For the second time in three days, I was planning to attend both the Chicago Cubs and Chicago Blackhawks game in the same day. However, after seeing the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals play 20 innings on Saturday night, I was slightly concerned that a long extra innings game would keep me from attending the Chicago Blackhawks playoff game. I have a strict rule that I cannot leave one sporting event early to attend another sporting event. In the end, I was not that concerned as the Cubs game would have to last until after 7 pm to keep me from the Blackhawks game (but I may have to miss dinner).

Pre Game Dining
Since the Ultimate Sports Wife was planning to attend the Blackhawks game she opted out of attending the Cubs game. The friend I was attending with wanted a quick bite to eat before the game. A quick good deal is at Full Shilling. For $6 you can buy a 16-ounce beer and a hot dog.

However, on our way over we passed Yak-Zies. Yak-Zies has a window hot dog stand facing Clark St. where fans can buy a hot dog on their way to Wrigley Field. The woman serving the hot dogs convinced my buddy to stop in. But to our dismay the hot dogs were $3 each and 12-ounce beers were $5. Not a big difference in price, but if you are looking for good deals around Wrigley Field then this was not the way to go. Your best bet would still be the Full Shilling. Turns out Yak-Zies record for selling hot dogs from their window stand is 16. After we bought three dogs, the woman had sold eight – a far cry from breaking the record which was her goal for the day.

Houston Astros at Chicago Cubs
The Cubs took a 2-0 lead in the third inning and were cruising until the eighth inning. Ryan Dempster made the mistake of allowing two guys on in the inning meaning he was to be replaced by Carlos Marmol – even though he had retired 13 consecutive batters before giving up a lead-off hit to Tommy Manzella. Marmol gave up a hit to Jeff Keppinger on his first pitch. The Astros scored a second run in the ninth inning to send the game into extra innings – my fear before the start of the game.

The Astros managed to score another run in the 10th inning to win the game 3-2 and won their first series since September 11-13, 2009 against Pittsburgh. The only saving grace was that the game ended early enough so I could still make dinner before the Blackhawks game.