Heartbreak in the 10th (or Roy Oswalt Bobblehead Night)

6/24/2011 PHILLIES VS CINCINNATI REDS

L 3-6 in 10 Innings

with Sam Fields

James trying to figure out what brand of chewing tobacco Raul Ibanez uses

Baseball weather, finally. No more chilly nights where I have to overdue it on the hot peppers on my nachos. No more wearing hoodies. Its all t-shirts and sweat from here on, till November. Woo. And our first major league bobblehead of the year! Tuesday, the Phillies started a really weird series against the Reds, which me and Sam were in attendance for. I got there early so I could scout out my softball team's field on a Tuesday to see if those dredded little leaguers were using the field. (they weren't!) I settled into a nice blackbean burger and fries dinner. Usually the entrance pat-down fellows are pretty lax, but Sam got shit from one of them for wearing a "Phuck Yeah" shirt, citing the children and their oh so delicate minds. (I would of forever banned Sam from the ballpark because he most likely was also selling hard drugs to elementary students, based on that shirt.) 

Sam, the corrupter of minds

The game quickly started with a nice chorus of anti-Scott Rolen boos. This makes me proud to be a Philadelphian, as people have a long long memory of ex-players who have dissed our town. Yes, Scott Rolen, we remember what you did to us 2002. Once you have wronged us badly, we do not forget, nor forgive. I totally endorse that philosophy.

We noted that the first bobblhead of the year by the Phillies, Roy Oswalt, the former ace of the Astros, had considerable less work put into it. The actual figurine lacked some detail, and the box didn't really have as many stats, like playoff stats. Why? Sam thought it was laziness, but I thought it was because Oswalt won't be here next year. Sam, lacking any inside knowledge because of his lack of reading the Daily News everyday, cited that "I like Oswalt. He pitches good. Why would they not bring him back?" I countered with "He's thinking of retiring. The Astros have been paying half his salary, and the Phillies would owe him $12 million if they bring him back. He also has strongly hinted that he wants to retire. Furthermore, the Polanco bobblehead later this year looks way nicer, and he's under contract next year." James wins the argument, again.

Also, I'm glad rookie outfielder Domonic Brown is with the Phillies. That kid is awesome. Though I am a little tired of him saying, "Aw, man" ever other sentence.

We sat next to the staffer from the Phillies briefly, who had a helmet full of confetti for someone who had a birthday. He chatted us up on game business, and seemed to side with me on the issue of an Oswalt retirement. When Polanco hit the a fly into the outfield, the guy immediately knew it was an out and started walking towards his victim/birthday girl. Nothing like drunken fans singing happy birthday in unison...

Birthday Confetti Guy!

A game I like to play which gets under Sam's skin is finding an advertisement in the stadium and insisting we purchase it, drone-like. "Hey, lets go get some McDonald's." "Hey, I hear that Southwest has some really great deals." "You should get an AT&T phone. They rule." I've forgotten to do this most of this year, but I momentarily got Sam's hopes up when I mentioned getting some bud. (Shiftless hippy.) The key to any annoying joke is to completely drive it into the ground by repeating it often. This will cause your victim to eventually have a freakout, leading to more entertainment for you. I was able to round out the Bud(weiser request to, "Lets get some Bud. We'll use an AT&T phone, and call my guy who works at McDonald's. We can get some Powerade afterwards." I'm a genius.

I entered the game with a 2-4 record with the Phillies. Strangely enough, both wins came when I went to the games with women friends (Sarah and Jen), and all four losses racked up when I came with men friends (Sam and Frank). So hoping to break that... It looked good when the Phillies opened up the scoring with 3 runs. Rookie Pitcher Vance Worley seemed to tire out quickly, leading to a tied game that went to the 10th Inning. And fucking Ryan "Mad Dog" Madsen gave up a three run double in the bottom of the 10th. 

Fuck. So I'm 2-0 with women and 0-5 with men. You're banned, fellows. 

At least I got this baby home:

In other news, the Oregon Ave Octopi are officially playing the West Philly Waste on Wednesday June 29th over at 49th and Kingsessing. Book it! Here's our Championship Caliber Team.

