Day 16: Cleveland

We have survived the Perfect Storm and are posting from a wi-fi hot spot at the Flying J in Brookville, PA. Tonight, we saw the Cleveland Indians host the Chicago Cubs at Jacobs Field. The Cubbies put up an 8 spot in the 3rd inning, and won 9-2 after the game was called following the 7th inning. A Major League game is considered official, once it has reached the 5th inning, so we were able to see an official game despite the inclement weather. Ben chose the Indians tonight, so I take a 9-3 lead in the series of picking games on the trip.

The top half of the 3rd inning was out of this world tonight. 5 bloop singles, 2 fielder’s choices where the official score was that the fielder did not make a choice, 1 double, and 1 sacrifice fly gave the Cubs a 9-1 lead. C.C. Sabathia was charged with all 9 runs in his 2 1/3 innings of work. The fielder’s choice plays really cannot be explained as anything other than bizarre. The official rule book says that for a play to occur, the fielder must make a play towards one of the bases where a force out it is occurring. On back to back plays however, the Indians players simply fielded the ground ball and did not make complete the play, truly unbelievable.



We left Syracuse at 11:02am, and after a relatively easy drive, were able to park near the stadium and purchase our tickets by 5:30. Right across from the Indians stadium is the monstrous poster of LeBron James which hangs on the side of a downtown building. This picture is awesome, 10 stories high and about twice as wide, it shows King James about to dunk in mid-flight, with the phrase, “We are all witnesses.” It was definitely one of the coolest things I’ve seen.



After waiting for an hour and a half for the game to be officially called, we left the parking garage at 10:55pm, as the 1st pitch at Shea tomorrow afternoon is at 1:05pm. Then, the Perfect Storm which had ended the game remained over us for the 1st 2 hours of the drive. It was some of the worst weather we have ever driven through, torrential downpours limited us to going between 45-50mph. Also, the lightning was almost constant, and some of the brightest I have ever experienced. Thankfully, through some good driving by Ben, and a little bit of help from above, we made it through.



Early yesterday, the check engine light had come on while we were driving from Boston to Syracuse. We were slightly concerned, and looked up where the nearest Mazda dealership was. After getting our 1st oil change, Ben took it in this morning, and we were lucky to find that the only things that needed to be replaced were an emissions valve and hose, both of which were still covered under warranty. We also had the tires rotated, and the car is, “running like a dream,” according to Ben.

Here are the statistical updates:
1-end of day odometer: 21,956
2-miles traveled today: 528
3-miles traveled total: 5,313
4-states traveled in today: New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania
bonus stat: teams who use exactly 2 pitchers in a game are 3-0 on our trip