Game #37 – Cubs vs. Nationals

Game #37 – Cubs vs. Nationals
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Heather, Wigs & Julie

Another beautiful, perfect summer night. I love, love, love this weather. I figured that after our offensive explosion and super quick game last night, that it would be a shutout, 4-hour game tonight. Close, but not quite :)

Both teams were actually pretty bad. Washington had 14 hits and only scored 4 runs, leaving 12 men on base. Cubs scored 2 (off of home runs, of course), were 0-8 with runners in scoring position and left 6 men on. The Cubs are 2nd in the league in HR’s and dead last in batting average with runners in scoring position. Ouch. Castro/Barney had trouble with double-plays twice, only getting one out, one of which led to a run.

After all this ineptitude, they were actually still in it going into the 9th, down only 1 run. Russell came in for 1 batter and gave up a hit. (One batter, really??) And then Gregg came in to of course give up 2 runs, one being charged to Russell. I feel like I haven’t seen Gregg in forever.

Donnie Murphy (!) homered in bottom of the 9th to pull within 2 runs, but that was it. Which got me wondering who the heck Donnie Murphy is. So here you go:

• He’s been in the league for 7 years
• Started with KC in 2004 for 2 years, moving to Oakland for 2 years, was with FL for 2 years, and then Miami last year. Yes, I realize FL and Miami are the same team, but they changed names and that’s how it shows in his stats!
• He plays short and 3rd
• He makes $560K
• He’s 30

From Mark Gonzalez, the new Cub beat writer:
Murphy joined the Cubs' organization on April 3 on the recommendation of player development director Brandon Hyde, a former Long Beach player and coach who was with Murphy with the Marlins in 2011.
So was he unsigned and the Cubs picked him up??? I guess so.

Anyways – Cubs lose. I also thought this tidbit was good:
Anthony Rizzo has David DeJesus’ and Alfonso Soriano’s baseball cards at the top of his locker.

Nice.

Recap:

Cubs Lose 4-2

My season record: Visitors 24, Cubs 13
Parking update: No update today

Game #36 - Cubs vs. Nats

Game #36 – Cubs vs. Nationals
Monday, August 19, 2013
Heather, Wigs & Julie

No Sunday game for us this week, as it was time for “forced family fun” as Kevin’s family likes to call it. We are closing in on 40 baseball games, but have some work to do on the 40 restaurants. Wigs put together a list of the “Final 15”, saying I had veto rights on 3 of them. Ha ha. Will keep you all posted.

Beautiful night on Monday – warm, but not too hot. Perfect night for baseball! Before the game, we heard that David DeJesus was traded to the Nationals. Sad to see him go – he seemed like a stand-up guy who provided leadership in the clubhouse.

Great game – Samardzija pitched well and got the run support he’d been lacking in his last few starts. He had a complete game with 105 pitches (his 2nd this year) and 5 strikouts with no walks. He’s got 168 strikeouts on the year, which is 4th in the NL (behind Harvey of the Mets w/187, Kershaw of the Dodgers w/182 and Wainwright of STL w/173). Yu Darvish of Texas is leading the Majors with 214. Wow.

There were 5 home runs by the Cubs – 2 each by Schierholtz and Donnie Murphy (!) and one by Dioner Navarro – all to right or center field. Fun times! There was one HR by the Nats that went to Waveland Avenue. Even better – the game only went 2 hours and 14 minutes. I guess that’s what happens when 10 of the 11 runs are scored on homers. Zip, zip, zip.

A couple funny things: as I was getting ready to leave for the game, I looked at my watch and it was 5 to 7. Yikes – so in my hurry to leave, I grabbed the next game tickets from my season ticket book and headed out. Well, when I got to the gates, my ticket wouldn’t work. I thought maybe I gave them the ticket I sold on Stub Hub, so gave them the other ticket. That didn’t work either. The scanner guy looked at the ticket and they were yesterday’s tickets. Ugh. He told me to go over to the box office and see if they could help. I did that, and they were able to print a new ticket for me. (Phew - if I had to go home, I was not coming back… Which would have been a bummer since it was such a good game.) So back around to bleacher entrance, and into the game. And I just missed Schierholtz’s homer (in bottom of the 1st), which went right behind Heather/Wigs and the guy sitting right behind Wigs ended up getting the ball.

