Two Cubs Games in Two Days

This past weekend, I decided to attend not one, but two Cubs games. It was a perfect weekend as far as weather goes and the Cubs bats were heating up.

Game One

Saturday my friends and I had bleacher seats. The game started at 12:05, so we needed to get there early. My friend Justin and I got there at 8:00 am, I packed two Gatorade and vodka's, a PB&J, and some cigs, needless to say I was set for the pre-game. The wait was not so bad, the gates opened at 10 and we ran to get front row seats in the Right Field corner. These seats were worth the wait, we were right up against the outfield wall. The Marlins took batting practice for a solid hour while we sat there, but we got no action, but we did manage to harass a few players.

Ted Lilly was solid: 8IP ER, 5H, 10Ks. He kept the Marlins hitters off balance the whole game. This was his best outing of the season, his record is 3-2. Aaron Heilman pitched a scoreless 9th inning in relief.

At the plate the Cubs had a strong game. Lilly probably had the biggest hit of the day, with a 2-out, 2RBI 2B. I was also holding the Cup (for the Cup game) and won some cash with this hit. Ryan Theriot also had a nice game 2-5 3B, HR. Lou Piniella had both Derrek Lee and Micah Hoffpauir in the line-up (I was disappointed, I wanted to talk to Milton Bradley in RF). Lee did hit a towering HR to left in the second inning, he also struck out 3 times. Hoffpauir was 2-3 before being removed from the game for defensive purposes in the 7th inning. The Cubs went on to win 6-1. I had a few too many Labatt Blue's and not enough food.

Game Two

My friend Nick came home from Mexico and of course he wanted to go to the Cubs game on Sunday afternoon. His plan was to get tickets from a scalper after first pitch, which he did. He did not give us much time to get there, he called about an hour before the game. But we got sweet tickets: Aisle 127, Row 13, Seat 102 for $40, not bad. We were in the sun most of the game, the only thing that was not good, was we were sitting around a bunch of families and had to watch our language. We got to the game by the top of the second inning, despite walking to Wrigley from Western & Roscoe. When we got to the game we picked up some Grilled Chicago Dogs in the concourse (These are worth the extra $1) and picked up beers down there too (for 50 cents less). Later we got a box of "Love Me Tenders" which is basically a box of chicken fingers and french fries, with BBQ sauce, not bad for $5, but not as good as all of the hoopla led me to expect.

As for the game itself, the big news was Carlos Zambrano leaving the game in the bottom of the 5th trying to leg-out an infield single (which he did). Big-Z did get the win, going 5IP, 2ER, 4H. As it turned out, his bunt single was the spark for an ensuing rally. Fukudome hit a fly ball to RF that was dropped by Ross Gload leaving the bases loaded for Lee. Lee then proceeded to hit a towering Grand Slam off the hitters eye in CF and the stadium went crazy. It was perfect irony that Lee hit two HRs in the two games I attended this weekend. But honestly, it was good to see from him, maybe he is not washed up after all? Also this was the second game I have been to since 2007 where Derrek Lee hit a Grand Slam, the other was vs the White Sox in '07. Mike Fontenot added his 5th HR of the season and is on pace to have as good of a season as Mark DeRosa did last year. Geovany Soto and Aaron Miles both had a double, these guys have started slow, so this was also a sight for sore eyes.

The bullpen tried to blow the lead but Angel Guzman and Carlos Marmol only gave up one run apiece. While Kevin Gregg pitched a scoreless 9th for his third save this season. The Cubs held on to win 6-4 and we sneaked out of the stadium without having to hear too much of the "Go, Cubs, Go" song. We topped the day off with a few Old Style 16oz's, free hot-dogs, and Sorry (the board game) at the Full Shilling.

My personal record at Cubs games in 2009: 3 and 0.
Next game I will be attending as of right now: June 14th vs Twins