Roll Out the Barrel: Ten Years Later

Ten years ago today I was lucky enough to be at a great game between the Chicago Cubs and the Milwaukee Brewers. I happened to be in Milwaukee ten years ago to visit, and was already having a good day when I arrived at the old County Stadium. I had already been to the Miller Brewing Company and the Milwaukee Speedway during the day. We got free tickets to the Cubs game that night so why not go? Our original plan was to watch a little of the game, and catch a little of Summerfest. The only reason we were able to see County Stadium at all was the crane accident the year before that set the Miller Park construction back a year.

Dempster and Colvin Stop White Sox Winning Streak

The Cubs beat the White Sox yesterday behind solid pitching from Ryan Dempster and a great day by rookie Tyler Colvin. Dempster gave up two runs in the first, but settled in to only give up one more in his next six innings. What may be more impressive is the fact that he threw 122 pitches. In this day of pitch counts I was surprised to see him come out in the seventh. The Cubs needed him though with their bullpen depleted so he manned up, and kept his team in the lead. Tyler Colvin is the reason that he had the lead though. He hit a three run homer in the 3rd that put the Cubs ahead for good. It did not get out by much, but all home runs look the same in the box score. He also singled in a run in the 8th after a Soriano dinger that gave the Cubs all the cushion they would need. The kid looks like he could be the real deal. In limited playing time he is second on the team in home runs, and if they give him any kind of playing time the rest of the season he will be leading the team.

Lightning Strikes Again

Last night I went to the Cell to see the White Sox play the Atlanta Braves. It was 70’s night with a fireworks show scheduled for after the game, but nobody said anything about the show pre game. The above picture is one example of the show I was able to see from my seat before the game even started. I love watching storms, and I love watching baseball. What an awesome night that allowed me to see both.

White Sox Beat the Rain and the Cubs

Sometimes a negative can turn into a positive. Earlier in the week I found out my tickets for the Sox game against the Cubs on Sunday fell through. The late start along with the cost led to the demise. Then the next day I found out that I could go on Saturday for free. How cool was that. As I walked up the ramp to our seats I realized just how cool they really were. We were in section 34 row 5. Pretty much on top of the area where the White Sox were warming up. The picture above is of Alexei Ramirez who was the first person we saw as we got to our seats. I yelled hello to him and he yelled back. How cool is that? He then went on to playing with the ball. Above he is rolling it up his arm and onto his shoulder. He appeared to be having a lot of fun.

Finally I Get Paid to Attend a Baseball Game

Last night I was in Gary to see the Railcats take on the Rockford RiverHawks. I went because it was money giveaway night. The first 1,000 fans through the gates received an envelope with money in it. The envelopes contained anywhere from $1 to $100. Do you want to guess what I got? You guessed it. $1. The only good thing about getting to the park early was the fact that they were taking batting practice when I walked in. I walked out to talk to the Railcat superfan in left field, and was rewarded with a home run off the bat of RiverHawk third baseman Evan McArthur.What a way to start the night. McArthur is shown above

White Sox Win One For the Hawk…Not Really

For the purposes of my sanity I will think of last nights game as one that was called for rain after the conclusion of the sixth inning. It is to depressing to think of Matt Thornton coming in and giving up five runs. It pains me to think of Matty getting pulled from the game in order for Scott Linebrink to serve up the second half of back to back jacks. So here is my recap of last night’s game from a positive viewpoint.