Beautiful evening for a baseball game. Partly sunny, cool. Like a perfect Fall evening.
I hadn’t paid much attention to the Vancouver Canadians schedule beyond when they were home. So imagine my surprise when I saw a young gentleman in a Cubs jacket. Looked like club issued, too. He was carrying a laptop/briefcase bag and as he made his was around the park I wondered if he was a scout. He made his way up to what I’m guessing is the press box, so he could’ve been a scout, or stats. Alas no way to know.
Then I saw a girl in a Cubs shirt walking around. My people! Something’s up.
Turns out the Boise Hawks are the Short Season Single A team for the Chicago Cubs. That was made clear by the Cubs patch on the jerseys and a list of teams by affiliation from the Canadians website.
In a roundabout sort of way, I was going to see a Cubs game this season after all. And it was a good game.
The Canadians came out strong, scoring three runs early and shutting down the Hawks. But then the Hawks did an uncharacteristic thing for a Cubs team: they scored 4 runs in an inning, then 3 runs in the next and played good defense. The Canadians seemed like the professional Cubs, breaking down in pitching and defense.
They do have offensive power though. There were two home runs, one of which hit the A&W sign beyond the left field wall.
It’s 355 feet down the foul line, to give you some idea of distance. The other home run sailed over the right field wall. There are parking lots full of cars behind the outfield wall.
My first Canadians game was more like a pitcher’s duel. This was more like an slug fest, most of the slugging coming from the Boise Hawks. Some horrible defensive plays by the Canadians had the groan groaning in disgust. I agreed with the crowd on some calls at first base.
Tie goes to the runner, but the ump called both plays out. The Canadians shortstop is especially fast, and he beat the throw by half a step.
It was a fun evening though. Went with friends from softball.
And to top it off, the Boise Hawks beat the Canadians 11-6.
How about that? A #Cubs win, in a roundabout sort of way.