The Cubs and Dusty Baker parted ways today when the club announced that they would not be renewing Baker's contract for 2007.

“I'd just like to tell everybody that I'd like to thank the organization for giving me the opportunity to come here and win this thing,” Baker said Monday to a packed media throng in the interview room at Wrigley Field. “I wish we could've gotten it done, and we didn't. I guess all things must come to an end, and all things come to pass.”

The Cubs went an unimaginable 322-326 under Baker, considering the 66-96 season this year. That 2003 season must have been a hell of a run to balance that crap out.

So what's next for Baker? Who knows? ESPN may come a callin'. Perhaps a book tour. But one thing I know for sure: Jerry Narron better watch out: Baker's available.

Major League Baseball held a coin toss today to determine the site of a potential National League Central tie-breaking game. In the event of a tie between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Chicago Cubs for last place, a one-game playoff would be held at Chicago's Wrigley Field on Tuesday, October 3. The loser of the game would be the winner of the distinction of being the worst team in the NLC.

The Cubs and Pirates are currently tied with a record of 65-95, and with only two games left, have already missed the opportunity to end the season with 100 losses.

“Losing a lot of games is great if you can do something with those losses,” Cubs manager Dusty Baker said. “Clogging up the bottom of the division isn't that great to me. The problem we have to address more than anything is falling short of our 100 loss goal.”

The Cubs face the Colorado Rockies in the final two games of the season, who are also vying for last place in the National League West, where they hold a one-game lead on the Arizona Diamondbacks and a one and a half game lead on the San Fransisco Giants. The Pirates face the Cincinnati Reds, who have already been mathematically eliminated from achieving last place.

“Clearly we've got the advantage going into these last two games, but you can't underestimate the Cubs' ability to lose,” said Pirates' general manager Dave Littlefield. “We've got a solid core of veterans past their prime to block our young talent, so I think we have a chance.”

WGN would provide live national coverage of the tie-breaker game because they'll follow the Cubs, no matter how much they suck. You can also bet that a bunch of Chicagoans would travel to Pittsburgh for the game, probably wearing matching shirts.

Honestly, why are we screwing around tying up Juan Castro for two years while Rich Aurilia play the role of “The Offense” for the last month?

It's about priorities, Kriv-dawg.

UPDATE 9:11 pm: Not that Castro's doing so bad himself. That triple followed by scoring on a wild pitch was pretty good.

Sunday was the day after Blogger Day in Cincinnati. We'd planned to make a weekend out of our trip all along, and it seemed like a convenient time to drop in on Ken Broo, who'd invited me to appear on his show Sports Rock earlier in the season. They were taping at 9 p.m.

Technically, our fun on Sunday began with the midnight concert by the Screaming Mimes and our subsequent conversation with David Storm. The Screaming Mimes are a quality group with some really good music. I recommend you see them if you have the chance.

We walked back to our hotel and slept in as late as we could, which turned out to be about 10 a.m. Check-out time was noon, so we puttered around until then, packing up and getting ready. We checked our luggage with the bellman and headed to the game.

The crowd at the game was not large, but a couple women across the stadium did manage to get a wave started. Meanwhile, on our side of GABP, we were sitting in front of a couple cranky middle-aged women who cracked me up but irritated the CTS. For example, there was a long at-bat where one of the pitches was fouled back, but it didn't look like it'd hit the bat to the casual observer. The one woman told the other that it must not have counted as a strike because it would have been out of the zone if he hadn't swung.

Bob Castellini was in attendance; it's so nice to know that he still cares. I'm not super-psyched that he witnessed Royce Clayton's big hit first-hand, but I guess stuff like that's just going to happen. Perhaps he could feel the vibe of how strange it was to be standing up, cheering McClayton on.

This time we were sitting on the first-base side, in section 128. It was fan appreciation day and they were giving away all this stuff. No kidding, at least three of the winners came from section 127, but not a one from 128. Plus, I was wearing my salmon-colored Reds shirt instead of my red one, so I couldn't be picked for the 1,000,000 Reasons to Wear Red contest. And I was so sure I'd be able to throw the ball through the 6″ hole.

Speaking of wearing certain colors, remember the group that was sporting the particularly non-Cubs shade of blue on Blogger Day? They promised they'd be back the following day in lime green. And what do you know, here they are.

Just when you thought you were anonymous hiding in a building full of people, the Crack Technical Staff gets out his camera. I think CTS has a future in paparazzi photography.

Anyway, the game didn't even take us to 5 p.m. We headed down to O'Malley's in the Alley where we ran into the same women who started the wave. They were so excited that we recognized them. They said they felt famous. We stuck around until we could endure no more “who dey” crap and then we headed back to the hotel.

We got our laptop from the bellman and surfed around a little while having dinner at the hotel restaurant. After dinner, we got someone to let us into the bathroom (you had to have a room key to open the doors, and let me tell you, this bathroom was not worth keeping under lock and key) so that I could change clothes and put on my make-up for my television appearance.

Finally, we decided that it was late enough that we were risking them charging us for a second night of parking, so we got our car, drove around until we found channel 5, and then looked for a bar where we could pass the next hour. We found ourselves at a dive called The Lab, which features not one but TWO large dogs running around, licking peanut skins off the floor and hoping someone would give them some beer.

At last it was time to go to the television studio. Ken Broo met us at the door. They were running behind, he said, so we actually watched the taping of the evening's episode of Sports Rock. It was pretty entertaining. I liked how the guys continued to talk about sports even during the breaks in filming. They're very dedicated to their jobs.

When it was time to film my short segment, I didn't know where to look, didn't know what to do with my hands, and I wasn't sitting quite close enough to the desk. I suspect I might have looked like an ass. But it is my first time ever in front of the camera, so I'm prepared to give myself a little slack. With practice, my television performances might not even make people cringe. I mean, look how far the podcast has come.

Finally, it was time to head home. And even though we wouldn't end up getting to bed until 2 am, we still had the buzz of a come-from-behind victory to keep us going. We can't wait until next year!

It's been one of those crazy days where I've hardly had a moment between activities, and now I'm exhausted without so much as a single post for the day (though I guess, technically, the podcast was from today). I have a bunch of photos and a description of the Day After Blogger Day, so there's that to look forward to, assuming I can find the energy to put them together after Special Olympics volleyball tomorrow.

OK, pause. Deep breath. I'm better.

I did make an appearance on The Big League Baseball Report today, so you can check that out if you just can't go a solid day without the sound of my voice. Joel gets mentioned again, though I don't call him a woman this time.

Now I'm going to bed. Well, maybe after I see whether Snax can hold the deficit for the Cards.

UPDATE 11:13 pm: That's the ballgame and the Reds are now just 2 1/2 games back of the Cardinals. The Astros are just 1 1/2. It's nice to see the Cardinals change things up and choke BEFORE the postseason for a change.