Game Stats

PHI

Pitching:
Starter: RHP Vance Worley (93 Pitches, 50 Strikes, 5 Innings, 6 Hits, 3 Doubles, 3 Runs, 3 ER, 4 Walks, 1 Intentional Walk, 2.14 ERA)

Relief: RHP David Herndon (11 Pitches, 7 Strikes, 1 Inning, 1 Strikeout, 7.42 ERA)
Relief: RHP Michael Stutes (9 Pitches, 8 Strikes, 1 Inning, 1 Hit, 1 Strikeout, 2.08 ERA)

Relief: LHP Antonio Bastardo (14 Pitches, 11 Strikes, 1 Strikeout, 1.04 ERA)

Closing: RHP Ryan Madsen (24 Pitches, 12 Strkes, 1 Inning, 3 Hits, 1 Double, 3 Runs, 3 ER, 1 Intentional Walk, 1.80 ERA) L (2-1)

Lineup:

1. SS Jimmy Rollins (5 At-bats, 1 Hit, 1 Double (9), .264 AVG)

2. 2B Chase Utley (4 At-bats, 1 Hit, .111 AVG)

3. 3B Placido Polanco (4 At-bats, 1 Left on base, .332 AVG)

4. 1B Ryan Howard (3 At-bats, 1 Run, 1 Hit, 1 Double (11), 1 Walk, .250 AVG)

5. LF Raul Ibanez (4 At-bats, 2 Runs, 3 Hits, 1 Double (11), 1 RBI (21), 1 Left on base, .252 AVG)

6. C Carlos Ruiz (3 At-bats, 2 Hits, 1 Double (5), 1 RBI (10), 1 Walk, 1 Left on base, .256 AVG)

7. RF Domonic Brown (2 At-bats, 1 RBI (1), 1 Sacrifice Fly, 1 Walk, 4 Left on base, .100 AVG, 1 Fielding Error)

8. CF John Mayberry, Jr. (4 At-bats, 4 At-bats, .219 AVG)

9. SP Vance Worley (2 At-bats, 1 Strikeout, 2 Left on base, .286 AVG, 1 Throwing Error)

--- Relief Pitcher (Herndon)

--- Relief Pitcher (Stutes)

--- PH Ben Francisco (1 At-bat, .214 AVG)

--- Relief Pitcher (Bastardo)

--- Relief Pitcher (Madsen)

--- PH Michael Martinez (1 At-bat, .189 AVG)

CIN

Pitching:

Starter: RHP Johnny Cueto (108 Pitches, 69 Strikes, 6 Innings, 7 Hits, 4 Doubles, 3 Runs, 3 ER, 2 Walks, 1 Strikeout, .219 AVG)

Relief: LHP Bill Bray (27 Pitches, 14 Strikes, 1.2 Innings, 1 Hit, 1.53 ERA)

Relief: RHP Logan Ondrusek (.1 Inning, 9 Pitches, 4 Strikes, 1 Walk, 2.08 ERA) W (3-2)

Closer: RHP Francisco Cordero (9 Pitches, 6 Strikeouts, 1 Inning, 1.69) S (9)

Lineup:

1. CF Drew Stubbs (5 At-bats, 2 Runs, 2 Hits, 1 Double (8), 2 Strikeouts, 2 Left on base, .266 AVG)

2. 2B Brandon Phillips (4 At-bats, 1 Hit, 2 RBI (29), 1 Walk, 1 Left on base, .314 AVG)
3. 1B Joey Votto (3 At-bats, 2 Runs, 2 Hits, 1 Double (14), 2 Walks, 1 Left on base, .333 AVG)

4. 3B Scott Rolen (5 At-bats, 1 Run, 2 Hits, 1 RBI (18), 4 Left on base, .272 AVG)

5. RF Jay Bruce (5 At-bats, 1 Hit, 1 Double (8), 3 RBI (33), 3 Strikeouts, 5 Left on base, .280 AVG)

6. C Ramon Hernandez (4 At-bats, 1 Hit, 1 Double (6), 1 Walk, 1 Left on base, .340 AVG)
7. LF Chris Heisey (4 At-bats, 1 Hit, 3 Left on base, .267 AVG)

8. SS Paul Janish (4 At-bats, 1 Strikeout, 2 Left on base, .216 AVG)

--- Relief Pitcher (Ondrusek)

--- Relief Pitcher (Cordero)
9. SP Johhny Cueto (1 At-bat, 1 Run, 1 Sacrifice, 1 Walk, .143 AVG)

--- Relief Pitcher (Bray)

--- SS Edgar Renteria (1 At-bat, .225 AVG)

James's 2011 Baseball Season 

Starting Phillies Organization Pitchers:

RHP Roy Oswalt 1

LHP Cole Hamels 3

LHP Ryan Edell (AA) 1

RHP Joe Blanton 1

RHP Eddie Bonine (AAA) 1

RHP Roy Halladay 1

LHP Ryan Feierabend (AAA) 1

RHP Vance Worley 1

Total Games: 10

Minor League: 1-2

Phillies: 2-5

Overall: 3-7

Off the Snide Game (Rockies-Phillies)

