Bob was good enough to invite me to join him and his brother up in the Stadium Club for lunch. This had the advantage of giving us a warm dry place to stay until the game actually started, about a half an hour late. Shortly before that, I headed up to my seats and met my co-worker, Doug, who joined me at the game. Between innings and batters, we spent enough time discussing work-related issues that it wasn't quite like playing hooky.
The pitching was good, despite a rain delay of about an hour after three innings. Eventually, the Cubs brought their closer, Kerry Wood, into the scoreless game in the top of the ninth. Wood proceeded to hit the first batter he faced and coughed up three runs in short order. It looked pretty ugly.
Until the Brewers brought in their closer, Eric Gagne, in the bottom of the ninth. Lee and Ramirez reached base to start the inning and then new Cub Kosuke Fukudome (who already had a single, a double, and a walk) deposited the ball in the center-field bleachers for a game-tying homer. And the fans went nuts.
Unfortunately, the Cubs didn't score any more runs, the Brewers scored one in the top of the tenth off of Bob Howry, and the Cubs lost 4-3.
But at least we didn't freeze this year!