Game 4- All of the Lights

This was the nicest weather I had so far this season, and it was still only 60 degrees, and I was still pretty cold, even with a sweatshirt.

My friend Matt came with me to this one. We had a couple seasons when we went to a lot of games together, but this was our first one since early 2009. He’s the most passionate fellow Cub fan I know, so it’s always nice to open our imagination and talk about what we would do if the Cubs win the World Series.

We got to Wrigley at 4:20. Not enough time to eat, yet too long to just stand outside. We took a lap and picked up some Gatorades from 7/11. There was plenty of hustle and bustle going on. This was my first night game of the season, and they usually have more lively crowds, and show up earlier.

The Phillies were in town tonight, and I was worried right from the start, for multiple reasons:

• Philadelphia fans travel well, so there would be lots of opposing fans. (I counted 32 walking around before we went in).
• I opted to not print out rosters, based on how little I used them in the first two games.
• I had no red to wear (A double whammy with there being lots of visiting fans, too).
• The Phillies typically got a big crowd, and night games have overall higher attendance.
• One of the two games I got shut out last year was against the Phillies. (The other was versus the defending World Series champion San Francisco Gaints). 

I was quickly reminded of how much of a down season it really was when I saw these decals when walking back around:

Marmol is awful. I didn't know Baker was still on the team. Clevenger IS good, but nobody knows who he is. To sum it up, it made me laugh and shake my head. 

We got to the right field gate at 4:45. Engine 78 made an appearance, coming back from a call:

More rooftops, on the left field side this time.

After talking to a man who may have possibly had a screw loose for 15 minutes, the gates opened. I peered in the knothole in right field when we were walking around, and didn't see much, but that was 40 minutes ago. There’s nothing to….OH SHIT.

The Cubs weren't hitting. At this point I honestly thought I would go home empty handed. I really felt like I didn't prepare enough, then I see this obstacle.

The guy you see in the photo above and his throwing partner were the only ones in sight.His partner, closest to the wall, had a jacket on. I was out of luck with him. I saw #57 on the back of this guy’s jersey. That’s Scott Maine, right? He defiantly wasn’t on the major league club yesterday. I nervously pulled out my phone and double checked the 40 man roster, and I was right. I painfully waited as they finished throwing.

I was staring off into space and almost missed them as they started to walk away. Before they got moving, I yelled out to Maine. It looked like he wanted to throw it to me, but he was still talking to his partner. FINALLY before he jogged off, it came right to me. Here’s a sort of blurry picture of him closer to the dugout.

That ball means so much more to me than you think, Scott.

On to the Phillies side we went. If I had brought a damn coaching roster, I would have gotten another ball from one of these guys:

The Phillies were still getting warmed up when we got there.

Some Cubs headed to the cage.

Then, suddenly, all the Phillies died, right there in front of me.

Kidding. Just some stretches.

I had a good feeling about the spot I was in. Pitchers started throwing, and it just so happened that Roy Hallday (far) , Cliff Lee (right) , and Cole Hamels (left) were right in front of us instead of some no-name relievers.

A couple years ago, you could argue this was the best group of pitchers in the majors. Since then, other staffs have gotten better, and these guys have lost a little bit. Hallday didn’t even throw a no hitter last year, his career is obviously over. (sarcasm; he is one of only 2 players to throw no-hitters in the postseason, and had a perfect game earlier that season, along with coming very close to perfection plenty of other times. In short, he's amazing, even during a down year).

A week and a half earlier, Hamels beaned Bryce Harper...and admitted why. (In my opinion, Hamels is a moron). There was some support for him from numerous people around me, praising him and wanting to give high fives. But of course, there were wiseass remarks too, my favorite being “Hey Cole, I’m 19, does that mean you’re going to hit me too?”. One fan even offered $20 to do it again, $50 for the elbow. Hamels didn’t reply, but Cliff Lee joked that he was more than glad to take the money.

It was a normal BP for about the next 15 minutes. Some lefties pulled at least 10 balls down the line all within a few minutes. Some were pretty far away, but at least half were in my range to possibly be tossed.(For the record, I know this tossing and begging is getting pretty lame. I had to get back into the swing of things, and I’ve had only one bleacher game. Don’t let this turn you off, it’ll get better).  But I swear, this guy had to be the worst toss up target in the league.

He may have given away one or two, and that was to little kids. Don't get me wrong, it’s nice when they can get a ball, and I cut him a little slack for at least doing THAT. But players are almost forced to give one to a kid. Sometimes the whole section gets on him about it, and he doesn't want to deal with that on a daily basis. So while that was nice, I saw it for all the wrong reasons. I don't know who he is, and I don't care. I'll just avoid him if I ever notice him by me in the future.

But then there was ANOTHER guy just like him. I could actually see this one’s name, Jake Diekman. He also did the same thing with the kids. I was sour at him for the time being, but later in the game found out he was a rookie, spending less than a week with the team on his first call up. The last thing I would want to happen is getting sent back down to AAA because he was TOO nice, so I mostly forgive this guy.

We left BP early. I was getting to frustrated. I didn’t want to have to rush to my seats either. We had a minute to stop and visit a somber area.

