2063.09 - Game 3 Wildcard at Vinnie Vitale

[R.Umali]

"Welcome to October baseball, Will," his aunt said, showing the tickets on her port. Ticket had gone on sale immediately after the Black Sox's win over the Lumberjacks in that epic 163rd game. And Decorah was one of the first to get tickets. Even though the team hadn't sold out many games this season, she wanted to make sure that she and Will got theirs. She remembered when she, her sister, her brother, and her parents all went to that triumphant return of playoff baseball in Chicago back in 1942. She was 19 and just started college at Roosevelt. Her brother had moved to Nashville and had not yet been converted into a Bluebird, and her sister carried the Black Sox flag all the way down to New Orleans.

Next Wednesday afternoon, it will be just her and Will.

"Shlaga," he said, not looking up from his Viz. She took that as cool.

----

They took the El to the game. The Metra would've been quicker but the schedule was not amenable. And so it was a long walk to the stadium. They saw many souvenir vendors and food carts. They bought a couple of clear water bottles. Ten dollars cheaper out here.

She thought about getting Will a shirt but he was already wearing his Timofei Gadomsky "Full Pack" tee and she knew, no matter what would happen this afternoon, that she'd find 2063 Playoff shirts in the Value Village in a few months.

The stadium was packed, the usual awful smells overwhelmed by the sheer volume of people smells and chased away by the 11 MPH wind kicking up from Lake Michigan.

"I doubt we see any home runs today. The wind is blowing in from center." She pointed at the flags.

They got their bag of peanuts in the shell and found their seats.

They were not surprised that Forrest Rockburn started the game over Stevie Bodine. Rocky Wattson had announced the rotation and endured a week's worth of firestorm in the days leading up to today. The thinking was that Stevie had twice given up 4 earned runs against the River Monsters in the regular season and Forrest had given up none. When it was pointed out that Forrest had never faced the Twin Cities River Monsters, Rocky had replied: "Exactly."

It was fun to see the young hurler on the mound. A start like this tells the world how much he means to the organization.

The lefty's first pitch to righty Jorge Cano was a home run. He trotted the bases like it was old hat. And it was. Cano had hit 12 home runs in 3 post-seasons for Nashville back in 2057, '58, and '59.

The top half of the inning ended with a strike 'em out thrown 'em out double play which roused the growing crowd. And when Gadomsky tied the game with his own 1-run home run the forty thousand rose and did his signature "double biceps" pose. Decorah couldn't be happier. Will's favorite player hitting a home run in his first playoff game? What could be better?

Forrest locked in and struck out the side in the 3rd. But the River Monster's pitcher, Henry Wemp, had also locked in and struck out Jeremy Starks and Dave Matthes in the bottom of the 3rd. Decorah loved the tension these kinds of pitcher's duels produce. She imagined it as a juicy tension, with the next bite either being sweet or sour depending.

The River Monsters got to Forrest in the 5th. Randall Gray hit a led off his a home run, and three batters latter Jorge Cano hit his 2nd home run of the game, a 2-run no-doubter that put the Black Sox down by 3 runs and chased the rookie pitcher to appreciate applause. Tony Radtke came in and allowed 1 more run on two singles sandwiched between two strikeouts.

The Black Sox got only three more hits the rest of the way, enough to keep things interesting that by the 9th, it seemed like the announced crowd of 47,244 were all still there, standing on their feet as Dave Matthes stood at third. Decorah and Will were pleading that Omar Robles (struck out) and then Lysander Ruvelas would hit a somehow 3-run homer. Erik Brooks, moved to the bullpen, struck him out looking.

Lysander, stood at home plate for a long second before walking back to the dugout, taking swings with the bat. When he looked up he heard cheers. People were pointing at him and nodding and pumping their fists and clapping. He did not acknowledge them.

A couple of levels up, Decorah and Will were standing and clapping. They were both, in their different ways, proud of their team. Later, a few of the Black Sox emerged from the dugout to bid their fans goodbye. She spotted Rocky Wattson and yelled "Love you, Rocky!" Will gave his aunt a strange but playful look. "Whoo-hoo! Let's go Full Pack!" And there was Timofei Gadomsky waving along with fan favorite Stevie Bodine.

"Poor Stevie. Rocky's going to have to log in and face the update for queuing up the rookie like it was a W."

"Rocky was playing like there was a game 4."

Will scoffed, "One upload per session, that's the strat locked in the cloud, no delete."

They went down the ramps with the disappointed but buzzed crowd and emerged onto the street. On the way to the El, the vendors had deeply discounted the merch. Decorah was tempted. The prices weren't that much different from what she'd see at the Value Village in a few months. And there were some cool designs.

She caught Will turning his head throwing back his gaze on a streetwear shirt vendor. In the seller's depleted display was a shirt with the text DOWNLOADING: Heat.exe with an old school download progress bar and 20ms (Rockburn's number) and a silhouette of maybe Forrest Rockburn's face (?). There were other designs. But the one she figured he'd want was one with a silhouetted double bicep pose (Timofei Gadomsky's signature pose) with the text "Full Pack: Loaded" in a bold graffiti-style font. At the bottom was printed in a more muted font: "Chicago Playoffs 2063."

She tugged at his sleeve and asked, "Want a new shirt?"

He paused just for a second to further contemplate the cringe-factor of buying a playoff shirt for a team that just got swept out of the playoffs. Then he turned heel and walked toward the weary vendor.
----

[trmmilwwi]

Awesome writeup! I felt like I was there with them!!

[ae37jr]

I feel bad about winning that series. Thought you had a better shot at Nashville than I did.

[R.Umali]

I feel bad about winning that series. Thought you had a better shot at Nashville than I did.

Ah, don't be. Your last two losses against Nashville were tight.

For G3, I actually did have Stevie Bodine set to pitch but I had "Always start highest rested" and I guess Forrest was more rested.