@ Citizens Bank Park
W 7-2
with Sarah Berkowitz
First game of the year. For the winter, dreams of this day helped me get through the days of January and February hell. Carefully and meticulously, I planned out my whole baseball season, to the tee with roadtrips, give-away nights, and opening nights. So it began, with my good friend Sarah, from ye olde Wooden Shoe. As we parked in the guaranteed free parking at the dog park at Broad and Oregon (a brisk walk to the stadiums, but worth it for people driving in who don't feel like paying for parking) my heart started racing. This is my zen. The Phillies security has somewhat lazy searches, as a I think I had a knife on my all 28 games I went to last year. But this time, at the Left Field entrance, they caught Sarah bringing in a metal coffee thermal in her bag. She outfoxed them though by going to the Third Base entrance instead and putting the thermal into her jacket. I think I'm going to bring my flask next time. About time, yes?
Every year, the Phillies seem to try to outdo themselves when they don't really have to. I think their ultimate goal is to make this a overall baseball town, pulling it from the iron grip of Eagles football, by the strategy of treating their fans well instead of, well, like dirt. They only add free give-aways, when they know that they're going to sell out every game (today was a free magnet calendar). The stadium is pretty newly built still, going up in 2004, and yet they put $10 million into building a new megatron, which upon seeing it for the first time today, is worth every pixel. Oh my god, it's sweet. Its kind of beyond words unless you see it in person. The thing is, their old one was pretty damn good too. They didn't need to do that. But they know if they push for complete awesomeness, like fielding a winning team and actually going for the crown every year, that they can achieve total domination over the Philadelphia sports landscape. Because I'm convinced that the Eagles care nothing about winning a Superbowl and more about just getting into the playoffs and that's it, since it'll keep the fans hungry and buying seats. Fuck that. And fuck the Eagles (ownership.) (On a side note, you know that Major League Baseball has to be rooting for the football lockout to go into October.)
Did I mention the food? Yes, as crazy as it might be, the Phillies actually added more food stations this year. I saw a crazy health station, where you can get pitas, yogurt, mixes, smoothies, and all that. And the vegetarians won't have a derth of food to devour, because there's veggie dogs and black bean burgers everywhere. (I like seeing the reaction on my vegetarian and vegan friends faces when I tell them that the Phillies are rated the number 1 veggie-friendly stadium in the US). I ended up getting a black bean burger (I learned last year not to trust meat at stadiums in general) and fries. Delish!
That's why going to see a Phillies game is awesome. And oh yeah, the game! The Phillies crushed the Astros, on a nice clincher of a three game sweep. Oswalt, facing his former team, fanned through six innings, and Herndon and Kendrick played mop-up. Howard and Francisco had nice back to back home runs, taking the Astros out of the game. Kind of nice, since last year I went to 3 of 4 of the disastrous four game sweep by the Astros (the last time the Phillies would lose a season series until the Championship Series). Michael Martinez, the Phillies Rule 5 pick this year from the Nats system, got the start in Centerfield over Victorino who ran into Francisco yesterday while diving for a ball (the second time I've seen him do that, having watched it happen when he ran into Ibanez on the other side in a Spring Training game), though Shane came in during the 7th as a pinch-hitter and played out the game in Center.
The nice thing about going to see games live is you remember who is sitting around you almost as much as the game (alright, sometimes more.) There was an extremely loud lady a few rows us, who's voice really carried throughout our section. The guy she was sitting next to also was kind of obnoxious, but she talked a lot. A lot! And I now know that "If you take birth control whenever you feel like it, you will get pregnant." and if two of her friends ever decide to get married, they "might as well mail in the divorce papers right afterwards." And something or other about sex and babies and punks on speed.
Three military black helicopters flew nearly over the stadium. I'm convinced they wanted to screw with the crowd, or check out the score. Because that's how awesome the new megatron is. Still, creepy as hell.
Oh yeah, and saw friends Marissa (her birthday) and Beth B on the way out. And old Shoe comrade Colin "Floyd" said he saw me with his binoculars, because he's a perv.
Nice start to the season. Next up: Tuesday night game with Frankie Fucile. Its supposed to be pretty cold that night, so I'm going to make sure to get a little drunk and ask for extra peppers on my nachos.
