Canada 3 vs Chinese Taipei 2 - World University Baseball Championship - July 30, 2010

The World University Baseball Championships began yesterday with Canada taking on Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) at Jingu Stadium. There are 8 countries participating in the tournament: Canada, Chinese Taipei, Sri Lanka, and the USA comprise group A, while Japan, China, Cuba, and Korea make up group B. Each group has a 3-game round robin and the quarterfinals pit the 1st place finisher in one group against the 4th place from the other with the 2nd and 3rd...

Read More

MLB Doubleheader: Nationals 3 at Brewers 8; Cardinals 4 at Cubs 3 (11) - July 25, 2010

The last day of the trip was another two-state doubleheader, though this one was a much more manageable 90 miles between the two ballparks. I started by driving over to Miller Park to watch the Nationals and Brewers and then heading back to Chicago to catch the Sunday night game between the Cardinals and Cubs. Miller ParkLocated about 5 miles west of downtown, Miller Park resembles a large spaceship that is easily noticeable as you drive north on...

Read More

St. Louis Cardinals 5 at Chicago Cubs 6 - July 23, 2010

After spending all of Friday getting to Chicago from Des Moines via Minneapolis, I woke early today, rented a car at O'Hare and then crawled over to Wrigley Field for a Cubs-Cardinals daytime duel. There had been severe thunderstorms in Chicago over the past day; my flight spent an hour circling over Madison, Wisconsin on Friday night due to the weather and Saturday morning saw power still out in several locations. The rental agency's computer systems...

Read More

Idyllic Iowa

I spent a week traversing the highways of Iowa, watching 7 games in that time in 5 cities. I didn't spend much time in any one place, but did enjoy the relaxed nature of the state, and its rolling hills as I tried to find some back roads to get from town to town.I normally like to write about a city after I have visited it, but in this case, I'll just briefly mention one thing about 3 of the places where I actually spent some time. I didn't see anything...

Read More

Oklahoma City RedHawks 8 at Iowa Cubs 4 - July 22, 2010

Des Moines is located about halfway between Kansas City and Minneapolis, which makes it a great stopping place when the Iowa Cubs are in town. I had seen a game there the week before to start the trip, but wanted to spend some time in the city as well, so we stopped in to check out the visiting Oklahoma City Red Hawks, Texas' AAA affiliate.It turned out to be a popular game as Chicago Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano was to make an appearance, his first...

Read More

Northern League Doubleheader - Schaumburg Flyers at Kansas City T-Bones - July 21, 2010

After the Royals-Jays rubber match, we returned to the hotel to find out that the power had gone out yet again. So we immediately headed over the border to Kansas to watch Kansas City's other ball team, the Northern League's T-Bones. The game was scheduled for 7:05 but we arrived two hours early, planning to grab dinner at a nearby restaurant. When we bought our tickets though, the lady said "Enjoy both games". Sure enough, Tuesday's storm caused...

Read More