Impromptu Chicago Adventure

I'm a lucky man.

So a rare glimpse into the personal life of yours truly: on my usual Fridays off, I take Logan off to school in the mornings and come home to relax a little bit. Today was a little different in that I was heading to my fiancee's house. The original reasoning for it was that they were down a car and I was taking her mom to work today to help them out. I was mistaken. Kristen had set me up: she had taken the day off of work and had completely fooled me with an elaborate plan that led to a fun afternoon, culminating in this:

Game Notes: Cincinnati Reds @ Chicago Cubs (5/3/13)

Final Score

Reds 6, Cubs 5

Game Summary

It was a cold afternoon at Wrigley Field, but turned out to be an entertaining game as the Reds (16-14) were able to score a run in each of the first couple innings, manufacturing some production despite less than ideal offensive conditions. The Cubs (11-18) struggled early on to score but were able to contain the Reds until the 6th, when they added a couple runs to their lead. The Cubs got those runs back, but the Reds added tallies 7th and 8th to make it a 6-2 game. Then in typical Cub fashion, they made it interesting: they loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the 9th, recorded 2 quick, unproductive outs, then managed to get 3 runs before the Reds shut the door.

Pitchers of Record

W: Mike Leake (2-1): 5.2 IP, 9 H, 2 R (2 ER), 3 K. He wasn't necessarily dominant, but he was efficient and made the pitches he needed to to escape most of the jams he got into. A well-earned win.

L: Carlos Villanueva (1-2): 5.2 IP, 7 H, 4 R (4 ER), 2 BB, 4 K. I was excited early, as Villanueva struck out the first 2 batters on 7 pitches, then proceeded to give up a single to Votto and a double to Todd Frazier to give the Reds a wire-to-wire lead. He struck out Bruce for 3 in the inning, and had just one the rest of the way. He settled down for the most part after that until the 6th when the Reds got to him again.

SV: J.J Hoover (1): .1 IP, 1 K. Aroldis Chapman came on to start the 9th and was only throwing 93 or 94 at the start of the inning. He eventually worked his fastball up to 99 but was getting hit pretty hard for most of the inning, so Dusty Baker went to the sophomore. Hoover hasn't had a ton of experience thus far in his career, but this was his second career save and he got the one out he needed to get. Give him credit.

Key Stats

• Cubs: 12 left on base. This number never really surprises me. It was a tough going for most of the game for the Cubs offensively. They did go 5-15 with runners in scoring position, which isn't terrible (.333), but they left multiple men on in 4 different innings, including the bases loaded twice (the 9th inning was one of them). Can't let those chances pass you by.
• Reds top three of the order: 5-12, 2B, 4 R, 2 RBI. Shin-Soo Choo and Joey Votto each scored twice, and did what you have to do to win: get on base for the heart of your order. Votto didn't record an RBI, but he did all the little things you need to do.
• Anthony Rizzo (CHC): 3-5, 2B, R. The one game I got to last year was this time of the year, so Rizzo was still in Iowa at the time and this was my first time seeing him. Overall, he had a good game, raising his average probably a good 20 points this afternoon. He struck out with the bases loaded in the 9th though (on a changeup from Chapman, of all things), so all wasn't perfect. Alas.

Final Thoughts

With regards to the game, this was an entertaining one overall, even though it had many shades of "typical Cubs". I'm practically conditioned now to expect this sort of ending, despite the fact that the Cubs have typically done well in games I've gone to. The bullpen still scares me, but the offense is heating up some, which should help alleviate some of that pressure. I worry some that we may see another 100 loss season, but I'm holding out hope that this team can overachieve.

I had told Kristen a while back that I wasn't sure when I was going to get to Wrigley this year since my dad hadn't bought tickets, potentially jeopardizing a shot at 16 straight years of making at least one trip to the Friendly Confines. Like last year, we went as part of a North Central College alumni event, only this time I didn't know it was coming despite signs that I should have been more suspicious of. It did make for a great day, and it's proof that I have the best fiancee I could have asked for. As much as I love sports, it's not the most important thing in the world, and I love her more!