Visiting Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati
Last week when the Cubs were in Cincinnati to play the Reds I had the day off and so I took the opportunity to drive down there, a little over 5 hours, to see the Cubs play. It was my first time at Great American Ballpark.
The drive wasn’t bad; the game was scheduled to start at 11:30, so I left my house at 4am. With one bathroom/coffee stop, I was in the parking lot near the stadium at 9:20.
The gates to the park were to open at 10am, so I went to the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame first.
(You can click on this picture and all the other to see in full size)
The entrance to the Reds Hall is just outside “Nuxy’s Entrance” to the park, named after Reds pitcher and broadcaster Joe Nuxhall, who was the youngest pitcher to appear in a major League game when he pitched on June 10th, 1944 at the age of 15……………take that Bryce Harper. Also just outside that gate is a statue of Johnny Bench.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll happily say it again, Bench was my favorite player when I was a kid.
Inside the museum, the first exhibit is about the 1975-76 Champion Reds. It’s also the third, fifth, sixth, and ninth. I will just say this, everywhere you go in the museum and in the ballpark itself, you will find one reference or another to the Big Red Machine. Not that I blame them, they were a great team. I’m sure if the Cubs ever win a World Series that team will be celebrated for decades to come too.
There are plenty of jerseys and bios of all the players. I took a couple of pictures.
Here is a picture of game worn spikes from Johnny Bench.
Look at those things. I was playing Little League when Bench was wearing those spikes and I had a better pair. Those things look they should have been worn by Gabby Hartnett in 1930, not All-Star Johnny Bench in the 70’s.
Surprisingly, or not, I’m not sure, there is not as much Pete Rose stuff as I thought there might be. There is a jersey and some pictures, but not overdone. There is a wall that is covered with 4,256 baseball’s. Here is the plaque that goes next to it.
The wall itself is right along a three story staircase that takes you to an upper level of the museum. It’s nice as you walk up the stairs they highlight certain numbered balls that you can read about, but it makes it impossible to get a nice picture. However, from the third floor you can look out over the “Rose” garden.
UPDATE: I just found a video description of the Pete Rose Baseball Wall and Garden, and now with the ability to add MLB Video’s here it is:
Once you are on the third floor they have another Big Red Machine exhibit, just in case you forgot who won the 1975 WS.
To finish up the tour, you see the 1990 World Series Trophy…
….and the plaques of all the Reds Hall of Fame members. There are 72 players and 6 executives honored, and no, Pete Rose is not one of them. Here are two pictures.
It was now 10am, time for the gates to open.
As you can see, there were probably less than 100 people at the gate. As we waited there was some friendly banter going on back and forth between Cubs and Reds fans.
When the gates opened I went straight into the seating area and took this shot.
It was really kind of weird being one of the first people inside a huge empty stadium. I then went back into the concourse to look around. One of the first things I saw was an LED sign hanging overhead with the starting lineups for both teams. For people like me that like to keep score at the game, this is a great feature.
If fact, during the game I was shown on TV writing something into my score book.
BTW, this game featured two starting pitchers (Ryan Dempster and Homer Baily) that were celebrating birthdays that day. That was the first time in Major League history that that had happened.
As I started my walk along the concourse, guess what I saw first. Yes, it was a mural of the 1975 Reds.
With no batting practice that day, I had plenty of time to walk around the entire stadium, and I did. Here are just a few of the pictures I took.
Look at the way the seats are turned toward home plate.
I just walked around, taking pictures and talking with ushers. I was wearing a Cubs hat and jersey and almost every usher asked me if I drove down for the series, when I told them that I just drove in that morning for the game most thought it was crazy, but then they all wanted to tell me about “their” park. I’ve found that no matter where you go, baseball fans are proud of their park and when given the chance to talk about it with other baseball fans, they will gladly do so.
It was about 25 minutes before game time and I headed to my seat. I had a GREAT seat. Row 1 right behind the Cubs dugout. Here are two pictures of Soriano and Castro warming up right in front of me.
I took a few shots during the game, but I brought my cheap camera with me instead of the nice one and it doesn’t do very well with action shots.
Here is DeJesus leading off the game for the Cubs.
Here is Castro rounding third after hitting a first inning solo HR
I took this shot of Garza and Samardzija between innings
Somehow I get the feeling they weren’t looking into the crowd to see if they could spot dorks like me with a scorebook and camera in hand, they were probably doing a different kind of people watching.