5/18/2011 PHILLIES VS. COLORADO ROCKIES

W 2-1

@ Citizens' Bank Park

with Jen King

One of my goals this year when picking out the games was to try to see all the teams in the National League. I'm on course to do that, with my 9th baseball game of the year, versus the Colardo Rockies, the pesky team that knocked the Phillies out of the playoffs in 2007 (yeah, long memory.) Myself and my game-pal, Jen, looked out the window nervously while drinking our beers. Finally the rain let up, and we strolled down Broad Street. It turned out to be a really beautiful night for baseball. Jen isn't a baseball fan at all, but the nice thing about baseball is that you really don't need to be in order to have a decent time, because you can just chat and hang out and vibe with the crowd and marvel at the kiss cam or babies on the megatron and whatnot. Jen also was adept at taking my money, as she won $5 off me at the baseball shuffle game. 

We were sitting in 302 section, well across the field from my usual seats in the 431 section. Its a decent view, a nice mixup. I remember distinctly the last time I sat in the 301 section, in 2004 with Sam, when we sat right in front of the Wolf Pack, Randy Wolf's fan group. Wolf hit two home runs in the game, something you won't see often. Since its near the edge, I tossed someone's abandoned chicken fingers off the edge into the abyss. 

Some musings: How does Raul Ibanez have such a huge wad of chewing tobacco every game? Is he that immune to the tobacco buzz? I've dipped a few times before, before realizing it was idiotic, and each time I got buzzed as fucking hell. Like, feeling-I-was-high type buzzed. How does he even feel his bat? He's gotta be high as a kite.

Can we start a petition to get Carlos Ruiz to change his at-bat intro music? Most of the songs the players pick are decent to tolerable, but Chooch has to have the worst music tastes on the team. Fucking "In The Air Tonight" by Phil Collins? I really hate that song. A side note: A friend of mine once was horrified that they were playing hip-hop for the black players, country or rock for the white players, and salsa for the latino players, until I explained to her that the players actually pick the songs to be played when they're coming to bat.

Anyways, I digress. Some funnies from the game: 

-Watching a little kid trying to imitate the Phillie Phanatic's pelvic thrust, which sort of doubles as a belly roll. Something very wrong about a 10 year old humping the air. 

-The Phillies megatron operators made a boo-boo in the 8th inning, listing the visiting team as the "Atlanta Braves". Woops.

-A reaaaally drunk girl got into an argument with ushers because she had a cigarette hanging out of her mouth, like she was about to light up. A call behind me erupted, "Hey! You can't smoke crack at the game!" She didn't notice, though the ushers certainly cracked up.

On the game, it was a nailbiter. The Phillies wouldn't score until the 5th, when Wilson Valdez batted in Raul Ibanez, but like they have been doing lately, wouldn't score again until the very end. Thankfully, Cole Hamels continued to show me up for booing him in his first start of the year, pitching brilliantly and giving up only one run. Finally in the bottom of the 9th, Jimmy Rollins sacrified flied and Wilson Valdez tagged up for the score, setting up Ryan "Mad Dog" Madsen for a nail biting 9th inning. It ended beautifully.

And I got to hear Harry Kalas sing "High Hopes" at Citizens Bank Park for the first time since April the 3rd.

Jen, who's on the kickass ultra nerd ultra badass softball team the Oregon Avenue Octopi with me, suggested I make some entries when we play our game. Thoughts?

Jen says "YES!" to the Octopi Blog Entry

The Phillies broke a 4 game losing streak, and I now have a 2 game winning streak to bring my record to 3-6. wooooo! Jen must be good luck.

Game Stats

PHI
Pitching:

Starter: LHP Cole Hamels (107 Pitches, 69 Strikes, 8 Innings, 5 Hits, 1 Run, 1 ER, 1 Walk, 8 Strikeouts, 2.92 ERA) W (5-2)

Closer: RHP Ryan Madsen (24 Pitches, 12 Strikes, 1 Hit, 1 Walk, 3 Strikeouts, 0.53 ERA) S (7)

Lineup:

1. SS Jimmy Rollins (3 At-bats, 1 Hit, 1 RBI (12), 1 Sacrifice Fly, 1 Stolen Base, 1 Left on base, .271 AVG)

2. CF Michael Martinez (3 At-bats, 1 Strikeout, 1 Sacrifice, .219 AVG)
3. 3B Placido Polanco (3 At-bats, 1 Left on base, .331 AVG)

4. 1B Ryan Howard (3 At-bats, 1 Left on base, .247 AVG)

5. RF John Mayberry, Jr. (3 At-bats, .255 AVG)

6. LF Raul Ibanez (3 At-bats, 1 Run, 1 Hit, 1 Strikeout, .225 AVG)
7. C Carlos Ruiz (2 At-bats, 1 Hit, 1 Strikeout, 1 Hit By Pitch, .216 AVG)

