The Houston Astros Have Reason To Believe that Chicago Cubs Home Games Are Fixed.
The Houston Astros have a 60-59 overall record; but, they currently find themselves 11.5 games back of the Chicago Cubs for the lead in the National League Central. Nonetheless, the Astros still believe that they have a shot at making the National League Playoffs. As a matter of fact, Astros players and fans would argue that the Houston Astros, not the Chicago Cubs, are the leading contender for the 2008 National League Pennat. Holy Cow!!!
Sound a bit far fetched? Well, I guess the casual observer would find the Astros' optimism on the 2008 season to borderline on delusional. But, everyone in the organization knows that the Astros have underachieved all season long. High expectations surrounded the club after the Astros opened May to win 11 out of 13 games, but dissapointment followed shortly thereafter. Five game and eight game losing streaks were not uncommon in June; and, July was characterized by bad fielding, poor hitting, and atrocious pitching.
But everything seemed to change on Monday August 4th, 2008.
The Astros were leading 2-0 at Wrigley when a lightning storm caught players and fans by surprise in the top of the sixth. And in a game where the Cubs were heavily favored at home, there was a lot of action riding on the umpire's decision. You see, if a game is called after the fifth inning...then the current score is a final. So in order for the Cubs to win, the game had to go on.
And it did.
After the first delay in the sixth, the game was resumed by the umpires even though there was a tornado warning in the area. In the seventh inning, high winds and lightning surrounded Wrigley Field until the game was finally called off in the eighth when a bolt of lightning came within a few feet of striking players and fans who were still exposed to the weather after most people left the stadium to seek shelter and safety.
The Astros won the 1st game 2-0; but the Cubs came back to win the 2nd and 3rd games by a combined score of 22-11. According to Astros First Baseman Lance Berkman, the Astros should have swept the Cubs. And taking a look back at the events that unfolded, the Astros may have reason to believe that the "fix was in" at Wrigley Field.
Hard to imagine that baseball games would be fixed for the Cubs to win at home; but, stranger things have happened - ask Tim Donaghy.
Nonetheless, the series at Wrigley seemed to bring life back to the Astros. The Houston Astros followed two consecutive losses to the Cubs at Wrigley with 6 straight wins by a combined score of 47-19 including a 13-4 route over the Cincinnati Reds and a 12-4 route over the San Francisco Giants.
Tonight, the Astros have a great chance to build on their winning streak when Barry Zito (6-14 W-L, 5.55 ERA) takes the mound for the Giants. Zito's troubles on the mound in 2008 are well documented; and tonight, he'll have to pitch his best game of the year if he expects to keep the Astros off of the scoreboard.
They're ON FIRE!
Unraveling the Enigma of Matter Waves
In the quest to understand the fundamental nature of our universe, the concept of matter waves stands as a cornerstone of quantum mechanics. This article delves into the historical experiments that sought to measure the elusive properties of electrons, and the philosophical and scientific implications of those findings. We'll explore the intricacies of Robert Millikan's oil drop experiment, the charge-to-mass ratio, and the broader context of mass-energy equivalence in the realm of subatomic particles.
Does The Atom Really Exist?
According to recorded history, the atom concept was developed by the ancient Greeks and the mathematician Democritus. The Greeks are credited with the discovery of the atom and the atom concept. Essentially, an atom is an indivisible component of matter. Or ... it can be thought of as matter in its simplest form. Since it is a component of matter ... you would naturally think that it has mass. This is logical and intelligent reasoning.
Who or What Created The Universe?
I would like to thank Kristen Herde for her contribution to this post...I was going to respond to your two earlier questions regarding the Big Bang. I don't subscribe to the theory ... I have a different one...it's a little bit ahead of it's time .. so people probably won't take it seriously until years later. As far as the zones of infinite density and how did they get there ... they got there using an extrapolation technique (if that makes sense)... Scientists / Mathematicians just extrapolated backwards and figured that all the matter in the universe may have come from one point. They have no idea where it came from.
