most Saturdays and Sundays.