8. 2B Wilson Valdez (3 At-bats, 1 Run, 2 Hits, 1 RBI (9), 1 Left on base, .247 AVG)

9. SP Cole Hamels (2 At-bats, 1 Strikeout, 3 Left on base, .238 AVG)

--- PH Shane Victorino (1 Sacrifice Bunt, .284 AVG)

--- RP (Madsen)

COL

Pitching:

Starter: LHP Jorge De La Rosa (96 Pitches, 60 Strikes, 8 Innings, 5 Hits, 2 Runs, 1 ER, 1 Wild Pitch, 4 Strikeouts, 3.34 ERA) L (5-2)

Lineup:

1. CF Dexter Fowler (4 At-bats, 1 Strikeout, 1 Left on base, .247 AVG)

2. 2B Alfredo Amezaga (2 At-bats, 1 Walk, 1 Strikeout, .278 AVG)

--- PH Seth Smith (1 At-bat, 1 Hit, 1 Double, .286 AVG)

3. LF Carlos Gonzalez (4 At-bats, 1 Run, 2 Hits, 1 Double (6), 2 Strikeouts, 1 Left on base, .242 AVG)

4. SS Troy Tulowitzki (4 At-bats, 2 Strikeouts, 3 Left on base, .248 AVG)

5. 1B Todd Helton (3 At-bats, 1 Hit, 1 Double, 1 RBI (20), 1 Intentional Walk, .323 AVG)

6. 3B Jose Lopez (3 At-bats, 1 Hit, 1 Left on base, .184 AVG)

--- PH Jason Giambi (1 At-bat, 1 Strikeout, 2 Left on base, .115 AVG)

7. RF Ryan Spilborghs (3 At-bats, 1 Hit, 1 Left on base, .235 AVG, 1 Caught Stealing)

8. C Chris Iannetta (3 At-bats, 1 Strikeout, 1 Left on base, .232 AVG)

9. SP Jorge De La Rosa (2 At-bats, 2 Strikeouts, 1 Sacrifice, .238 AVG)

James' 2011 Baseball Season Stats

Starting Pitchers:

RHP Roy Oswalt 1

LHP Cole Hamels 3

LHP Ryan Edell (AA) 1

RHP Joe Blanton 1

RHP Eddie Bonine (AAA) 1

RHP Roy Halladay 1

LHP Ryan Feierabend (AAA) 1

Total Games: 9

Minor League: 1-2

Phillies: 2-4

Overall: 3-6

Harry Kalas Bobblehead Day

5/16/2011 LEHIGH VALLEY IRONPIGS (Phillies' AAA Affiliate) VS. NORFOLK TIDES (Baltimore Orioles' AAA Affiliate)

W 4-3

with Scott Pinkelman

Okay, let's try this again. Myself and pal Scott set out to get what me and Sam had failed at a few weeks prior; getting a bobblehead at a Lehigh Valley game, the most attended team in the minors. This time, we set out an hour earlier. Surely that would be enough! After all, this was for Harry Kalas, a hero of mine. When we got there... oh my god. Two hours early, and there was already a few thousand people in line. On this chilly, rainy day, Philadelphians commuted up the northeast extension of the turnpike because Kalas was loved that much. I wonder if it annoys the locals... 

When we pulled into the parking lot, the parking attendant said, upon peering at my philly carshare, "Philadelphia? We love people from Philly!"

I responded, "Well, just keep sending us players."

He quipped, "That's what we like to do."

By the time we got to the line, I'll be honest. It didn't look good. I said to Scott that I thought it was less than a 40% chance we'd get a bobblehead. People were totally camping out to get one of those. The Ironpigs let the anticipation build even more by opening 10 minutes late, at 5:40, before the line started to move. At one point, we switched to a shorter line, which I'm not sure was kosher or not. As we were 10 people away, I said to Scott, "I know they're going to run out right before we get there."

Ohhh boy.

This doesn't look good.

Are we fucked or what?

There's no way we're getting a bobblehead

And they did! All out! But there was a few underneath the table, which started a mad dash for fans grabbing them. One of the attendants got one of them, the very last one of the whole park, and handed it to me. OH WOW WOW WOW. I couldn't believer how lucky I was. While others looked at my greedily and with envy, I got my wits together and dashed away, lest either the attendant try to take it away or other fans beat on me for it. It felt like they might, as the anger built. 

I got the last one! I got the last one! I got the last one! 

wooooo!

