The Dugout: Age Ain't Nothin' But The Length Of Time An Organism Has Lived

Jamie Moyer and Greg Maddux know each other very well. The Cubs drafted them both in 1984, 31st and 135th respectively. They were rookies together, played together in Chicago, and have been pitching with or against or amongst each other, win or lose, for the last 24 years.

Last night, the Phillies beat the Padres 1-0. Maddux and Moyer were as they'd been in their primes again, shutting down batters one after another, with only Pat Burrell's late game homerun to spoil the fun. It was a lot like the movie "Space Cowboys," where you realize that the best cowboys are the oldest and Greg Maddux ends up sitting mournfully on the moon.

We've been doing The Dugout since the early 80s so we know these men. We know what they can accomplish. We know the fire that burned in their hearts then and still flickers aflame today. We even know how they managed to have AOL Instant Messenger™ in 1986.

Today's Dugout, about the prices we pay in our youth for the cost of tomorrow's twilight, is after the jump.

The Dugout

	Online Host Welcome to the 1986 Chicago Cubs Chatroom!
	MaDDog: /puts face to mirror, scratches upper lip
	MoyerBodyGirl: No, man, I can totally see it! You've got a sweet 'stache growin' in!
	MaDDog: Heh, you really think so? /combs stache
	MoyerBodyGirl: Absolutely, bro! Y'look like Charles Bronson! Give that bad boy another six months and you'll be 1.0 Rollie Fingers!
	MaDDog: /twirls ends of stache People are already mistaking me for Wizzo the Wizard...
	Online Host raffi has entered the chatroom.
	raffi: What's going on in this chatroom, Baby Belugas, trying hard to grow in that 'stache?
	MaDDog: get out of here, Rafael, let me grow my 'stache in peace! We weren't all born with that bear finger you've got under your nose!
	MoyerBodyGirl: yeah Raffy, how do you get that mamma jamma to grow in so full and thick??
	raffi: Couldn't say! I'm just a natural, I guess!
	MaDDog: naturally, pfft, you've probably been snorting minoxidil again...
	raffi: NO! /points harshly
	raffi: I have NEVER used Rogaine. PEROID. End of sentence. THE. END. PEROID.
	MoyerBodyGirl: hey man no need for so much punctuation, we aren't accusing you
	raffi: If I ever need Rogaine to grow hair, or performance enhancers to make me better at baseball, or some kind of future drug to keep that certain part of a man's body engorged, just shoot me
	raffi: Just shoot me dead. I will be useless to baseball and the history of sports.
	MoyerBodyGirl: nobody's gonna shoot you, Raffy. We play on the North Side, not the South Side.
	MaDDog: yeah, we aren't heartless ghetto thugs like Bobby Thigpen
	Online Host Welcome to the 22 Years Later Chatroom!
	MoyerBodyGirl: PETCO Park. Heh, I remember when this was all dirt and roads and buildings! /hitches up pants
	maddux.xmission.com: Yyep. /spits into spittoon
	MoyerBodyGirl: Fine day a baseball today. Yep. A fine day for baseball.
	maddux.xmission.com: Mmmhm. Days like this make me miss my Kathy. Been dead for aught twenty years now.
	MoyerBodyGirl: Fine woman Kathy was.
	maddux.xmission.com: Yep. Fine woman.
	MoyerBodyGirl: Say, old timer, I can't help but notice we're a pitchin' up a storm here at young PETCO!
	maddux.xmission.com: Can't say I disagree there, Jame. 'Minds me of the good old days, back when our veins were tight.
	MoyerBodyGirl: Such has changed since those days, friend, you ever go back in your mind to the salad days of youth?
	maddux.xmission.com: 'Casionally. Can't think about bein' young for too long, though. Start pissin' all over myself.
	MoyerBodyGirl: Figure I should stop pitchin' one a these days, settle down with Karen n' our Guatamalan young'n. Start up a gen'ral type store!
	maddux.xmission.com: Ain't noth'n to pitchin'. Pitchin's just a rhythm. Like breathin'. S'all part a passin' through.
	MoyerBodyGirl: Yep. All part a passin' through.
	maddux.xmission.com: Days like this'll take ya back, though.
	MoyerBodyGirl: Sure, sure. Shame that ol' Raffy Palmeiro isn't here to share it with us.
	maddux.xmission.com: Say again?
	MoyerBodyGirl: I sez "shame that ol' Raffy Palmeiro isn't here to share it with us."
	maddux.xmission.com: He was a great player. Fine mustache. What became of him?
	MoyerBodyGirl: Shot him dead in Camden Yards.
	MoyerBodyGirl: Greg, I've got to hit the ol' hay now, Coach says there's a pitchin' change a brewin'.
	maddux.xmission.com: /tips hat To "doin' it again" b'fore our suns set.
	MoyerBodyGirl: /tips hat /wanders off of porch
	Online Host MoyerBodyGirl has left the chatroom.
	maddux.xmission.com: Now to see what babe hopes to fill the shoes of such a veteran.
	RollieGotFingered: doodydoodydoody doooo
	maddux.xmission.com: oh crap