Here is a shot of LaHair after a solo HR
In the middle of the game I went for a snack. First I had a hotdog. The women behind the counter asked if I wanted to get a red shirt also. At first I didn’t realize what she meant. I thought maybe it was a snack to go with the hotdog. Then I realized that she was talking about getting a Reds shirt instead of wearing my Cubs shirt, I laughed and said I was just fine the way I was. I ate the hotdog quickly and went looking for nachos to take back to my seat. I had to walk all the way out to the outfield concourse before I found them. I wished I hadn’t. I don’t know what kind of cheese that they use there, don’t it just didn’t taste that good to me.
The middle innings went fast and both pitchers were doing a good job.
The Cubs were leading the game 3-0 going into the eighth after hitting three solo shots early in the game. Then the Reds brought in Aroldis Chapman. I’ll just say this, he throws hard
The Cubs entered the bottom of the ninth leading 3-0. They lost the game 4-3 in ten innings. I could go through the gory details, but I’ll just let the pictures tell the tale.
Marmol comes in to close it out
Votto at the plate
Visit to the mound
Harris scores. Cubs 3-1
The bags are full of Reds
Votto Scores. Cubs 3-2
Sveum to the Mound
Marmol to the Bench
Throwing error in 10th with a tie score
1st and 3rd No outs. “What should we do?”
Cozart Scores the winning run. Reds Win 4-3
Dolis walks off. Reds Celebrate
Me – “Nice pitching Dolis” Dolis – no comment, but a good stare down.
After that is was back into the car for the 5 and a 1/2 hour drive home. Ugh.
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Update: Thanks to Mark and MLBlogs Network for featuring my post on the front page. For all the new readers that have been directed to this page you can click HERE to read my most recent posts or subscribe to my page to receive email updates. Thanks for reading.
~Russel
Father’s Day at Wrigley
I’m still trying to catch up from my computer malfunction was week. Last Sunday night for Father’s Day I took the whole family down to Wrigley Field for the Cubs – Yankees game. We usually only do one, maybe two Cubs games as a whole group each season. I generally go with friends or just take one or two of my daughters, but this game was everyone.
We started off the night by getting there about 90 minutes before game time and going over to D’Agostino’s for some pizza. Dag’s has been a Wrigleyville staple for a long time and I highly recommend stopping there either before or after a Cubs game. Dag’s is about 5 blocks from Wrigley, and after we ate my wife and two youngest daughters took a rickshaw ride over to the park while my oldest and I walked.
We arrived in our seats about 20 minutes before the first pitch and I took these shots of the Cubs starting pitcher Randy Wells playing long toss in the outfield.
Geovany Soto was stretching before the game.
Ten minutes before the first pitch I saw a blimp flying over the park. You know it’s a big game for TV when the blimp shows up. The game was ESPN’s Sunday Night game of the week.
Here is a photo of ESPN’s Jon Kruk doing a remote shot from the left field bleachers just before the first pitch.
There were a ton of Yankee fans in the crowd that night.
Here are a few Yankee fans sitting in front of us.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen or heard so many fans of the opposing team in Wrigley Field, and that includes the Cardinals whom always have a large contingent of faithful at each game. And the New York fans were heard right away when Brett Gardner led off the game for the Yanks with a home run.
But in the bottom of the third Alfonso Soriano got the Cubs on the board with a three run homer off Yankee pitcher CC Sabathia. Here is a shot of Soriano going back out to left field after his homer; getting what has become fewer and fewer moments of love from the bleacher crowd.
The game was actually moving along at a good pace with the score tied at 4 going into the top of the eighth, which was a good thing. Generally I keep score at the park or I help one of my daughters do it, but for this game we didn’t bother because we had the whole family. But without something for my daughters to do, they were kinda bored. My oldest spent most of the game reading a book on her Kindle, and the two younger girls who are rarely ever at a game together were just talking talking talking with each other, only occasionally looking up to ask what the inning and score was.
So back to the eighth, after singles by ARod and Robinson Cano, Cubs rookie pitcher Chris Carpenter came on to face Nick Swisher. Here is a shot of Swisher in the box getting ready for the pitch.
Here is a shot of Swisher rounding third base after he hit a 2-0 pitch into the right field bleachers for a 3-run homer and a 7-4 Yankees lead.
Rounding Third
By the way, since it was Father’s Day I’ll give Swisher a pass for this game turning home run because Nick’s father, Steve, played for and had his best career seasons with the Cubs from 1974-77.