In my opinion, I think if a game is going to sell out, the team should just give bobbleheads to everyone, so no one is pissed off. A local company, this time an eye doctor company, always sponsors it, so its not like they're paying for it. And why not just make 10,000 instead of 3,000? You're gonna advertise to way more people that way! Its a nice thing about the Phillies, is every free give-away, all fans who are eligible are guaranteed one, if you have a ticket.

For the rest of the game, my Harry Kalas was hidden in my bookbag. I took it out once to take a picture, and I noticed fans eyeing my up and down. DON'T TRUST NOBODY! THEY'RE ALL OUT TO TAKE MY PRECIOUS.

As I said in the previous post about Coca Cola Stadium in Allentown, it is totally covered toe to toe in advertising. Scott said while the Phillies ballpark reminded him of a cool rehabed warehouse, the Ironpigs' home was more like a shitty stripmall. He did enjoy the corn on the cob, though.

at least Scott dressed for rain

Me making a damn mess with peanuts. 

Coca Cola Pig

They did do Harry Kalas right though. There was a nice video montage of him, (though I think it was just ganked from the dvd phillies '09 yearbook). They showed him doing his Hall of Fame induction speech, and later in the 7th inning stretch, his rendition of "High Hopes", which they also play after every Phillies victory. It always sends a jolt of joy to see that song sung. Which also makes it a karaoke favorite of mine, I'm sure to the chagrin of anyone who hears me sing it.

Harry, circa 2002, HOF

And I was tempted to eat one, too.

This was a well-played game by the Ironpigs, though the Tides did a good impression of their parent team, the O's, and played very sloppy, with two costly errors. I think I counted 5 dropped or missed balls that went to their way. It reminded me of our softball team trying to field the first time... Speaking of which, we have an official name, the Oregon Ave Octopi. We even have our own homebrew to drink with practices!

One of the Tides' player's was named Tyler Henson. So... that makes for a good chant? "Tyler Henson!" I guess it was supposed to be like Tyler Hanson, of the mmbop Hanson band. (Are those kids coke heads yet?)

The Tide practice dropping the ball

I was not a fan of the "Wack an Intern" game, in which unpaid interns played the mole for fans trying to win something. Could it get any worse? Might as well say, "Wack a Concession Worker". Also, they had a free-groceries giveaway, which if catcher Erik Kratz hit an RBI, people would get some groceries. So everyone was supposed to chant "GROC-ER-IES". Why does that sound like begging for food from the all-mighty corporation to me? However, the Pork Product Race, the third time I've seen it, kinda tickles my funny bone. Its between Hotdog, Bacon, and Hambone. Aaaand they have a Pig mascot, so yeah, they play both side there.

Hambone in the lead

Rounding Home

Bacon almost won

Why is their pig mascot okay with this?

Willful ignorance brought on by dancing?

So I got the bobblehead by being a little quicker and the attendant being nice to me. So it was time to give back. They did one of those plush ball sling-shot launches, (I had gotten one at Reading). This time, it went right at me and these kids. Being taller, I was able to snatch it out of the air. This one redhaired kid looked very very sad. So I handed him the ball. Everyone around me gave me applause. One mom said, "That was very nice of you. That was a standup thing to do." What am I supposed to do? Keep it? Laud it over the kid's head? Well, I guess I felt nice about it.

I'm off the snide. The Ironpigs won, 4-3, with a homer, despite Mike Zagurski's best attempt at giving away the game. David Herndon, who I've seen pitch a whole bunch last year as the Phillies 2010 Rule 5 pick, including the notorious 16 inning, Ryan-Howard-Ejection, Roy-Oswalt-At-Left-Field game. He was pretty shutdown.

It was all worth it for the bobblehead. 

Rain, rain goaway. I wanna see the Rockies Wednesday!

More pictures:

Delwyn Young at right field

Game Stats:

LEHIGH VALLEY

Pitching:

Starter:LHP Ryan Feierabend (98 Pitches, 59 Strikes, 5 Innings, 4 Hits, 2 Runs, 2 ER, 1 Double, 1 Homerun, 3 Walks, 2 players hit by pitch, 1 Strikeout, 5.73 ERA) W (2-2)

Relief: RHP Chance Chapman (33 Pitches, 21 Strikes, 2 Innings, 1 Hit, 1 Walk, 3 Strikeouts, 5.06 ERA) H (1)

Relief: LHP Mike Zagurski (15 Pitches,10 Strikes, 1 Inning, 2 Hits, 1 Run, 1 ER, 1 Triple, 2 Strikeouts, 1.74 ERA) H (2)

Closer: RHP David Herndon (10 Pitches, 8 Strikes, 1 Inning, 2 Strikeouts, 2.00 ERA) S (1)

Lineup:

