Last Saturday we headed out to our second Cubs game of the year, Ben's third. It was pretty uneventful, and the Cubs, unfortunately, lost. There were these guys behind us that were totally enchanted with Benjamin, and wanted badly to teach him how to open and eat a peanut. Ben, however, had other plans, and proceeded to turn around the peanut in his hands and chew on the shell. After he got bored of that, his new game was "jam the peanut in Mommy's mouth" which he found really hilarious.

I don't think I made up a post of our first Cubs game of the year, which was a lot more eventful than this one, so I'll turn back the clock and talk about that one.

Those of you who had watched the All Star game a couple weeks back may have remembered the announcers mentioning it and showing a replay - it was the fight in which the normally good natured Derreck Lee got into a fight with the Padres pitcher Chris Young.

It was Ben's second Cubs game, and we were a little nervous bringing him, considering that the last time we brought him he had cried for the first 5 innings. Then again, he was only 6 months old then.

I put him in his Cubs gear and his brand new Cubs hat (his old one was lost at the mall) and we headed out to the ballpark. Our seats were in the shade, so we didn't have to worry about too much sun exposure. Dave wasn't with us since he was cramming for his exam, so it was me, Dave's dad, his brother and his brother's girlfriend.

Ben was much more well behaved this time around, amazed by the people who were going to the seats in the upper level, passing by on a walkway several sections away from us. He also watched the game a bit, but he had no idea what was going on. He was happy enough watching people go by and munching on french fries.

I was only paying half-attention to the game, but I heard the crowd go "Ohhh!" and I looked at the batter, Derrek Lee, on the ground. I figured he got hit by a pitch, and he got up slowly to take his base. He started walking towards the base and by that time, a lot of people in the crowd had already anticipated what was going to happen next, since they were already standing. Then everyone started shouting and hooting and it took me a second to comprehend why Derrek was halfway to the pitcher's mound. Turns out that words were said by the pitcher, Chris Young, to Derrek as he was about to take base, and Derrek didn't like the attitude, since he was the one hit by a pitch. Then all of the sudden, the benches of both teams are on the field, everyone's cheering, cameraphones are up in the air and the whole crowd is standing up. Poor little Ben was wondering what the hell was going on. Only then did I realize that I had my camera, too, but by then, the mini-brawl was already over.

What was interesting about the fight was that Derrek Lee and Chris Young are two of the tallest guys in baseball, with Young at 6'10" and Lee at 6'5". Two big guys going after each other, both being restrained by their team. If you had watched the replay on TV, it was pretty funny, because pitcher Carlos Zambrano was just getting out of the locker room to find the fight on field, and he was running onto the field while still putting on his belt. To someone who didn't know, it just looked like he whipped of his belt to spank someone.

The rest of the game was pretty awesome, with Zambrano having a no hitter until late in the 8th. We lost, though, which was a bummer.

Anyway, here's our pictures for the game....enjoy!

We sat Benjamin in the seat in front of us, and he made a new friend

Ben eats nachos on his godfather Justin's lap

Z almost had a no hitter that day!

Fight! Fight!

Ben watches the action behind us

Posted by Yano at July 23, 2007 05:21 AM

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