There is a place in this world that is so beautiful my heart aches when I am there. I wish for time to stand still so I would never have to leave.
Sweet Home Chicago. And Wrigley Field.
Yes, my "home" is Michigan. Probably always will be. I love it here.
But, there is a place where I come alive - every single time I set foot in that city I feel like I have come "home" again, and I silently curse my parents for having moved back to Grand Rapids right before I was born.
Yesterday was another one of those days, watching my beloved Cubbies hold on to beat Barry Bonds and the hapless San Fransisco Giants, 9-8.
From Bleed Cubbie Blue-
With that in mind, I will say that I was glad I was witness to history today -- Barry Bonds' two HR this afternoon, the 752nd and 753rd of his career, set all kinds of marks:
It was his 71st multi-HR game; that's one behind Babe Ruth for first all-time. It was his 7th career game with six or more RBI. He has now hit 19 HR this year. That's the most for any player in the year in which he turned 43 -- surpassing Carlton Fisk.
Last month, I thought that Bonds would have broken the record before this game. Last week, we realized there was a chance that he would set the record at this game. When he was held out for some games earlier this week - we realized we wouldn't see the record unless he happened to hit five in one game. But history was made anyway, as he smacked two home runs, drove in a total of six runs, 3 hits in 3 AB's.
Love him, hate him, he is a part of baseball history.
Flash cameras were strongly in evidence for all of Bonds' at-bats, even shining through the sun that came out late in the day. So Bonds is right when he says, "People say they hate me, but they all go 'Click-click-click' with their cameras."
Yes, they do. And I was click, click, click myself. Here is the swing that would become home run number 752-
I have more of Bonds that I will get to later.
He did all this with a fierce wind blowing in from the north.
Out of town Cubs fans, heed my warning. If you see a forecast that has the wind coming in from the north, take a sweatshirt. I don't care how warm it is at the car. I don't care how warm it is at the gate. When you get up in that stadium, "The Hawk" is gonna bite you bad.
You would think I would know these things by now, a veteran of many games, but nooooo...
Official Cubs site recap of the game here.
Yahoo boxscore here.
Another Yahoo story on Bond's drive to the record here.
And for your Michigan connection- former Lugnuts Ryan Theriot, Mike Fontenot, and Jake Fox all played. These are guys I had seen right out at 5th3rd Ball Park, and here they were in The Show. That was pretty cool.
A few more pics from the game, and I will be adding to the collection here when I get a chance, but for now...
One of Aramis Ramirez' three hits on the day.
Cliff Floyd scores on Molina's passed ball.
Soriano doubles in the 1st.
Lots of stuff to buy. The area around Wrigley is heaven, with a sea of people in Cubbie blue, milling about the beautiful tree-lined streets...
Heaven.
Cubs win!