1. CF Rich Thompson (3 At-bats, 1 Walk, .264 AVG)

2. 3B Ronnie Belliard (4 At-bats, 1 Run, 1 Hit, 1 Double, 1 Strikeout, .273 AVG)

3. LF Cory Sullvian (3 At-bats, 1 Walk, 1 Strikeout, .207 AVG)
4. RF Delwyn Young (4 At-bats, 1 Run, 2 Strikeouts, .211 AVG)

5. 2B Josh Barfield (4 At-bats, 1 Run, 3 Hits, 1 Homerun, 1 RBI, .256 AVG)

6. DH Brandon Moss (4 At-bats, 1 Run, 2 Hits, 1 Double, 1 RBI, 1 Strikeout, .252 AVG)

7. 1B Jeff Larish (4 At-bats, 1 Strikeout, .233 AVG)

8. C Erik Kratz (4 At-bats, 1 Hit, 2 Strikeouts, .275 AVG)

9. SS Brian Bocock (3 At-bats, 1 Strikeout, .205 AVG)

Norfolk

Pitching

Starter: RHP Rick VandenHurk (97 Pitches, 63 Strikes, 5 Innings, 7 Hits, 4 Runs, 3 ER, 1 Homerun, 2 Walks, 7 Strikeouts, 1 Wild Pitch, 5.88 ERA) L (2-6)

Closing: RHP Armando Gabino (25 Pitches, 17 Strikes, 3 Innings, 2 Strikeouts, 3.10 ERA)

Lineup:

1. LF Tyler Henson (5 At-bats, 2 Strikeouts, .224 AVG)

2. 2B Ryan Adams (3 At-bats, 2 Walks, 1 Strikeout, .291 AVG)

3. 1B Brandon Snyder (4 At-bats, 1 Hit, 1 Walk, .276 AVG)
4. 3B Josh Bell (4 At-bats, 1 Hit, 2 Strikeouts, .282 AVG)

5. LF Nolan Reimold (4 At-bats, 1 Run, 1 Hit, 1 Homerun, 1 RBI, .220 AVG)

6. SS Nick Green (2 At-bats, 2 Runs, 1 Hit, 1 Walk, 1 Hit by pitch, .198 AVG)

7. DH Brendan Harris (4 At-bats, 2 Hits, 1 Double, 1 Triple, 2 RBI, 1 Strikeout, .210 AVG)

8. C John Hester (3 At-bats, 1 Strikeout, 1 Hit by pitch, .182 AVG)

9. CF Matt Angle (4 At-bats, 1 Hit, 1 Strikeout, .168 AVG)

James's 2011 Stats

Starting Pitchers:

RHP Roy Halladay 1

RHP Roy Oswalt 1

LHP Cole Hamels 2

LHP Ryan Edell (AA) 1

RHP Joe Blanton 1

RHP Eddie Bonine (AAA) 1

LHP Ryan Feierabend (AAA) 1

Total Games: 8

Minor League: 1-2

Phillies: 1-4

Overall: 2-6

5/10/2011 PHILLIES VS FLORIDA MARLINS @ SUN LIFE STADIUM (MIAMI, FL)

L 1-2

with Colin Flory

Now and then, its healthy in life to do something totally insane. After the previous week, in which I finally sold my old house and I signed my divorce papers, I felt a little like I had nothing to lose. What's more dangerous than the man who can't be bought? And so, I did the logically insane thing: I bought plane tickets to Miami for the day to see the vaunted pitching match up of Roy Halladay of your Fightins' and Josh Johnson of the Marlins. My first task was to find someone as insane as me, willing to drop everything to fly to a faraway city to watch baseball. After running through a five or six people, my old friend Colin stepped up and took the other tickets. It was on!

I prepared by sleeping extra late on Monday, not sleeping during the night, and when we got to the airport, consuming some mimosas and making my coffee irish (the nice bartender looked the other way, as she said she wasn't allowed to mix dunkin donuts coffee with whiskey).After arriving in hot hot Miami, we ate some absolutly orgasmic cuban sandwiches, which I don't think I've ever tried before. Quickly, I noticed that seemingly just about everyone seemed to be tanned, attractive, in shape, and beach ready. Thus, I kept my shirt on while on South Beach rather than fully expose my flabby, pale body to the locals. Wow, they could totally tell I wasn't from there, the glowing yankee doodle that I am.

We drank whiskey on the rocks, beers, and chilled out with Colin's goth brother in law for a few hours, before heading over to the stadium. Showing up way early, we were greated by the what would turn out throughout the evening to be a half-assed operation by the Florida Marlins club. They only had one entrance to the ballpark, and let us sit for a half hour before letting us enter. Of the people who had shown up an hour and a half early, 3 of 4 were Phillies fans. The Marlins fans, which were probably a little more than half of the total crowd, mostly showed up right at game time, or a few innings in. Maybe because they are ho-hum about their team? We got a few free samples of lipton before taking a picture inside a booth. Woo!

