$27.01 (A great day at the park)

Last night I was online surfing the web when I decided to go to the Cubs website and see if there was a seat for today's double-header. To my surprise there was a good seat and after all the fees for $17.01 in section 237 row 14 seat 11. What a great purchase it was. I was 1 seat away from it being obstructed view so I excited about that. I am extremely glad I brought my blanket as it was cold as can be out there today and at least that helped me stay semi-warm. I also drank a lot of hot chocolate at the game to try and keep warm, but after 5 ($2.00 a piece) of them, I thought they might start making me miss the game, so I stopped drinking them. So for the day my total expenditure was $27.01 and I got to see 2 games and drink lots of hot chocolate. That is a bargain for me.

The first game was almost over after the first inning. Kerry Wood came out flat today and didn't have the ability to keep the ball in the park. The offense didn't do much either only scoring 2 runs in the 4th when there was an opportunity to add a few more. I do have to credit Adam Hyzdu for a great catch in the bottom of the 7th and then doubling up Lee (who made a horrible base running mistake).

The 2nd game looked bleak when the opening lineups where announced, Blanco was in instead of Barrett, Perez was in instead of Garciaparra, and Macias was in for Ramirez, though it was nice to see Dubois and Hairston Jr. in there. I was certain the Cubs offense would sputter much like it did in the first game. I was proven wrong from the start as the Cubs scored 4 runs in the first and 3 in the 2nd to start with a 7-0 and never looked back. Prior looked sharp in his first game back by giving up only 4 hits in 6 innings and throwing 68% of his pitches for strikes. I was also impressed that Dusty stuck to a good pitch count (92 total) for Prior and did not think about sending him out there for the 7th inning. The bullpen looked awful in game 2 as they were behind most every batter they faced and walked way too many guys especially when at the time they were up 8 runs.
I have to say something about Nefi Perez today since I wrote a column about him starting the other day. I don’t think Nefi Perez is very good, but I must say today he showed me up as he went 6-9. I hope he keeps it up, but as my buddy Rusty said today, “It takes most people 20-30 games to see Nefi get 6 hits."