Chicago Cubs Baseball

Enjoy the two series with the crosstown White Sox. Relish last weekend’s wins over Central Division rival St. Louis.

But savor yesterday’s 8-7 victory of the San Francisco Giants. Let it swirl in Cubdom’s collective consciousness. Breathe in the sweet aroma of success. No matter how harrowing it turned out to be.

For the 11-inning thriller that never should have been, was the Chicago Cubs most important win of the season.

Thus far.

Likely, there’ll be many more to come as the season progresses. Neither division rivals St. Louis or Milwaukee are expected to fade.

Nor should Cub Nation expect it any other way. It would simply be out of character. If there’s one certainty about Chicago Cub baseball, it’s that nothing comes easy.

Don’t the Cubs know it. And if the team needed a reminder, yesterday’s game was it.

Newly acquired Rich Harden made his Chicago Cubs debut and for 5 1/3-innings did anything but disappoint. With a wicked change-up to complement fastballs in the upper 90s, Harden silenced the Giants bats - deafeningly. It was 96 pitches of pure joy.

Harden left to a standing ovation from the Wrigley Field crowd and a 7-0 lead. My how things can change in a short 3 2/3 innings.

From certain victory to near devastating defeat, the Cubs squandered Harden’s apparent victory before earning the win in the 11th. No thanks to the latest bullpen mystery man, Carlos Marmol, who for the last month has been anything but Marmol-ous.

“It’s a shame. Harden pitched really, really well, but the game got away from us a little bit in the eighth and ninth,” Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. “It’s a win, what can I say?”

Yes, it was a win, Lou. More importantly, it typified what these 2008 Cubs are all about. These aren’t your daddy’s Chicago Cubs.

This club is demonstrating something I never thought I’d see in my lifetime as a Cub fan: the heart of a champion. How many in the past would have yesterday’s game slipped away for good and the season with it?

Folding up the tent had become a regular regimen when it came to Chicago Cubs baseball. Not any more.

Coming back is one thing. To come back after blowing a lead is another.

It represents a will, a relentless desire to succeed. This is a special baseball team.

As Cub fans, how fortunate we are to be part of it.