Cincinnati Reds @ Chicago Cubs (1)

Downtown Chicago is surprisingly pleasant.  There are flower beds along many of the streets, with automatic watering systems that drench them every night, and they're all in full flower.  It seems a very green city and quite a nice place to live - although if I'd been here in February, I'm not so sure I'd like the snow and cold so much.  I looked in a few shops today and bought a few essentials.

On the Tuesday afternoon, I went to the Weber Grill restaurant and had a 3-way-combo BBQ.  It was a reasonable size, much smaller than it might sound, as it had two sausages, one chicken breast and some pulled pork.  It also wasn't all that expensive.

From there, I made the trip on the subway North to the Addison stop, which is next door to Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs.  I have a 7-day pass which covers all the subway system and all the buses - for just $23. 

Even though both the Cubs and Reds are out of contention for the playoffs, there were remarkably few people in attendance, I thought.  There were about 34,000 in total, but down in section 24 where I was, there were quite a few empty seats.  I moved along a couple of spaces so I could have a better view of the action instead of having somebody's head in the way.

This game was played quickly and I nearly witnessed a 1-hitter.  The first 53 (of 54) outs had been recorded in about 2 and a quarter hours, as the Reds led 2-0.  However, the 54th out proved to be somewhat tougher, as a single was hit followed by McHair hitting a booming 2-run HR to right field to tie the game - those were only the 2nd and 3rd hits of the game for the Cubs!  People had started leaving in the 8th and 9th innings, as usually happens.  With extra innings though, more people leave at the end of each half inning - those with children, those who have to be up early to go to work the next day or possibly even because they were just cold.  It was very windy in the stadium, so as night fell, it became rather chilly, so I was glad I had my coat (I nearly forgot to pack a coat at all!)  By the time the Reds pushed another couple of runs across in the top of the 13th, most people just seemed pleased that the game was over!  Even with all the bonus baseball, the game didn't take much over 3 hours.  One advantage of extra innings is that it tends to lighten the load on the subway service.  I was able to board the first inbound train that arrived and travel is relative comfort back to the hotel.