Stay Positive: Visiting Wrigley Field

On Saturday we drove up early to watch the Nationals take on the Cubs in the 12:05 game, the first part of a scheduled double header. 

I haven't watched a game at Wrigley in a long time. I think the last time I went was when Mrs. Nasty and I were newlyweds, and at the end of July we will have been married 15 years. 

Anyway, the tickets were my Father's Day present, and I appreciate them. 

Our upper deck seats were great, Aisle 429 row 9 seats 7-10. We had three foul balls come our way. In the first inning two came right below us, and in the second, the guy right sitting right in front of my son caught a foul ball. 

Having seen the ball park pre-Rickets era, I have to say I'm fine with most of the changes. 

Where there was once just a massive sidewalk around Waveland and Addison is now some Captain Morgan bar that was doing a brisk business. Such changes were likely to happen. 

Wrigley Field needs a large jumbotron somewhere. 

The atmosphere, as usual, was great. Wrigley is a beautiful ball park. My kids and wife enjoyed the game, and we stimulated the economy by buying various Cubs paraphernalia. 

But I have two things to bitch about. 

Where the @#$% are the Old Style vendors? The mighty conglomerate of Anheuser-Busch has limited distribution of the fine, hearty lager from Wisconsin. Jesus, they have beer dudes hawking Goose Island crap in opposition to Bud Light hegemony, and I can't get a Old Style? 

Then again, beers were 8 bucks, so maybe I was better off with sipping on my daughter's lemonade from time to time. 

So here's the second point I have to complain about. The Cubs outfield is HORRIBLE. Or if you want to put it another way, you can use a deep Southern accent and say the outfielders we have are "turrible." 

What the Cubs have right now is a collection of outfielders that could be described as the "castoffs of other clubs" or the "isle of misfit outfielders."

Here are the players the Cubs are running out there on a regular basis: 

• Justin Ruggiano: 104 at bats, 15 runs, 25 hits, 2 HRs, 10 RBI, .240 average, .333 OBP, .718 OPS
• Junior Lake: 231 at bats, 27 runs, 54 hits, 9 HRs, 25 RBI, .234 average, .263 OBP, .675 OPS
• Chris Coghlan: 99 at bats, 10 runs, 20 hits, 2 HRs, 4 RBI, .202 average, .282 OBP, .615 OPS
• Nate Schierholtz: 245 at bats, 22 runs, 49 hits, 3 HRs, 27 RBI, .200 average, .253 OBP, .551 OPS 
• Ryan Sweeney: 104 at bats, 8 runs, 21 hits, 0 HRs, 8 RBI, .202 average, .242 OBP, .484 OPS

As much as I hope Lake learns how to shorten his swing with two strikes and other players somehow become solid contributors, I'm not confident in such outcomes. Those counting and percentage stats are jaw-droppingly bad. Just really bad. 

Kris Bryant or Javier Baez need to learn how to play outfield. Soon.