Sunday, April 10, 2005
Cub Day Afternoon
The Cubs' 2005 home opener at Wrigley Field came and went like a lazy Sunday afternoon in-between softball games at Hamlin Park.
Apart from the day's festivities, which featured an announcement of the entire team and newly minted Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg throwing out the first pitch (all of which I watched quietly on my own as Sonny and Sara went to get the hot dogs), it felt much more like a mid-summer afternoon playing hooky from work than the very exciting first home game of the season. Even the wind blowing in from leftfield was sort of lackadaisical, the boo birds came out early with LaTroy Hawkins' first blown save of the season and Corey Patterson's third strikeout of the game. The peanut guy tossed a bag to someone a few rows in front of us and the peanut procurer miss the catch. That was the kind of afternoon April 8 was.
The Cubs played lethargically, dragging out a game that seemed to average an infield pop-up and walk issued per inning by the heart of our order and our pitchers respectively to 13 innings which then, of course, ended in a home loss. Thank you, Dusty Baker, for leaving Jon Leicester in for 49 pitches without any bullpen activity even after two walks in a row.
It may be more interesting to note that although we had hot dogs, peanuts, cheese fries and chili nachos, neither of us had a beer. Not a single sud. We gulped Pepsi from souvenir cups but didn't make the trip to any of the newly designed food stands (by the way, they look great! Thanks Levy Brothers, food service to Wrigley Field) -- the newly bumped-up prices were too rich for Sonny's blood and Sara and I had a bar to go to after the game.
Although I wish the ball game had been a little more exciting, a day off from work spent at the ball park with good friends is one of the finer moments in life. It's not often that you come across people who are good friends and people who are good ball players. For that one afternoon and more, we were both.
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/desireekoh13/album?.dir=a3fc&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/desireekoh13/my_photos
Apart from the day's festivities, which featured an announcement of the entire team and newly minted Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg throwing out the first pitch (all of which I watched quietly on my own as Sonny and Sara went to get the hot dogs), it felt much more like a mid-summer afternoon playing hooky from work than the very exciting first home game of the season. Even the wind blowing in from leftfield was sort of lackadaisical, the boo birds came out early with LaTroy Hawkins' first blown save of the season and Corey Patterson's third strikeout of the game. The peanut guy tossed a bag to someone a few rows in front of us and the peanut procurer miss the catch. That was the kind of afternoon April 8 was.
The Cubs played lethargically, dragging out a game that seemed to average an infield pop-up and walk issued per inning by the heart of our order and our pitchers respectively to 13 innings which then, of course, ended in a home loss. Thank you, Dusty Baker, for leaving Jon Leicester in for 49 pitches without any bullpen activity even after two walks in a row.
It may be more interesting to note that although we had hot dogs, peanuts, cheese fries and chili nachos, neither of us had a beer. Not a single sud. We gulped Pepsi from souvenir cups but didn't make the trip to any of the newly designed food stands (by the way, they look great! Thanks Levy Brothers, food service to Wrigley Field) -- the newly bumped-up prices were too rich for Sonny's blood and Sara and I had a bar to go to after the game.
Although I wish the ball game had been a little more exciting, a day off from work spent at the ball park with good friends is one of the finer moments in life. It's not often that you come across people who are good friends and people who are good ball players. For that one afternoon and more, we were both.
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/desireekoh13/album?.dir=a3fc&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/desireekoh13/my_photos
// posted by Desiree @ 9:22 PM 
