Game #38 Cubs v. Marlins 7/18/12

Steve Clevenger. Smiling. Of course.

Angela took over Rafael's glove.

Look at Reed Johnson playing with his kid. So presh.

Here's LoMo again. He threw us a ball but some jerkface took it. He gave up. I even made him a sign. Next year, LoMo. Next year.

Andre Dawson was a favorite of mine when I was a kid, but he sure looks sour here.

Here's Theo Epstein. He never looks sour. Actually, he had a stalker who had just been arrested. In an unrelated story, I had to stay about 300 feet away from him.

Oh, LoMo. You fascinate me.

This was a beautiful, sad story. A young boy died during baseball practice and he was honored before the game.

Then gave way to madness. Absolute madness.

Will Ferrell and Zack Galifinakis were there.

First they fought about who was going to throw.

Then they ordered a pizza.

Will didn't have any money, so he called on Ryan Dempster to pay.

Of course, Ryan did. He's so rich. I was going to miss him.

Then they all ate some pizza.

And then the pitch was finally thrown.

Okay, all that rigmarole to say come see our movie. But I loved it.

Here's LoMo.

We try to go to most Jeff Samardzija games. Josh Johnson was pitching for the Marlins.

And the band played.

Nothing much happened until the top of the third when Jose Reyes homered. Jeff always said, if you must give up a homer, let it be solo. And so it was.

Here's LoMo.

Jeff Samardzija walked.

Seriously, he is a superstar.

Let's skip to the bottom of the fourth. Starlin homered and the game was tied.

Nothing much happened. Poor Bryan LaHomer grounded out.

Here's LoMo again. He grounded into a fielder's choice, but he ended up on second because of a Soto throwing error that The Clev would never have made.

Okay, on to the fifth inning. Darwin singled.

Then the gum-chomper reached second on a Josh Johnson wild pitch.

But that was all. Great face, LaHomer.

As often happens at Cubs games, my friend David, who accompanied me and Angela, ran into his cousin.

It was an interesting time.

We kept track of Samardzija's strikeouts. Spoiler alert: Nine strikeouts in five innings.

Here we all are!

Angela showing off her Samardzija Notre Dame jersey.

Here's Rizzo. I love him.

With a tie, James Russell came in to pitch the sixth. He always pitches after Samardzija.

LoMo singled.

But he was left on base.

Andre Dawson sang the stretch.

Garza, once again, entertains.

This is my favorite Garza face.

In the seventh, Soriano reached on an infield single, then advanced to second on a wild pitch.

He advanced to third on a LaHair groundout. Then Soto singled, driving in Sori.

Then Darwin singled, advancing Soto to second.

Mike Dunn came on in relief and the Marlins discussed the 2-1 deficit.

Luis Valbuena singled, advancing the runners.

Jeff Baker hit for Russell and he doubled, driving in Soto and Barney and moving Valbuena to third.

DeJesus sacrificed, scoring Valbuena. Then Castro walked. There was a passed ball advancing the runners.

But that was it. At the end of the 7th, it was 5-1 Cubs.

Shawn Camp came on to relieve in the 8th.

The Marlins put a man on, but with one out....

It started raining. Yet another rain delay.

But Jordan was at the game again!

He tried to sweet talk this lady into letting him on the field. She was immune to his charms.

Here's a ball Angela caught.

They finally called the game. Cubs win!

All of my photos can be seen at http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150967158518786.423831.511233785&type=3