[2009 Baseball Tour] SIDETRIP: Back to GABP (Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati Reds)
I'm extremely late with this post. XD; Matter of fact, I didn't even say on here that I was going. But I decided at the last second to go, since not many people were going to GABP to the series, I hadn't yet seen Kosuke and the Cubs this season, and I always wanted to see the park at night.
Before the Game:
-Got there about 3 hours before the game, since I didn't get a ticket beforehand and wanted to bypass Ticketbastard's service charges. Managed to get a ticket in the front row of the outfield, closest to center field on the left field side. XD! Was still pretty far away from Kosuke, but it's very possible he saw that Dragons hat in the crowd.
-Before the gates opened, some guys asked about my jersey, my sign, etc. And at around that time, a Japanese family was like "Sugoi! Cap, to uniform mo..." I, playing along, pointed to my sign (the same one I brought to Toronto last year) and said "Dragons no ouenka mo..." (the Dragons' cheer song too), so that sparked about a 5-minute conversation, completely in Japanese. XD
-As was brought up several times over the week, the vast, vast majority of people that went to the game were Cubs fans. The Reds had lost their last 8 and 14 of 15 going into this one (ironically, the Hiroshima Carp, who ripped off the Reds' look back in the 70s, went on a similar slide last month), so it's understandable that the people in Cincy had bailed on them.
-My seat wasn't as awesome as initially thought. I was right behind a padded rail at the left-field wall that impeded my view of the infield. XD;;;
-There really isn't much to note (other than that I finally got that pic of the "I'd go through hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball" quote, and the new intro video for the Reds = AWESOME), so lets go to the game recap. Tonight's pitching matchup: Cubs' Rich Harden vs. the Reds' Justin Lehr.
Top 1st: Kosuke led off the game. He struck out after the ump ruled he went around on a check-swing. Lehr would get a 1-2-3 inning here.
Bottom 2nd: After an infield single by Brandon Phillips (lazy throw by Aramis) to start the inning, ON THE FIRST PITCH Reds newcomer Scott Rolen took one deep... and someone about 8 seats to the right of me caught it on a bounce-back from about the 5th row. XD And that's Rolen's first homer as a Red! Another Reds newcomer, Wladimir Balentien, singled right after that, and after a 1-out walk to Ryan Hanigan (who has THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST entrance theme on the Reds XD), Lehr got up there to sacrifice the guys over. Except Harden tried to get the lead runner and completely missed Aramis. :P One run scored there, but that's all the Reds would get. 3-0 Reds
Bottom 3rd: Sometime around this time, some girls from something called Q102 asked to take a picture with me, particularly my Chunichi!Kosuke jersey. Eventually it'll be up on their web site, but it isn't quite yet.
End 3rd: I get the idea to ask the Q102 gals to take another picture, but with me holding the sign up. XD That'll be on the website, eventually.
Top 4th: This ended up being the Cubs' best chance. Both Derrek Lee and Milton Bradley got hits, but Alfonso Soriano ended the inning by getting frozen for strike 3.
Top 5th: This is how sad the Cubs' offense was: their biggest hit came in this inning. It was a double, AND IT WAS BY THE PITCHER. xP Harden doubled, and Kosuke had a shot to knock him home. But Brandon Phillips made an excellent diving catch on the grounder to get out #3. Also, at around this time, my camera's batteries ran out. >.<;;; I managed to get 1, maybe two more pictures after this.
Top 7th: The Cubs got their 4th (and final) hit of the game, an infield hit by Alfonso Soriano. He proceeded to get picked off at 1st. XD;
Bottom 7th: Willy Taveras got an infield hit. Then stole 2nd. Then stole 3rd on a delayed steal. Then Kosuke got his first fielding action of the day; he made the catch and threw it home to try to get Taveras at the plate advancing on the sac fly. It was a great throw, but Taveras was just too fast for him. He would then make the last putout of the inning; a routine fly ball to center. 4-0 Reds
Top 8th: Last chance for Kosuke to get a hit... and he doesn't.
Bottom 8th: Once the crowd quieted down I shouted "Kosuke! Kyou no no-hit wa boku no warui desu!" (trans: It's my fault you didn't have a hit today!) Yeah, nothing happened here for the Reds.
Top 9th: Lehr, who had thrown 102 pitches going into the 9th, was left in to finish it off. He had a long battle with Ryan Theriot, and Theriot took him deep, but Taveras made the catch a few feet in front of the wall. He got the last two outs much more easily, and finally, after 8 consecutive losses, the Reds have won a game. FINAL SCORE: Reds 4, Cubs 0
What a terrible last 24 hours in my rube life. Kosuke goes 0-fer, the Twins lost TWICE, and Yuudai Kawai finally lost a game (Hanshin 9 Chunichi 2). XD;;;
And here's a rather incomplete photo album of 55 pictures. Also, I forgot my memory card, so my master photos are 640 x 480. ^_^; But I remembered the memory card for Ikasu, as well as a backup battery set and the recharger. Ikasucon tomorrow!
