CHICAGO CUBS Dusty Baker could have mojo to make this the year

Do you "Believe It"?
CHICAGO (AP) -- On the wall of a tavern across the street from Wrigley Field is a beer sign that reads simply, "Next Year's Here."
No Chicago Cubs logo. No cute little bear holding a baseball bat. Still, nobody needs to be told what the sign means.
If Cubs fan didn't invent the phrase, "Wait 'til next year," they could have. They've been waiting since 1908, when the Cubs last won the World Series. And they've been waiting since 1945 just to appear in another World Series.
Before Saturday
But with the manager Dusty Baker, star slugger Sammy Sosa and the rest of the Cubs leading the Atlanta Braves 2-1 in their best-of-five NL division series heading into Saturday's Game 4, fans were hoping a century of disappointment could be about to end.
"Dusty's got the mojo," said John Duffy, a 35-year-old lawyer from suburban River Forest.
Duffy's not sure if the team's turnaround has anything to do with Baker's sprinkling of some mystery powder on the field a few weeks back. Or the way the manager kisses a medal around his neck during tense moments of games.
But whatever it is, "he's cast a spell on the players," Duffy said.
Duffy is even willing to consider the possibility that the Cubs owe their recent good fortune to a goat -- the animal said to be responsible for the Cubs' long absence from the World Series.
The way the story goes, the owner of a Chicago tavern put a curse on the Cubs when he and a goat were denied entry to a 1945 World Series game between the Cubs and the Detroit Tigers.
The Cubs went on to lose that series; since then, it's been one heartbreak after another.
In 1969, the Cubs collapsed late in the season, passed in the standings by New York's "Miracle" Mets. In 1973, the Mets -- their motto: "You gotta believe" -- overtook the Cubs yet again, whose motto might as well have been "You gotta be kidding me."
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In 1984, the Cubs led the San Diego Padres 2-0 in the NL championship series -- only to lose three straight games.
The Cubs returned to the playoffs in 1989 and 1998, but failed to win a series either time.
This year, though, some fans took a goat to Houston and put a "curse" on the Astros, who ended the season by losing six of their final nine games and losing the NL Central title to the Cubs.
"I started selling these yesterday," said souvenir salesman Eddie Torres, holding up a T-shirt with a drawing of a goat with line drawn through the middle of it and the words "Believe it."
Fans do.
"You see people weeping in the stands," said John Pavlick, a 24-year-old salesman who lives just beyond the center-field bleachers. "It gives you goose bumps."