Later on in the game, Schierholtz threw a ball up between innings, and the guy who got the home run ball, was going for it. I’m not sure if he tipped the ball or someone else did, but in slow motion, the guy was losing his balance, falling down 3 rows and across the aisle, bent left leg way backward, his back also bent at an unnatural looking angle, and I thought he was going to face plant. He somehow came up with the ball and didn’t kill himself in the process. I was trying to stay away from the kerfuffle, and was practically in Wigs’ lap. (Sorry Wigs.) Wigs’ thought he was going to faceplant and die. I’m sure he’s sore today. And whoever stopped his fall is probably sore too. Was it really worth it??? Crazy.

Recap:

Cubs Win 11-1

My season record: Visitors 23, Cubs 13 (a .361 winning percentage…)

Parking update: No update today

Game #35 – Cubs vs. Cards / Restaurant #26 Wood

Game #35 – Cubs vs. Cards / Restaurant #26 Wood

Saturday, August 18, 2013

Heather, Wigs, Kevin & Julie

Another gorgeous day today! Since it was so nice out, we decided to go in early for batting practice. We stopped at the little grocery store next to Tango Sur for empanadas to bring in for lunch (corn, spinach and chicken – yum!!). We have to remember to include empanadas in our rotation for lunch. There is another place (café nola) over by the Jewel that also has them, so we’ll have to go there too. T-shirt giveaway today – it was a Large (vs. the normal XL) – the 1908 bear logo. Cute!

 

Another good crowd today (41,981) – this time the stadium was full all around, with of course lots of Card fans. Both yesterday and today, the Card players looked like they were having fun with the fans during batting practice. I was feeling optimistic after yesterday’s win, and our All Star Travis Wood on the mound. And things started out pretty well – the first inning had fly balls to each of the outfielders, 7, 8 and 9 in that order. Ha ha. Wood didn’t give up any hits until the 4th inning. He got on base in the 3rd, and then was hanging out there for a while (no runs scored), so don’t know if that affected him?? (It shouldn’t!) In the 4th, back to back doubles scored an RBI for Beltran (!). In the 5th, another run scored on huge mental mistake by Castro on shallow fly ball, allowing a runner to tag up from 3rd. He did eventually throw home, but not in time to get the out. 2 zip Cards. Kevin is still bitter about this – don’t ask him about it. I read later that the ump called the infield fly rule, which is weird cuz the ball was in the outfield and Castro was actually waving off Junior Lake.

 

Next inning, Castro no longer in the field. Donnie Murphy (our team leading .333 hitter) moved to short from 3rd and they brought in Ransom to play 3rd. So there, Starlin Castro! Cards tacked on another 2 runs via homer from Yadier Molina. I think this was his first game back after being on DL??? And Cubs had nothing. 5 hits, 7 left on base.

 

After the game, guess where??? You know it. Had a couple drinks here and then headed over to Wood for dinner (on Halsted in Boystown). We actually went to the wrong place (MiniBar, I think), and the waiter had brought us water. We were debating on having a drink cuz we felt bad, but Wigs had called Wood to get a table, and we didn’t want to make them wait. So we tipped the waiter for the water. Sorry dude – that was the easiest $5 you made all night! Wood was next door, and they had an awesome patio on a side street off Halsted, so it was not as noisy. Really cute.