This is where I watched 2 NLDS playoff games from, 2007 Game 3 and 2008 Game 1. I could go on about both of those for a while, but I’ll save you some time; I was happy, I was sad, we lost both games and both series. (I lean on that pole, pretty much where you can see remnants of the yellow line).

I went out to the home plate patio for the first time in a while. I’m a sucker for skyline pictures, and man did this place have a great view.

Anyway, I picked up a scorecard and we proceeded to the seats.

The field looked beautiful with the evening sun shining through, and we were off with the first pitch.

The starters for the night were Matt Garza and Kyle Kendrick.

The sun began to set and the lights gradually took over, illuminating the field. Wrigley Field is an anomaly when it comes to night baseball. I ask you readers two trivia questions:

Who was the first team to purchase lights?

•  The Chicago Cubs, in 1941.

Who was the LAST team to play a home game under the lights?

• The Chicago Cubs, in 1988.

So…what happened in those 46 years?

Shortly after Phillip K. Wrigley (the son of William, the original team owner) bought the lights, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. He thought it would be best to donate them to the war effort. The whole idea behind night games was to get the average Joe who had a day job out to see his team every so often. After WWII, baseball boomed, and Phillip saw no need to incur the extra expense since business was good.

The Wrigley’s weren’t concerned about the Cubs as a business, it was more of a hobby to them, so it was never a priority. That changed when the Tribune Company took over control of the team in 1981. They were all about profit. There was talk of lights, but the Lakeview neighborhood strongly opposed it because of traffic, noise, and brightness.

When the Cubs won the NL East in 1984, the commissioner’s office got involved. They said there would be no World Series games at Wrigley Field, since there were no lights. After the Padres eliminated the Cubs, they changed their statement to say that ALL future postseason games would take place somewhere else; Comiskey Park, Soldier Field, even St.Louis or Milwaukee. Luckily, the team went on a downslide for the next few years, and that wasn’t an issue.

The argument soon became ‘Lights or Relocation’. One group was so convinced the Cubs would move to the suburbs, they bought a plot of land in Schaumburg next to the Elgin-O’Hare expressway, which would eventually become Alexian Field, and home of the Schaumburg Flyers. (The demensions are exactly the same, even the distance from home plate to the backstop).

Since neither side wanted the team to leave, Lakeview and the City Council eventually agreed to a deal in 1987 that would have lights on the stadium the next season. As a bonus, the 1990 All Star Game would be at Wrigley.

Bleacher Bum designed shirts worn in 1987 and 1988.

More trivia:

When was the first night game?

• The famous 8/8/88, against the Phillies.

When was the first night game COMPLETED?

• A rain out caused the first game to be postponed after 3 ½ innings. A full game under the lights versus the Mets was squeezed in the next night, a national NBC broadcast. This snapped the streak of over 5,500 day games at the Friendly Confines.

This is only the 24^th season with lights, and there are still debates with the surrounding area. There are strict restrictions on how many night games the Cubs could schedule a year, (including NONE on Friday or Saturday nights, unless special permission is given), and very binding parking restrictions for non-residents of the surrounding neighborhoods.

Many changes to the stadium have taken place over just the past 30 years, and this is by far the most significant. It had to be done, not only to keep up with the times, but because it was forced by the commissioner. Wrigley still has the most day games out of anyone in the league, and while some say it affects player performance (that’s a whole different can of worms to be opened), you can’t argue the tradition the day games hold.

Kendrick’s outing was shorter than Garza’s, but he was much more dominant. He gave up only 3 hits in 6 innings, the only 3 the Cubs would get the whole night. An Alfonso Soriano 2 run homer in the 4th was his only mistake, and accounted for the Cubs' only runs. Garza ended up going 6 2/3, giving up only 2 runs as well.

The Phillies were already ahead 3-2, but a 6 run 9th inning (including a grand slam by Hector Luna (Yea, that guy from the 2004 Cardinals)) really did the Cubs in.

Phillies 9, Cubs 2.

There were about 5,000 people left at the end of the game. I was as fed up as the 30,000 that left, but I never ever leave a game early. It was a painful last 40 minutes.

Here’s me with my one ball and no flash, apologies for the bad picture.

The ball itself....

And one with Matt. He got a little grumpy I was taking pictures of him behind his back. Once I told him I wanted a picture with him after the game, he said wasn’t doing it. During BP he took up the offer from a person with a FanFoto camera. She snapped one, handed Matt the card, then said "Here’s your picture”. And...well, here it is, watermark and all.

The Cubs are 0-3 with me this year. Fortunately I have one game next week then taking a break from Wrigley for almost a month.

STATS

• 1 ball at this game
• 6 balls total this season
• 5 consecutive games with a ball
• 16 lifetime balls

I realized something that made me very happy when I got back that night. I was losing track of which balls were which! You know you've done a good job when you have so many baseballs that you can't even keep track of them.

I took every one and put it's number in the same spot, like so:

I'm about to start the best month of my season, and I can't wait for a change of scenery, as well as level of play from the team I'm watching.