A Cub fan at The Jake
The Cubs wrapped up their three-game series tonight in Cleveland with a rain-shortened win, giving them two out of three. I was in attendance for game one of the series, and I've got some thoughts on the experience.
I wasn't the only Cubs fan that trekked across the country to watch the lousy Cubs face the lousy Indians this week; probably a third of the 27,000 fans in the stadium were wearing Cubbie blue. Jacobs Field is a nice place to see a ballgame. Great site-lines, good food, clean facilities, knowledgeable fans, and the redneck factor was low. Cleveland itself, however, didn't quite live up to The Jake's standards. (Let's put it this way, as we drove in to town, everyone instantly plugged their noses and simultaneously said, "Who farted?" It took us a minute to realize it was Cleveland itself we were smelling. Put that on a T-Shirt, "Cleveland. Who Farted?") ANYWAYS, the park was nice.
We had decent seats in the upper deck as we watched the Cubs jump out to an early lead on a Jacque Jones homer. Having come into the game on a six-game losing streak, not seeing the Cubs down by a touchdown after the first inning was a bit of a relief. Hank White's three-run shot (which I actually predicted as he stepped up to the plate) was even more of a relief. Sean Marshall started for the Cubs and gutted out five shaky innings before he was relieved by a rain delay. The rain delay provided the opportunity to cram into what we deemed a "cubbie hole" beneath the stands, and we got a chance to hear some Cleveland sports radio. You think The Score is obnoxious, you should hear these bozos. They were laying full blame for the Indians lousy season squarely on Jason Johnson's shoulders. Their argument was Detroit stunk last year with him, dropped him and is now good. Indians, of course, picked him up and went to the tank. Johnson is pretty bad, but I don't think it's quite that simple. They also proceeded to rip Cleveland fans for not being loyal to their team and allowing the visiting Cubs to bring so many fans with them. I don't know who the host of the show was, but he was like a cross between Mike North and a Wrestling announcer. Not good.
Interestingly enough, the Tribe designated Johnson for assignment after the game and traded him to the Red Sox this morning. They ate the last 2.5 million of his contract. I applaud the Indians for recognizing the sunk cost and not try to hide it on the Disabled List.
The tarp finally came off the field and we took the opportunity to find better seats. We ended up about 15 rows behind home plate for the last four innings of the game. Thus, we had a pretty nice view of Ryan Dempster's attempt to become the first Cubs closer to blow an 8-run lead. (I've personally witnessed a Cubs starter blow an 8-run lead, but never a closer.) Luckily, he only gave up four as the Cubs held on for the 12-8 victory.
All-in-all, a good time was had in Cleveland. Despite the Cubs troubles this year, it's still fun to head out to the ballpark, have a beer, and take in a game. Especially when you can add a new stadium to your checklist. Jacob's Field makes eight for me, as I've also been to Wrigley, Comiskey old & new, Chase Field (then Bank One Ballpark), the SkyDome, and the now defunct Jack Murphy Stadium and Riverfront Stadium. I'm going to add Miller Park and Turner Field later this year, both when the Cubs are in town.
One final note, the guy running the scoreboard in Cleveland is a friggin comedian. They played "Guess what year?" with the following included amongst the clues...."Ford introduces Model T," "William Taft was elected president," and of course, "The Cubs win their last World Series." High comedy, there in Cleveland. High comedy.
Enjoy a picture from the game:
