I helped make football the new national pasttime.

The Chicago Cubs moved a half-game up on the Milwaukee Brewers to take the NL Central Division lead with a 6-2 win over the Houston Astros last night.  Behind an outing by the loathsome Steve Trachsel, the Cubs knocked 4 homers off Woody Williams:

"When you give your starting pitcher a four-run lead in the first inning, it's great," [ Cubs' third-baseman Aramis] Ramirez said. "He just needs to go out and throw strikes and make the guys hit the ball."

Too bad Trachsel was on the mound to throw a pitch every 60 seconds.  Stevie, whose last victory for the Cubs came when he pitched for them in '99 (undoubtedly very slowly and very deliberately), now holds the title for the third-longest gap (2,906 days) between wins in North Sider history.  I wonder who holds the top 2 lacunae?  Greg Maddux? Kerry Wood? Hippo Vaughn?

In other hot MLB action, the Yanks lose a half-game of their AL Wild Card lead courtesy of the Big Hurt and the Blue Jays.  Can the Tigers catch them now?  No. . . . Jayson Werth pulls a Homer Simpson (HBP with the bases juiced) to help the Fightin' Phils blow out the Rockies and gain ground on San Diego . . . speaking of the Padres, they were beaten by a fat-ass they designated for assignment earlier this year to make the NL Wild Card seem much more exciting, until you remember that you can watch football now. -KD 

(Photo credit: AP Photo/ David J. Phillip)