The cover on the card is disappointingly boring. Cubs scorecards have had some wonderful artwork over the years, but not this year.
This is the second year in a row that I've gone to Wrigley late in the season. Last year I got three tickets for five bucks. This year I paid more than that, but still got four tickets for half the face value. The way the Cubs have played this year, tickets are easy to come by and cheap. That makes my wallet happy, but I still think I'd rather have a winning team with expensive tickets.
We had good seats down the third base line six rows above the main lower desk aisle. They had a nice view of the field with no obstructions.
The game was not good. Making his Cubs debut, Oriole reject Jason Berken gave up one run in each of the first three innings and three more in the fourth. His efforts left the Cubs in a 6-1 hole. They chipped away, and scored two in the ninth to make the final a respectable 7-6. But with the slow start it felt like they were never in the game.
The highlights of the day for me were a couple of defensive gems turned in by Darwin Barney. He made a great grab of a flyball in the outfield, leaping over rightfielder Dave Sappelt after the catch. Later, he made stabbed a hard hit shot and made the play at first. You can check out the plays here.
Barney has set the NL records for consecutive errorless games at second base in a single season and overall. He's zeroing in on the ML single season record. What he did on Saturday showed why.
He's starting to create some Gold Glove buzz, but Brandon Phillips seems to have a stranglehold on the award right now. It will be interesting to see which way the voters go.
People seem to forget that the Gold Glove is an annual award not one for lifetime achievement.
ReplyDeleteBarney has more games, more chances, more putouts, more assists, more double plays (props to Cubs pitching for doing their part by allowing baserunners on that one), more range (according to baseball-reference) and LESS errors. Meanwhile, he is also breaking records...
If he doesn't win, it'll be a crime.
Sadly, whomever actually votes for the Gold Glove awards nearly always seem to take offense into account. Someone with a decent glove, but very good offense usually seems to get the nod over a superb fielding, but light hitting player. To me, Silver Slugger and Golden Glove awards should almost be determined by a computer to eliminate the "popularity contest" aspect.
ReplyDeleteDid you score the game in the scorecard?
ReplyDelete