 

This place had both small and large plates, so we ordered a bunch of stuff to share. Heather, Wigs and Kevin started with fancy drinks (whiskey for Wigs, gin for Kevin, and vodka (??) for Heather). I went right to wine since I had a whiskey drink at Bernie’s before we left : )

Here’s what we ordered - Small Plates:

• Cheese plate – 4 different types of cheeses, served with jam (yum!) and bread
• Oxtail Ragout – saffron risotto and shelly beans. This was Heather’s favorite.
• Tagliatelle – merguez sausage, tomatoes and nicoise olives
• Scallops – shelly beabs, bell peppers, tomato & Italian sausage. This was Wigs’ favorite.
• Country Ham Flatbread – raclette cheese, kale and mornay sauce

Large Plates:

• Whole Roasted Fish – Branzino (meaning head and tail). Kevin did a fantastic job deboning this; even the waiter complimented him! This was my favorite.
• Catalpa Grove Pork – sweet corn fritters, blistered pardon peppers and smoked cherry sauce. This was Kevin’s favorite.

I had gone inside to go to the restroom, and it was totally fancy in there with people all dressed to impress. And here I was in my Cubs shirt. Oh well.

 

Check out all the accolades according to their website:
WINNER, 2013 MICHELIN BIB GOURMAND AWARD
Zagat: "Chicago's Hottest New Restaurants"
Michigan Avenue Magazine: "Best Places to Dine 2013"
Celebrity Chef Art Smith: "Every dish was beautiful and tasted wonderful."
2013 Award: World's Best Bars
Phil Vettel, Chicago Tribune: "Every single dish is impressive."
Chicago Eater: "Wood has achieved a reputation as a go-to for interesting dishes and cocktails."
Chicago Social: "Chef Ashlee Aubin is turning out what have become some of our favorite dishes of the year— "

 

I agree that the food was really good, and I would definitely go back. But dressed better : )

 

Recap:

 

Cubs Lose 4-0

 

My season record: Visitors 23, Cubs 12

 

Parking update: No update today

Game #34 – Cubs vs. Cards / Restaurant #25 Bartoli’s Pizzaria

Game #34 – Cubs vs. Cards / Restaurant #25 Bartoli’s Pizzaria
Friday, August 17, 2013
Trish, Cindy, Heather, Kathleen & Julie

Cubs/Cards – oh boy. I usually hate these games, primarily because the stands are full of Card fans, the Cards are always good, and we usually lose… Jake Arrieta was on the mound for the Cubs – we got him from Baltimore in the Scott Feldman trade in early July. And wow – he was the 2012 Opening Day starter for Baltimore. Huh. He pitched a really good game, only giving up 2 hits (both to Beltran, boo). He also had an RBI sacrifice fly. That’s the 25th RBI by a Cub pitcher this year – which leads the National League – ha!

Cards starter Westbrook walked the first 3 batters which led to a 3 run first inning for the Cubs. So that was a good start and it was nice to quiet the Card fans. The Cubs added more runs in the 5th, 6th & 7th, and won the game 7-0. Yippee!

The giveaway was a Cubs travel kit, which included sunscreen and chapstick. I didn’t make it in time for the giveaway so we lurked around after the game trying to scope one out. Yea – found one!! It was kind of like old times at the ballpark today – good crowd in the bleachers (upper deck was not full), and all the girls in attendance for a Friday afternoon game. Nice sunny, warm day. Even saw a little batting practice. Fun times all around.

After the game, where else? Bernie’s. Good crowd there as well, but not super-crowded. We had a couple drinks, and Shelly, Kristen, Lyletta, JO and Wigs joined us.

We were planning on Bartoli’s Pizza for dinner (over on Addison – used to be Carreno’s or something like that, which we had never gone to). The girls peeled off and were meeting up with Colleen & Carrie at Caro Mio, so it was just Cindy, Kathleen, Heather, Wigs, Kevin & I for dinner. We walked, as did Kevin who got there right as we did – perfect timing! This was BYO place so the boys picked up some beer & wine from across the street. This was also a counter-order type of place, but one of the workers took our orders for us since we were starting w/appetizers and then figuring out our pizza.

