So. This years holiday came around but a little earlier than I usually prefer (I like September) for a US sports trip meaning I only really had baseball as an option.
Still three games in the ten days was a reasonable haul.
We stayed mainly in Chicago apart from a couple of days up in Milwaukee.
First up was Milwaukee v LA Dodgers on Wednesday 29th June. Miller Park is a very nice place to watch a game. Especially on a lovely warm early summer evening. I caught the special bus from downtown to the game as it stopped two mins from my hotel.
The game itself was pretty one sided. Milwaukee sprung into a 5-0 in the 2nd and after that apart from a Ryan Braun two run homer in the 7th there wasn't a lot happening. The Dodgers had just two hits all game. So a 7-0 final score and thats the first time I have seen a game where a team gets shut out
Nice seats though behind home plate for $55
Next up was a visit to US Cellular Field for WhiteSox v The Evil Empire (NY Yankees)
Always nice to see the Yankees get a beating so this was a great game for me to watch. NY took a 2-0 lead in the 2nd but after that it was all WhiteSox as they stormed to an 8-2 win
Not much cover here so decided to go high up and under cover and I am glad I did as it was hot and sunny.
I liked the stadium. It had a very down to earth feel to it and the Sox fans were enthusiastic and anti Yankees So I liked them!
Final a visit to one of the two Holy Grails of baseball. Wrigley Field (Fenway being the other). And in its Centenary year too.
You can't go to Wrigley and not take a photo of this
So. Wednesday 6th July and Cubs v Reds. Wrigley is fantastic and horrible in equal measure. But the fantastic outweighs the horrible overall. It's old and rickety and cramped but it's one place you have to go as a baseball fan. You can smell the history, and failure, and you know you are in one of the cathedrals of US sport.
The game itself ebbed and flowed. Reds went 1-0 up in the first. The Cubs made it 3-1 by the 5th. Then the Reds took over again and ran out 5-3 winners
All in all 3 good experiences in different ways. Three new stadiums. Four new teams watched. Much food consumed.
Roll on next year!!