After another Yankee single and another call to the pen for a pitching change, and it was time to pack up and leave.
We made a quick stop by the firehouse on Waveland Ave. and then took this one last shot before heading home.
Final Score: Yankees 10 Cubs 4
(Side note, the Cubs have lost the last 8 games I’ve been to. I’m starting to get a complex.)
Ichiro and Wrigley Regular @ “The Cell”
On the Chicago White Sox last home stand I went to one of the games against the Seattle Mariners. I took the whole family and we met up with my sister, brother in-law and their kids. It is the same brother in-law that I went to Boston with last month to see the Cubs in Fenway. You can see the pictures and read about that trip here.
The main reason we went to this particular game is because my brother in-law and his family are big Ichiro fans. In fact last season we went out to Seattle to see both Ichiro and the Cubs when Chicago played out there last June. You can read the review, with plenty of pictures, from that trip here.
We arrived at the field about 45 minutes before the game and so we had a couple minutes to walk around and see some of the things outside the park.
Just around the corner from the ticket box the White Sox provide some live musical entertainment. As you can see, there was plenty of room on the “dance floor” for those that wanted to show off their moves. We on the other hand just kept on moving.
( You can click on this picture or any of the others on this page to see in Full size)
Just in front of the ticket box is Champions Plaza. It’s laid out on the ground in a diamond shape like a baseball infield and in the center where the pitchers mound would be is a monument celebrating the White Sox 2005 World Series victory. Completely bordering the diamond shape is the history of the Sox set into brick. The entire “infield” is made up of bricks that have personalized inscriptions from fans to the White Sox. We have a brick near “third base”. The brick has my three daughters’ names on it and it says “Go Sox”. Obviously we are first and foremost Cubs fans, but I thought it would be a nice thing for my daughters to have their names in brick outside of U.S. Cellular Field for all time, or at least until they tear it down.
By the way, all around the outside of Wrigley Field they also have personalized bricks in the ground and we have one there also. At Wrigley the bricks are placed in sections named after Cubs greats. Ours is in the Stan Hack section which is located in front of Wrigley right under the Marquee, it’s a great location.
We met my sister and her family at Champions Plaza. They got the tickets for us that night which was a very generous treat. Before we went into the park I wanted to get one more picture outside.
For those that don’t know, U.S. Cellular Field opened in 1991. It was built across the street from old Comiskey Park. After tearing down the old field they turned that location into a parking lot, but they did mark the location where home plate used to be. I took my youngest over for a picture.
Then a passerby asked if I would like a picture with the both of us. I said that would be great and I kneeled down by the plate to get the picture. It wasn’t until later that I realized that the women didn’t actually get home plate into the shot. Oh well, maybe next time.
We entered the park from behind home plate and made our way around the field as our seats were in the fourth row of the right field bleachers. Here is a shot I took of the field as we stopped for a kids bathroom break. I drew an arrow to the “FUNdamentals” which is in the left field corner. I’ll get back to that later.
Here is the shot I took of everyone when we found our seats.
Here are a couple of shots of Jason “Viva Las” Vargas warming up in the bullpen before the game.
Here is a shot of my niece wearing her Ichiro jersey and watching Vargas. Just after this shot the Mariners pitching coach tossed a ball up to my brother in-law and he gave it to his daughter.
Here is our view of Ichiro’s backside from our seats.
At the start of the fifth inning I took my daughters to go visit the FUNdamentals area that I pointed out in a previous picture. It’s kind of a play area for the kids.
On the way there we stopped in the “Rain Room”. It’s an area with misters set up for people to cool off. Here is my youngest catching a spray.
For those that remember old Comiskey Park, in the 70’s then White Sox owner Bill Veeck set up a “shower” for people to use on hot days. Today’s park also has a “shower”, here is a shot of me standing in it while I try NOT to get wet.
We then made it over to the FUNdamentals area. Here is a shot of my daughter waiting for her turn to catch a grounder on the infield from one of the White Sox attendants.
See the big kid to the right of her? When it was his turn the attendant bounced a fairly hard grounder at him, not to hard for him to handle, but a solid two hopper. When my daughter saw that she just started shaking her head no no no, then dropped her glove and walked away. I tried to tell her and then show her other small kids getting grounders and that the guy would just roll it to her, but she wasn’t having any of it.
Here are shots of the field, scoreboard, and the ‘greenery’ from the FUNdamentals area.
