14 Mar 2019
Today was Liberty's day at the Petsmart doggie spa - shampoo, haircut and nails trimmed. We dropped her off there and then we headed back to Sloan Park for the Cubs vs Rangers baseball game.
Started out cool and clear this morning with lows at 43 degrees F. It warmed slightly throughout the day but the wind made it feel cooler. Eventually we peaked out about 63 degrees F I believe. We arrived at Sloan Park shortly before noon and grabbed a picture of the starting line-up posted on the outside of the Team Store. The Cubs line-up is full of starters and Yu Darvish is the starting pitcher today. Rizzo is in, but as DH not playing first base.
We then hit the team store before it got too busy. Daughter Michelle was looking for some Star Wars-related Cubs items so Doreen checked out what they had. Some items she saw there a few days ago were sold out. You snooze, you lose!
We had not toured through the area beyond the outfield so we took a stroll there. On the field side is the grassy area where fans with general admission tickets can sit.
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| To the left over the fence is the 'batter's eye'. It is off-limits to fans seeking home run balls. |
On the other side are shops and food vendors on the lower level and then the Budweiser seating area on the upper level. This is a special ticketed area so you cannot just go up there unless you have tickets assigned.
On around to the left field side is the Cubs bullpen on the field side.
Further down is the Jim Beam Bourbon Bar. Jim Beam is the official bourbon of the Chicago Cubs.
Still looking for Star Wars stuff, we visited one more Team Store located behind home plate, but they had nothing.
Doreen made contact with Stan and Debbie Nielsen from Cedar Falls who were going to be at the game. She coordinated to meet them near the right field bar area so we headed there and waited for a bit. It was lunchtime so I had the Chicago Hot dog again - very tasty!! Soon Stan and Debbie arrived. Stan was Doreen's neighbor in Cedar Falls, and Debbie is the sister of Linda Mehmen who was in our high school class and was Doreen's BFF growing up. They own a house down here and still own one in Cedar Falls too. They are down here for the winter so it was nice to see them while we were here.
After saying our goodbyes to Debbie and Stan, we made our way to our seats on the first base side. We were directly up from the Cubs dugout again, this time in the shade. We were in a good place to take pictures of the Cubs both on the field and when they departed the field.
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| Bryant, Baez, Zobrist |
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| The stadium was probably 90% full. Capacity is 15,000 |
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| Bryant on third base |
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| Baez at shortstop |
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| Darvish on the mound and Caratini on first base. |
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| Bryant - third base |
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| Zobrist - second base |
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| Baez - short stop |
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| Caratini - first base |
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| Heyward - right field |
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| The outfield squad - Schwarber, Almora Jr, and Heyward |
It got pretty chilly especially when the wind picked up. Harry Caray was on the big board and led us in 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game'.
The Cubs played pretty well and went on to win the game 2-1. It was opposite the game we saw yesterday. Today we had three runs total on seven hits and 1 error. Yesterday against the A's we had 23 runs total on 28 hits and three errors. The biggest difference was pitching. Both great games but totally different games. Should be an interesting season.
Sadly this is our last Spring Training game of this trip, but we have three Major League Baseball games ahead, one in San Diego, one in Anaheim and one in Los Angeles. When we get home in May the Iowa Cubs will be playing and we will have about three weeks to see them play before we shove off on our East and Southeast adventure.
On the way home we picked up our fluffy pooch! She looks and smells much better!
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