What a crappy weekend for Cubs fans.

The relative euphoria of Friday’s Kerry Wood-fueled 5-1 win over the Phillies faded quickly as fundamental shortcomings reared up and cheesed all over the Northside Nine on Saturday. Then came Sunday’s game, in which the Cubs were no hit for eight innings before tying the game (thanks to a clutch Corey Patterson double), only to watch that trickle away in the bottom half of the inning as LaTroy Hawkins’ served the game on a silver platter to the heart of the Phillies’ order.

And the fans’ prize for sitting through this crap? A four-game series in Milwaukee.

The Cardinals finally lost a series, dropping two of three at home to San Francisco. This is fitting, because in terms of the Cubs’ needs at this point, I would have preferred the Giants lose ground in the wild card race. Instead, the Cubs are no further ahead in the division and still stand behind the Giants and Padres, who are tied for the wild card lead. The only consolation is that those teams will have to play each other down the stretch, which means the Cubs should be able to gain ground on at least one.

We also had the joy of another Yankees-Red Sox series, which served to remind us Midwest fans that the Eat Coast rivalry is the be-all and end-all of regular season baseball. Zambrano’s histrionics on Monday were played off by the national media as just a young hothead blowing his top. But when Alex Rodriguez and Jason Varitek have a WWE audition live on Fox, it’s all “a part of the game” and “a manifestation of the rivalry.” Whatever. Z and Hawkins and Matt Morris an Tony LaRussa get amped up by the Cubs-Cards series because they know how important the games are. Now, if only everyone else would pay attention.

In the wake of Albert Pujols’ performance in the 11-8 loss on Wednesday, I think we can safely say last season would have turned out differently had Big Al decided to show up for the September series in Wrigley (his contribution? One RBI in the last of five games, an RBI negated by his dropped fly ball that let at least one Cub run in. I’ve said it before — watching Pujols go against Prior, Wood and Zambrano for the next several years is going to be special. And who else remembers the game a few months ago where Kyle Farnsworth made Pujols look like a child on a three-pitch K? I’d say Big Al got his revenge.

Memo to Sammy Sosa: If you’d like to complain some more about the 3-1 pitch Joe West called a ball Saturday (just before you struck out on what really would have been ball four), perhaps the league can do something about the 3-2 pitch John Vander Wal took for a strike in Wednesday’s game, despite how far off the plate that was. It’s called karma, dude. Some days you’re the pigeon, some days you’re the statue.

Memo to Ryne Sandberg fans: Disappointed that Ryne Sandberg wasn’t on the podium in Cooperstown yesterday? Chicago Tribune national baseball columnist suggests here that Ryno could be slated for induction as soon as next year. Let’s hope the Cubs don’t wait too long to retire the second-best No. 23 in Chicago history. Also, this is as good a chance as any to link to The Sports Guy’s theory on how the Baseball Hall of Fame should reinvent itself. I’d call it a must read for mild to serious baseball fans, at least for its use in starting good sports arguments.

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