Losing Game 2 tonight with Big-Z on the mound would be demoralizing for the psyche of the Cubs. It's practically a must-win game for the Cubs, but the Dodgers are playing good baseball right now. They've been such a strong team ever since acquiring Manny Ramirez, who quite honestly is the real MVP of the National League but won't win it because he didn't spend the entire season in the National League.

Lance Berkman needs to take notes and Tivo every plate appearance by Manny Ramirez during this postseason, because that's what a real MVP looks like!

The bottom line: The Brewers "backed in" as the wild card champion after a poor month of Semptember and some beneficial help from Bud Selig and Hurricane Ike, while the Cubs were on cruise control, relaxing and taking it easy during the final few ballgames of the regular season against those same Brewers.

And now that the Cubs and Brewers are facing a couple of hungry teams that have been playing solid baseball for a while - Dodgers and Phillies - they're finding it incredibly difficult to turn on their empty engines.

I don't want to hear any complaints from Chicago or Milwaukee fans either, because they're not the ones that endured a week or two without electricity.