Today, for the first time since April 18, 1980, both the New York Mets and New York Yankees are playing in Chicago on the same day. I am planning to attend both games in this scheduling quirk. The last time two teams from the same metropolitan area played in the same city on the same day was April 15, 1997 when the New York teams hosted the Los Angeles Dodgers and Anaheim Angels, respectively.
In the first game of the day, the Cubs defeated the Mets 8-1 with Ronny …

300 wins makes a career for a pitcher in Major League Baseball. 300 Cubs games attended makes you…a guy with a lot of time on his hands? I attended my 300th Cubs game at Wrigley Field today. Over that time, the Cubs are 156-144. I attended my first Cubs game in the summer of 1982 (I don’t know the exact date but I believe it was in August versus the Phillies), my 100th game on August 31, 2002 and my 200th game on August 14, 2004.
To celebrate my 300th game …

I was not sure if I would get on the rooftop today. I had texted the rooftop owner yesterday asking if I could go but received no response. As Nicole wrote in her article the other day, the process to get on the rooftop for us can be difficult. However, last year, I learned who was “on the ground” that I needed to talk to. I saw him fairly quickly which allowed me to skip rooftop access steps 2-9.After the start of the game I saw Ronnie Woo-Woo walking down …

For the first time in awhile I almost caught a game ball. It all started when my friend, Kelly McMahon, texted me that she was sitting in Section 112 of Wrigley Field and that she had the mitt I lent her on Opening Day. My buddy, Mike Holzman, and I decided that her seats were better than ours so we headed down in her direction. Her friend had been using my mitt, but once I arrived she gave the mitt back to me.
A few innings later, a towering …

The Cubs started the game off quickly and never looked back defeating the Reds 12-3. Derrek Lee equaled his first half home run total of last year with a home run in the 3rd inning. Carlos Zambrano pitched well and added 3 hits.
The bleacher bums were at it again. After Adam Dunn’s home run in the top of the 8th inning, the fans decided throw his home run ball back in addition to 15 more baseballs.
Josh Fogg tied his career high giving up 9 runs. It was the 3rd time …

The Cincinnati Reds featured some infamous names from the Cubs’ 2003 playoff run – Paul Bako, Corey Patterson and new manager Dusty Baker. Baker was returning to Wrigley Field for the first time since the Cubs decided not to renew his contract after the 2006 season. I have always thought that Dusty just won too early in his tenure with the Cubs. If he had one or two losing seasons before guiding the Cubs to the NLCS, he would still be managing the team.
Alfonso Soriano injured himself in the top …

We had planned to eat brunch at Uncommon Ground on the corner of Clark St. and Grace Ave. But, by the time we arrived (12:30 pm), it was a 45 minute wait. Since the Cubs game started at 1:20 pm, we decided to eat elsewhere and chose Yak-zies.
Since we were with Nicole’s cousin, Gina Skreens, we needed to buy an extra ticket. I thought we could buy a ticket for under face value, but the warm weather increased demand. The game was not sold out but the cheapest seat at …

The original plan yesterday was to only go to the Cubs game. I went with my colleague Charles Merritt. The Cubs won a back and forth game 9-7. Fukudome put the Cubs in the lead 7-5 with a clutch two out double in the bottom of the 7th inning bringing on supportive cheers from Wrigley faithful.
After the game, Charles and I went to the bar on the Northwest corner of Sheffield and Byron. I don’t know the name of the place but it has an “Old Style” sign outside of …

I am going to my 4th Cubs game this week as the Cubs host the Astros today at 12:05 pm. The weather is actually supposed to be nice with highs in the low 60’s!

Instead of going to work, I worked from home yesterday (at least I was working) and attended the final game of the series between the Brewers and Cubs. Instead of Kerry Wood starting and Ryan Dempster closing, Dempster started and Wood earned his first career save.
The Cubs avoided the series sweep beating the Brewers 6-2 in a cold day at Wrigley Field.