Mrs. WW and I spend the weekend in South Bend, Indiana. We go there regularly for pizza, but this time we decided to stay for more than pizza and made it a getaway weekend.
South Bend also happens to be the home of the Cubs High A affiliate, so of course we had to take in a game. We did that Friday night as the Cubs played host to the hometown team of P-Town Tom, the Peoria Chiefs.
We had great seats. We were in the fourth row, almost directly behind home plate. I was close enough that I could see the fingers of the catcher peeking out between his legs as he called the pitches.
We even showed up on camera. This is a screen grab from the game highlights on the SB Cubs YouTube page. Mrs. WW is wearing the green jacket and I'm to her left. We're sharing a tub of popcorn.
There wasn't anything too exciting and the game was tied 3-3 in the 7th inning. However, during the 7th we checked the weather radar and saw another storm was on the way. We had a 15 minute walk to get back to our hotel and didn't want to do it during a downpour, so we left the ballpark. On our way out, we saw some lightning and heard a loud clap of thunder. The game was halted.
The rain came as we were within a block of the hotel, so leaving early was the right call. It ended up pouring for a hour and the game was suspended, to be continued before the regular game on Saturday.
The Cubs surprised us by letting anyone with a Friday ticket to come back on Saturday to watch the rest of the game and stay for the second game. Since we didn't have any other plans for Saturday night, we took them up on their offer.
We didn't get the same seats, but that was fine. It was free baseball, after all.
The Cubs scored five runs in the bottom of the 8th inning and won the game 8-3. We had an hour to kill between games, so we enjoyed some hot dogs, peanuts, and beer.
The Cubs won the nightcap easily, 10-6. Highlights of the evening were a couple of home runs. Alexander Canario, who came to the Cubs in the Kris Bryant deal, blasted one while Bryce Ball, acquired from the Braves for Joc Pederson, also when yard.
I don't know of either of these two will ever see time at Wrigley Field, but if they do, I can say that I saw them in A ball.
The "should I stay or should I go" question when rain arrives at the ballpark is always fun. I remember staying a Syracuse minor league game through the rain and we got sick of being wet and we left. Saw lightning as we were in the parking lot.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of wet, I hope the Cubs soaked the Giants good for that Bryant trade.
Fortunately I haven't yet gone to a game with rain in the forecast. Several years ago The Wife and I got to see 2 Cubs games for the price of one because the game the day before was rained out and they scheduled it as a back to back on the day we went.
ReplyDeletelooks like a good time. i had the misfortune of holding tickets to the twins game to be rained out in about 30 years back in 2010 when target field opened.
ReplyDeleteI've actually been to South Bend back in the day. I was enrolled in a three-week civil engineering summer program for high school students at Notre Dame. It was one of the best times of my life. But I was not used to summer storms (or tornado warnings for that matter) and we had doozy of a storm that summer when I was there.
ReplyDeleteKudos to you and your wife for sticking it out in the rain. If I managed to stay dry, I'd wait it out too. But if I was soaked... I would have called it a day.
ReplyDeleteI saw Canario play in San Jose a couple of times this summer. He went 2 for 4 one game and 3 for 5 in the other game. Hope he ends up being a stud for the Cubs.