Carol took the day off. We drove downtown to pickup our friend Barry, and we drove to U.S. Cellular Field to see a little piece of baseball history.

If you follow sports, you know how important it is to play at your home field - you play the most number of games there during any given season. You get used to the quirks of your own stadium and - typically - can outplay your opponents there. Your local fan base comes out and cheers you on, giving you more incentive and energy to play better. And, of course, you help the local community revenue streams.

Hurricane Ivan has its sights set on Florida. The Florida Marlins have already missed 3 games against the Cubs due to rain-outs (that are being made-up) and can't afford to miss any more games. They have 5 games to play against the Montreal Expos (at least one is a makeup for a rainout). Since the Marlins were in Chicago to play the Cubs, and the White Sox are out of town, the teams worked-out an agreement to allow 2 of the Marlin-Expos games to be played right here in Chicago at U.S. Cellular Field.

The Marlins will be the home team in a Home Away From Home series.

The use of another stadium for a regularly scheduled game is rare. It's only happened twice before in the entire history of Major League Baseball.

General Admission Tickets were $15, with $5 going to a Florida Hurricane Relief Fund. Parking was $10. The upper deck would be closed (it turns out, there appears to be work being done with seats down the 3rd-base line).

We got there before the gates opened, since we'd have to find seats. It was a mad dash at the open, but we got our seats in Section 131 - just to the first base side of home plate, 4 rows up. When was the last time you spent $15 to a MLB game and were able to sit behind the plate???

It was an odd experience. We really didn't know either team. THere were Sox fans, Cub fans, Marlin fans, Expos fans, Red Sox fans... and there was only 4,003 of us. The park was quiet so every heckle easily carried out onto the field. The Marlins brought their own Stadium Announcer, their own music and video clips, and their mascot Billy Marlin. There was only a half-dozen concession stands open, so lines were long. All of the other stands and stores were closed. There were hadly any vendors, either. I'm sure they had to scrape together the staffing for today.

(It was a bit creepy - it was like seeing a White Sox game of the future - players you don't know, no Gene Honda announcing the games, Nancy Faust's organ silent and locked-up...)

It was a sunny, hot day (that Carol didn't tolerate very well) and we had to endure the oddest, strangest, nerdiest Expo fan hecklers that sat behind us. Ignoring the idiots behind us ("Hey Lo Duca! You're a communist!", "Hey Lo Duca! You're an anarchist!", "Hey Lo Duca! You're a Calvinist!"), and a guy who was after Expo 3rd base coach Acta (claiming he's the worst 3rd base coach in the game), there was some serious chanting going on later in the game. A few "Let's Go Expos! (Clap!-Clap!-Clapclapclap!)" were mightily beaten back with "Let's Go Marlins! (Clap!-Clap!-Clapclapclap!)". And the 7th inning stretch was very odd, when there was almost no way to tell what team everyone was rooting for. Only one fan ejection that I could see - due to touching a ball in play down the right field line.

The view was great and the game was good. Carol had so much fun that, even though she couldn't take the day off, said that I should go to the game tomorrow!

I just may do that...

(Boxscore)