The Woodchucks have labored all summer to get to this point. One game to keep their season alive and to have a chance at the Northwoods League championship for the first time since 2003. They came up short last night 4-1 to Eau Claire at Athletic Park. The old cliche is that baseball "is a game of inches" and it proved to be true last night. The Express score a couple of runs after a line drive that would have ended an inning went off the glove of first baseman Robbie De La Cruz. The chucks also had a runner thrown out at home and nearly turned a double play that would have ended another inning but allowed a run to score. It comes down to one game tonight in Eau Claire. The winner advances to face Rochester in the championsip series this weekend. You can hear tonight's game on Foxsports 1390 WRIG at 6:15.

The Brewers seem to have found a keeper in Lorenzo Cain. He has been playing well since getting the call-up and was most of the offense yesterday in a win over the Cardinals. It looks more & more like the Brewers will trade Prince Fielder for pitching and look to Braun, Hart, Weeks and players like Cain to carry the offense.

I had a traffic accident yesterday in downtown Wausau that messed my car up pretty good. A sore back is my only physical problem but anyone who has a car accident knows the hassles of getting it fixed, insurance rates going up etc. Took my son's car to work this morning and of course the battery died when I stopped for coffee. As that great philosopher Roseanne Roseannadanna put it..."it's always something".

Songs of the day   (from my I-pod)

Ghost Riders in the Sky-Outlaws (1979) this song has been recorded by 5o different artists. Everyone from Bing Crosby to Johnny Cash. Burl Ives did it first in 1948. Vaughn Monroe has the biggest hit in 1949. The Outlaws rocked it up with this version that went top 20.

The Ghost Of Tom Joad-Bruce Springsteen (1995) The title track from the spare acoustic CD that showed the Boss taking a break from the rockin uptempo tunes for awhile. He has said he was inspired by John Ford's movie version of the Steinbeck novel "The Grapes Of Wrath".