The White Sox call it “greenery”, I guess they don’t want to use the term Ivy because….. well , you know why.
We continued exploring the area. Here is a shot of White Sox Mickey.
They also have info about White Sox players that have had their team number retired. Here are a few.
There are batting cages and a pitchers mound to throw from, the kids took a pass on those things. But my youngest wanted to “run against” Scott Podsednik. It’s a cardboard cutout of Pod’s that “runs” from home to first. You stand at home and when you hear the crack of the bat you start running.
Here is my daughter standing at home plate. As soon as the previous kid started running she stepped out there and I took this picture. You can see the other kid reaching first base and running into the glove.
As soon as I snapped that photo I then ran down to the other end behind the rail so that I could get the next couple shots. Here she is running……. So fast it was a blurrrrr.
She had a good time, as most kids were in the 6+ range.
On our way back to our seats we went through Legends Plaza. It’s located in the center field fan deck area behind the “greenery”. Here are some of our photos.
Me and Charles Comiskey.
The girls getting caught in a rundown between Nellie Fox and Luis Aparicio.
Me with Billy Pierce and Minnie Minoso
And one last photo taken earlier in the evening with Harold Baines.
After all the walking around and pictures it was now the 8th inning. We grabbed some ice cream and went back to our seats.
The Sox were losing 4-2 but we got back just in time to see Carlos Quentin hit a game tying two-run home run. It was at that point that my youngest started breaking down. We had had a long day of swimming and being in the hot Sun and then the game. She was ready to go and the prospect of a 4-4 game going into extra innings was not going to happen.
We left the park and headed home. My daughter was asleep in about 5 minutes.
The White Sox lost the game to the Mainers 7-4 in 10 innings.
Bad pitching and my losing streak continues
This team is really getting frustrating. Four games into a nine game home stand the Cubs are 2 and 2. They took 2 of 3 from the Mets during the week and lost the first of a 3 game series against the Pirates today.
They now stand at 22-27 on the season and are 7 games out of first place.
The thing is; I’m not sure what I’m more frustrated about. The hitting? The pitching? The injuries? The weather?
All right, I do know, it’s the pitching. The Cubs are 29th of 30 in ERA, they are last in quality starts, they are 29th in walks allowed, and they are 29th in opponents’ batting average. Those kind of combined numbers easily make you the worst pitching staff in baseball.
Yes…. The Cubs have had injuries. Yes they have 60% of their Opening Day starting pitchers on the DL. Yes the weather has been awful. But in the end, the guys on the mound just aren’t getting it done.
Unfortunately the Cubs poor pitching continued my personal losing streak on Wednesday night, as I haven’t seen the Cubs win yet this year. Casey Coleman started the game but was knocked out in the second inning by a Mets team that has scored less runs than the Cubs this year.
Mets pitcher Dillon Gee allowed 3 hits, 2 walks, and 4 runs in the first inning, then shut the door for the next 5 innings.
Here is a shot of Gee and a couple of additional pics I took during the game.
Castro at the plate
Here I am on the field........Oh wait, that's Jeff Russell
Here is a shot of the scoreboard in the bottom of the 4th. You can see the flags standing straight out. The wind was blowing in strong from over the left field wall and it made for a cold night in the upper deck.
As evidenced by the fact that my daughter was wearing her winter coat and was drinking hot chocolate.
A couple of months ago Emma from Crzblu’s Dodger Blue World asked people to take pictures and send them to her of themselves keeping score at the game. I keep score at every game and I’ve taught my two older daughters (13 & 11) how to keep score as well. I need to send her a photo.
There was a light mist the entire game, but in the bottom of the sixth it picked up to a heavy mist. I took this picture in an attempt to capture the scene.
Just after that it started to rain in earnest, so we packed up our stuff and headed toward the exit. The Mets batted in the top of the 7th and then the umps stopped the game for rain. About an hour later the game was called and the Mets had beaten the Cubs 7-4
From Bad to Great……. My Fenway Park Trip
Last weekend I went to Boston with my brother-in-law Fran, as well as the guy I share Cubs season tickets with and his wife. We went to the Sunday night game between the Cubs and the Red Sox, this is a recap of my trip and the game.
Let’s start with The Bad. The Cubs lost the game. Tim Wakefield was making a spot start for Boston and had his knuckle ball dancing like days of old. The Cubs were flaying away at pitches that were darting in and out, up and down. In 6.2 innings of work, Wakefield held the Cubs to just four hits and one run while striking out 3, walking none. Two Boston relievers, Daniel Bard and Jon Papelbon finished off the final 2.1 innings, yielding just 1 hit as they struck out 4 of the 8 batters they faced.
