cardinals vs giants

last minute, I decided to try to see the cardinals-giants game tonight at At&T Park. no one was really going to climb, and it just so happened that kyle lohse (a personal favorite) was pitching for the cards. lucky for me, i have my new baseball buddy (i have yet to think of a witty pseudonym for him) who's totally willing to go to games whenever he's free.

it was GORGEOUS out. it had been blazing hot (relatively speaking) during the day and it stayed warm through the night. ive never been so warm in At&T park (even in the dead of summer). i wore flip flops, jeans, and a long sleeved t-shirt. i had come prepared with socks, shoes, an extra fleece, and my windproof soft shell, but i didnt need them. the game was good, as lohse pitched well, and so did zito. and albert puhols hit a 3 run homer.

its easy to go to games even when its teams you dont care about that much are playing. at&t park is just a fun place to be. if only they served old style and that bright fluorescent green relish they have in chicago.

here are some pics i took at the game with my new purple camera


lohse on the jumbo-screen

lohse on the mound

cardinals 8, giants 2

unbelievable

in the 5th inning, fukodome (playing out of position in CF) dropped a ball after he caught it. he was trying to avoid alfonso so-over-paid in center field, and a run scored. Z seems to take it in stride and struck out the next batter for the 3rd out. during that last at bat of the inning, one of the philly announcers was talking about how mean Z gets when the players don't support him, citing the fight with michael barrett last year and barrett's subsequent trade. he praised Z's maturity in this situation. yes, Z should totally get praised for not blowing up at a teammate for making a play he could not. give me a fucking break. the words spoiled brat come to mind. we should not give a grown man props for not acting like a petulant child.

cubs 3, phillies 5

my favorite song ever

seeing eddie vedder live was incredible. he's the same humble, witty, shy, enormously talented musician he has been for years. he still shines without the band, and knows that its because of the band he's able to do solo shows like the one i attended.

i joked last year that i had waited my whole life to see pearl jam at lollapalooza. i wasn't cool enough to go to rock shows when i was in high school, and pearl jam was too big to play in champaign-urbana in the late 90s. seeing them last year was a dream. watching eddie vedder listen to over 160,000 people sing betterman to him ranks as one of the best concert experiences ever (matched only by seeing prince perform purple rain live).

the solo act was remarkable. vedder talked to the audience like they were friends and thanked us numerous times for supporting him and the band over the years. and he was free to reveal a softer, more adult, activist side of him, rock star and all.

he played by himself and had an army of guitars to support him. he played the ukulele and a banjo. he ended his 1st set with a 2 microphones that created vocal loops he would add to. no words, just emotion in sound.

during his the final encore of the night, he again thanked the crowd for supporting the band over the years, and thanked the band for supporting him. he mentioned items on stage that were given to him or "borrowed" from his fellow pearl jam members: a rug from matt cameron, vedder's favorite acoustic guitar that actually belongs to stone gossard. he indicated that he didn't have anything from mike mccready and had to get something fed-ex'd to him earlier that day. that item was mccready himself, who was procured on a dolly. together they sat down to play my favorite song of all time, yellow ledbetter. i recognized it 2 notes in. here's the picture i managed to get (can you tell my hands were shaking)?



the show ended with a classic cover of "all along the watchtower." the show was 3 hours long and vedder had barely taken any time between encores. (he joked that after tonight, it was back to 90 min shows with the band.) and while he had been sedate, relaxed, and quietly witty during most of the night, he couldn't keep the rock star inside him bottled up, and performed as the front man of pearl jam , if only for 7 minutes.

im amazed that in spite of everything he has experienced; all the money, fame, and notoriety; eddie vedder, despite being in his 40s with a young child, still is the idealistic grunge rock star musician who changed music. and he still seems uncomfortable with that role. humble, and amazing.

9 days into the season...

... and i already have baseball withdrawal.

both the cubs and white sox have off days today. why is that? after a home opener (at pittsburgh and at home, respectively) there is always an off day. curious.

there is nothing for me to watch. good thing i have a concert in 2 hours (eddie vedder!!!!) otherwise i might have had to resort to doing my taxes or folding laundry or something else constructive. whew!

UGLY, and beautiful

UGLY is the only word to describe the cubs win today. sloppy pitching, sloppy fielding. they cubs deserved to lose today with all their struggles. 12 innings of back and forth vs the pirates was almost too much to bear. next time cleaner guys, ok? please?

however, on a bright note, joe crede hit a grand slam today in the sox home opener vs the twins. gorgeous! and he even took a curtain call, the first one ive seen him take. keep it up joe! play better so SF will be willing to pay a premium for you and you can show off you skills in the bay area. i'll come watch every week! even if its for a team that lost their 4th in a row today and are now 1-6 on the season. wow, thats bad.


cubs 10, pirates 8
twins 4, white sox 7