Faithful, Too: “Game 12 - A Wild One”

Going to a Cubs game in April is a risk. When you’ve lived here for 15 years, you’re out in the sun, it’s 48 degrees, and the wind is minimal, you can trick yourself into thinking Wrigley Field will be the very same. It never, never, ever is. There are some spots in Wrigley that I’m convinced have never seen the sun, and if you aren’t out in those bleachers, get ready. I remember going to a game in April back in 2015 when my Dad and stepmom were in town and we had great seats behind the visitors’ dugout. It was a day much like the one I described above…in the real world. It was freezing at Wrigley. We had to buy blankets and I even bought a hoodie. To be fair, it’s a great, thick hoodie that I still wear…

…including to yesterday’s game at Wrigley! We were seated in Section 324L, Row 3 for our first game of the season: a perfect area just behind a camera team and with a full shot of the field, scoreboard, and monitors. While the weather was cold it wasn’t windy. My girlfriend was slightly more affected, but she managed to stick it out through all nine innings of a now-abnormally three-plus hour nine-inning affair. It was a game in which I witnessed one of the strangest first innings I’ve ever seen.

Most innings of baseball these days clock in at about 16 minutes, and that’s with both teams batting. The first inning of Sunday’s getaway game against the Padres was 45 minutes. Here is the breakdown of how all the pitchers fared in the first:

Ben Brown, Cubs SP:

3 BB (three walks), bunt single, infield single, 2 K (two strikeouts), HBP (hit-by-pitch), groundout, 3 R (three runs)

Kyle Hart, Padres SP:

4 BB, single, sacrifice fly, 2B, bunt-out, 5 R

Gillaspie, Padres SP:

2 balks, line-out

Crazy. But that was about as crazy as it got. Tuck Temporary hit a two-run, no-doubter to right field in the 2nd that put the Cubs up 7-3 and it felt like a blowout was in order. Sadly, the Cubs never score again. The Padres slowly chipped away with two in the 4th, one in the 5th, one in the 8th, and one in the 9th when Turner inexplicably missed a direct throw to him at first that would have ended the inning, but instead allowed Fernando “The Cheater” Tatis, Jr. to score what would be the game-winning run. Turner, appropriately enough, struck out to end the game.

All in all, I’m just grateful that I’ve been able to go to Cubs games over the last 16 years of my life as a lifelong fan from afar. There is something special about Wrigley that chilly weather can’t take from it. Looking forward to things heating up, weather and team both. As for that team, their upcoming schedule doesn’t get much easier. However, I look at the combined records of the teams the Cubs have played this season and take comfort in the 7-5 start: Dodgers, Diamondbacks, Athletics, Padres are 21-8 against everyone else.

A couple notes:

Padres LF Jason Heyward, a longtime Cub, was given a round of applause when he came up to bat in the first. Our organ player even played “I Will Always Love You” later on in the game. Jay-Hey was offensively a dud, but he won two Gold Gloves for his play in right and famously gave the now-famous, inspirational Game 7 speech that played a part in the team winning that 2016 World Series.

Carson Kelly’s walk-to-the-plate song is Eddie Money’s “Take Me Home Tonight”, a Justin Gerber karaoke special. R.I.P. to the Money Man.