On the other side of the ledger, Jeff Russell was starting for Chicago. This leads us to The Worse. Russell was starting because Matt Garza was scratched with elbow tightness. Even though Russell has made a couple starts already this year, he is not a starter. In fact Jeff Russell pitched two innings and threw 40 pitches just two nights earlier in a relief appearance. That he went 4+ innings was actually a fairly credible performance under the circumstances. Unfortunately, just being able to work multiple innings in the big leagues isn’t enough, you have to get batters out. Jeff Russell gave up 2 runs in the fourth inning and another in the fifth on 7 hits and a walk. Mike Quade used four more relievers to finish the game. When it was all said and done, the Red Sox had 12 hits, including 4 by Adrian Gonzalez and a home run off the bat of Jarrod Saltalamacchia and they had beaten the Cubs 5-1.
And now for The Ugly. As I mentioned above, Matt Garza was scratched from his start. He was put on the Disabled List yesterday and now becomes the third Chicago Opening Day starting pitcher behind Randy Wells and Andrew Cashner to make a trip to the DL this year. The Cubs also lost centerfielder Marlon Byrd over the weekend for an extended period after he was hit in the face just above the left eye by a pitch from Boston rookie pitcher Alfredo Aceves Saturday night. Byrd sustained multiple facial fractures and will be on the DL for what at this writing is an undetermined amount of time. And just for good measure, Jeff Baker strained his groin while legging out a double to left on Sunday night.
All in all it was a brutal weekend for the Cubs with the only high point being a victory Saturday night.
So that was the team and the game, but now I want to tell you about The Good, my visit to Boston and Fenway Park.
I left Chicago on a flight out to Boston Sunday morning at 8am. My brother-in-law, Fran, and I were on the same flight and we landed in Boston just before 11am local. We weren’t going to meet the other two members of our party until later in the afternoon. We basically had 4 hours to “see” Boston. I had been in Boston one other time, but it was for just two hours and I didn’t see anything or remember much.
We decided to walk the Freedom Trail. The Freedom Trail is a 2.5 mile long walking tour of some of Boston’s most historically significant sites. Most people start from the south and work their way north, but because of our time limitations and the location of our hotel, we started on the north end which meant starting at the Bunker Hill Monument.
Here is a picture of me there.
The great thing about the trail is you can’t get lost. There are several signs like the one below along the route, but the best thing is that the entire trail is marked in red. From The Boston Common in the south to Bunker Hill in the north, there is either a red painted strip on the ground or red bricks set into the pavement. All you have to do is follow the line and it will take you to all the sites. The arrow in the picture below points to the line.
I won’t bore you with all my pictures and details of each site, but if you ever get the chance to spend the day walking the Freedom Trail, I highly recommend it.
After walking for a couple hours and not having eaten since early in the morning, we stopped at the Union Oyster House for lunch. This restaurant is the oldest in Boston and the oldest restaurant in continuous service in the United States. The sit down service area of the restaurant was packed and had an hour wait for a table, but we were able to get a seat at the bar which also serves food off a limited menu. Despite the bartenders repeated urgings to try “the best Lobster Roll” in town, I went with a bowl of clam chowder and washed it down with a couple of Blue Moon’s. Here I am outside “The Union”.
After lunch and another stop on the Freedom Trail we checked into the hotel and got ready for the game. We took a cab over to Fenway and meet the other two members of our party at 4 o’clock. We had the Fenway Park batting practice tour set for 4:30 and I had a chance to take a couple pictures outside the stadium before we went in. Here are a few of those shots.
The game was being broadcast on ESPN that night and I took a picture of Bobby Valentine walking down the street.
Now The Better. Our tour started at 4:30. Because this was the “batting practice” tour, the places they take you and things they show you are limited because the teams are getting ready for the game. But what you don’t get to see is made up for in other ways.
They start the tour by taking you into the stadium and leading you right down to the field behind the batting cages. Here is a shot of us walking down the aisle to the field.
See the black arrows? They are pointing to flat screen tv’s that are built into the wall in front of the first row seats behind home plate. Not only do the people sitting in those seats get great views of the game from right behind the plate, they get their own personal broadcast of the game. Nice.