Once allowed to enter, one of the first things we got were booze smoothies. (Okay, Florida has more liberal alcohol laws than Pennsylvania. I have a hard time thinking of a state that has more draconian laws than the Key State though for booze hounds.) From there, we wandered over to our seats at the "Fish Tank", in right field which, since a lot less people come, we sat wherever the fuck we wanted. The only place I saw ushers in the whole stadium was right behind home plate. (I do remember a time when the Phillies were like that, before they exploded in popularity in the last few years) I can think of only a few times I've sat that close, getting to see the Phillies' batting practice. 

And who was about 10 feet away from us? Joe Blanton, the winner of Monday's game! Colin shouted at him, "Hey Joe! Nice game last night!" And Joe Blanton yelled back, "Thanks, man!" Ryan "Mad-dog" Madsen threw Colin a ball, and rookie Michael Stutes and Scott Mathieson came over and chatted with some of the fans, particularly the kids. Unfortunately, I saw fucking cheerleaders on the Marlins! It turns out they are one of the few Major League Baseball clubs that have cheerleaders, the Marlin Mermaids. The Mermaids tossed me a t-shirt, which I gave to a kid since I didn't really see a time when I'd be sporting a Marlins t-shirt. Also, if you are seeking a ball from a baseball player, the best way to get it is by shouting positive things at 'em, not telling them how much they suck if they don't throw the ball to you immediately. God, kids are obnoxious.

We made friends with our neighbors, a bunch of Cuban-American Marlins fans. They switched between English and Spanish regularly ethusastically cheering for Leftfielder Emilio Bonifacio, "Emillio!" One of them complained, "Damn Phillies fans! Usually there's no lines, but this series I've actually had to wait in line for beer! There's too many of you!" Haha. I invited them to come to a Phillies game, since we hardly see Marlins or Nats fans, but plenty of Mets and Braves peoples. Ahead of us were two Phillies fans ladies, whom flirted with us during the game. Seemed that neither was from Philly, but were either dating a Philly native or who's parents were from the North, and therefore hated all Florida teams. Funny. I guess that signifies how much of a transplant state Florida is, having really been filled with immigrants from the North and from Latin America in the last 60 years.

By the lay-out of the stadium, it makes a little more sense why it always looks like there's no one there on TV. Because its really primarely a football stadium for the Dolphins, they block off the higher levels, making homeruns fly into empty seats. The lower levels have plenty of empty seats, just they are somewhat filled by the 3rd Inning. Still, while you heard plenty of pro-phillies chants, when the Marlins pulled ahead in the 9th, Marlins fans seemed to finally wake up and cheered on their ace.

So the game itself was a tight-rope duel between young ace Josh Johnson, and grisly veteran and part machine Roy Halladay. The Phillies could of won the game, but blew their chances, as they twice loaded the bases (one with no outs) and didn't score at all, getting their sole run off of a dinger by Ryan Howard in the 1st Inning. It continued that way throughout the game, until a dropped ball by Jimmy Rollins and a single by the Marlins put the fish ahead in the 8th Inning. The Phillies failed to score, despite a slightly better game by Halliday over Johnson. 

Something I learned though, is while Miami is most definately not a baseball town, they are very excited about their Heat and Lebron James, DeWayne Wade, and Chris Both, in a way that Phillies fans are psyched on their starting rotation. "Let's go Heat!" rang throughout the stadium periodically, and our Cubano friends told us that if the Heat had been on that night, the Phillies fans would of had the whole stadium to themselves. Pretty fascinating, as the Sixers are definitely number 4 in Philadelphians hearts (probably number 3 on my list.)

As cool as flying in for the day, the trip back kind of sucked from there on out. First, the Marlins seemed to have no idea how to handle traffic, and it took us nearly an hour and a half to get out of the parking lot (still only one way to leave for all few thousand of us.) Second, in a quest to find the airport bar at our exiting airport in Fort Lauderdale, we discovered that Ft. L's gotta be the suckiest place on Earth. No airport bar! No service after 9pm! Ahhh! Though we did amuse ourselves with this tale of a no-hitter on LSD...

I slept a fucking lot when we arrived back in our homeland of Philadelphia, breaking only for homebrew beer.

Well, I'm 1-6. Fuck man. That means the Phillies are going to lose at least 20 more games, since I've going to at least that many more. 

The magazine on the plane. "Don't worry, if we plummel into the ocean, at least these sunglasses will signify where your corpse is!"

Woh! Its warm out.

