We went early to check out the Rally Alley. The Rally Alley isn't as exciting as I'd imagined but it does give you something to do an hour before the game. Mostly we stood in line to get our faces painted. Only not our faces because we were all sweaty. It took forever to get through the line but the painting was free and they did a GREAT job, in my opinion:
Joe Charboneau was there signing autographs. I didn't get one cuz I think I've already got one. Doesn't everyone have one by now? Also at the Rally Alley were a roving magician and juggler, a dude on stilts, three old guys playing old-timey music, a caricature artist, a cheap hot dog and beer stand, some guys from the Cleveland Blues Base Ball Club and an RTA bus at which they were giving away t-shirts and bobbleheads. The t-shirts were actually pretty cool - a RTA bus with a Wahoo feather. Sadly I did not get one as they were only size L and I instead got a XL white t-shirt with the block "C". Oh well - my friend got one. I'll ask if I can have it later when she remembers that she doesn't wear t-shirts.
I'd probably go to the Rally Alley again - just to get a RTA t-shirt and a cool arm painting. Otherwise it's sort of a bust.
Hey how about that baseball game?! Here's my seats:
Ubaldo looked fantastico tonight! It was sort of scary since Justin had such a bad game yesterday, but Ubaldo didn't follow suit. He went 6 innings with only 2 earned runs (off a homer) and EIGHT strikeouts! He only walked 1 and was pitching pretty consistently in the 90s. The pitching staff ended up striking out 12, which is only the 6th time this year they've struck out more than 10 in a game.
Sipp came on in the 7th and he was back to his old self! Well he was helped out by a BIT of wind blowing in from center. I think that kept one or two balls in. But no hits, no walks, no runs and he struck out one. VinnieP52 came in for the 8th, just to work I guess, and he had his 2nd quickest sprint in of the year (they time it now!) He had 1 walk and 1 strikeout, no hits or runs.
Rogers came in for the 9th, which was weird - no Perez! But we didn't need him. I predicted Perez would come in and give up 1 run, because he had a run to give up. Rogers gave it up instead - a homer on the first pitch. But he got the next guy to ground out and then the next 2 struck out so he looked fine. Pitching in the high 90s even!
Kipnis was out today, as were Hafner, Damon (good, I didn't have to complain about him) and Kotchman. Weird to sit guys this close to the All Star break but I suppose when it's a million degrees out and your bench is playing pretty decent, it doesn't matter. It didn't work so well yesterday (but it didn't matter, thanks to Masterson) but today it worked just fine. The guys showed a lot of patience at the plate, getting rid of their starter after 95 pitches in 4 2/3 innings.
Choo didn't have the best day, even though I got my "arm ink" in his honor. Did you notice I got extra O's and everything? He went 1 for 4, no doubles or anything. He even got caught stealing!
Even worse was Asdrubal, who was the only guy on the team who didn't get a hit. And me with my sign! Oh well, I got to put it up a few times from plays on the field. And he didn't make any errors, so there's that. Oh yeah - he did walk, so it was only 0 for 3. And he came around to score after.
Lopez was in at 2nd and didn't goof anything up out there. He went 1 for 4 on the night and had a really nice double that dropped on the left field foul line, bursting forth with chalk. He came around to score, too.
Lopez was the guy in this play, where, for the first time in my life I saw umpires overturn a call. What was cool was that Lopez stayed on base while EVERYONE else left the field. I guess he saw the first baseman bobble the ball, or someone told him to stay put, cuz he did. Pretty neat - make sure you watch the vid!
Brantley was the man who brought them in...well, at least Asdrubal, on a ground out. Earlier he got a double then came around to score :) Six-game streak!
Might I say that Santana looked GOOD tonight? And he was in at first so there was no loss of Lou! He went 1 for 2 with a double, two walks, a run and a RBI. All of a sudden he's in the middle of things again! Not sure what that means. Tomorrow he might lay down and take a nap on home plate. Or get 3 hits.
SHELLEY DUNCAN has the power! I made sure to remind Manny Acta on Twitter (@Mac_Triber11) that we should have Shelley Every Day! He's got the new dad juice going (see: Choo, Damon, Hannahan) times two and got himself a 2-run blast to left in the 8th! He went 1 for 3 with a walk, 2 RBI and 2 runs. He was the DH today.
Sweet Lou! Laser Lou! He's unstoppable at the moment with a 7-game hitting streak. He's licking the bottom of .300, too. Tonight he went 1 for 3 with an RBI, run and walk. His hit was an RBI double which set off a string of RBIs in the 2nd.
After him was Hannahan who grounded out, but Shelley scored. And after that was Cunningham who got a really nice hustle double that scored Lou. Jack ended up going 1 for 4 with a single to left, and Cunningham walked to end up going 1 for 3. He did get caught stealing - seems as though his hustle double gave him some false courage.
Really swell game, and it puts my 3-game total at 29 runs. YOU'RE WELCOME!!
I don't have time to listen to the game to get some Radio Chatter tonight, but you're in luck - since the game wasn't on TV, all of the audio for the MLB.com video is courtesy of Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus! So while we may have all missed some jokes about New Jersey or comments on how much Rosie may have eaten tonight, at least you get to hear the awesome calls.
I'm going to miss the game tomorrow but hopefully will listen later in the evening and get you everything you need, boffins. I'm also hopefully going to take a tour of Wrigley Field! Cool!
The game is at 1:05 and it's McAllister versus RHP. I won't predict the outcome but you know what I'm thinking. I also bet Manny Acta throws everyone out there to play, since it's the last game until next Friday. I think it's going to be a fun time!
See you there!
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