Tonight, the Cardinals were in Chitown... and I there as a fan seeing the Cardinals for the first time at a park not named Wrigley in Chicago. Which is a shame, since I much prefer "US Cellular Field" (still want to call it Comiskey after all these years) to chewing gum Field for reasons of convenience.
By the way, there is a photo gallery at the end of all this rambling, hold on there's a light at the end of the tunnel!
Don't get me wrong though, I usually get along with northsiders better, they're usually a little more enjoyable at least. I say this because there is the tough guy cussing stereotypical southsider, which sometimes can be a woman. That type of person sat right behind me at the game, but I'll get back to that later.
I rode my bike about ten to fifteen miles, I'm not sure which it was closer to, to get to the game. I had no ticket and was just relying on getting one at the gate. I probably wouldn't bother doing this at a Cubs vs Cards game at Wrigley, but at US Cellular, there are a lot more seats.
I planned on going to the gate to buy a ticket at face value, but in the back of my head I was thinking, hey, maybe I'll get a scalped ticket. One guy came by, hawking "need tickets? need tickets?" but seemed to pay no attention to me as I walked by, so I ignored him as well. Once close to the gate though, two brothers and presumably their father were standing near the ticket booth, and one of them asked me if I wanted to buy a ticket. He says, "Want a ticket behind home plate for forty bucks?", and I happened to have quite a bit more than $40 on me, and instantly said "Yes!".
So, I end up sitting by the guy later and he says hello, but then we ignore each other the rest of the game, as he was with his family and I was the row behind them. But, some younger people, and this young woman in particular, were sitting right behind me. This was one of the most annoying people ever, every other word out of her mouth was a cuss word, and there were some kids around, and she was loud. I didn't really give an eff for a while, but she just would not stop, and the other words she was saying were pure idiotic garble.
Basically any time one of the White Sox would take a pitch, she would berate them. She would say about Cardinals fans "all these m'f'rs need to leave" and stupid things like that. She made a lot of the other White Sox fans look bad, but there were other meatheads around to make her seem more normal I guess. Seriously, one of the more annoying human beings I have encountered, no small feat. There were also random Cardinals fans around, which probably raised their ire since White Sox fans are even more home turfy than most fans. I could of been a fan of either team, since I didn't wear any gear. By the way, my grandparents were pretty big White Sox fans, so I'm not really against the White Sox per se, just some of the ridiculous culture that goes along with Hawk Harrelson being a voice for your franchise.
She exclaimed several times, "the White Sox are going to win this game 2-0, mark my words. If I go home with no fireworks, I am NOT going to be happy." That was her phrase reiterated several times, before the White Sox even went up 2-0. When they actually did get to Lance Lynn and the score was 2-0 for a while, I was cringing and she would not shut up. Thankfully, her and her friends disappeared before the 7th inning stretch, presumably for some beer chugging games and sneaking in some smoking, as she was complaining she could not light up right there in her seat rather loudly.
Absolutely no fucks given by her, good for her. But incredibly annoying. Thankfully, she left for a while and great things happened. Yadier Molina had the audience on their feet with the bases loaded, after Randal Grichuk singled, Matt Holliday was hit by a pitch (Pete Kozma then replaced him as a pinch runner), Heyward was interfered with by the catcher, which caused much confusion....
With the audience in full anticipation, Molina had an epic at bat. Lots of people were becoming very verbal and yelling. Then, right after I yelled at the top of my lungs "Yadi!!!" he got a damn triple, first of the season for him! To give you an idea how rare of an occurrence that is, he has one triple in 2005, one in 2009, and one in 2011. And now one in 2015! If he gets one more, he'll beat his own in-season record. That's about a triple every three years.
This was a very intense game to see live, especially behind the plate with a bunch of drunk people (I actually refused to pay for the $8 domestics). I did eat a mound of nachos that took me about half an hour to eat, even though I was wolfing them down, and it was the small nachos. The large nachos were in a baseball helmet and cost $17.
A random thought to throw around, just a philosophical musing, not a debate... do the Cardinals become an American League team when they have the DH in a game? My inclination is yes.
Besides the annoying loudmouthed southsider sitting directly behind me, I looked up while standing during the 7th inning stretch and saw Hawk Harrelson leering down at the audience around me, an image that has already scarred my subconscious and will most probably give me nightmares (I really don't like the guy). But the moment when Yadier delivered again in a high leverage situation gave me a most excellent adrenaline rush, probably the most excellent moment I've seen in live baseball (I have never been to a postseason game).
I let out a rather loud "Woooo!!" which ended up sounding like a great Rick Flair impersonation, and sat down.
The Yadi triple was amazing, a very astute piece of hitting. I also saw the White Sox batters be good at this tonight, somehow it seemed easier to place the ball than usual. Maybe the lighting was really good. Maybe the air was a little dead. That Heyward liner to deep center/right looked like it was a goner at the game, but it ended up being caught pretty easily.
Photos from Box133, Row 22. Click on image to engage photo viewer. Two of the Cardinals fans (older gentlemen) that sat by me either left or watched the rest of the game somewhere else. I hope it was the latter because they left right before Yadi got the 3 RBI triple.
Tune in tomorrow for more baseball! It's back to Busch Stadium on Friday, July 23rd. Game starts at 6:15 vs Kansas City! It's a cowboy John Lackey start so get ready to get rowdy. His opponent is Chris Young. They have identical 8-5 records and nearly the same ERA, with Lackey's results being a little better so far. However, going by SIERA, xFIP, and FIP, Young's pitching looks rather terrible. He is incredibly lucky in BABIP against, since it is at .207.