Game #35 Cubs v. Diamondbacks 7/13/12

Mark Grace was my favorite Cubs growing up. Sure, I loved Ryne Sandberg, but he was quietly perfect, did his job, had a funny bald spot on the back of his head, and retired from baseball twice. Mark Grace was flawed, funny, beautiful, dated celebrities and was a clubhouse prankster with a full head of blonde hair. After Robin Ventura, Mark Grace was my favorite player growing up, and I had always wanted to meet him.

Back in 2002 or 2003, I went to see Mark Grace play for the Diamondbacks at Wrigley. I was living in Minnesota at the time, but I had made a special trip to Chicago to watch him play. There was an enormous crowd of Mark Grace fans watching him warm up, hoping he would come over for an autograph. There were camera crews interviewing players and fans about the possibility of a strike. ESPN interviewed me that day, and when I got back to Minnesota, everyone back there had seen the clip--I didn't even know it had aired.

But I digress.

I was there to see Marky Mark, and I finally shouted, "I came all the way from Minnesota to meet you!"

He shouted back, "I came all the way from Arizona to meet you!"

I almost passed out, and my friend Stacey, arguably a bigger Mark Grace fan than me, burst into tears of jealousy. But he never came over.

July 13, 2012, is important to me, because that was the day I finally met my hero, Mark Grace. And it was also the day my illusions about him were crushed.

These are two members of my summer family, Leo and Bob. I was with them when Mark happened to walk by after getting out of a cab. I was struck dumb. Those two got autographs.

I did too. Mark wasn't friendly at all. There weren't that many of us. I wasn't expecting him to stop and talk, but still--it was sad to be ignored. He didn't even look at me.

I was still thrilled to meet him--how could I not be? But the thrill was somewhat diminished.

However, the thrill came back inside, as it always does in the Friendly Confines. A little boy was there with his grandpa, and I told him everything I knew about Wrigley. I also called some boys over and he got autographs.

Back from the All-Star break, I was dying to see my Cubbies. I hadn't seen the Cubs play since July 1. That is 12 days. That is impossible to live through.

David Kaplan must have missed them too. He was talking up a storm with them. Let me park for a second and talk about The Kapman. I think most media guys are kind of idiots looking for attention, guys who try to say controversial things so that people talk about them. But David Kaplan is right on. It's like we share a brain. We agree on almost everything. And on those small things where we disagree, I can always see his point. He makes me think and consider, rather than just get angry. I think he has one of the best minds in baseball. Theo Epstein, bring him on board.

Because I follow Tony Campana on Twitter, I can surmise that they are talking about the fish Tony and Whitney caught during the All-Star break. Whitney is Tony's gorgeous girlfriend and the best dressed of all the player's wives.

Hi, Reed Johnson.

Here's Mark Grace. It's not like I quit liking him. I still remember the baseball times. But after meeting Robin Ventura like a week before, it was such a huge letdown.

Mark would be singing the stretch

I think this is Ryan Roberts' tattoos. They're impressive.

Steve!

 

I've missed them so much!

Anthony Rizzo signing

Lisa Fernandez threw out the first pitch. Actually, she let her kids do it.

Yep. Another rain delay.

The rain was blowing like CRAZY!

After that drama, warmups commenced.

More autograph signing by Tony. He's just the nicest.

I know it's picture overload, but you should see how many more there are that I didn't include. I really missed them.

The great Paul Maholm was on the mound for the Cubs.

Oh yeah. Remember Rizzo? Still awesome.

Willie Bloomquist doubled to start off the game.

Here's Darwin.

Here's Starlin.

Aaron Hill reached on a bunt single, then Justin Upton grounded into a double play, but Bloomquist scored.

Here's Jason Kubel! Former Twin and someone I miss. He's having a decent season, I would say....

But he struck out and that was that.

Here's Garza, entertaining the fans.

David DeJesus flied out

Jason Kubel in a Diamonbacks uni is hard for me to get used to.

Rizzo struck out.

Miguel Montero, who I met before the game

Castro and Barney took care of that with a double play.

Alfonso wanted to get the show on the road.

He doubled to start off the second inning.

Alfonso went to third on a Geo fly out.

Darwin up to bat.

But before Darwin could help, Soriano scored on a wild pitch.

Barney singled anyway

Then he stole second.

Valbuena walked

But Maholm grounded out to end the inning. All tied up at 1.

Apparently, his new name is MAHO.

Stephen Drew doubled to right. There was nothing LaHomer could do about it.

Maho got everyone else out, though.

Castro couldn't get the offense moving.

Neither could Rizzo.

So Fonsi started out the bottom of the fourth with a homer to take the lead, 2-0.

Geovany doubled, but he was stranded.

Yeah, Darwin is pretty awesome.

In the bottom of the fifth, Sori hit another homer, three-run this time. In the bottom of the sixth, Maho sacrificed to drive in Soto. In the bottom of the seventh, Soriano hit a double to drive in Castro. Then LaHomer hit into an error that drove home Rizzo.

Cubs won 8-1.

All of my photos from this game can be found at http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150956972958786.422794.511233785&type=3