This past summer my wife Katie decided that we’d take our fathers to a Cubs game for Fathers Day and it just so happens the Red Sox are in town for the weekend. We end up dragging her brother David, who is a White Sox fan, her sister Amy, Katie & I and our fathers. 6 people, really not enough to want to pay to park for two cars. So we decide that Amy’s car which was a KIA something(I’m not that great remembering car names) Explorer type truck. Katie had said she would ride in the back hatch and being the wonderful husband I am, I said I’d ride in the back. This is where I’m supposed to say something like, “and it was the longest ride of my life” and it was.
I hop in the back, pull the door down close and attempt to get comfortable. I sit to the side trying to extend my legs to the other side as I do my body begins to push it self up and my head is now crammed to the roof with my neck forcefully cranked to the side. I maneuver my self Indian style directly in the middle with no padding, just sitting on the thin mat and steal with the top of my head just barely grazing the roof. One small bump and its toast for my skull. So after about 20 mins, I can feel a slight cramp in my hip flexors but I know if I make any movements it’ll just make it worse. Plus with traffic in the Loop the way it is there’s no stopping till we get there. I don’t know where it started, maybe it was all the stop & go traffic by Soldier Field. Or maybe it was on Lake Shore Drive by the Field Museum. Either way the next 20 mins felt like days until we’d reach Wrigleyville. Amy isn’t a bad driver at all, but thanks to my mother, I get car sick if I’m not driving but I don’t want to drive. Yea I know try being inside my mind. Every tiny little bump in the road, curve. If we’re stopping, then going, stopping, my head gets heavier and heavier, side to side. There’s something in my gut waiting to come up. Finally we’re passing Chicago street, the traffic lets up and it’s a little smoother until Belmont. Amy exits Belmont, but when you do you must stay in the right lane because its a quick turn but not only that with all the traffic if you miss Inner Lake Shore Drive, have fun cruising through the neighborhood. We’re headed North, finally Addison street, hang a left but I can’t take it anymore. I jump out on Belmont, my Brother in law walks with me the rest of the way, plus he wanted a smoke. Finally we are entering the gates. We grab some food and head straight to our seats. I wish we could have been one of the first 5000 people to get the free seat cushion but you can’t win them all.
The Cubs send Paul Maholm to the mound vs Boston’s Franklin Morales. Leading off former White Sox & 2005 World Series winner, Scott Podsednik sends a line drive to center and scores when Dustin Pedroia hits his 16th double of the season. Kevin Youkilis sends Pedroia to third on a fly out to Reed Johnson in right field. With the shift on for David Ortiz, Big Papi still sends a fastball to right, scoring Pedroia. Mike Aviles & Darnell McDonald both fly out ending the inning, 2-0 BoSox. Reed Johnson leads off with a double but Darwin Barney keeps him at second with a pop out to shortstop. Batting 3rd, Starlin Castro takes a change up but sends a curve ball to center scoring Reed and ending up with a triple. Alfonso Soriano steps up to the plate and goes down swinging. Jeff Baker strands Castro at 3rd on a ground ball to Ortiz.
The second inning has Kelly Shoppach called out on strikes and both Ryan Kalish and Franklin Morales going down swinging. The Cubs send Joe Mather, Wellington Castillo and Luis Valbuena to go down in order. Pods leads off the 3rd with a ground out but Pedroia singles. With a 3-2 count on Youk the ninth pitch sees a hit & run but fails with Youk going down swinging and Dustin caught stealing. Malholm leads off with a K & Reed grounds out. Barney steps to the plate & singles to center then scores when Castro pops up to Pedroia ending up at second with his 10th double. But is again stranded on base when Soriano grounds out. At the end of 3 we’re all tied up.
Big Papi leads off the 4th with his 16th home run of the season giving the lead back to Boston. That’s all the action until the top of the 5th when, Red Sox pitcher Morales singles but the inning is ended when Scotty P hits into a 4-6-3 DP and is replaced with Daniel Nava due to an injured groin. The cubs go down in order and we end up in the 6th. With one out Youk walks but is left at first. Matt Albers steps in for Morales. Barney reaches on an error by Youkilis and moves over to second on a single by Castro. Soriano finally reaches but on a fielders choice but Castro is out at second. Jeff Baker reaches on a missed force attempt everyone is safe including Barney who scores to tie the game at 3. Mather & Castillo both groundout to end the inning.
Top 7. The double switch is on, Maholm out, Shawn Camp in batting sixth replacing Mather, sending Reed to Center and bringing in David DeJesus to play right and bat ninth. Darnell McDonald doubles. Jarrod Saltalamacchia steps in for Shoppach singling to right. With a visit to the mound, Camp is out & James Russell is in giving up a single to Ryan Kalish scoring McDonald. Will Middlebrooks pinch hits for Albers sending a sac fly to score Jarrod S. Kalish is able to move to third on a throwing error by Castillo. Nava sac bunts to Russel scoring Kalish and taking the lead by 3. Pedroia pops out to end the inning. Saltalamacchia stays in & Andrew Miller heads to the mound leading off the inning by walking Valbuena but is throw out trying to steal second. DeJesus flies out and Boston decides to bring in Mark Melancon who hits Johnson but gets Darwin to end the inning by grounding out.
Into the 8th, the Cubs replace Russel with Jairo Asencio. Youk leads off with a single but is forced out at second. Big Papi on first, Aviles walks. Darnell up to bat hits it to Starlin but on a throwing error everyone is safe with bases loaded for Saltalamacchia who ends up at first on a force attempt scoring Ortiz. Kalish flies out to end the inning. BoSox go with the double switch taking Youk out for Nick Punto and Scott Atchison steps to the mound, who retires Castro & Soriano on 5 pitches. Steve Clevenger pinch hits for Baker but ends the inning. Punto & Nava both single to start the 9th but Pedroia flies out. Adrian Gonzalez replaces Atchison and strikes out swinging but the double steal is executed. Cubs decided to intentionally walk Ortiz but are able to get Aviles to end the inning.
Bottom 9, the Cubs down by four but anything can happen. A-Gon stays in at 1st, Ortiz out and Alfredo Aceves in to finish the game. Tony Campana, Castillo & Valbuena all single to load the bases. DeJesus up to bat with bases loaded sends a fly ball deep to center field but its caught scoring Campana and moving everyone up a base. Down by 3, Johnson steps in the box…..and is called out on strikes. Men on second and third with the potential tying run at the plate, Darwin takes the first pitch. Aceves sends a 93mph fastball, Barney connects sends it in the air but 3rd basemen Punto is able to bring it to end the game. Albers gets the win and Camp gets the loss. Well at least they didn’t get swept.
Win or lose, there’s nothing like going to Wrigley Field to watch baseball. Needless to say after the exciting ride there, I chose to be crunched in the middle in the back seat. The ride going home was uneventful. All in all it was a great day, spending the day with our Fathers on Fathers Day at the ballpark. I do wish though we could have been sitting in the seats in the ticket on the picture above but we still had a great view. The view in the pics above are from the seats we actually sat in which I added below. If your ever looking for tickets at Wrigley, I’ve pretty much sat everywhere in the park, so email me @ SportsTimeRadio@hotmail.com or you can always tweet me
@mantime8
