Indians vs Cubs

I was sadly unable to catch any of BP or other pregame activities. I am car-less this year and had a slight transportation problem that caused me to get to HoHoKam Park right as the Cubs took the field. However, that does not mean my camera was not stuck to my face for most of the game. So here we go!

I had never been to HoHoKam before and loved that they had this at the entrance.

Sadly the weather was not the greatest, but it did not rain so that was better than Friday.

Within a few minutes of me taking out my camera, Javy hit his two run homer in the top of the first.

Above is a shot of the pitch he smashed.

Also a side note, I noticed that Javy’s bat wiggle has decreased.

I know I tweeted this photo on Saturday, but I was rather pleased with the placement of Javy’s jersey.

So I enjoy the fact that my camera can shoot 4 frames per second, so here is a collage of Chris Rusin’s delivery.

No luck on Rusin’s pick off throw to Brad Nelson.

Though a few plays later, that same player (Lou Marson) was caught stealing. Javier Baez making the tag as Logan Watkins watches.

I almost spat out my soda when I saw this margarita stand. For those who don’t know Spanish. That means two “foreigners” or “white people.”

I made another collage for Brooks Raley. (Because I am a dork)

Here is the mysterious Jorge Soler.

Funny story, I run over to RF to take picture of him and a guy asks me “Why don’t you take pictures of important things?” I response was a lecture/scolding of how Jorge Soler is an important prospect and why he should know about Soler too. His friends laughed at him for getting a smack down on baseball from a girl.

I am guessing his english is improving, because Jim Belushi was drawing the 50/50 raffle ticket while he was playing catch with Fujikawa and Belushi made and joke and Soler smiled.

Sadly Soler only had one at bat.

Here is Kyuji Fujikawa, of course I made a collage of his delivery.

During the last half inning, I looked over at the press box and spotted these guys.

Day 2: The Story

I caught an 8:00 am train, only for the Cubs. Granted I was half asleep for most of the 50 minute ride in. After treating myself to breakfast at Corner Bakery, I hurried over to the Sheraton.

I snuck into the panel Meet the Cubs Baseball Management and captured a very serious looking group on stage.

I arrived a little late and the place was packed to hear what the men in charge of the team had to say.

It had already opened up to questions from the audience when I got there and some of them were not the greatest question. Some guy asked about Campana being the 5th outfielder, another gave a monologue about a game he went to with his son. There was also a joke about seeing Theo in Starbucks earlier that morning. One guy asked a question about if it is a problem having so much depth at SS in the system, he was quickly informed that it is a good problem to have. (I think that was the only time I heard Junior Lake’s name mentioned this weekend.)

We also learned from Dale that Brett Jackson started to re-tool his swing and that Dale saw him in November.

I think shifted from hiding the the back, to the front row to listen to and shoot the From Draft Day to the Big Leagues panel with Dallas Beeler, Robert Whitenack, Matt Szczur and Tony Zych.

As I said yesterday in a previous post:

“All of the guys looked excited and honored to be there.
Great question was asked by an older gentleman about pitching instead of throwing. Zych said he had to make that transition in Double AA, while Beeler said he made the switch in college.”

After that panel I met Alec (@AlectheCubsFan) from Twitter, very cool guy who knows baseball. He let me pose as his older sister so I could get a close up picture of Javy.

After that was the For Kids Only Press Conference. I am going to dedicate a whole post just to that by itself because it was too cute. I will give you this photo as a teaser though.

After that panel (which made me laugh and aww many times), I met up with the lovely Katie C. Snapped a picture of her and Todd Walker for her and then I met Steve Clevenger and knocked down his table in the process.

I’ll skip the boring details of being human and going out to find food and skip ahead to sitting in and listening to WGN Radio’s Sports Central hosted by Jim Memolo and Glen Kozlowski.

I slipped in back while Starlin Castro, Tony Campana and Shawn Camp were talking. First thing I noticed was how much Castro’s English has improved. He did not look nervous (just bored) when answering questions directed towards him. As for Shawn Camp, he really knows the game of baseball, he had great insight and answers for each question he was asked. And of course Campana helped keep the mood light and made Castro crack up a few times.

After those three were done, Brett Jackson, Anthony Rizzo and Edwin Jackson came in. I was sneaky and got a close, aisle seat. I quickly realized I was sitting next to a father and son, both who spoke Spanish. To make a long story short, I impressed the father with not only my ability to speak Spanish, but also my knowledge of the Dominican Winter League (Thanks Stan).

Once the short break was over, I focused on taking pictures, but kept my ears open for any good tidbits of information.

Brett Jackson did confirm that he had been working on making some mechanical adjustments to his swing, such as using more top hand.

Edwin Jackson also did poke fun at himself a few times, saying that “I think I was born with three managers in front of me, based on how my career has been.” When talking about his no-hitter, he said it was a terrible no-hitter, but it was a no-hitter.

Sadly that enjoyable panel ended at 6:00 pm. Katie and I made our way out to the hall to crash and recharge our phones.

While out there we met the lovely Edwin Jackson, but that is a story in a different post.

After that, my body betrayed me and I took the 8:40 pm train home. Once home, I uploaded my pictures and then crashed.