We started with Bruschetta, a Salad – both very fresh – and “Badger style cheese balls”. Gotta love fried cheese! And for pizza, we ordered thin crusts: “The Chicago Stockyard”, which was sausage, bacon, pepperoni, prosciutto and Italian beef. Yikes. Also “The Vegetarian”, which was mushroom, onion, green pepper, black olives, sliced tomato and spinach. Again yikes – talk about a load of toppings! All very good. Heather/Wigs took home the leftover pizza and we took home the leftover booze. Ha ha. All was good. 1000 times better than restaurant #24, but that’s not saying much : )

Recap:

Cubs Win 7-0

My season record: Visitors 22, Cubs 12

Parking update: JO/Trish worked from home today so were able to sell the parking. Just one spot as they are letting a friend borrow a spot until they get a new lease in Sept.

Restaurant #24 - Flacco's Tacos

Restaurant #24 Flacco’s Tacos
Friday, August 9, 2013
Trish, John, Heather, Wigs, Kevin & Julie

We met the gang at Vines (next to Cubby Bear on Clark) to sit outside and enjoy the summer evening. It was a really nice night and perfect for sitting outside. Vines has a huge outside patio, with tables nicely spaced apart so you aren’t on top of each other. We had some wine and drinks which were good (including Heather’s fancy strawberry martini). We also ordered a flatbread appetizer – artichoke and goat cheese. It was good, but a little too cheesy for me.

After drinks/apps, we walked over to Flacco’s Tacos. Since this is right in the heart of the Wrigleyville bar scene (and south of Addison – oh no!), we’ve been waiting for a non-game day to try this place. It was kind of a weird setup – you ordered your drinks from the waitress, but for food, you had counter service. Meaning you went to the counter, ordered and they gave you a number to display on your table. They delivered food to the tables. Like I said, weird. Kind of like the old Bernie’s days when you had to go to the garage to order your own food!

Here was a funny thing – waitress said Margaritas were on special for $5. On the menu, they were listed at $4.95. Cracked us up – the special was to pay $0.05 more. Whatever. Everything was pretty terrible. Kevin didn’t even finish his burrito, and you know he likes his burritos!

I had grilled fish tacos. Pretty dumb of me to order fish here, but it said grilled, so I thought it would be ok. Nope, terrible. The Nachos we started with weren’t awful, but I don’t think anyone was impressed with their dinners. Oh well – we’d been wanting to try it, so it worked out fine. As we were getting ready to leave, they were clearing the tables off the floor to make way for some dancing (we assume). We’re like “time to go”.

So of course we went to Bernie’s for nightcaps. Couple drinks there and then home. Fun night – good friends and good conversation. Terrible food.

Game 33 - Cubs vs. Dodgers / Restaurant #23 Café El Tapatio

Game 33 - Cubs vs. Dodgers / Restaurant #23 Café El Tapatio
Saturday, August 3, 2013
Heather, Cindy, Wigs & Julie

Kevin had his 30 year class reunion/golf outing today, so no game for him. Dodgers coming into this game having won 13 straight games on the road, and they are one of the hottest teams in baseball. Boo.

Cindy & I started with lunch at Uncommon Ground. It was a beautiful day and we wanted to sit outside. Good food; typical slow service. We made it into the game about 2:45 for a 3:05 start.

The Shark was on the mound, and he didn’t do terrible, but once again, the Cubs didn’t do anything offensively to help him. Well, they had 8 hits, and left 7 men on base. On the season, they are hitting just .226 with runners in scoring position – 2nd lowest in the Majors. Samardzjia lasted 6 innings (on a HOT day – yea!!) throwing 112 pitches (69 for strikes), walking 5 and striking out 9. Capuano started for the Dodgers and went 6.1 innings giving up 6 hits, 1 walk and striking out 5.

Puig (!) had 2 more hits to keep his average at .376. He also made a great catch and hurt his thumb in the process. Boo hoo. He had a great diving catch on Friday, and then also had a crazy catch that didn’t count. Here’s the video on that one:

http://wapc.mlb.com/cutfour/2013/08/03/55813168/video-yasiel-puigs-amazing-foul-ball-catch

Cubs lost 3-0. After the game, we went to Bernie’s for a beer, and then over to Guthrie’s for another where Randy also met us for a drink. Then to dinner at El Tapatio on Ashland. I’d been to this place years ago and it was kind of just a small, dumpy café with very basic table and chairs (one step above card tables…). They have totally upgraded and it is very cute inside.