Our tour guide led us onto the field where they took a photo of each group. They sell you the picture later in a package with a frame and magnet. I didn’t buy the photo, mainly because after they take their picture of you, they give you about 10 minutes to take as many pictures that you want.
Here is one looking up at the press box and suites.
This one is of me and Fran with the Green Monster in the background.
This one is looking into the third base dugout from the spot where you see me standing in the last photo. I was amazed at how small the dugout was.
After taking photos from the field, our guide led us up into the stands under the upper deck and down the left field line. We sat there for about 20 minutes while our guide provided us a history of the stadium. The next picture shows the field from those seats. I have also added two red arrows (click photo to see better) which point to the Ted Williams red seat in deep right field. I’ll get back to that seat later.
We then moved on to our next and last stop, the seats located on top of the Green Monster. These are good seats to watch the game from, and great seats to watch batting practice. Here is a view of the field from on top of the green monster. The arrow points to the seats we had for the game itself.
Batting practice started a couple minutes late; and because the tour only last a set amount of time and they have to get you back outside the stadium before the gates open for game, we only got to watch about 10 minutes of hitting.
Here is a picture of Jason Varitek walking into the cage…
And one of me waiting to catch a home run ball…..
I didn’t catch any. A few balls were hit up there in the time we had, but nothing that I could make a play on.
When the tour was over they send you out of the park and onto Lansdowne Street. It was 2.5 hours before game time. We were all a little thirsty, so we went to the Bleacher Bar. The bar is located underneath the centerfield bleachers and has a rolling “garage” door that was up so that you can look out onto the field. The bar has a strict no photography policy inside, so I wasn’t able to get any pictures. But I was able to get a few more Blue Moon’s.
We stayed in the bar for about an hour and then decided to head back out onto the street and get some food. One of the things that they are famous for there at Fenway is their Italian Sausage covered in grilled peppers and onions. We all had one and here is the photo of me practically eating half the thing in one bite.
After that Scooby snack we went into the park. We had great seats for the game, third row just beyond the third base bag. Here is a picture of Fran and I in the seats as I enjoy another one of Boston’s fine beverages, Sam Adams Summer Ale.
And another shot with the Monster in the background.
Here are a few game shots. They are taken with a new camera. We have a nice camera at home but I didn’t want to bring it/damage it, so I bought a new cheep compact digital camera. It probably takes great pictures for someone that knows how to use it, for me I ended up with a lot of blurry pictures.
After the game we went out to right field to sit in and take pictures of the Ted Williams Red Seat. Williams hit a home run in 1946 that landed in this seat. Read this short description and distance graphic to get a true measure of just how historic this shot was. I can tell you from sitting there, it’s a lonnnnnngggg way from home plate. Here are the photos that Fran took of me and that I photo shopped that show me sitting next to the Red Seat.
The last thing I want to mention is The Best part of the trip, the people of Boston. I know that this past weekend was big for a lot of Cubs fans and there were plenty of them in Boston. But it also seemed to be a big event for Red Sox fans, and they couldn’t have been nicer. Everywhere we went and everyone we talked to was very nice. The people we met in the bars and on the streets were great. Always asking if we were Cubs fan transplants or if we flew in for the game. They would ask us about Chicago and Wrigley Field and tell us about Boston and Fenway Park. And I know that they will never read this, but I want to thank the guys sitting next to us during the game. They are a couple of Boston season ticket holders and they made us feel right at home. We talked all game long about our teams and our home fields and they really made the entire game enjoyable.
It also has given me a lesson. I see lots of people at Wrigley wearing the shirts and hats and jerseys of the opposing team for that day. But to tell the truth I usually just assume that they are locals that come out to Wrigley when their team is in town. Now I will think about what my trip to Boston was like and how I was treated and make a greater effort to treat those fans in the same regard.
**Sorry for the delay in posting this, we have had a busy week with a family birthday, kids activities and we went to last night’s rain shortened game at Wrigley. I also have about 45 minutes of boring video from the trip that I’m trying to edit down to about 5 minutes of boring video. I will post that as soon as I’m done. Thanks for reading.
~ Russel
Opening Day 2011 and Won!
Ok. So the season has started. And Opening Day didn’t go
exactly as planned. At least as far as the game goes.
