August 13, 1908: Cubs lose final game of a long road trip. Also, Cy Young vs. the World.

The Cubs finally finished off their long road trip, unfortunately losing to Pittsburgh 1-0. Also, Cy Young vs. the World.

Traveling sucks. I can't stand it. Any time people list their hobbies or interests and they say "I like traveling," I think they are insane.

Now to be clear ... I like checking out different places, but the actual traveling is miserable, and it really doesn't even matter the method of transport. In 1908, train was the main way to go from city to city, so naturally it took a really long time. The Cubs left Pittsburgh after today's game and it'll basically take them all night and part of tomorrow to finally end up back in Chicago.

In the present, we can obviously get there much quicker. That said, by the time you factor in the true misery that is being in an airport ... delays, security, luggage, getting gouged for a lousy slice of Sbarro pizza, etc. etc. ... You feel about as refreshed as if you had been sitting on a train for 18 hours.

And there isn't even a roller coaster at the end of this line!

So yeah ... traveling is not my favorite (and actually while you read this, I'm driving six hours back home from a beach trip in South Carolina, so I'm smack dab in the middle of travel joys.)

Anyway ... on to the game, where the Cubs were completely owned by Pirates pitcher Lefty Leifield and lost the final game of their two and a half week road trip. Ed Reulbach pitched well enough, but the Tribune said the Cubs "would not have scored in a thousand years the way they were going at it." They also added the Cubs looked like "Humpty Dumpty up against a Chinese wall," which is an expression I've never heard before that I'm pretty sure is insulting to both the Cubs players and all Chinese people.

Leifield gave up only four hits on the day and walked none and had the Cubs completely baffled. Hey by the way, I'll give you one guess which hand "Lefty" throws with. Yup! The lack of nickname creativity strikes again as Albert Peter Leifield got his from his throwing hand.

"Hey ... you throw left handed? Well then you're Lefty from now on!"

I'm just happy my nickname isn't Stinky

Joe Tinker was pretty much the only Cub that had Leifield figured out, pulling in two of the team's four hits. The Pirates scored their lone run in the first, which led Tinker to take a huge gamble in the 5th inning. Sensing the game was already out of hand even at just 1-0, Tinker singled to lead off the inning and then proceeded to steal second and third base before being thrown out on the next pitch trying to steal home as well. His instinct was clearly right since the Cubs did nothing the rest of the inning (or the game).

In other baseball news, it was Cy Young Day in Boston, and 20,000 fans flocked to the Huntington Ave Grounds to watch an exhibition game that had Young's Red Sox take on a team of all-stars from the rest of the American League.

The All Stars eventually won the game 3-2 in 11 innings, but Young pitched well while in the game. In fact, 1908 was Cy's last great year of his career. The 41 year old went 21-11 with a 1.26 ERA and 30 complete games. Young played thru the 1911 season, but '08 was the last time he ever won 20 games.

I picked the wrong day to quit sniffing glue

In case you're wondering, his best season was probably 1892 when he was 36-12 with a 1.93 ERA and an absolutely mind-blowing 48 complete games. 48!!! His record for career complete games will NEVER be broken. Ever ever ever. Bet your house on it. Young had 749 career complete games. The current active leader is CC Sabathia with 38. Hmm ... only 711 to go! Hey ... the award was named after him for a reason!

In summary, the Cubs loss puts them at 58-43 on the season and drops them back to four games behind the Pirates. A travel day tomorrow, and then a long home stand starts with the Phillies in town. Also, get ready, because the real fun of the 1908 season is about to begin. Stay tuned!