Before the Game:
-Got there about 3 hours before the game, since I didn't get a ticket beforehand and wanted to bypass Ticketbastard's service charges. Managed to get a ticket in the front row of the outfield, closest to center field on the left field side. XD! Was still pretty far away from Kosuke, but it's very possible he saw that Dragons hat in the crowd.
-Before the gates opened, some guys asked about my jersey, my sign, etc. And at around that time, a Japanese family was like "Sugoi! Cap, to uniform mo..." I, playing along, pointed to my sign (the same one I brought to Toronto last year) and said "Dragons no ouenka mo..." (the Dragons' cheer song too), so that sparked about a 5-minute conversation, completely in Japanese. XD
-As was brought up several times over the week, the vast, vast majority of people that went to the game were Cubs fans. The Reds had lost their last 8 and 14 of 15 going into this one (ironically, the Hiroshima Carp, who ripped off the Reds' look back in the 70s, went on a similar slide last month), so it's understandable that the people in Cincy had bailed on them.
-My seat wasn't as awesome as initially thought. I was right behind a padded rail at the left-field wall that impeded my view of the infield. XD;;;
-There really isn't much to note (other than that I finally got that pic of the "I'd go through hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball" quote, and the new intro video for the Reds = AWESOME), so lets go to the game recap. Tonight's pitching matchup: Cubs' Rich Harden vs. the Reds' Justin Lehr.
Top 1st: Kosuke led off the game. He struck out after the ump ruled he went around on a check-swing. Lehr would get a 1-2-3 inning here.
Bottom 2nd: After an infield single by Brandon Phillips (lazy throw by Aramis) to start the inning, ON THE FIRST PITCH Reds newcomer Scott Rolen took one deep... and someone about 8 seats to the right of me caught it on a bounce-back from about the 5th row. XD And that's Rolen's first homer as a Red! Another Reds newcomer, Wladimir Balentien, singled right after that, and after a 1-out walk to Ryan Hanigan (who has THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST entrance theme on the Reds XD), Lehr got up there to sacrifice the guys over. Except Harden tried to get the lead runner and completely missed Aramis. :P One run scored there, but that's all the Reds would get. 3-0 Reds
Bottom 3rd: Sometime around this time, some girls from something called Q102 asked to take a picture with me, particularly my Chunichi!Kosuke jersey. Eventually it'll be up on their web site, but it isn't quite yet.
End 3rd: I get the idea to ask the Q102 gals to take another picture, but with me holding the sign up. XD That'll be on the website, eventually.
Top 4th: This ended up being the Cubs' best chance. Both Derrek Lee and Milton Bradley got hits, but Alfonso Soriano ended the inning by getting frozen for strike 3.
Top 5th: This is how sad the Cubs' offense was: their biggest hit came in this inning. It was a double, AND IT WAS BY THE PITCHER. xP Harden doubled, and Kosuke had a shot to knock him home. But Brandon Phillips made an excellent diving catch on the grounder to get out #3. Also, at around this time, my camera's batteries ran out. >.<;;; I managed to get 1, maybe two more pictures after this.
Top 7th: The Cubs got their 4th (and final) hit of the game, an infield hit by Alfonso Soriano. He proceeded to get picked off at 1st. XD;
Bottom 7th: Willy Taveras got an infield hit. Then stole 2nd. Then stole 3rd on a delayed steal. Then Kosuke got his first fielding action of the day; he made the catch and threw it home to try to get Taveras at the plate advancing on the sac fly. It was a great throw, but Taveras was just too fast for him. He would then make the last putout of the inning; a routine fly ball to center. 4-0 Reds
Top 8th: Last chance for Kosuke to get a hit... and he doesn't.
Bottom 8th: Once the crowd quieted down I shouted "Kosuke! Kyou no no-hit wa boku no warui desu!" (trans: It's my fault you didn't have a hit today!) Yeah, nothing happened here for the Reds.
Top 9th: Lehr, who had thrown 102 pitches going into the 9th, was left in to finish it off. He had a long battle with Ryan Theriot, and Theriot took him deep, but Taveras made the catch a few feet in front of the wall. He got the last two outs much more easily, and finally, after 8 consecutive losses, the Reds have won a game. FINAL SCORE: Reds 4, Cubs 0
What a terrible last 24 hours in my rube life. Kosuke goes 0-fer, the Twins lost TWICE, and Yuudai Kawai finally lost a game (Hanshin 9 Chunichi 2). XD;;;
And here's a rather incomplete photo album of 55 pictures. Also, I forgot my memory card, so my master photos are 640 x 480. ^_^; But I remembered the memory card for Ikasu, as well as a backup battery set and the recharger. Ikasucon tomorrow!