Game 19: Wrigley Field, Chicago, IL
Houston Astros vs Chicago Cubs – Saturday, June 22, 2o13
The limited hours of sleep over the past couple of days finally caught up to us. We slept right through the wake-up alarms in Kansas City and by the time we got up, drove back to the airport, returned the rental car, and made it to the terminals, we had missed our flight. Thankfully, we were able to get on another flight that left about three hours later, and by the time we got out of the Chicago airport, it was well past 1:00 PM. That meant we had less than two hours before game time. Trying to watch a game at Wrigley was proving to be quite a challenge. The last time we came here to see the Cubs, back in April, the game was rained out.
We took the shuttle to the hotel, but they had no rooms for us yet. So we posted our Royals blog in the lobby, deposited our bags at the front desk, and took the shuttle back to the airport to catch some form of public transportation to Wrigley. We debated whether to take the subway or a cab from the airport. As we only had 35 minutes left until game time, we decided to take a cab. Big mistake! We got stuck in traffic for nearly an hour and it was so bad that we asked the cab driver to let us off about four blocks away from the ballpark. It seemed faster to get there on foot than wait for the traffic to clear. By the time we made it to our seats, two innings had gone by. Fortunately for us, we hadn’t missed any scoring.
Soon after we got there, the Cubs put up a pair of runs in the third. Wellington Castillo led off the third with a single to center off Astros starter Bud Norris. The next batter Darwin Barney reached on an error by third baseman Matt Dominguez, who tried to force Castillo at second. The Astros followed with another error when catcher Carlos Corporan, while trying to pick off Castillo at second, threw the ball into centerfield that allowed both runners to advance. After pitcher Travis Wood grounded out to third, former Indian Luis Valbuena lined a single to right that scored Castillo and Barney to put the home team up 2-0. The Cubs then loaded the bases with only one down, but could not plate any more runs.
The score became 3-0 in the fifth on a solo home run by Nate “The Great” Schierholtz to right field. This is the second time we have seen Schierholtz homer on this trip. He hit one out in Citi Field last Friday. In the very next frame, the Astros came right back. After two men were out, the Cubs starter Wood gave up three consecutive hits. Jose Altuve and Chris Carter singled, and they both came home on a three-run homer by J. D. Martinez to left. Just like that the game was knotted at 3-3. The Cubbies had a great chance to regain the lead in the eighth. Alfonso Soriano hit a one-out double to left and the next batter, Anthony Rizzo, was intentionally walked. Then, Soriano got picked off in a controversial call. Still, the Cubs managed to load the bases with two outs, but came away with nothing to show for it. Their hitting with runners in scoring position has not been very good lately. Almost on cue, the Astros scored in the ninth. Justin Maxwell led off the inning with a double to left off Cubs closer Kevin Gregg. The next hitter, Dominguez, laid down a sacrifice bunt that pushed Maxwell to third. Next up was Ronny Cedeno put down a perfect safety squeeze that scored Maxwell and broke the tie. The Cubs went down 1-2-3 in the ninth against Astros closer Jose Veras and took a 4-3 loss.
So we got to see a perfectly executed squeeze bunt in the ninth inning that scored the game winner! Awesome!!
During the game, we walked around the stands and took pictures. This is a gorgeous ballpark. Old, steeped in history, and still in great shape. The famous ivy-covered outfield walls are beautiful and we also got a picture of Cubs right fielder Schierholtz crash into it with his face, while catching a deep fly ball. Giant modern-day scoreboards, that are at other stadiums, have no place here. The main scoreboard over centerfield looked ancient, but seemed to really fit this place, which is the second oldest ballpark in the majors after Fenway. Wrigley will celebrate its centennial next year.
The atmosphere was great, too, with nearly 39,000 fans in attendance on this very pleasant afternoon. The stadium looked jam-packed. Not bad for a day when the Blackhawks were getting ready to play the Bruins in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals across town. It was especially interesting that many apartment complexes around the ballpark had stadium seating on their rooftops with a great view of the action on the field. We were told that these rooftop seats, which are unaffiliated with Wrigley, have been a source of contention and litigation between the Cubs and the apartment owners.
After the game ended around 6 PM, we stayed back to walk around Wrigley and take more pictures. We usually do this before the game, but today, as we noted earlier, was different. It was just as well because we got some really nice pictures with fewer people around. There were statues of Ernie “Mr. Cub” Banks of the “Let’s Play Two” fame, legendary Cubs broadcaster Harry Caray, Billy “Sweet Swinging” Williams, and Ron Santo. There were also many tiles around the walkway honoring former Cubs stars like Ferguson “Fergie” Jenkins and Sammy Sosa, among others.
We then got on the subway to the airport and took the shuttle back to our hotel. The ride back to the hotel was most interesting. The shuttle driver, Steve Staatz, told us a really cool story. It turns out that he was a highly regarded high school athlete back in the day and in 1969, he played in a Catholic League All-Star Game at Comiskey Park, the former home of the Chicago White Sox, and hit a home run in the game. Then, in 2008, his son Brian Staatz (who is one of a twin) played a high school game at U. S. Cellular Field (current home of the Chicago White Sox) and also hit a home run. That is the only father-son combination to hit home runs at White Sox ballparks! How cool is that?
Once we got to the hotel, we retrieved our bags from storage and checked in. We then had a Thai dinner delivered to our room (we already covered the Hard Rock Cafe here during our April visit), packed, and turned in for the night, as we had an early morning flight to get back home.
We’ll catch up with you soon. Bye for now!
