Road Trip Ending and Epilogue

It was fitting that my road trip with Q ended at Wrigley, the same stadium that had been our entire reason for making a similar baseball road trip several years earlier. The big difference is that now Wrigley is the closest MLB stadium to where I live, rather than the furthest (in terms of other stadiums we visited on our original trip).

So here is a pic from the game that ended our 2010 road trip:

It was a very good game against Milwaukee, though as so many Cubs games this year it ended in a 3-4 loss for the Cubs. We did get to see Thomas Diamond pitch 5 and 2/3 while striking out 10, which was pretty exciting.

Now the funny thing is, I've been back to Wrigley twice since that game. In fact, I was back at Wrigley that Sunday for a Cubs Reds game thanks to some free tickets my wife and I scored.

This one was interesting because it rained before the game, but the day turned out to be beautiful. Though the Cubs got blown out 11-4, I did get to see Votto and the Reds, the potential MVP and potential Central Division Champs, for a second time. Here's a pic of the field crew taking the tarp off the field before that game.


We also got to see Carlos Zambrano pinch hit, which is always fun.



Then, on Monday another friend who had never been to Wrigley was in from out of town. This time the Cubs were off, but my wife suggested a tour of Wrigley. I was a bit skeptical at first, but after reading the description which said that those on the tour would get to be in the press box, in the Cubs locker room, and ON THE FIELD I was intrigued. I must say, it was really fun!

View from the Press Box:


The Cubs locker room:


View from the Field:


So, if you are ever out in Chicago I highly recommend giving Wrigley a visit whether or not the Cubs are home.

PS: There was some sort of non-professional game going on at the field while I was there.

2010 Allen & Ginter for Trade

I actually got these from the July group break held over at I Am Joe Collector and am just getting around to posting them. All these 2010 Allen & Ginter are up for trade, preferably for Mets Allen & Ginter, but that is negotiable. I also just posted a rack pack of 2010 Allen & Ginter that I broke over at A Pack To Be Named Later and all those cards are up for trade too.

So here we go.

First, a mini National Animals: Belgium #NA20


Second, a mini Todd Helton #218

Third, Ivory Crockett #59 (Normal size card)

Fourth, Drew Brees #287 (Normal sized card)


Finally, I thought I would post my favorite card from that break: This Jhoulys Chacin. He's been great this year and really helped my fantasy team. This one is not up for trade, but the rest are.

Baseball Trip 2010: Day 5 - St. Louis

Out of the corn and into St. Louis. Q and I got to see Adam Wainwright, a Cy Young contender, face off against the Pirates and Zach Duke.


Duke put up a good fight through the first few innings and was hurt a bit by a misplayed flyball by rookie outfielder Jose Tabata, but eventually the Cards and Pujols got to him. Pujols hit a HR and the Cardinals piled on the relief pitchers including a Holliday HR.



In the end, the Cards came out on top 9-1.


Q and I enjoyed the new Busch Stadium, which neither of us had been to before. Though it was hot and we spent most of the game standing in the shade watching the game rather than seeing it from our bleacher seats.

One of the cooler features of the stadium was the scoreboard from the last incarnation of Busch Stadium, preserved as it was on the final pitch at that stadium.


Next up, sweet home Chicago!

Baseball Trip 2010: Day 4 - The Cornfields of Iowa

So, day four began with Q and I making our second pilgrimage to the Field of Dreams in as many baseball road trips.


As you can see, we were greeted with a beautiful day. We saw so much corn that day, but none was as interesting as that which made up the outfield wall here.


After signing the guest book and having catch with the old time gloves Q purchased for this specific purpose, we headed off for Cedar Rapids, Iowa and a lot more corn related baseball.


On the way we stopped off for dinner at a Pub called the Irish Democrat. Seriously, how could we pass up a place with a name like that? We couldn't and were rewarded with some very good food.


Then we made our way over to Perfect Game Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium (quite a mouthful). There we saw the Cedar Rapids Kernels (as in corn kernels, see the logo above) take on the Quad Cities River Bandits (as in raccoons).

There we were treated to a 4-2 River Bandits win in a match-up of the two top teams in the division.


Hero of the game goes to the River Bandits' starting pitcher Justin H. Smith who went five and two-thirds innings, gave up only five hits, one earned run, and struck out five. With those kind of numbers, I wouldn't be surprised to see him in AA sometime soon.

Baseball Trip 2010: Day 3

After the White Sox game and a good night's sleep, Q and I followed the Mariners up to Minnesota.

Before heading over to the stadium, we checked out some of the local fare at Matt's Bar. The Jucy Lucy there was our first, but very good.

The new Target Field was one of the highlights of the entire trip.


The park is in its inaugural season and is pretty awesome. They do a nice job of honoring some of their former greats...


and the baseball card tradition!



This entire wall tracks twins baseball cards chronoligically from Killebrew to Mauer. In fact we were even treated to some free McGruff the Crime Dog baseball cards of Mauer and company.


However, Mauer was not the hero of the game we attended. I have to give that honor to Jim Thome, who hit a two run opposite field HR for the Twins in their eventual 5-3 win.
Thome is quietly putting up some very nice numbers for the Twins this year, which is why I am giving him hero of the game honors rather than newly acquired closer Matt Capps who got the save in his first game as a Twin.


I leave you with my favorite picture of the stadium that night:


Next stop: The Field of Dreams and Minor League Action!

Baseball Trip 2010: Day 2

Day two of our trip had us visiting the White Sox as they took on the Mariners at the stadium I still refer to as Comiskey. It was my second visit to the stadium, my first being in 2005: the year the Sox would go on to win the World Series, a run commemorated in the picture below.



This year the Sox are in one of the more exciting races of the 2010 MLB season with the Minnesota Twins. Therefore, they need to beat up on poor teams like the Mariners.


The Sox did, in fact, successfully beat up on the Mariners and won the game 9-5. However, the hero of the game provided Q, a fellow Met fan, and I with even larger smiles than the White Sox win.



Ramon Castro, a member of the White Sox for the past couple seasons who caught Buehrle's last perfect game, slugged not one but TWO solo homeruns and later added a single to go 3-4 on the day.

On that note, I will leave you with some pictures of the statues around Comiskey. I am a big fan of the statues of a team's best players that many teams put in and outside of stadiums. So here they are:

Baseball Trip 2010: Day 1

For the first day of our trip, Q and I went to see the Reds play the Brewers at Miller Park. It was my third visit to the stadium, second this season. Q had not been there before.



The clouds were not ominous, and in fact it was pretty hot and not overcast through most of the game.

It was fun to see the Reds, as I have been rooting for them for three seasons since Volquez and Cueto came up. On this day we were treated to the latest young pitcher to succeed for the Reds: Travis Wood.
He did not disappoint striking out six over five innings while only giving up five hits, a walk, and two earned runs.

However, despite the nice start, the hero of the game was clearly this man:


Phillips hit a Grand Slam to break open the game.

A great start to the trip, and on a closing note the ever popular Sausage Race:


Hot Dog won!