This is just my fourth time at Wrigley Field.

The first time was my junior year at UIC. The Cubs had a college sports editors day, and I jumped at the chance. We got a tour of the field and a gift bag. But the highlight was when Jimmy Piersall spoke to us.

“The one thing I can tell you is to write whatever the hell you want and don’t give a —- if you piss somebody off,” he said. “That’s what I did, and look at me now.”

A couple months later, it was Father’s Day. Unfortunately, the White Sox weren’t in town (I was a Sox fan as a kid). But the Cubs were in town. So I took my father and grandfather to Wrigley to watch the Cubs and the Mets. I hated the Cubs, but the Wrigley Field experience can’t be beat.

Anyway, the game goes into extra innings. Goose Gossage (still believing he could get hitters out) gave up a grand slam to Kevin McReynolds, and the Cubs ended up losing something like 10-7. I started cheering after the gram slam, and some fan threw beer at me.

My third time at Wrigley was 10 years ago for interleague play. It was Paul Molitor’s last year, and the Twins stunk so bad that their media guide cover the next year was Molitor on deck at Wrigley. The Twins also stunk so bad that year that they called up Brad Thomas from Class AA. Thomas started one of the Wrigley games and got pounded. I remember him hitting a home run during batting practice and walking off the field smiling. That smile didn’t last long.

Now I’m back for visit No. 4. It’s a beautiful day for afternoon baseball.

BluesFest is going on. It just so happens that the great Koko Taylor’s funeral is today in Chicago. Caught her show once. What a singer.

 Kenny Chesney will sing Take Me Out To The Ballgame. Kanye West had a free concert here yesterday.  There are Twins fans all over the  place.

This town ROCKS.

Update: Denard Span will remain in the Twin Cities this weekend as he deals with dizziness. He’s back on the medication he was on before. Apparently, Span stopped taking the medication because it made him feel wierd. Span also missed an appointment with a specialist and will see him on Tuesday.

So manager Ron Gardenhire is short-handed again - this time in a N.L. park.

Joe Mauer is sick, but in the lineup. He said he started feeling bad in Seattle. He looked and sounded horrible when I saw him this morning.

“Just pull a Michael Jordan.” I said to him.

“Sometimes you play better when you’re not feeling well.” Mauer said. “Maybe it will help.”

No Cubs lineup yet. Here’s the Twins:

Twins (30-32)

1. Brendan Harris, SS
2. Joe Mauer, C
3. Justin Morneau, 1B
4. Jason Kubel, RF
5. Joe Crede, 3B
6. Michael Cuddyer, CF
7. Delmon Young, LF
8. Nick Punto, 2B
9, Kevin Slowey, RHP

Da Cubz (29-28)

1. Alfonso Soriano, LF
2. Mike Fontenot, 3B
3. Milton Bradley, RF
4. Derek Lee, 1B
5. Geovany Soto, C
6. Kosuke Fuikudome, CF
7. Ryan Theriot, SS
8. Aaron Miles, 2B
9. Randy Wells, RHP

This entry was posted on Friday, June 12th, 2009 at 10:39 am and is filed under Game threads. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.