GAME 14 REVIEW
I made it out to Dodger Stadium once again and scored some nice tickets right behind home plate, second level, prime area for foul balls. (More on that in a minute). The AngelFan Wife and I got a babysitter and went to the game with a pal from work and his gal. He's a moderate Dodger fan, but was more interested in the Cubbies that were on his fantasy team performing well (Barrett & Ramirez).
The Dodgers have two video scoreboards at the park, one basically consists of generals stats and what not, the other is the fancier color version with tidbits on the players. Here's what I learned from the Dodger information board:
-
Michael Barrett's cousin is
Scott Fletcher
- "O" is for Offense (that was for Olmaedo Saenz)
-
John Mabry was the
Cardinals Rookie of the Year in 1995
- John Mabry is 9 home runs away from 100 (I'm sure the Mabry watch will be up on ESPN in no time)
-
Jacque Jones attended USC
- Ronny Cedeno is the 3rd best hitter in the NL against right handed pitchers
- Ronny Cedeno is the 2nd best hitter in the NL at night
-
Neifi Perez has played 2b, SS, 3B and Catcher in the majors (guess who our new emergency catcher is)
Why do I mention all of these factoids? Cause the game isn't worth talking about. The Cubs played poorly and lucked into a victory. The Eyre/Lee bunt fiasco will hopefully turn out to be a whole lot of nothing, but to say the least I'll be on edge until I hear a definitive word (so far X-rays were inconclusive on Lee's wrist). While I'm sure most of you watching the game noticed all the dinks that fell for the Cubs, it was even worse at the ballpark as just about every ball hit by the Cubs had that wobbly wood sound of a ball that clearly missed the sweet spot of the bat. This game was the anthisesis of Monday's game, instead of well-pitched, well-defended, well-executed affair, it was luck and bad defense that got the Cubs win.
I did get to witness Cedeno's first two walks of the season, although the first was one of the most extreme unintentional-intentional walks I've ever seen. Marshall was okay, his curveball will certainly be his defining pitch through his career. Batters were bailing at it all day and it appears he can throw it at 2 very different speeds (low 70's and mid 80's). And why Marshall gets pulled after 85 pitches and retiring 10 batters is a bit beyond me. I suppose we can't complain about Baker hurting young arms though. I pretty much missed most of Aardvark's inning as the AngelFan Wife was on a quest for an
It's It Ice Cream, which apparently is no longer sold at the ballpark. Considering how cute she looks in a cap & jersey, I'll forgive her. Walker's "I Hope I Catch It" defense worked once, then it cost us a run later in the game, Jacque Jones saved another run on the same play with a good throw to home which pretty much ended up saving us the game. Well, okay, Baez and Repko saved the game for us, but whatever.
Oh yeah, the foul ball thing....
Bill Mueller, 2nd inning, screaming foul ball straight back just over the screen. Right at me and I cup my hands together for sort of a basket catch. BAMN!, right off the palm of my left hand and 3 rows back. Should of had the right hand over the left and tried to get my body in front of it. Humiliating and made more so by the fact that a buddy from work and the AngelFan Wife were there to witness it. I won't be able to live it down unless I catch the next one and who knows when that will happen. I'm honestly devastated, maybe that's why I'm so disgusted by the game.
The Cubs won, makes the off-day more bearable and you need these kinds of win every once in awhile. The Redbirds are up next starting on Friday. Another series victory over them would really get me to start believing. That's unless Derrek Lee's wrist is broken, then I'm going to start believing that we actually may be cursed.
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