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| Sarah after seeing people dance to "Put Me In Coach" on the Megatron |
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| First give-away of the year. |
Stats:
PHI
Pitching:
Starter: RHP Roy Oswalt (88 Pitches, 58 Strikes, 6 Innings, 5 Hits, 2 Runs, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 Strikeouts, 1 Homerun, 3.00 ERA) W (1-0)
Relief: RHP David Herndon (29 Pitches, 18 Strikes, 2 Innings, 1 Hit, 6.00 ERA)
Closer: RHP Kyle Kendrick (17 Pitches, 10 Strikes, 1 Inning, 1 Hit, 1 Run, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9.00 ERA)
Lineup:
1. CF Michael Martinez (4 At-bats, 1 Hit, 1 RBI, 2 Strikeouts, .250 AVG)
--- Relief Pitcher (Herndon)
--- PH Ross Gload (1 At-bat, .333 AVG)
--- Relief Pitcher (Kendrick)
2. 3B Placido Polanco (4 At-bats, 2 Hits, 1 Double, 2 Runs, 1 BB, 1 Left on base, .417 AVG)
3. SS Jimmy Rollins (3 At-bats, 1 Run, 2 Hits, 2 BB, .500 AVG)
4. 1B Ryan Howard (5 At-bats, 1 Run, 3 Hits, 1 Double, 1 Homerun, 4 RBI, 5 Left on base, .538 AVG)
5. LF Raul Ibanez (4 At-bats, 1 BB, 1 Strikeout, 3 Left on base, .182 AVG)
6. RF Ben Francisco (5 At-bats, 2 Runs, 3 Hits, 1 RBI, 2 Strikeouts, 5 Left on base, .462 AVG)
7. C Carlos Ruiz (3 At-bats, 1 Run, 1 BB, 1 Strikeout, 3 Left on base, .200 AVG)
8. 2B Wilson Valdez (3 At-bats, 1 Hit, 1 Strikeout, .364 AVG)
9. SP Roy Oswalt (2 At-bats, 1 Strikeout, .000 AVG)
--- PH --- CF Shane Victorino (2 At-bats, 1 Hit, 1 RBI, 2 Left on base, .250 AVG)
HOU
Pitching:
Starter: RHP Bud Norris (80 Pitches, 50 Strikes, 4 Innings, 6 Hits, 5 Runs, 5 ER, 1 BB, 7 Strikeouts, 2 Homeruns, 11.25 ERA) L (0-1)
Relief: LHP Fernando Abad (18 Pitches, 12 Strikes, 1 Inning, 1 Hit, 0.00 ERA)
Relief: RHP Aneury Rodriguez (11 Pitches, 5 Strikes, .1 Inning, 1 Hit, 2 Runs, 2 ER, 1 BB, 20.25 ERA)
Relief: RHP Enerio Del Rosario (15 Pitches, 10 Strikes, .2 Inning, 2 Hits, 1 BB, 0.00 ERA)
Relief: RHP Mark Melancon (14 Pitches, 8 Strikes, 1 Inning, 2 Hits, 0.00 ERA)
Closer: RHP Jeff Fulchino (24 Pitches, 8 Strikes, 1 Inning, 1 Hit, 2 BB, 1 Strikeout, 4.50 ERA)
Lineup:
1. CF Michael Bourn (3 At-bats, 1 BB, .083 AVG)
2. SS Angel Sanchez (4 At-bats, 1 Left on base, .333 AVG)
3. RF Hunter Pence (4 At-bats, 1 Run, 3 Hits, 1 RBI, .417 AVG)
4. LF Carlos Lee (3 At-bats, 1 Run, 1 Hit, 2 Left on base, .364 AVG)
--- Relief Pitcher (Fulchino)
5. 2B Bill Hall (4 At-bats, 1 Hit, 1 Strikeout, 1 Left on base, .083 AVG)
6. 1B Brett Wallace (3 At-bats, 1 Run, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 2 Strike-outs, .091 AVG)
7. 3B Chris Johnson (4 At-bats, 2 Hits, 1 Strikeout, 2 Left on base, .273 AVG)
8. C Humberto Quintero (4 At-bats, 1 Strike-out, 2 Left on base, .125 AVG)
9. SP Bud Norris (1 At-bat, .000 AVG)
--- PH Joe Inglett (1 At-bat, 1 Strikeout, .000 AVG)
--- Relief Pitchers (Abad, Rodriguez, Del Rosario)
--- PH Jason Bourgeois (1 At-bat, .500 AVG)
--- Relief Pitcher (Melancon)
--- LF Jason Michaels (1 At-bat, .000 AVG)
My personal stats thus far:
Starting Pitchers:
Oswalt 1
Minor League: 0-0
Phillies: 1-0
Overall: 1-0
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