Down on the Farm: Opening Day with the Peoria Chiefs

I'm not going to bore anybody with an exact play by play of the game because quite frankly, that's what there's this article from the Appleton Post-Crescent or you watched/listened to the game streaming on the Internet to find out that the Chiefs topped the T-Rats 9-5. I'm also not a beat writer, so instead, I'll just give you some interpretations I had from the night itself.

Pre-Game: I've never been to Opening Day at Wrigley Field before because I never had the parents who would take my brother and I out, but I have a feeling it was something like it was at TWC Field at Fox Cities Stadium. My friend (Brewers Fan) and I tailgated until about 15 minutes before the game, during which Ryne Sandberg was living it up in his first game as a manager. According to people around me, he signed autographs for about 30 minutes while his hands were still warm and the excitement was flowing. There were a decent amount of Cubs fans there, but understandably showed up to see Ryno and not neccessarily the Chiefs. There were maybe 20 people that were actively cheering for the Chiefs. The loudest cheers for the Chiefs were for Ryno, who was pretty bundled up figuring the conditions and after the anthem trotted out to 3rd base, where he will coach from too this season.

Game:
Like I said, if you want a very detailed account of the game, just click on the link, but you can get the basic jist here. I wished I could have taken score, but I didn't see scoresheets in the program or at the table and oh yeah, it was really bleepin cold. The T-Rats had 7 errors in the game, including 2 in the first inning. As we know from the Cubs, that's not a good sign, especially since the starting pitcher for the T-Rats walked 4. It wasn't till later that any pitchers on either team had a firm grasp on the strike zone. I know we as Cubs fans wanted to see Pawelek open, but this Billy Muldowney wasn't too bad. Heater was clocked at high 80s and had a filthy change-up. I'm not a real baseball guru, so I'm guessing that's all he has because he was getting hit pretty hard after that. Marco Carillo came in and looked pretty good, especially with a couple of the breaking pitches I was able to pick up on. Jeremy Papelbon came in the 9th and looked real good. I liked him the most probably because of the fact that he made quick work of the T-Rats so we could go and get warm. Offensively, we ripped a couple singles and doubles, nothing worth writing home about. Matt Camp, Yusuf Carter and Dylan Johnston all had good nights with not only timely hitting but good hustle on the base paths. Sandberg did do a good job of putting pressure on the T-Rats infielders by making sure his players legging out infield hits, which caused most of the errors. Defensively, they weren't as bad as the T-Rats, but still need some work, of course with how cold it was I don't blame anybody entirely for throwing some balls in the dirt and such.

Post-Game: I think maybe 500 at most lasted the entire game, which by this time it was a 3.5 hour game and about 18 degrees. We stayed because it was a dollar beer night and quite frankly I had the keys and my team was winning (if the Chiefs were getting blown out, maybe we would have left before our feet got numb). A couple autograph hunters waited for Ryno to leave the locker room, but at that point I think even Ryno wanted the day to be over, which is saying a lot.

If you live in this area (Green Bay/Fox Cities), you will have to wait till Saturday to see Ryne Sandberg and his Peoria Chiefs, because tonight's game was cancelled by weather. I would shamelessly promote the other thing you can do tonight, but I'm afraid of the backlash of promoting hockey on a baseball site. Until later, go Chiefs and a heartier Go Cubbies!