A baseball trip

Wandered down to Truist for the Cubs and Braves last night.  The tickets were a Christmas present from my Brother-in-Law and sister.  I was looking back at the MLB Stadium app, and it's possible I haven't seen the Cubs in person since the home opening series for the Braves in 2019.  Now, I say that, and will admit that there's a good chance I saw them in either 2021 or 2022 and simply didn't note it in that particular app.

I'll be honest about something.  I was a little iffy on going.  Trying to save up some money to pay some bills and be ready for Christmas.  But when I mentioned it to Shyam, she was pretty excited about going, so we made plans to wander down.

One of the things I was really looking forward to when the Braves moved to their new stadium was maybe attending a game on a whim.  At the time, I was working in Cleveland, and it was conceivable that I could get out of work around 4, and make it to Marietta in a couple hours, in time for a game, from time to time.   That plan only worked that way once.  Not long after the Braves moved to Atlanta, the situation at Food Lion went sideways, and stayed sideways.  We were a manager short, or I had to help out all over creation, or I was working under a manager who was trying to make me quit.  Or there was a little something called Covid.

But despite my misgivings about taking the team away from the city it's named for, I do enjoy that I don't have to drive all the way through Atlanta to get to the stadium.  We left the house a little after 4 yesterday, and with near perfect traffic conditions, made it to our parking just after 6.

It was pretty night.  The truck thermometer showed 83 on the way down, but by the time we made it to our seats in 337, the stadium board was showing 76.7 degrees.  It would drop into the high 60's with a light breeze.  All in all, a beautiful night for a ballgame.

This is the only visit to Atlanta for the Cubs.  Bitching about the schedule doesn't do any good, but I miss the days 30 years ago when they'd wander down twice a year, so that if you missed their visit, you might try again in a couple months.  Nowadays, you have one shot, and if it's at an inconvenient time, you can hope for the postseason, or wait until next year.  The last couple of seasons, the Cubs visited during a busy time of year.

That's also the case for Shyam and me going to games.  This is the first game in at least a couple years that we've hit at the Major League level together.  Given that our business's busy season coincides with the bulk of the baseball season, it's tough for both of us to get down (and not be exhausted in the doing).  After Labor Day is our best opportunity.  I don't know if April and Lee remembered that, or if it was just coincidence.

The game itself?  Well, I don't want to spoil an all too rare blogamathing post by griping about how little the Cubs are hitting as they limp toward the postseason, nor will I mention too much the oddly haphazard way they deal with injuries to Kyle Tucker.....

The past couple of months, they hit worse with runners in scoring position than just about any Cubs team I've seen.  And last night was no different, except that runners in scoring position were tough to come by.  Atlanta's Elder baffled the lineup the first time through the lineup, with Willi Castro providing the only hit of the first 3 innings....

Shota Imanaga went for the Cubs, which was what I most looked forward to about the night.  I like how the guy pitches.  He depends on being smarter, rather than stronger.  He took the Loss last night.  It looked from my vantage point up in the third level that he didn't look comfortable in the first inning, which was when he got rocked for 3 runs.  Watching the pitch chart the Braves leave on one of their display boards, it looked like he wasn't getting any movement on his splitter....  But that may just be my interpretation from the left field foul territory.

The Cubs lost.  Third in a row.  

But we had fun.  Shyam and I haven't gotten to do as much fun stuff this year.  We made a few movies, and we did our book club with our friend Jill.  But working together, and having a handicapped cat at the house cuts down on a few opportunities to go do.

We both enjoyed ourselves, though.  And promised to go find another outing now that it's cooling down.....

(There is a new mini-golf course near us that we need to try soon.....)