August 26, 1908: Cubs win 5th straight. Also, a non-Italian Italian salad.

Another day, another win for the Cubs. After falling behind 3-0, the Cubs then rallied in the middle innings and eventually held on for a 6-4 victory, their 5th in a row. This was a day where the Cubs simply outplayed their opponent. Brooklyn outhit Chicago 11-6, but the Cubs played flawless defense to keep them in the game.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers were sloppy in the field all day long and really only have themselves to blame for the loss. Two errors directly led to two runs. Also, pitcher Jim Pastorius walked three batters on the day, and all three of them eventually scored. By the way, it's worth pointing out that "Sunny Jim" had one of the worst seasons you'll ever see for a pitcher, finishing up the '08 season with an abysmal 4-20 record. Yeah ... not so good.

My T206 card isn't worth as much as Honus Wagner's

For the Cubs, Orval Overall must've made his manager angry or something this week, because he gets rolled out yet again to start this game. Keep in mind he got one whole day's rest since his last start, which happened to come on one day's rest from a relief appearance that also happened to be on ZERO day's rest from pitching a 2-0 complete game shutout the day before. The dude's elbow had to have been on FIRE by now.

The Tribune noted "it was plain that Overall was not right" six pitches into the game. Well no kidding!! His shoulder is about to detach from the rest of his body!!!

All things considered, Orvie held it down fairly well, and then Mordecai Brown came in to close the door with a three inning save. Brooklyn edged out to a 3-0 lead after the first two innings, but the Cubs battled back and manufactured runs in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 6th innings ... several of those runs coming without the aid of even a single hit.

Really there were no offensive standouts on the day ... Not a single Cub had more than one hit. The team simply did what it took to win the game and played a much cleaner game than their opponent, which is definitely a good thing because a HUGE series starts tomorrow with the first place New York Giants. This series is so big, that the Tribune is erecting a big electric scoreboard in front of their building to give play-by-play updates to fans that aren't able to go to the actual game.

Here's the announcement ...

In other news, who's in the mood for an "Italian" salad that no self-respecting Italian would ever want to eat? Ooooh ... ooooh ... ME!

Today's terrible 1908 recipe is for something called "Italian Salad," and honestly I cannot figure out why on any level it would be considered Italian. Basically you sliced a turnip, a carrot, and a beet, and simmered them all in broth until they were tender, and mixed them together with two boiled potatoes.

But here's the kicker ... you then covered all that with a healthy dollop of FRENCH dressing. French!!!! On what planet is this an Italian salad???? And if there is a planet that serves this, I really don't wanna eat there anyway!

So here's a fun little game ... if you have any Italian people in your life ... go ahead and make them this salad and see what they think. I'm guessing it ain't gonna feel like Mama's cooking back in Napoli. Really, it's not even gonna feel as Italian as Mama Celeste's pizza for one ...

Loneliness ... Thy name is "pizza for one"

In summary ... the Cubs win sends them to 67-47 on the year and directly into a huge three game series with the first place New York Giants. The Giants beat Pittsburgh again today, so their lead over the Cubs is still three and a half games, but the Cubs at least leap frog the Pirates in the standings and are now in second place. Time to kick off one of the biggest matchups of the year!