We ordered drinks to start and they were HUGE:

We started with appetizers of Guac and Ceviche. Yummy. Especially the Ceviche. For dinner, Heather had the combo which consisted of a taco, tostada and enchilada (all chicken). She said it was good, but also hard to screw up. Cindy had Carne Asada, and Wigs had chicken enchiladas in dark mole sauce. I had Tilapia Al Tamarindo (basically pan-seared tilapia).

All very good and I would come back again.

Recap:

Cubs Lose 3-0

My season record: Visitors 22, Cubs 11

Parking update: I did hear from Trish and they were in the burbs on Saturday, so no parking update. Sunday they sold the spots for $40 each. (I did not go to the game, so no blog entry for that!)

Game 32 - Cubs vs. Dodgers / Restaurant #22 Vincent

Game 32 - Cubs vs. Dodgers / Restaurant #22
Friday, August 2, 2013
Heather, Kathleen & Julie

Three words sum up this game: Longest. Game. Ever. Three hours and 29 minutes, but it felt like 5 hours and 59 minutes. We got to the park around 2 or 2:30, so that added to the time, but it still felt like forever. Not very crowded, and the weather kept threatening to rain, but it did hold off.

Lots of Dodger fans in the park. I think there were a lot of people in for Lollapalooza and taking in a Cubs game while there. (I neglected to mention in last night’s post that Wigs’ friend the cop - who we met in the bleachers a few years ago - was there with his girlfriend from LA and some other dude from Bloomingdale who knew the girl?? She must’ve lived here before? Anyways, cop and girlfriend were in love – smooch, smooch – and they were also doing Lolla this weekend.)

There were also a lot of Korean fans in the park for the Dodger’s pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu – lots of signs (in Korean), and also people waving little Korean flags. Fun!

Travis Wood – our All Star (and maybe competing with Samardizja for staff ace???) was on the mound. Unfortunately, he only lasted 3 1/3 innings giving up 7 hits, 5 walks, and 5 runs while striking out 2. Yikes – with our inconsistent offense and questionable bullpen (23 blown saves…), a long hole to dig out of.

In the 1st inning Puig (!) singled to drive in the first run. They drove in 2 more in the 3rd after back to back doubles and 4 walks in a row. (Of course Puig (!) scored via a walk with the bases loaded.) Wood was totally getting squeezed in the strike zone. (Home plate ump = Alan Warner.) Not all ump’s fault, but there were at least 5 balls that could have been strikes. So frustrating that this led to his early departure – 41 pitches in this inning alone. This is the inning that felt like it lasted 90 minutes. Wood was totally a stand-up guy after the fact saying this:
"As much as I was missing, it made it hard for him to make a good call on a good pitch. It was pretty much all on me. You don't walk [five] guys without something being wrong."
Here’s the funny thing: in the top of the 4th, one of the LA batters (Ellis) griped about a called 3rd strike and was ejected. He was kind of going nuts with his complaining, and then we thought that even the next batter Punto was bitching and thrown out of the game. (He wasn’t.) But the coach Mattingly also came out and was complaining and tossed from the game. We’re like – did you see the 3rd inning when we were getting screwed?!?! And they were winning! And of course, after the ejections, the Dodgers scored 2 more runs. Ugh.

The cubs did score one run each in the 2nd and the 4th. Cubs were still losing 6-2 in the bottom of the 9th when Julio Borbon doubled. I honestly don’t remember this being awful, but he was thrown out at 3rd after a ball bounced away from the catcher, which led to his demotion to AAA the next day. Huh. As Paul Sullivan would write: #CubsWay.

Good news: Junior Lake had another 4 hits. He should be fun to watch!

