GO TO PREVIOUS SECTION: May 15-May 21
PART III, continued
May 22nd to May 28th
May 22, 2005
It’s Sunday night, and Meghan and I have just gotten back from dinner with Nana and my parents. We went to a rib place in Highland Park called the Barbeque Pit. It was quite delicious. For me, tomorrow brings the start of a new week, in which I must continue to get things ready for camp. This does not include packing, which is done over the course of the final eight hours that I am home. No, what I need to do is replace or improve some of the regular camp items that I buy every year, such as towels, a dob kit, flip flops, and sheets. Several toiletries of varied assortments also require refills. Meanwhile, the Cubs get a breather with three games at home against the last place Astros after an emotional three game set with the White Sox. This afternoon’s game wrapped up the Cross Town Classic played at Wrigley Field this weekend, with the Cubs winning 4-3 to prevent the White Sox’s sweep. I was fortunate enough to go to yesterday’s game, as Ben’s dad had tickets for his company’s Sky Box. Even sitting up in relative seclusion, the atmosphere at Wrigley for this showdown with the White Sox was powerful.
I picked Ben up in the morning, and then we drove to Meghan’s house and left my car on her block, since she lives a block away from the Morse station. We took the El to the game, passed by the guys selling peanuts—“Peanuts! Peanuts here! Cheaper than at the ballpark!”—ignored the scalpers that set up just west of the station on Addison, crossed Sheffield in the thick of a mixed-crowd filled with Cubbie blue and White Sox black, walked by the Harry Caray statue and all of its admirers, and hustled to our gate and into the shade. Once inside, we headed for the Sky Box entrance, a flight of stairs that leads to the deck where all of the suites are located.
“Can I see your tickets?” asks the usher. We show them to her. “Oh Sky Box!” She laughs. “Bring me some shrimp.”
I’d been to a few games in a Sky Box at Comiskey, but never at Wrigley. It’s an interesting experience. It’s kind of like flying first class for the first time. You’re on the same plane as the people in coach, and you’re going to the same destination, yet your worlds are so different as to render them unrelated. The Sky Box suite is divided into two parts, one indoors, one outdoors. The indoor section has the food and beverages, both of which are free, and the outdoor section has four rows of seats, four seats to a row. Unless we were getting food or a beer or going to use the bathroom, Ben and I sat outside during the entire game. The view was terrific—we were behind home plate—the weather was nice, and everything was free. That was the upside.
There is a downside, however, to seeing a game in a Sky Box, and that is the feeling of disconnect. This may dissolve once you get used to it, but for a person like me who just happens to know people with access to these tickets and goes sporadically once every few years or so, sitting in Sky Box is like having an out of body experience. On the one hand, you’re at the game, sitting on stadium seats, eating a hot dog and drinking a Bud. You can see the game, and you can hear the fans and the players and the crack of the ball hitting the bat…but what’s with the television right over there? And the free food? And the gourmet dessert cart? It’s kind of like being at someone’s house to watch the game, except that instead of a big screen TV in the living room, they have a real stadium. So it’s a lot of fun, but also strange, and not something that I would ever want to get used to. I’m much happier being fully immersed in the sights and sounds and smells of Wrigley Field.
Still, a game is a game is a game, and no matter where you sit, it’s always nice to be at the park…(and let’s be honest: Sky Box is wicked.) Zambrano was awesome yesterday, throwing seven shutout innings while striking out eight and allowing only one hit and three walks. But when he left at the start of the eighth, the Cubs had only managed to score one run, and were clinging to a 1-0 lead.
Michael Wuertz came in to relieve Zambrano, and promptly gave the game away. Or maybe the White Sox took it. They are, after all, the best team in baseball.
Timo Perez K’d to start the inning, and then the speedy Scott Podsednik legged out an infield single…which he hit to second base. Jesus H. Tapdancing Christ! Who says speed has no place in the modern game? Not satisfied with what was essentially a stolen base at first, Pods got back on his horse and swiped second. After Willie Harris, Luke’s new favorite number 12 (kind of), grounded out, Aaron Rowand reached base on yet another infield single, moving Pods to third. Good God. Gimme a break…and then it was up to Paul Konerko.
And Paulie would oblige.
Bam! A single to center. Podsednik and Rowand both score. 2-1 Sox.
In comes Will Ohman to replace Wuertz.
Bang! Pierzynski singles Konerko to second.
Boom! Carl Everett lets fly on a deep double off the wall in right center. Burnitz gives chase. Konerko and Pierzynski score. 4-1 Sox.
LaTroy enters to replace Oh Man!
Cubs fans boo.
LaTroy pops out Juan Uribe.
4-1 Sox in the eighth. Doofer.
The Cubs fight back, scoring two runs in the eighth, courtesy of a Jerry Hairston double to score Henry Blanco, and then a single from new fan favorite Derrek Lee to score Hairston. 4-3 Sox. Cubs on the mend…
But then in the ninth, the Magglio replacement Jermaine Dye smokes a one-out homer over the left field wall. LaTroy hangs his head. Beer cans are crushed. Napkins tossed. Anger abounding. Cliff Bartosh comes in for Hawkins, who hears it from the crowd. Bartosh gives up consecutive singles, Wellemeyer replaces him, and works out of the jam.
The Cubs then leave two runners on in the ninth, and a Blanco ground out to third ends the game. Final score: White Sox 5, Cubs 3.
Ah, baseball. You foul temptress.
Cubs baseball, actually, as yesterday’s game continued the blessed season that the White Sox seem to be having. Coming into today’s games, the Sox sit atop baseball, six games ahead of Minnesota for the division lead and three and a half games ahead of both St. Louis and Baltimore for the best record in baseball.
