Two of my favorite pastimes are Baseball and napping, and sometimes they tend to overlap.

When someone naps, two things can happen to them while they’re asleep. No. 1, he or she could have a beautiful dream, and No. 2, he or she could have a horrible nightmare.

That is pretty much how Wednesday was for me, and I assume for most Cub-fan comrades. I didn’t know if I would have a dream or a nightmare.

One Cub fan I know, who is already having a terrible nightmare, is Steve Bartman. He’s the guy with the head phones that tried to grab himself a souvenir at the Cubs’ expense. The Chicago Sun Times did an excellent job of pointing a finger at Bartman, who might become the Cubs’ version of Bill Buckner.

As the game started, I thought it would be a nightmare. One of the three guys in the Marlin’s lineup I fear the most, Juan Pierre, led off the game with a triple.

Kerry Wood got Luis Castillo out, but then came the second guy in the Marlin’s lineup I fear – Pudge Rodriguez.

The last thing I wanted to see Wood do was throw Pudge a slider down and away. It could have resulted in a wild pitch or a Pudge lining yet another RBI single into right field. Each time Damian Miller dropped to his knees to block Wood’s slider, I cringed. Wood, however, walked Pudge bringing up the third player in the Marlin’s lineup I fear – Miguel Cabrerra.

Do you know that falling feeling when you’re sleeping and then waking with a jolt? That’s what watching Cabrerra’s three-run blast to right field was like.

But sometimes, people can have several dreams when they sleep.

In the bottom of the third, the nightmare became a little less frightening when Eric Karos scored on a groundout by Miller. But it became a dream again when Wood blasted a game-tying homerun over the leftfield fence.

If you have seen the movie “Happy Gilmore,” then you know all about the dreamlike “Happy Place.” That is exactly where Moises Alou sent a Mark Redman offering in the third inning. Waveland Avenue was the happiest place on earth for at least a little while.

Have you ever had a recurring dream where the same thing happens to you or the same person keeps trying to kill you?

Pudge is the Cubs recurring nightmare.

With one out and runners in scoring position, Pudge did the opposite of what I thought he would do. Instead of pushing an RBI single to right, he lined an RBI double to left.

It was officially a nightmare again when Derek Lee singled home Pudge for the lead.

Some nightmares just get worse.

Like in the sixth when a would-be inning-ending chopper back to the pitcher, glancing off Kyle Farnsworth’s glove, allowed a Marlins insurance run to score.

Then the bogeyman was back again.

Pudge had the chance to make thing worse, but Farnsworth responded by blowing Pudge away.

Some nightmares are not about what’s against you. They can be about what you have to fight off your opponent. By the time Dave Veres came into the game, confidence in the Cubs’ comeback chances began to wane. Veres didn’t get the Cubs out of the inning, the Marlins’ base running did.

Another nightmare, and possibly the worst kind, is when you come to close to your goal, but it’s just out of reach. Not just being one win away from the World Series, but each long fly ball sending the Marlins outfielders to the warning track.

Coming as close as the Cubs did is the recurring nightmare of the Boston Red Sox, who I hope have a better fate than the Cubs in their game seven.

But in baseball, like dreams, there is always more to come. Although my next dream might be tomorrow and I have to wait for next season to see the Cubs again, I will keep my optimism – just wait till next year.