After the game a couple drinks at Bernie’s where Kevin & Wigs met us, and then up to Andersonville for dinner at Vincent – 1475 W. Balmoral. We had seen this place when we went to Big Jones for dinner, so kept it on our radar, and decided to give it a try tonight. Outside tables were full, so we sat inside.

We started with the 1st 4 appetizers on the menu, which were:
• Bone marrow with sweetbreads
• White wine chicken and pork sausage with fava beans
• Crispy polenta with some other stuff (??)
• And a 4th one…. We think it was maybe pork belly? (I really need to write these on a more timely basis…)
For dinner:
• Kathleen – pork (served on a cutting board)
• Heather – gnocchi with tomato (the actual juice of the tomato?) sauce....I can't remember what else was in it...asparagus?? It was good. & I think pillow-like....the pasta wasn't very thick so I didn't feel full & gross after.
• Wigs – I had the lamb burger and fries. Burger was good, but nothing special.
• Kevin – hangar steak (served on a cutting board)
• JK – artic char – huge piece of fish!

After dinner, we had a drink at Hamburger Mary’s and then headed home. Overall, Vincent was good and they had fun “big girl” drinks with funny names. e.g. Wigs had one called “Harvey isn’t Gay”. Haha.

Recap:

Cubs Lose 6-2

My season record: Visitors 21, Cubs 11
Parking update: still no update…

Game 31 - Cubs vs. Dodgers

Game 31
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Heather, Wigs & Julie

Kevin had a hockey game so just me, Wigs and Heather for the first game vs. LA. The game started out very promising with back to back jacks by Junior Lake and Anthony Rizzo. (I always hear Ron Santo’s voice when I think/type “back to back jack”.) JR’s was a monster that went onto Waveland Ave – his first home run at Wrigley! I wonder if someone from the Cubs went to the street to get the ball back. Rizzo’s was a line drive to right field – his 16th of the year.

Things going along ok until the 3rd when Hanley Ramirez doubled in 2 runs (the oh-so-famous Puig and A Gonzelez). Rusin was able to escape the inning after that. Bottom of the 3rd – JR does it again! Homer to left center. Can Rizzo do another one for 2 back to backs??? Um, no. Strikes out swinging. All tied at 2 after 3 innings. A few more scoreless and then into the 6th. Rusin gives up a single, and a walk, and that’s it for him on the night. In comes Bowden. A bunt advances the 2 runners, and then pinch hitter Jerry Hairston Jr (remember him??) singles to score the 2 runners. Puig doubles to move JHJR to 3rd and then Adrian Gonzelez drives JHJR in with another single. Puig is called out at the plate trying to score on the play on a great throw by DeJesus to Navarro. Good! I don’t know why but I’ve grown to hate him over the course of this weekend. Dodgers leading 5-3.

Bottom of the 8th, Rizzo homers again! That’s 2 for both him and JR. In the 9th, Puig (!) homers (his 11th of the year) to make it 6-4 Dodgers. And all 3 Cubs strike out in the bottom of the 9th to end the game. Boo. Dodgers scored 6 runs on 12 hits, with the Cubs scoring 4 runs on 5 hits. Dodgers 11th win in the last 13 games while the Cubs have lost 4 of their last 5. No wonder the Dodgers went from last to first and have been one of the hottest teams in the league. And 3 more games against them. Ugh.

Cubs have 72 home runs as Wrigley, which leads the National League. Hmm. The more things change, the more they stay the same. I always used to say that the Cubs were Home Run or Bust. I guess the tradition continues.

Oh and this tidbit from Cash Kruth from mlb.com
“Lake is only the third Cubs rookie since 1949 to record a two-homer game in his first 15 games as a Cub, joining Brant Brown (June 18, 1996) and Angel Pagan (July 2, 2006).”

Don’t those names bring back memories! And this tidbit too:
“Rizzo added his second homer in the bottom of the eighth, becoming the first Cub since Ron Santo to record two 15-homer seasons before the age of 24.”

