The Cubs finally beat the Yankees.

I’d love to have written that sentence after, say, a seventh game of a World Series. Unfortunately, Saturday’s game will have to do.

So among all the other lopsided Yanks-Cubs comparisons is this one: the all-time head-to-head matchup is now led by the Yankees 9-1. But we’ve got the one, thanks to a wonderful performance by Kerry Wood and a boneheaded move by Joe Torre.

Some might call it second-guessing, but I first-guessed it. Why remove Roger Clemens after only 84 pitches in the 7th inning of a shutout performance with a one-run lead? If it were the 8th and Rivera were coming in, I could understand the move.

But in what universe is Juan Acevedo a better bet to get the job done than Roger Clemens? I don’t care how bad Clemens’ cold was, it just didn’t make any sense. Torre ought to be ashamed for taking the game out of Clemens’ hands when it wasn’t absolutely necessary.

It paid off for the Cubs, though, didn’t it? And, thankfully, Clemens will have to get No. 300 somewhere else. Tonight will be Mark Prior against Andy Pettitte — should be lots of fun.

Only … they’ll have that damn advertising screen behind home plate again for the game, broadcast on ESPN. What a travesty.

One downer to come out of the game is the Choi injury. Of course it’s great that his scary tumble did not result in something worse, but he will be placed on the disabled list. With Sosa soon to serve his suspension, the Cubs will be struggling even more for offense. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Cubs in third place a half dozen back by the time Choi and Sosa are back.

So the big Cubs-Yankees series begins today. It will be the first time the two teams have matched up in a non-exhibition game since the evil, evil Yankees swept the Cubs 4-0 in the 1938 World Series.

There are many reasons to dislike interleague play, but one of them surely is that now a Cubs-Yankees World Series, if it ever came to pass, would be a little bit anti-climactic. Cubs fans have often fantasized of their dear Cubbies beating the Yankees in the seventh game of the World Series in Wrigley Field.

Nothing would greater symbolize the Cubs’ finally having arrived than a matchup against baseball’s all-time winningest team.

But there is another factor: fear. At least a pennant-winning Cubs team would be a team worthy of the competition, unlike this year’s team, which has strong pitching and not much else.

I don’t hope for much, really. I’ve had enough joy for several lifetimes. All I hope for now is to avert the sharp thrusts of pain I’ll surely feel every time the Cubs lose to the Yankees. If there’s any of that good ol’ cosmic justice in this world, please let the Cubs sweep this series.

Please.

Please.

Please.

In my mind, judgment on the Sammy Sosa corked-bat incident really had to be withheld until the results of major-league baseball’s examination of the 76 bats they confiscated from his clubhouse was concluded.

The conclusion: they’re all clean.

This goes a long way toward backing up Sosa’s story that he unintentionally used a corked bat he had reserved for batting practice. And the truth is that if he had been corking he’d have been found out a long time ago. Bats seem to break in every game and I can remember at least a dozen previous occasions when Sosa’s splintered bat went flying into the infield.

Sosa made a very expensive mistake. He’ll still be suspended for a number of games and he should be ashamed for allowing his ego and desire to please the fans in batting practice for interfering with what should be his primary goal: helping his team win.

The risk of confusing a BP bat with a game bat is not worth it. He of course knows that now. But all the talk of Sosa’s reputation being ruined seems a little overhyped to me. After all, corking a bat doesn’t really do much to help a batter hit.

Sixty-two years old, and still chooglin’ on down the road.

The Tribune’s Eric Gwinn had a nice story in Tuesday’s paper about the different game-casting sites and how they’re put together.

I guess I hadn’t thought much about it, but each game is scored by a human being who works for MLB.com or ESPN or whomever. And they track the game pitch-by-pitch, which is actually more intensive than you might think.

The one thing I wonder is why you can’t just listen to the game on the radio? I guess some workplaces are not too tolerant of that. It doesn’t seem to be a problem at my workplace. Heh, heh.

Yes, you do, Bob. And I plan to be mightily amused by whatever comes of your collaboration with Martin Scorsese on a documentary.

The evil Mets’ star player, the evil, evil Mike Piazza may miss the rest of the season with a torn right groin muscle.

Carlos Zambrano pitched a great game today. Unfortunately, he gave up the only run the Cardinals needed to beat him when he threw a ball into centerfield.

It was the 12th error this year by the Cubs’ pitching staff. Aargh! Add to my agony that the evil, evil Yankees beat the Red Sox tonight to retake first place clear.

On the positive side of the ledger, however: The evil, lazy Lakers are gone, which kind of sucks the interest out of the NBA playoffs for me. I guess I’d like to see David Robinson get another ring before retiring. Why not?

Also, the White Sox are stinking up the joint. They are four games below .500, and manager Jerry Manuel is likely to get yanked sometime soon. Heh, heh, heh.