I’ll start with myself first. I’ve been lucky enough to have
season tickets to the Cubs for the past five seasons. I split my tickets with a
couple other guys, we have five seats. For several seasons we were in the upper
deck box behind home plate. I really liked those seats and it was good foul
ball territory. Last year we switched locations to the lower deck. We were way
down the right field line in the reserve section. The seats themselves were
cheaper, but after a full year in that location I wasn’t thrilled. This year we
were able to change locations again. We moved to the Field Box section down the
left field line. After one game there I much happier with the seats.
We started the morning off early, getting to the
Wrigleyville area at 9:45. Considering the weather, it was already surprisingly
crowded down there. We spent the next 3 hours eating, talking, people watching
and having a couple drinks at Murphy’s
Bleachers which is just across the street from the bleacher entrance into
Wrigley Field.
For those that have never sat in the bleachers at Wrigley
Field, the seats are all general admission. So it’s first come first serve on
the seats and people were already lining up at 10am. They line up outside the
back wall of Wrigley, right across the street from Murphy’s. It was crazy watching people stand there for three hours
to be first in.
So about 45 minutes before the game I started to make my way
over to the park. Just after I crossed Sheffield Ave I noticed a bunch of
firemen standing in the street. I waited for a minute to see what was going on.
Then I heard a police officer say that the firemen were bringing in the 911
Flag. I quickly grabbed my camera and took this video.
After that I go in the park to my seat. The players were
warming up and the pre-game ceremonies were taking place. I shot this video of
Ryan Dempster warming up and the starting lineup being introduced.
The game started good enough for the Cubs. After a quick top
of the first, the Cubs scored one run in the bottom of the frame. With one out,
Starlin Castro reached base on a hit. Marlon Bryd then hit a grounder to third
baseman Pedro Alvarez who threw wildly to first. Bryd was safe and advanced to
second on the error while Castro raced all the way home to score the first run
of the game. The Cubs then added a second run in the third inning after a
couple singles and a fielder’s choice ground out to take a 2-0 lead into the
fifth inning.
The fifth inning was where it fell apart. After a single and
a groundout, Dempster lost some control. He sandwiched two walks around a SAC
bunt to load the bases with two outs. Then Neil Walker came to the plate.
Walker worked the count to 3 balls 2 strikes against Dempster. With the crowd
on its feet and the base runners on the move, Walker hit Dempster’s next pitch
onto Sheffield Ave for a Grand Slam and a 4-2 Pirates lead. Essentially, that
ended up being the end of the game for the Cubs. Here are my thoughts just
after the inning ended.
The Pirates added two more runs in the 7th on an
Andrew McCutchen homer and the Cubs finished with one in the 8th to
make the final score 6-3 Pirates.
Cubs: 0-1
Game 2:
I wasn’t able to see much of game two. I know they won 5-3
after being down 3 nothing after seven. The interesting thing to me was seeing
the lineup that Mike Quade used.
With a left-handed pitcher on the mound for Pittsburgh,
Quade had Fukudome on the bench. The weird thing is that he replaced him with
another left-handed hitter in Tyler Colvin. I know Quade wants to get Colvin
at-bats, but if you are putting Fukudome on the bench because of the southpaw
on the mound, I would have thought that you put Reed Johnson in the lineup.
I think Quade either has to say Fukudome is my guy, or
Colvin is my guy. I don’t think you can be benching one guy because of a lefty
match-up and then bring in the other while Johnson sits on the bench. If he is
playing righty/lefty match-ups, play it straight.
Cubs Win: 1-1
Who’s Your Padre Now?
San Diego Padres played their first game as a franchise on April 8, 1969 at San
Diego Stadium (later named Jack Murphy Stadium and now called Qualcomm) in
front of 23,370 fans.
Dick Selma went the distance for the Padres;
he struck out 12 Astros’ while allowing just five hits and one run in a 2-1
victory. The next night the Padres once again beat Joe Morgan (yes, that Joe Morgan) and the Houston
Astros 2-0, but good luck finding anyone that saw the game in person as just
4,218 showed up. After winning their third straight game on April 10th,
it would be the last time the Padres would be in first place at any point of
any season for the next four years.
Since their inception, the Padres have been essentially a
nondescript ballclub, and I’m not just talking about the jerseys. Over the past
41 years the Friar’s have just 14 winning seasons and currently have the second
worst winning percentage (.436) of any franchise in baseball, just ahead of the
Tampa Rays.
Yes they have been to the World Series twice, which is two
more times than the Cubs have made the series in the last forty years; but they
are 0-2, winning just 1 game and losing 8.
