It was a beautiful Friday afternoon at Wrigley Field, as the Cubs began their series with Baltimore Orioles. The rain that appeared to be coming our way around noon passed without harm. The sun came out, the blue skies appeared, and the humidity set in; the stage was set for a summer afternoon baseball game in the Friendly Confines, and I was there. Play Ball!
Jake Arrieta was on the mound. He has been a pleasant surprise for the Cubs this year. He pitched no-hit baseball late into a few games this year; he’s got that kind of stuff, and it was on display on Friday. As he set the first 12 Oriole batters down in order, I began to think where this game would rate in my Top 10 if Jake throws a no-hitter. To see a no-hitter in person would rank pretty high. Maybe he had extra motivation in this one, as he faced his ex-team. I would think any player facing their ex-team has their blood pumping more than normal. I wanted to thank all the Oriole fans in attendance for Jake.
As the bottom of the 4th picked up, the action did too. The Cubs got on the board with a HR from Valbuena, and an RBI single from Logan Watkins, who was just called up, since Starlin is back in the DR attending to some family business. This kid played 2B as Baez moved to SS. Something else that the Cubs did today was flash some leather. Valbuena and Baez both made nice plays, while Watkins made 2 outstanding plays; even his late inning replacement Valaika made an above average play at 2B. It makes a big difference when you play some defense behind your pitchers. The Cubs led 2-0 going into the 5th as Jake tried to keep the no-hitter alive.
It lasted one more batter, then Chris Davis, who isn’t even batting .200 by the way, hit a solid single to center. A walk followed and the Orioles had their first scoring chance. After a pop out, there was a single hit to RF that Chris Davis tried to score on. He was OUT. A play at the plate is very exciting… and confusing nowadays. He was clearly tagged out, but out marched Buck to a shower of boos to challenge the play. I guess he was saying that Baker blocked the plate; the call was upheld. That was the 2nd most exciting play of the game; the most exciting play happened next.
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The Cubs held on to win this Friday afternoon, as Strop and Rondon finished the game. Strop, the other ex-Oriole did make it a little exciting as Adam Jones marched to the plate as the tying run in the top of the 8th. It was then that Valaika made his great play, and the Cubs moved 3 outs from the victory. It’s always those last 3 outs, especially for the Cubs, that always seem like the hardest to get. Rondon got them 1-2-3 as Go Cubs Go played in celebration of the W.
It was a great birthday gift. It’s always good to win, and to be there for it, is even better. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again; there is NO better place to watch a baseball game then Wrigley Field. To think that 100 years ago, players and fans from that generation played and sat in the same place we did, is pretty cool. Wrigley Field has changed over the years, and will be changing even more in the next couple, but it’s still Wrigley. There’s not that many places out there to compare. One day, I hope to have season tickets, and attend EVERY Cubs home game. It’s somewhere on the bucket list… I’ll settle for my 1-2 games per year for now.
Yeah, I know the Bears also played yesterday, if you can call it that. Guess what, I don’t care. I don’t care because it’s PRESEASON. These games mean absolutely NOTHING, even though the media and some fans will try to act otherwise. I’m sticking to my feelings about this meaningless, revenue generating part of the NFL season. I’ll go into this in more detail in the next couple days. There is of course another big sporting event happening today; the Little League World Series. I’ll be tuned in as Chicago tries to knock off Vegas and advance to the finals. We’ll talk about that tomorrow.
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