May 27, 2005
From the pages of ESPN.com:
‘Now I get to be like everybody else’
HANOVER, N.H. – Margarita Monday at Molly’s on Main Street.
Those sweet, lime-colored, tequila-drenched drinks are the overwhelming hydration choice of this modest gathering of Dartmouth College lacrosse players.
It’s all legal. The waitress duly carded all four team members, as well as their eight companions, on this evening in late April. There’s a predictable run on buffalo chicken, rib-eye steaks and Caesar salads, loud talk and that typically bawdy collegiate humor.
Andrew Goldstein, leaning back in a commanding corner seat, surveys the scene and smiles. Even though he has a test tomorrow on the daunting structure of cells, he is happy to be here, hanging with his teammates. The All-American goalie, the guy everyone calls “Goldie,” fits right in.
The fact that he’s publicly gay – an unprecedented turn of events in its own way – doesn't seem to matter. Goldstein, who graduates in two weeks, routinely faced blurring, hard rubber balls that approached 100 miles an hour during his distinguished four-year collegiate career. And yet, his courage cannot be measured by the 110 saves he recorded this season.
There are a handful of gay professional athletes – David Kopay, Billy Bean, Esera Tuaolo – who came out after their careers ended. There are a number of talented gay collegiate athletes, some who play individual sports at the Division I level (such as California gymnast Graham Ackerman), others from team sports at the Division II and III levels.
But Andrew Goldstein, according to those who document these things, is the most accomplished male, team-sport athlete in North America to be openly gay during his playing career. He revealed his sexuality to his team after the 2003 season, and an online essay that appeared on Outsport.com elevated his story to national prominence.
Yet as Goldstein points out, “gay All-American” is a phrase that is still contradictory for some.
“All-American is what you think of, you know, the three kids, the white picket fence, All-American,” Goldstein said. “And gay does not fit into that. So it’s nice for me to hear ‘gay All-American,’ and to think it’s just the same as ‘All-American.’”
After contemplating his sexuality for nearly half his life, Goldstein struggled with whether to tell the world who he really was. The decision didn’t come easily, Goldstein said, but he ultimately felt there was no choice.
“It’s like you get to the hill and the roller coaster just goes drop,” Goldstein said. “Like once I got it past a point, you just have to keep going until you get to the next stopping point. And for me, a lot of those decisions were just easy decisions. I knew what I had to do.”
May 28, 2005
The Cubs won 5-1 today, albeit against the National League’s worst: the now 14-33 Colorado Rockies. Brutal. Still, a win is a win, and though the Cubbies aren’t cruising like the Sox are, we’re still 23-24, a half game behind Milwaukee and eight and a half behind division-leading St. Louis. Not great, but still in a very good position to put it together. Let’s be honest: you could go .500 through the end of August, and then turn it on in September and make the playoffs. Isn’t that what always happens with someone now? Oakland? Florida? Houston a year ago? Even the Brewers manage to do something of the like from time to time. To say the Cubs are exactly where I hoped they’d be would be to misrepresent myself, but we’re still in a good spot. As a fan (and presumably as a player), all you ever really want is a chance to compete.
As always, the latest review of the Cubs is a case of good news and bad news. (When is it not?) The bad news is that Mark Prior (4-1, 2.93 ERA) is going on the DL after being struck in the elbow with a comebacker during yesterday’s win (the Cubs’, not Prior’s) over the Rockies. It was yet another reminder of just how agonizing it can be to root for a team anchored by power pitchers. Is this how it felt to be a Braves fan during the ’90s? I feel like Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz were able to stay pretty healthy, Smoltz’s injury/transition to closer aside.
So that’s the bad news, and it sho ain’t good.
The good news, on the other hand, is very good, in two different ways. In a more cynical way, the Cubs traded oft-ridiculed faux-closer LaTroy Hawkins to the San Francisco Giants for anyone else. That’s the current sentiment of Cubs fans. Not pretty. I feel bad for LaTroy, a Chicago guy (he’s from Gary, actually, but let’s face it: they’re much closer to the Chi than I’ve ever been) who seemed genuinely excited to come to the Cubs at the start of the 2004 season. Then JoBo went down, Dusty turned Hawk into the closer, and he got burned down the stretch in ’04 to seemingly unrecognized Leon Durham/Brant Brown/Steve Bartman proportions. From September 21st through the end of the season, Hawkins pitched six and two thirds innings in six outings, giving up three earned runs and blowing three of five save opportunities. It was insanity peppers. These fans will never forgive him. Does he deserve it? No. There were lots of other guys (Mercker, Wood, Moises, Sammy, Dusty) who were just as culpable as he was for the ’04 collapse. But the easiest dog to kick is the one who is always lying down in front of the door. That was Hawkins over the final month of last season: real bad, and easy to spot.
The other good news is positive and life-affirming. Derrek Lee, second-year Chicago Cub himself, is leading the National League in home runs with 16. Considering that he’s also near the top in average (.357) and RBI (45) these are all very exciting developments in the wake of losing Sammy (on a superstar, fan favorite, and production basis) and Moises (production only). It’s amazing that just 19 months ago Lee was following through on the hit that broke open the eighth inning of Game 6 of the 2003 National League Championship Series. You may have heard of that one…
Yet all is forgiven, because Derrek Lee is such a great player and such a likeable guy that we had no beef with him then, and we were quick to embrace him here.
Amazing, ain’t it?
Meanwhile, poor LaTroy Hawkins goes from being a fan favorite in Minnesota to being “the bad guy” on his own team.
Baseball really is a game of inches.