Game 10, Restaurant 7 - Cafe Ciaio

Game 10 – Friday, May 3, 2013

Cubs vs. Cincinnati 1:20 PM – Heather & Julie

Restaurant 7 – Café Ciaio, Heather & Wigs, Kevin & Julie

Back to snow boots and winter coat.  Ugh.  I got to the game about an hour late (work – stop getting in the way!!).  Walking down to the park, it was really nice to be walking when no one else was heading there.  No slow people getting in my way.  It was drizzling almost the whole way, and then by the time I got there, it was really coming down.  Good grief – will this weather never turn for good?!

Heather was all decked out in winter coat and rain poncho.  I brought her a beer and popped my umbrella and settled in.  (5^th inning maybe?)  Cubs were losing 2-0 and it quickly became 4-0.  They scored 2 in the bottom of the 6^th, but then the Reds added one more each in the 8^th and 9^th.  They rallied back with 3 runs in the bottom of the 9^th (against Chapman of all people!  Who was 6 for 6 in Save opportunities) but came up short.  Villanueva didn’t look all that sharp.  Actually the Cubs in general didn’t look that sharp.  They had 15 hits, but left 12 men on base.  They loaded the bases 3 times, and didn’t score.

Tidbits from Carrie Muskat:

·         Friday was the 24^th game (out of 29) to be decided by 3 runs or less. 

·         They are 9-15 in those games. 

·         Eleven of those losses have been by 2 runs or less. 

I guess we need to get used to this.

This will waste your time:

http://www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com/cgi-bin/seigmiaow.pl

Sea gulls were all over the bleachers today (because it was pretty darn empty) and I was keeping my umbrella up so I wouldn’t get pooped on.  Ick. 

Observation:  Sea gulls have webbed feet (like ducks) and pigeons have regular bird feet.  Huh. 

After the game, we met Kevin at Bernie’s.  Wigs picked us up and we headed towards the United Center.  We found Café Ciaio via Yelp; ii’s just east of UC at 939 W. Madison.  Tiny place – maybe only 5 or 6 tables.  We started with appetizers of bacon-wrapped figs, meatballs and mac & cheese.  Kevin & Heather had Rigatoni w/Sausage (spicy!), Wigs had angel hair pasta w/tomatoes, basil and shrimp, and I had the same angel hair pasta, but with chicken.  Everything was really good.  I think the kitchen was like one guy and one pan – wigs & my dinners were piping hot, while Kev/Heather’s were just warm.  A couple bottles of wine completed the meal. 
Dinner update:  Heather asked for hers to be wrapped.  Wigs finally opened it on Tuesday for leftovers, and found that they scooped ALL of our leftovers into one big container.  He found shrimp, chicken, angel hair and rigatoni.  Weird.  He ate it anyways.   

Then we drove to Kevin’s secret parking spot (since Wigs’ was taken), and into the Hawks game.  Great game!  The Hawks had 48 shots on goal.  Holy cow!  They outshot them 17-7 in the first period alone.  Two goals by Frolik (one a shortie), two by Sharp and an empty-netter by Bickell summed up Hawks scoring.  In between periods (the “party” as we like to call it), we saw Wigs’ brother and then another guy Heather and crew play softball with. 

Good times all around.  We headed home after the game since Kevin had to work early on Saturday. 

Recap:

Cubs lose 6-5

Hawks win 5-2

Trish & John sold parking for $20 and $25.  Prices were low due to the bad weather.  But in retrospect I probably could have gotten 25 for both. With Friday, they have topped $500!

My season record:  Visitors 6, Cubs 4

Thursday parking update:  I tried to sell spots Thursday.  I was only able to sell one, for $20.  I did have a pair of women drive back ready to park, but they balked at the last minute.  They thought something was fishy, I guess? They asked if it was my garage, as if I stole garage openers and tried to flip spots that weren't mine, or something.  But anyway, another $20 for Thursday.