Hair of the Dog, Wednesday, September 17, 2008

The Search For Parking

I did not see the game, although I heard it better than anyone. While the game was finishing up, I was in the unenviable position of attempting to park my car in the general area of Wrigley Field. As I turned right onto Sheffield from Cornelia I heard the boo birds as Carlos Villanueva drilled Mark DeRosa. As I almost found a spot on Fremont the crowd cheered wildly. Unfortunately, this was not directed at me, but at former Brewer catcher Hank White, who took advantage of Brewer lefty Brian Shouse to drive in what would prove to be the winning run. Also, the spot was too small. Some douchebag had parked his Jeep Liberty 6 feet in back of the car in front of him and ruined a perfectly good parking spot.

As Prince Fielder marched confidently to the plate in the 9th an eerie silence fell over Wrigleyville, except for the lone man in his car who was still cursing our new manager for allowing Kendall to hit and for putting Mike Lamb in a big spot (although he did come through), and swearing at Mike Cameron for not taking a pitch now and then. And finally, at Prince for not, at the very least, going down swinging. The explosion that followed, accompanied by the sickening horror that is “Go Cubs Go” signaled that the Brewers would see their Wild Card lead slip completely out of their hands for the first time in a long, long time, and signaled also that I would soon possess a coveted parking spot as the drunken mass of minivans started to migrate back to Naperville.

Such is life for a Brewer fan in Wrigleyville.

Analysis

I’m going off of radio, but I actually think they played better. I would categorize this as a “normal loss.” Over the past week I’ve had a hard time imagining this team winning a game, but last night they played well enough. Prince came through twice (three times, really which is really all you can ask for) and maybe the middle of the lineup is starting to heat up. Would Braun have scored on Fielder’s double if Dale Sveum was still coaching third? We’ll never know.

Word on the street is that McClung is rejoining the rotation in place of Parra, a risky but necessary move, as Manny is burned out.

The Cubs are good. They beat hot teams and slumping teams alike, and it’s tough to tell which one you are when you play them. I saw some signs of life out there, and I’m cautiously optimistic. Besides, it’s not like they lost a 1-0 game to the Nats or something.

An E-mail from Danny

Also, did you know that ESPN has a show called "Baseball Tonight" that they abbreviate "BBTN." Like, as if "baseball" and "tonight" were two words each. What the fuck is wrong with those guys?

Do The Packers Play Poorly In Prime Time?

The Packers think so. I think they’re probably right, but I also think it’s entirely explainable by the fact that good teams usually play good teams in prime time, and every team will have trouble against good teams. League wide, every team probably has a worse record in prime time when compared to their overall record.

The Packers will miss Roy Williams. Will they also miss Bob Sanders?

The Packers play the Colts on October 19th, and it now appears that the Colts will not have their best defensive player Bob Sanders for the game. The Colts are generally terrible on defense without him.

Today’s HOTD is brought to you by…

A $4 22 oz. can of Old Style, proudly served “on special” everywhere in Wrigleyville on game days. What a deal!