For the second week in a row Sunday night baseball was held at Wrigley Field – two Sunday night baseball games at the same location in back-to-back weeks is definitely rare. The St. Louis Cardinals were looking to avoid being swept by the Chicago Cubs and managed to comeback from a 3-2 deficit to defeat the Cubs 4-3 in 11 innings.
A kid sitting next to us held up a sign throughout the entire game that read:
It’s A Plane
It’s Superman
No It’s Marlon Byrd
At first I thought there was no way this …

For the third time this season, I met up with a fellow sports roadtripper (someone who travels to attend sporting events) – Sean MacDonald who runs the website sportsroadtrips.blogspot.com. Sean lives in Tokyo and was on a two week trip touring the Midwest. His itinerary can be found here.
Pre Game Dining
I already had tickets for us so we decided to grab a beer at one of my favorite Wrigleyville dive bars. Wrigleyville North is located on the corner of Sheffield Ave and Byron Rd. The place was empty before the …

Last season, I scheduled a few doctor’s appointments to coincide when the Cubs or White Sox were playing on a weekday afternoon. Today was no different as I had a scheduled dental procedure that would keep me home all day. The good thing was that my dental appointment was early in the morning – meaning I could come home, take a nap to recover and still make it to the Cubs game which started at 1:20 pm.
However, of course, since I was in so much pain the game lasted 12 …

After losing 11-5 on Monday night to the Astros, the Cubs put on their own offensive display tonight defeating the Astros 14-7 (after the Astros had a 7-1 lead heading into the bottom of the 5th).
Aramis Ramirez hit three home runs in tonight’s Cubs game for the fourth time in his career. This was also the third time this season I have witnessed a player hit three home runs in one game. The other two were Albert Pujols on May 30 and Drew Stubbs on July 4. …

There are a lot of things I take for granted at Wrigley Field now that I have attended 435 Cubs games, two minor league games and the NHL Winter Classic at the ballpark. One thing I never think of is the ballhawks that sit along Waveland Ave. I pass these guys every game, but have never talked to or inquired about their desire to sit outside Wrigley Field which is equal to my desire to sit inside the ballpark. In fact, I have never once wandered outside to try to …

One of my favorite things about Sunday night baseball is that my Sunday afternoon’s are completely free. I can sleep in, go to brunch, BBQ, nap and still attend the Cubs game. Today was case in point. After a relaxing Sunday, I walked down to my neighbor’s place before the game to BBQ.
Philadelphia Phillies at Chicago Cubs
Tonight Roy Halladay was pitching for the Phillies. However, after pitching 18 consecutive scoreless innings, he gave up four runs in the second inning and the Cubs never looked back cruising to an 11-6 …

Geovany Soto (and, of course, Carlos Marmol) blew my chance to see a four-game sweep of a series. Marmol walked five in route to a four-run ninth inning for the Phillies. However, the Cubs would have won if Soto held onto Tyler Colvin’s solid throw from left field. The throw beat Brian Schneider but Soto’s drop allowed Schneider to score.
The Cubs would have still needed to win tomorrow for the four-game sweep. But this would have only been the second time I witnessed a team win the first three games …

The Cubs continued a successful start to the second half of the season coming from behind against the Phillies. Aramis Ramirez hit a solo home run with two outs in the 8th inning to give the Cubs a 4-3 lead and Carlos Marmol struck out the side in the top of the 9th to secure the victory for the Cubs.
Beg, Borrow and Deal
As I was walking to the main box office to buy a ticket for the game, I walked by the McDonald’s macaroni which was installed outside of Wrigley …

The Cubs were back at home tonight to start the second half of the season. And, they started it out with a bang. On a hot summer night Derrek Lee, Alfonso Soriano and Geovany Soto all hit home runs as the Cubs defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 12-6 giving 47-year-old Jamie Moyer his first loss at Wrigley Field since the 1988 season. Even Ryan Howard got into the act homering twice – once in the 1st inning and once in the 9th inning. This was Howard’s 25th career multi-homer game.
In the …

Last year, on July 7, I watched Paul Konerko hit three home runs in the same game and realized that he was the first player I saw achieve the feat in six years. Now, this season, I have witnessed two players hit three home runs in one game. First, was Albert Pujols on May 30th. Today, assisted by a 20-mph wind blowing out of the ballpark, Drew Stubbs hit three home runs as the Reds hit seven home runs total (and four in the seventh inning) crushing the Cubs 14-3. …