Colin eating awesome cuban sandwiches

*Burp!*

Fucking palm trees! Holy crap!

Walking around South Beach area. Fucking pretty people everywhere! Bah!

Though I initially had my suspicions, this was not, in fact, a strip club.

Trying to figure out how to operate the camera

No...

Okay, lets hand the camera to a complete stranger Marlins fan, who somehow turns the camera on black and white mode, which I don't notice till nearly when the game was over.

Cheese!

Most of the early birds were Fightins' fans.

That's fucking Joe Blanton and Ryan Madsen!

How many names must a stadium receive, before it can be one of its own?

Colin with the ball that Madsen tossed him.

Free shit on the internet

Our view most of the game. fucking close!

"Emillio!"

Damnit

Well, at least I was able to steal this cupholder from Dolphins Stadium

Game Stats:

PHI

Pitching:

Starter: RHP Roy Halladay (115 Pitches, 78 Strikes, 8 Innings, 5 Hits, 2 Runs, 1 ER, 2 Walks, 9 Strikeouts, 1 Wild Pitch, 2.05 ERA) L (5-2)

Lineup:

1. SS Jimmy Rollins (5 At-bats, 1 Hit, 4 Left on base, .286 AVG, 1 Error)

2. CF Shane Victorino (5 At-bats, 1 Hit, 2 Left on base, .289 AVG)

3. 3B Placido Polanco (4 At-bats, 1 Strikeout, 2 Left on base, .353 AVG)

4. 1B Ryan Howard (4 At-bats, 1 Run, 1 Hit, 1 RBI, 1 HR (8), 2 Strikeouts, 2 Left on base, .274 AVG)

5. LF Raul Ibanez (4 At-bats, 2 Hits, 1 Double (6), .231 AVG)

6. RF Ben Francisco (2 At-bats, 1 Hit, 1 Walk, .237 AVG)

7. 2B Pete Orr (2 At-bats, 1 Walk, 4 Left on base, .234 AVG)

--- PH --- 2B Wilson Valdez (1 At-bat, 1 Strikeout, .244 AVG)

8. C Dane Sardinha (2 At-bats, 1 Walk, 1 Strikeout, 3 Left on base, .182 AVG)

--- PH Ross Gload (1 At-bat, 1 Strikeout, .348 AVG)

9. SP Roy Halladay (3 At-bats, 3 Strikeouts, .053 AVG)

--- PH John Mayberry Jr. (1 Walk, .308 AVG)

FLA
Pitching:

Starter: RHP Josh Johnson (114 Pitches, 72 Strikes, 7 Innings, 6 Hits, 1 Run, 1 ER, 3 Walks, 7 Strikeouts, 1 HR, 1.63 ERA) 

Relief: LHP Michael Dunn (16 Pitches, 11 Strikes, 1 Inning, 1 Strikeout, 1.26 ERA) W (3-2)

Closer: RHP Leo Nunez (16 Pitches, 11 Strikes, 1 Inning, 1 Walk, 1 Strikeout, 2.55 ERA) S (12)

Lineup:

1. CF Chris Coghlan (4 At-bats, 2 Hits, 1 RBI, 1 Double (10), 1 Strikeout, .274 AVG)

2. LF Emilio Bonifacio (3 At-bats, 1 Hit, 1 RBI, 1 Left on base, .301 AVG, 1 Caught Stealing)

3. SS Hanley Ramirez (3 At-bats, 1 Hit, 1 Walk, 2 Strikeouts, 1 Left on base, .208 AVG, 1 Stolen Base)

4. 1B Gaby Sanchez (4 At-bats, 1 Strikeout, 4 Left on base, .331 AVG)

5. 3B Greg Dobbs (3 At-bats, 1 Hit, 1 Strikeout, .338 AVG)

6. RF Mike Stanton (3 At-bats, 2 Strikeouts, 1 Left on base, .229 AVG)

7. C John Buck (3 At-bats, 1 Strikeout, 1 Left on base, .230 AVG)

8. 2B Omar Infante (3 At-bats, 1 Run, .239 AVG)

9. SP Josh Johnson (1 At-bat, 1 Run, 1 Walk, 1 Strikeout, .167 AVG)
--- Relief Pitcher (Dunn)

--- PH Osvaldo Martinez (1 At-bat, 1 Left on base, .200 AVG)

--- Relief Pitcher (Nunez)

James's 2011 Stats

Starting Pitchers:

RHP Roy Halladay 1

RHP Roy Oswalt 1

LHP Cole Hamels 2

LHP Ryan Edell (AA) 1

RHP Joe Blanton 1

RHP Eddie Bonine (AAA) 1

Total Games: 7

Minor League: 0-2

Phillies: 1-4

Overall: 1-6