September 15, 1908: Cubs have their winning streak snapped and an umpire gets beat up.

Today was tough pill to swallow for the Cubs. They lost a winnable game to the Boston Doves by a score of 3-2, a loss that snapped their seven game winning streak. They also lost hold of second place, tumbling to third and now trailing the Giants by three games.

The main problem right now is the fact that even though the Cubs have been hot lately, the Giants have been even hotter. Today they beat St. Louis for their 7th win in a row, which also happens to be their 14th win in the last 15 games. It's awfully hard to gain ground on a team when they refuse to lose!

In the coming days the Giants are going to continue to stay hot, winning an amazing 18 of 19 games, but fear not ... the swoon is coming!

But for now, back to the Cubs ...

Pitching ace Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown took to the hill and again had a lackluster outing. Sure he went 29-9 on the year to lead the Cubs, but make no mistake, he's been pretty mediocre the last few weeks.

Not my best work today

Today wasn't entirely his fault though, the Cubs squandered several chances to score in this one. The Doves made four errors, and none of them resulted in a run. Also, with the score tied 2-2 in the 5th, the Cubs had two men on and nobody out. A sac bunt and a double play later and the inning was over without any positive results for Chicago.

In the bottom of the 5th, Boston scored the eventual winning run on a base hit to center by right fielder Beals Becker. Cubs outfielder Solly Hofman tried to nail Becker at the plate, but his throw was slightly wide of the mark and catcher Johnny Kling dropped the ball while trying to apply the tag.

That's all it took and the Doves held on for a 3-2 win. This was absolutely a winnable game for the Cubs, who not only blew their chances, but couldn't seem to score against what was a pretty ragtag collection of players for Boston. Their shortstop Bill Dahlen was out with an injury, starting first baseman Dan McGann was on the bench, and their backup catcher Peaches Graham played second base because they were so shorthanded.

But hey ... never underestimate a guy named Peaches!!

I'm not as fuzzy as a peach, but I'm just as sweet!

In the American League, it was a particularly bad day to be an umpire. Just ask Jack Sheridan.

He was the ump today in the hotly contested St. Louis Brows-Detroit Tigers matchup. The Browns were currently in 4th place, but only trailed the first place Tigers by three games, so they were still well within striking distance (same distance as the Cubs as a matter of fact).

Late in the game, Sheridan made a pivotal safe call on a play at the plate that scored Tiger Matty McIntyre with what ended up being the winning run. The crowd was none too pleased, and proceeded to attack Sheridan as he left the field at the end of the game.

Here's the detail you need to know ... In the Browns' stadium, the umpires had to walk THRU THE CROWD to get to their dressing room. What a HORRIBLE idea! Sheridan is lucky he didn't get killed!

I got screwed!

Unfortunately for him, he did get punched in the face before police could arrive to help him, and I genuinely feel bad for the guy getting forced into such a ridiculous situation like that. Homeboy would get a nice little paycheck in a lawsuit if this happened in 2016!

In summary, the Cubs loss drops them to 83-52 on the year, and three games out of first after the Giants win. Game two of the three game Boston series is tomorrow.