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CHICAGO - The Windy City was the Whiny City on Thursday as Cubs fans bemoaned the latest installment in the team's long history of losing.
HEARTBREAK was the front page headline in both major papers as fans tried to grasp the reality of a 58th consecutive season without a World Series berth that seemed all but assured a few days ago.
"I have to say to the fans that we've given everything we have," Cubs star Sammy Sosa said long after Wednesday's disappointing defeat. "Sometimes baseball is full of surprises. The fans have been great. We celebrate together and sometimes we cry together. That doesn't mean the world's going to be ending."
As much as it looks like the Cubs lost the pennant, blowing a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series despite finishing at home with their top two pitchers on the mound, Sosa said the Marlins deserve credit.
"We tried to do the best we can," Sosa said. "We fought like men and died like gladiators, so I have nothing to feel sorry for. I'm still asking myself (what went wrong). The Marlins are a great team. If they don't win the World Series, I'll be very, very mad."
Pitcher Kerry Wood, who failed to hold a 5-3 lead, took it a bit harder.
"I choked," Wood said. "I let my teammates down. I let the organizations down. I let the city of Chicago down."
PITCHING IN: Rookie Dontrelle Willis and struggling Brad Penny are likely to start the first two games of the Series for the Marlins, though manager Jack McKeon hadn't decided on an order. Josh Beckett likely will pitch Game 3 in South Florida on Tuesday, with Mark Redman going in Game 4. Carl Pavano likely is headed back to the bullpen.
HISTORY LESSON: The Marlins are the fourth team to overcome a 3-1 deficit to win a league championship series, first since the 1996 Braves. Now they are attempting to become the first team since the 1914 Boston Braves to win a World Series in a season in which they were 10 games under .500.
CRYSTAL BALL: Sosa has the right to void his contract at the end of this season and become a free agent, though he would be walking away from a guaranteed $37.5-million over the final two years.
He has said he wants to finish his career with the Cubs. After Wednesday's game, he told the Chicago Tribune, "This is such a great team and the experience I had the way we've been working together ... something will be worked out."
MISCELLANY: Beckett retired 39 of the 43 batters he faced in the NLCS. . . . Texas star Alex Rodriguez attended Game 7. . . . The World Series berth means Marlins third-base coach Ozzie Guillen will have to wait another week before interviewing for the White Sox managerial job.