Cubs win

DEERFIELD, Ill. – A very rare thing happened to me today: I experienced an event that exceeded my expectations for it.

For all the prosaic writing I’ve read about Wrigley Field, as I got off the subway at Addison and Sheffield I couldn’t help thinking that I was nonetheless about to walk into the oldest stadium in the National League.

What I found bore no resemblance to that idea whatsoever. Sure, the concourse – and there’s only one full concourse in the stadium – was narrow, and the ramps to the upper levels were even narrower.

But Wrigleyville, which I walked through briefly before entering the stadium, was flooded with people and sunshine. And my first glimpse into the park was the one that will probably linger with me the longest: the bleachers under the scoreboard filled to the last square inch with half an hour to go before the first pitch.

Given the size of the crowds, I decided to head up to my seat and save a walk around the concourse fore the middle innings. This led to my first surprise of the afternoon: the ramps from the lower deck don’t go to the upper deck.

Instead, they empty out onto a narrow walkway that rings the back of the lower deck – and provides spectacular views of the field.

There’s a LED board hanging over the seats that shows the score, inning and count on the hitter (though not the hitter’s name or number), and fans sitting behind the poles can look up at television monitors to see whatever action they might have missed because of the obstructed view.

(They also get access to instant replays, which fans in non-obstructed seats don’t see because the video board in the outfield only fits two lines of text.)

So I walked along to the next ramp up, got to my seat, and then it finally struck me: for the first time in my life, I really was at Wrigley Field. That thing I’d seen on TV so many times had finally come to life.

The game itself was only exciting for an inning and a half, to be honest, but the player I most wanted to see was at the center of the action. Penn grad Mark DeRosa knocked in the game’s first run with a double in the bottom of the second inning, scoring Jim Edmonds.

Houston responded with four runs in the top of the third, three of them coming at once from a Lance Berkman home run. But the Cubs exploded for eight runs in the bottom of the third, including a DeRosa grand slam.

I was generally cheering for the Cubs anyway, but I definitely yelled a bit louder when that happened.

The run-scoring went down from there, with the Cubs winning, 11-4. The game felt like it took a really long time, but it only lasted two hours and 57 minutes. Maybe that’s because I forgot to set the clock back an hour on my Blackberry after we left South Bend.

The stadium took quite a while to empty out, but after I finally got to the street I walked around and took some more pictures. You can see them and the rest of the photos from the game by clicking here.

After wading through a long line to get on the Subway, I headed back downtown. With a bit of time to kill, I took the long side of the Loop to Union Station instead of the short side so I could take in some of the scenery.

That was definitely worth doing, and I’d recommend it to anyone looking to get a brief idea of what’s where in the heart of the Windy City.

Upon arriving at the station, I bought a copy of the day’s Chicago Tribune – yes, this 24-year-old actually enjoys reading printed newspapers – and then got in line for a Metra ticket to Deerfield.

To my utter astonishment, Metra believes in SEPTA’s theory of not having ticket machines in its most heavily-used station. But the line moved reasonably fast, and I eventually got on a 6:55 p.m. train for the 45-minute ride to Suburbia.

I met up with the friend I’m staying with, then grabbed some quick dinner at a nearby Whole Foods. Then it was off to my friend’s house, which offered a couch to sleep on and something I needed just as much – bandwidth.

I’ve got a consistent high-speed connection for the first time since before I left Washington, so in addition to writing this post I’m uploading all 220 of the photos I’ve taken since arriving in D.C. You’ll see the last five in the right rail, as well as a link to view the rest of them.

And as the computer whirs away, since I’ve been up since 5 a.m. Central Time I’m heading to sleep.

In his first at-bat, Alfonso Soriano swung the ball and hit the bat into left field.