Their first appearance in the World Series is probably the
one most remembered by Cubs fans. In 1984 the Cubs and Padres met in the NL
Championship Series for a chance to play the Tigers in the WS. The Cubs won the
first two games in the best of five series before losing the final three to the
Padres. San Diego advanced to the World Series where they lost to Detroit 4
games to one.
The Padres also made it to the WS in 1998, they were swept
in four games by the New York Yankees.
Why go through a brief history of the Padres? To illustrate
that the Padres are not a team of pedigree.
Yesterday the Cubs lost to the Padres for the fourth
straight time in Wrigley Field. Over the last 41 seasons no matter how bad or
good either the Cubs or San Diego has been, San Diego has never swept a four
game series at Wrigley. Never. And I was there to see it. Well some of it anyway.
I took my daughters to the game and one of them wasn’t feeling well so we left
after three innings.
I really have avoided writing about the team recently
because they are just hard to watch.
Over the years I’ve seen some bad Cub teams, we all have.
But this is a team that I really thought had a chance to make the playoffs. That’s what makes it so frustrating. I know we can’t expect
postseason every year, they didn’t make it last year, but that team still had a
winning record. This may be the worst Cub team I have seen because of the
expectations that I and other fans had. Maybe we were just being blind to the
facts, but this really is bad.
Anyway now that they have lost 10 of the last 11 at Wrigley,
the Atlanta Braves and Derrek Lee come into town.
So………………………Let’s go get ‘em!
Here are a few pictures from yesterday.
Safeco Field
I really enjoyed my trip to Seattle. It’s the first time
that I’ve been there and I would be happy to make a return trip anytime.
I took a morning flight out from O’Hare direct Seattle. I
actually almost missed the flight and was the last one to get on the plane but
I did make it and we had a smooth flight. I love flying westbound; leave
Chicago at 8am, four hour flight, land in Seattle at 10am.
I went directly to my hotel but the room wasn’t ready. They
have a sun patio on the roof and I went up to see the view. This is a shot of
downtown Seattle. The Key Arena is across the street and you can see the Space
Needle.
I meet up with my sister, brother in-law, and their two
kids. They were also out there for a vacation. We went to lunch and then some site
seeing. First we went to the International Fountain in the Seattle Center area.
Then we headed over to the Space Needle.
Here is a view of Qwest Field and Safeco Field from the
Needle.
After some afternoon walking around, I went to Safeco about
two hours before the game. First I walked past Qwest Field and then over to
Safeco. Here are some pictures of the walk.
In the above picture I placed an arrow to show where I was
standing to take this picture looking back down the street I just walked up.
Inside the park I walked around for a while talking pictures
and watching batting practice.
Safeco Field is really nice. At Wrigley Field I just don’t
think about all the amenities a ballpark can have because we just don’t have
them. At Safeco, they have all the amenities that you can think of. You get a
great view of the field from any seat, of course some views are better than
others. My seats were field level 8 rows back and it was a nice view.
I was walking the upper deck prior to the game taking
pictures when an usher came over and asked if I needed help. I just told him it
was my first time to the park and I was looking around. He then spent about the
next 10 minutes telling me everything anyone one would like to know about the
field. It was cool and I probably know more about Safeco now than do some of
the season ticket holders.
The food was good and there were plenty of concession
stands. The lines were short and the service was fast. I like the fact that you
can still see the field from the concourse level as you are in line. At
Wrigley, when I go get nachos and run down the concourse under the stands to
the bathroom, I miss at least an inning. At Safeco there are plenty of
restrooms and I could run in and out between batters and never miss a pitch.
One of the things Safeco is famous for are their Garlic
Fries. I had an order, but couldn’t finish them. Man, you really better be into garlic. I’m not
talkin’ about garlic powder or garlic salt. These things are coated with light
oil and then smothered with raw chopped garlic, and lots of it. You can smell
these things from two rows over. A thought my sister was going to ask me to
leave the area until I was finished.
I kept forgetting about the jumbo scoreboard. I’m just not
used to looking for it. It wasn’t till about the third inning when I would
start looking at the scoreboard for batter info and replays and blooper reels.
When the game was over we took our time getting out.
The roof was open for the game, but about ten minutes after
the game ended they closed the roof. I’m not sure why they closed it, but it
was cool to watch and it took about five minutes. The roof is on a rail and it
rises above the top of the stadium to create an open air field.
Outside the stadium I gave a wave goodbye. A couple Seattle
fans didn’t really care for my picture.
WrigleyRegular
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