From the moment that Major League Baseball released its 2004 schedule late last year, we knew it had to happen.
For my buddy Brandon and me, noticing that a series between the Cubs and Dodgers was scheduled for mid-May in Los Angeles signaled a golden opportunity for fun: I’m a lifelong Cubs fan, he’s a die-hard Dodgers fan, and road trips are a blast.
The clincher, however, came months later, when we failed to do anything fun during spring break.
After sitting on our butts in Portland for most of the break, we decided a mid-week baseball road trip to Los Angeles was the only true redemption.
We ordered the tickets and made hotel reservations online and
targeted the early morning hours of May 12 for our departure.
Last Wednesday finally arrived and we hit the road at 12:30 a.m. While I was excited for the events to come, I was already upset because Chicago had dropped the opening game of the series Tuesday night, 7-3. While the Cubbies had two more shots at redemption, I had to listen to Brandon run his mouth during the entire 858-mile trip.
The drive was long, but we managed to survive with Mountain Dew, 7-11 hot dogs and a heated baseball trivia battle.
After 12 hours, the sky turned foggy with pollution, the air started to stink and fellow drivers abandoned the use of their turn signals. Hey, I guess we made it to Los Angeles in pretty good time.
After lunch and a short nap at a Ramada Inn, we left for Dodger Stadium two hours prior to game time, despite being only 10 miles away. I’ve been a victim of rush hour traffic in Southern California before, and arriving to the game late — even though we would have blended in with most of the “arrive late, leave early” Los Angeles fans — was not an option.
Traffic turned out to be mild and finding a place to park was fairly cheap and easy — I expected stadium parking to be a lot steeper than $10.
As we walked to the stadium, the intensity picked up. Each sporting our respective team’s apparel, Brandon and I weren’t shy about reminding each other whose team was going to win. The night’s pitching matchup: Matt Clement — who at the time sported a 5-1 record for the Cubs with one of the best sliders in baseball — against the Dodgers’ Wilson Alvarez — a chubby, journeyman left-hander, whose fastball tops out at 88 mph.
The first 2 1/2 innings breezed by as both pitchers were dealing. The bottom of the third inning, however, turned out to be one of the most frustrating events I’ve ever been a part of.
The Dodgers scored two runs on five hits against Clement, with only one ball reaching the outfield. I was forced to sit back and listen to Los Angeles fans scream and shout — especially Brandon — while their Dodgers grabbed a two-run lead on a plethora of T-ball style infield rollers.
The game continued as a pitchers’ duel until the bottom of the
seventh, when Dodger second baseman Alex Cora had one of the greatest at bats in MLB history. After working a two ball, one strike count, Cora fouled off 14 consecutive pitches before sending pitch no. 18 from Clement — a slider that didn’t slide — into the Cubs bullpen in right field for a 4-0 lead.
Things got even worse moments later when a Cubs fan backed down from a fight with a Dodgers fan. Talk about a complete loss of pride.
The Cubs failed to pose a threat during the final two innings and lost 4-0.
Even though the Cubs avoided a sweep by winning the Thursday afternoon game, 7-3, the damage had been done.
Even though Chicago’s superior pitching rotation and lineup will likely carry it much further than Los Angeles by season’s end, I’ll likely have to wait until the Cubs sweep the Dodgers during their next meeting in August before he’ll shut up.
See ya at Wrigley Field, buddy.