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7/25, 1:20 p.m.
Philadelphia Phillies at Chicago Cubs, Wrigley Field
(Or, "What do you mean there's no Waffle House within driving distance?")


Box score | Recap
R H E
Phillies
Cubs
0 0 0 0 0 1 0 4 1
2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
6 9 0
2 6 1

Finally, after years of dreaming about being there and echoing the Cubs unofficial motto ("Next year is our year!") our heroes attended their first game at historic Wrigley Field. This was the biggest stop of the trip…the Holy Grail of baseball fields, its importance evidenced by the fact that as it was Jeff's desire to visit Wrigley that led to the planning of entire this trip.

And it was a vintage Wrigley day: a summer afternoon with the bleachers packed and the Cubs on the short end of the stick. The perpetual owners of the "Loveable Loser" tag had some bullpen problems (again) and dropped this game 6-2 to their former division rivals, the Philadelphia Phillies.

Only two things were missing. The first was a homer from a visiting player, which - as anybody who follows baseball will tell you - would have ended up back on the field. There are, in fact, signs on the walls in the bleachers that demand that all fans throw back the opposing teams' home run balls. Some fans in other parks try to replicate it, but they all fail miserably. This is one ritual that is all Wrigley's.


The other Wrigley tradition Steve and Jeff missed out on is a Sammy Sosa home run. Sammy's hit a lot over the last four years and he's now only 19

short of 500 career dingers. Steve was hoping for a high-scoring extra inning affair in which Sammy would hit all 19, but wasn't fortunate enough to get even one out of him. He did, however, delight the fans with his first inning routine of sprinting out to his position in right field and waving and blowing kisses to his adoring fans in the bleachers.

As much as Boston has embraced the man they call Nomaaaaaaaah, Chicago may love Sammy even more.

Everything else was there, and Jeff and Steve loved it all: the ivy walls, the hand-operated scoreboard, the roof-watchers across the street on Waveland. They were even fortunate
enough to have Cubs legend Dave Kingman lead the crowd in the traditional Seventh Inning Stretch rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." Also of note was the ceremonial first pitch, inexplicably thrown out by Montreal Canadiens goalie Jose (which is inexplicably pronounced Joe-zay) Theodore. Perhaps more inexplicable was the hearty round of applause he received. Jeff was thoroughly confused. Steve was getting a hot dog, otherwise he would have booed Mr. Theodore soundly for having single-handedly ousted the Bruins in the first round of the playoffs.

Speaking of hot dogs…if you haven't had a Chicago style hot dog, make one tonight. Diced tomatoes, relish, sautéed onions and celery salt have given Steve and Jeff - particularly Steve, who pronounced himself "converted" - a whole new lease on hot dog eating. They are confident you will feel the same way.
The bleachers were packed to the gills with the infamous Bleacher Bums, but our heroes were somewhat surprised with their passiveness. Sure, they were all drinking, but they didn't get too involved in the game. Steve put it best when he said that they just "seemed to be waiting for something to happen instead of working on getting their team back into the game." That, however, could have something to do with the Cubbies 40-54 record.

Still, they did have some of their classic moments, including a brief battle between the fans in left (chanting, "Right field sucks!") and the fans in right (chanting, "Left field sucks!"). Jeff and Steve were not able to get confirmation, but they are assuming they agree on the status of Royals LF Chuck Knoblauch (i.e., he sucks).
One group who did turn out was the attractive women set - Jeff and Steve's hypothesis about the good-looking women of Chicago was correct: they are all Cubs fans and they do turn out at Wrigley.

The game itself was also good, though the offenses were surprisingly quiet. What on the surface was the least appealing pitching match-up of this three game set (each team sent their aces to the mound on Tuesday and then started their well-hyped rookies
on Wednesday) actually turned out to be a bit of a pitchers' duel. Cubs starter Carlos Zambrano was masterful for 5 and a third innings before he gave way to the troubled Cubs 'pen. Phillies starter Brandon Duckworth worked through some early trouble to hold the Cubs to three hits and two runs over six innings, keeping his team in it long enough to take the lead on the Chicago bullpen. The Phillies would score four in the eighth to take the lead, with the most notable of those runs coming on a steal of home by backup
shortstop Tomas Perez. After banging a game-winning triple to right field, Perez took advantage of a lackadaisical pickoff throw to first by catcher Todd Hundley and raced home inches ahead of the return throw to the plate.

All in all, it was a great day at one of the best parks in baseball. This place and these fans deserve a winner. Unfortunately for Chi-town, it looks like there are at least a few more years of "Next year is our year!"

<-- Acting Governor of Massachusetts Jane Swift
was in attendance with the Bleacher Bums.

Scoreboard operator Howie glances
down at the centerfield bleachers.
Superstar Sammy Sosa does his pregame jog with...
some guy who's also on the Cubs.


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