Oh, and Lake also learned about the hard brick wall in left field tonight, slamming into it on a fly ball in the 9th. When asked if he knew the wall was made of brick, he said: "Now I know."

Welcome to Wrigley Junior Lake!!

Recap:

Cubs Lose 6-4

My season record: Visitors 20, Cubs 11
Parking update: still no update…

Game 30 - Cubs vs. Brewers

Game 30
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Kevin & Julie

Awww – Kevin & Julie couples night at the ballpark. Well us, and the parents with the 10 kids in front of us. They were kind of annoying, but I think I was just annoyed in general last night. It was a beautiful night. After a crummy day of rain and clouds (which cancelled Kevin’s skydiving attempt with his niece…), the sun finally comes out and looked to be a beautiful evening.

The Trading Deadline passed without any additional changes, so now the next watch will be the Aug 30 waiver wire. (Is that what it’s called??) BTW – did anyone see the picture of Kim DeJesus (David’s wife) chugging a bottle of champagne after the trade deadline passed? Haha. Saw it on twitter.

Hoping we don’t get swept by Milwaukee, so hopefully we can salvage one game. So pathetic. We started with tacos from Azteca D’Oro. (Kevin was disappointed with the D’Ags deep dish pizza on Tuesday night.) Got there right as Cubs were running onto the field. Perfect timing. Valbuena at 2nd base again, as apparently Barney is getting the day off?

In top of the 3rd, Betancourt doubled off the wall in left field. I thought Borbon’s throw to 2nd was really good – it bounced but was dead on, and almost got him. Nice job Julio! They got out of the inning after sacrifice butn, strike out and ground out. In bottom of 3rd inning, Rizzo belted a 2-run homer to deepest part of center field.

In the top of the 4th, the diminutive Gindl singled to left field and Borbon shows off his arm a little more with a laser to Wellington at home to get Lucroy out. Nice!! Bottom of the 4th and Castro hits solo homer to Waveland Avenue. You don’t see as many balls leave the park as in the old days (e.g. pre-bleacher expansion), so that’s always fun to see. Well, at least when it’s your team hitting it. DeJesus drove in Ransom, to make it 4-0. Still not a big enough lead with our bullpen – keep it going!!

5th inning, Kevin: “why do these games always slow down in the 5th?” Me: “I was just thinking the same thing.”

Top of the 6th, a few raindrops start falling. Then they become HUGE raindrops. Then the deluge hits. That all happened within 7 seconds. Umps wasted NO TIME, and called for the tarp immediately. They must have seen the radar. We’re like, um, we’re done. (It was about 9:00 and we figured it would be at least an hour until the game started again. Given the 3rd night game in a row, totally fine w/leaving.) I had an umbrella, but not big enough for the both of us. So poor Kevin got drenched as we walked home. Oh well.

As it turns out, the rain delay lasted 1 hour and 6 minutes. And Jackson came back out to pitch again for the Cubs! I was surprised at that. Although with the way our bullpen has been lately, totally understand this. The paper said if he went longer than an hour without throwing, they would’ve replaced him. He was able to start throwing at the 55-minute mark, so was able to stay in the game.

DeJesus doubled in bottom of 6th, scoring Ransom and Castillo. Ransom was in a 0-22 slump before doubling. Milwaukee scored 1 run in the 8th on a Lucroy double, but that was all the damage. Parker (2.49 ERA) came in to close it out in the 9th, giving up one hit and one walk, but no runs!! Hooray – we didn’t blow a save today!!! (22 on the year btw…)

Good News: Cubs won! DeJesus 2 Hits and 3 RBI’s – average up to .273 (which I think is highest on the team…). He’s actually batting .355 since coming off the DL. Only 6 men left on base!

Cubs July record: 14-13, their 1st winning month since going 15-10 last July.

Recap:

Cubs Win 6-1

My season record: Visitors 19, Cubs 11
Parking update: No update… I need to get back on Trish & John to provide this to me. Did he buy the new laptop yet??? I’ve been traveling too much and out of the loop. I’ll get back on this : )