L.A. Story

So the Cubs wandered into my neck of the woods and I was able to go to both weekend games. Saturday's mid-day tilt was a Father's Day gift from The Angefan Wife where we took the G-Twins and Sunday night was a night out away from the kids...which we needed after Saturday's family outing with the aforementioned G-Twins.

Nothing revolutionary here, but my observations after the jump...

Saturday morning rolled around and I spent the morning getting my kids excited about going to a baseball game. This mostly consisted of teaching them a few cheers of "Go Cubbies" and the promise of French Fries, chips and ice cream. By the time noon rolled around, they thought baseball was the greatest thing ever. So we headed out and I'd love to tell you what I noticed about the game, but I can't say I got to watch much of it.

• When an Ebay auction says "Paypal account required", it's not good enough to just have a Paypal account, it has to be linked to your Ebay account. The more you know...
• Parents should be very aware of where their seats are compared to the mid-day sun, even if the forecast says it will only be 71 degrees.
• I was beginning to think I was some sort of angel of death when it came to Derrek Lee and first base collisions. Luckily this one turned out harmless.
• Highlight of the Day: My daughter Katie tired and lying in my lap points to the sky and says "Sun Go Down".
• Lowlight of the Day: 2 large lesbian women and their inability to find pants that covered their ass cracks sitting right in front of us.
• Ice Cream makes everything better.

The kids were cranky for most of the game, which in turn got the Angelfan Wife cranky and by the time Matt Kemp hit his homer, I was cranky. We headed out right after that and apparently missed the Zambrano dugout fireworks.

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As for Sunday night, I scored two very nice tickets in the Loge MVP area from loyal reader, E-man who couldn't make the trip to Los Angeles. We got a babysitter for this one and headed to the park. Notes from Sunday's game...

• In-n-Out Burger >>>> than ballpark food.
• After every inning that Derrek Lee makes the final out on the field, he throws the ball to a kid in the stands. So did Jim Edmonds after one inning.
• There were quite a few celebrities at the game, certainly mugging to the national ESPN broadcast These included Emmanuelle Chriqui, Chris O'Donnell and Vince Vaughn, who was visible from our seats and very accommodating to the autograph seekers.
• One of my favorite parts at being at a game is hearing the ball coming off the bat. Marquis gave up a few solid hits the first inning, but the rest of the game was a whole lot of weak contact.
• All ballpark ice cream should be served in a mini-helmet.
• I already knew they taped those in-game manager interviews on ESPN between innings and then replayed them during the game. I hadn't realizd how close they take it to the first pitch as Lou was literally taking off the headphones and mic just as Marquis was delivering his first pitch to Loney in the 4th.
• Lou and Mike Quade had a bit of a "conversation" about outfield alignment. I think it was more of Quade not being able to hear Lou since they're on opposite sides of the dugout, nonetheless Lou was quite animated during the exchange.
• I imagine this was on TV, but after Lou visited Marquis in the 7th, he was none-too-happy with the ESPN cameraman following him off the field.
• Closer theme music really doesn't need to be played when your team is behind in the 9th. Saito time doesn't quite measure up to Trevor time.
• Kerry Wood hit 97 mph on his first fastball to Martin on the stadium gun, then 98 and then the nasty slider. Great stuff.

So that be it, the Cubs escape with a winning road trip and the off-day is a little brighter following the win.