Okay, call me naive.  Call me a wishful thinker.  Maybe, just maybe, I thought around 3pm, the Sox could come out smoking and take down the Cubs.  Boy, am I an idiot.  Not only did the Sox not come out smoking, they came out ice cold and dropped a 5-1 decision to a team that can't even beat the Texas Rangers.

Here are your lowlights:

• Mark Buehrle pitched a terrific seven innings, yieding only two runs.  Unfortunately, those runs were a lead-off home run to Alfonso Soriano and a two out first inning home run to Aramis Ramirez.  The game vould have halted right here because that's who the Cubs needed.
• Darrin Erstad made a terrific diving catch on Mike Fontenot in the top of the first inning, only to have to leave the game before his first at bat after re-injuring his ankle.  I love Darrin Erstad's all out play, but let's face it, this guy is made of balsa wood.  If he can't play first, he'll only play half a season for the rest of his career.
  
• Carlos Zambrano, no longer distracted with thoughts of decking his catcher, was overpowering, striking out a career high twelve Sox.
• The Sox had a terrific opportunity in the fourth but, as usual, couldn't cash in.  With one out, Tad Iguchi singled and Jim Thome walked.  But Zambrano got Paul Konerko to strike out and AJ Pierzynski to ground out to second to end the threat.
• Konerko homered in the seventh, bringing the Sox to within one, but that's as close as they got all afternoon.
• In the ninth, Nick Masset and Matt Thornton, who, if I ruled the world would be on the next Greyhound to Charlotte, gave up three runs between them in the top of the ninth.  What Masset was doing in the game in the ninth inning is beyond my comprehension after his train wrecks in the previous series against Florida.

In 1983, it was "Winning Ugly." In 2007, it's just plain ugly.