Alou's career-high five hits carry Cubs. They came back from a 6-run deficit to beat the Cardinals. (ESPN.com)

Scott Lange: "No, wait, that was the best Cubs win I have ever been to." (Northside Lounge)

Al Yellon: "Somehow, some way, this Cub team, which has soared to the heights and hit the depths, today put together what is perhaps the greatest team effort that I have ever seen from a Cubs team. This despite Dusty Baker's best efforts to make some of the most boneheaded moves I have ever seen from a Cubs manager, moves that made me wonder if he was even watching the same game we were." (and another thing!, September 3)

Josh Schulz argues that "[t]his game is the perfect example of why Tony LaRussa is a wildly overrated manager." (Go Cardinals)

Red Sox 5, White Sox 4, 10 innings. David Ortiz won it in the 10th with his second homer of the game, after Manny Ramirez and Nomar Garciaparra combined to throw out the potential winning run at home in the 9th. (Yahoo!)

Slugger is bringing out the best. Gordon Edes on Ortiz. (Boston Globe)

'Lucky kid' shuts out Mariners in debut. Doug Waechter became the first Tampa Bay pitcher to throw a shutout in his first major league start (it was a two-hitter). (ESPN.com)

Prospectus Triple Play: Braves, Brewers, Twins, Devil Rays. "When the Devil Rays parted with Randy Winn for the rights to pay Lou Piniella a large amount of money (and got Antonio Perez as a throw-in; thanks Pat), there was understandable jeering. Piniella, never known for his ability to deal with losing teams or develop young players, was being asked to take over a team of kids who were not going to win. Instead of impending disaster, the team has improved throughout the season, and Piniella has garnered more respect for his work this season than in any in recent memory." (Baseball Prospectus)

Moneymaker (or, Everything I Need to Know about Baseball I Learned From Watching the World Series of Poker). Nate Silver: "Lest you think this is a Bill Simmons-style off topic diversion, there are lessons that can be drawn from Hold 'Em and applied to baseball. Let's take a break from the usual dose of number crunching and look at those this week." (Baseball Prospectus)

The Southpaw looks at the NL MVP race.

Richard Lederer compares Alex Rodriguez to great shortstops in history. (Rich's Weekend Baseball BEAT)

Thaw Teddy Ballgame. From Mad Ape Den, a website dedicated to words of three letters or fewer:

Our man Ted was the top guy to e'er ply a bat. He hit .400!
And how is Ted now? Do not ask. He did die, and his son had him cut up and put on ice. He try to get the odd fat cat set to buy a bit of the DNA his dad had.
Ted had a yen to be ash. "Fry me up and put me in an urn," he did say. But his son did not do as Ted did ask. It's odd, and sad -- for any guy or gal who is a son, or a dad, or who has one, or who is a Red Sox fan.

You can buy a Thaw Teddy Ballgame shirt here.