It was polar opposites from Monday night. Instead of losing big, the Cubs found their offense and defeated the Brewers 15-3 in an afternoon affair at Wrigley Field as LaTroy Hawkins and manager Ken Macha were both tossed out of the game.
One thing that has changed in baseball is the weather that the umpires and teams will let the players play through. Starting in the second inning it really started to rain in what would normally have lead to a rain delay a few years ago. But …

Under normal circumstances I would usually attend a corporate outing (free drinks and food) over a Chicago Cubs baseball game – especially when the corporate outing is in the suburbs. However, this season I am attempting a rare feat of attending at least 70 Chicago Cubs home games, so with the party starting at 5 pm, I knew I could attend the first hour and still make it in time for the game. Plus, who actually wants to hang out with their co-workers very long anyway.
Beg, Borrow and Deal
I gave …

In a terrible game for the Cubs all the way around, the Milwaukee Brewers crushed the Cubs 18-1 tonight at Wrigley Field. The Brewers had 26 hits which tied a Cubs franchise record for hits allowed which they also achieved on September 2, 1957 against the Milwaukee Braves.
Even the Wrigley Field scoreboard had to put up a white “26” for the number of Brewers hits. I guess the yellow numbers for hits only go up to “25.”
Pre Game Dining
Before the game I met my friend at Mullen’s Wrigleyville located at …

Everyone knows the main attraction when attending a Brewers game at Miller Park is the sausage race in the middle of the 6th inning. Another highlight is watching Bernie Brewer take a spin down his slide after the Brewers hit a home run. But, something that rarely occurs is when a player hits a ball so far it lands in the slide. That is what Brandon Philips did Wednesday afternoon as he hit an 8th inning grand slam 450 feet. That grand slam put the game out of reach as …

On Jackie Robinson day, where every player was wearing the number 42, Derreck Lee was ejected from the game for arguing balls and strikes. This was the first time Lee had been ejected from a game since June 16, 2007.

Déjà vu occurs when you consider that the two games were eerily similar. First, Carlos Zambrano was the starting pitcher in both games. Second, the double-play combination was the same in both games. Ryan Theriot was at short-stop and Mike Fontenot was at second base …

For the second time in as many Chicago Cubs games I saw fans using a fist beer koozie (officially named Tuff Glove).  You know the one: it looks like a gigantic hulk-sized fist that holds your beer.  The perfect beer koozie, right?  Huh, wrong.  For the second straight game, the Tuff Glove has been implicated in two major beer spills causing the users to not only look like a moron but also lose their beer.
On Monday, a woman at Mullen’s on Clark was carrying her beer in the koozie and …

Some argue that the Chicago Cubs home opener at Wrigley Field is an event not to be missed. I would argue that you should save your money for another event – the weather is usually miserable, tickets are expensive and all the bars in the neighborhood are overcrowded. The games later in the week are the much better bargain and experience.
However, as was the case with the Chicago White Sox home opener last Monday, today’s game between the Cubs and the Milwaukee Brewers was abnormal – it was …

Two weeks ago when I attended the NCAA Tournament with two guys I met at an Indiana Pacers game in January, one of the guys invited me to the Chicago White Sox game on Wednesday, April 7. I guess his weekend’s only season ticket plan comes with one weeknight game during the season – just another way for the White Sox to sell tickets to a crappy night game in April.
Before this invite, I was already planning to attend the Milwaukee Brewers afternoon game scheduled the same day. One of …

In the first playoff game at Milwaukee in 26 years, the Milwaukee Brewers lived to see another day after defeating the Philadelphia Phillies 4-1.
Obtaining TicketsA friend of mine was able to purchase tickets to each playoff game through a contact of his at the Brewers. Since he had a prior engagement on Saturday, he sold his tickets to me for face value – including the parking pass.
ParkingIn a rare event, Miller Park only allowed fans who had pre-purchased parking coupons into the Miller Park parking lots. Most cars …

With a possible Wild Card clinching game on hand in Milwaukee I decided to drive to Miller Park yesterday for the game between the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers. Some friends of mine recently moved to Milwaukee and were tailgating before the game. I met them in the Miller Park parking lot for my first Milwaukee tailgate. Of course, they served brats. Tailgating at Miller Park has a similar feel to tailgating before an NFL game – it seems everyone in the parking lot is grilling …