August 13, 2014 – Cubs 4, Brewers 2 – Wrigley Field

Go, Cubs, Go!

Umpires: HP: Clint Fagan. 1B: Tim Timmons. 2B: Tim Welke. 3B: Todd Tichenor.

Weather: 70 degrees, clear.

Wind: 7 mph, In from RF.

T: 2:36.

Att: 31,191.

My first of two games in Wrigley proved to be successful for the home team, as the Cubs jumped on Kyle Lohse for a quick 4-0 lead and hung on to beat the first-place Brewers for a second straight night. Lohse has apparently been pitching with a slightly sprained ankle, and he definitely wasn’t himself this evening. After a leadoff double by Chris Coghlan and a single by Javier Baez, Anthony Rizzo knocked in one run with a sac fly, and Starlin Castro followed with a single to drive in Baez.

The Cubs resumed their assault in the bottom of the third. The recently-recalled Baez led off with the first of what probably will be many Wrigley Field homers, a no-doubt-about-it shot to left that wound up on Waveland Avenue. Not to be outdone, Anthony Rizzo hit Lohse’s next pitch out to right. The Milwaukee trainer came out to visit Lohse later in the frame; he completed the inning by striking out the side but did not return for the fourth, giving way to Marco Estrada, who kept the Cubs off the board for the next 4 innings. (For the game, the first four hitters in the Cubs’ batting order accounted for all of their 9 hits, runs scored, and RBI.)

Meanwhile, Cubs starter Tsuyoshi Wada blanked the hard-hitting visitors until giving up back-to-back homers to Rickie Weeks and Martin Maldonado with two outs in the top of the seventh. The Cubbies bullpen took it from there, allowing only one baserunner the rest of the way. The heavily-booed Ryan Braun went 0-4, as did Carlos Gomez.

During the singing of the National Anthem, 4 Navy Seals parachuted onto the field, one of them carrying an American flag. Quite exciting, although perhaps somewhat unfair competition for the poor woman who was singing the anthem.

Was in Aisle 120, Row 7, Seat 6, directly behind home plate. “Field Box infield” is not the closest section to the field, but it nevertheless was a great lower-level seat, much better than I could get at Nationals Park for anything close to $71.00 (plus various charges, of course). Had a Chicago Dog ($6.50) in honor of the location, plus a $7.50 draft Bud and a $4.00 soft pretzel.

Based on this single visit, I’ve concluded that the Cubbies long-time woes are due primarily to a lack of overall confidence, whether by the team, its fan base, or both. Apparently after every home victory they play a ditty (written by the inimitable Steve Goodman) called Go Cubs Go (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9XtDyDUjIU), whose key lyric is “Hey, Chicago, what do you say? The Cubs are gonna win today.” Think about that for a moment. A team with any confidence might play that before every game, or as part of the seventh-inning stretch. The Cubs, however, don’t play a song saying the Cubs “are gonna win today” until AFTER THEY HAVE ALREADY WON!