Remember how you got here

My parents are visiting this weekend. My brother purchased tickets for them to the King Tut exhibit and dinner as a Christmas gift. Because my brother lives in Wisconsin and I live next to the King Tut exhibit, my husband and I took them to this dinner. My sister Megan and her boyfriend, Ben, joined us.

We went to a small place and we were a party of six so we had to wait a bit for a table. As a result, we had a few cocktails at the bar. After we'd all had a round (except Seth who was the DD), my Mom was debating trying a different kind of wine. She was on the fence, so I suggested that she ask the bartender if she could see the bottle or possibly even try a small sample. She asked to see the bottle, and when the bartender turned around to answer the phone, she pulled the cork out and poured herself some. After she had her "sample" she decided she didn't like it and went back to the original kind.

Later, after we'd been seated, my Dad spilled some of his beer. He joked that he was going to lap it up when no one was looking. My Mom seemed to appear out of no where a few seconds later with a few paper towels from the bathroom. She quickly cleaned up my Dad's spilled beer. "But, Mom," I said. "He was going to drink that."

"I know," she said, with the clear implication that had she not acted so quickly, my Dad would have slurped the beer off the table. No joke.

As my friend Dianna would say, I come by my personality honestly. If you spend any amount of time with my family, there will be little doubt in your mind about how I got "here."

Yovani Gallardo took the mound on Sunday in the follow-up to his complete game shut-out of the Atlanta Braves. He was no where near as sharp today in the third game of a three-game series with the Cubs. He was in trouble most of the game, giving up two runs in the first inning and ending his day after five innings. In those five innings, he gave up a total of four runs on seven hits and four walks.

Fortunately for Gallardo, Milwaukee's offense has some big guns. In the first inning, Prince Fielder smoked one to center field for a two-run homer to tie the game. After the Cubs grabbed a 4-2 lead in the third, Ryan Braun squared one up and knocked it out of the park to tie the game at four. In the seventh, the Cubs went ahead again, 5-4. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Yuniesky Betancourt walked (after falling behind 0-2). After Counsell moved him  to second with a sacrifice and George Kottaras struck out, Casey McGehee came to the plate as a pinch hitter. And he came through with the Brewers' third two-run homer of the game to give Milwaukee a 6-5 lead. Axford pitched the ninth for his third save.

The Brewers have a lot of new faces this year, but in this game, they relied upon three offensive mainstays--Braun, Fielder and McGehee. On a day when the pitching was not great, it was nice to see that the Brewers have the offensive power to outscore their opponent. They've certainly had a lot of practice over the last few years.

Brewers 6, Cubs 5
Game played 4-10-11


Brewers 6, Cubs 0
Game played 4-9-11


Cubs 7, Brewers 4
Game played 4-8-11