Royalty meets up with roadtrippers to start the new baseball season!

I took off from work Friday so I could be part of the reunion.

I was originally planning to spend the Opening weekend in sunny Florida but I knew in the back of my mind, the Buffalo Boys, Andrew Kulyk and Peter Farrell were planning to be in Philadelphia and Washington D.C. so I decided I'll go there instead.

The weather wasn't great but the company was so it was well worth doing what I did.

As a result, we all got to see the Phillies open the season at Citizens Bank Park in the afternoon with Cy Young winner Roy "Doc" Halladay pitching. He didn't pitch great but he managed to keep the Phillies in striking distance. He went only 6 innings.

The Astros lead the game 4-2 going to the bottom of the 9th inning. The Phillies did what they do best. They got 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th to comeback to win the game 5-4. Pinch hitter John Mayberry Jr. delivered the game winning hit. USRT karma worked their magic again.

Thankfully the game didn't go into extra innings. With that being said, we had enough time to take a walk to the Oregon Diner for a full course dinner. The Buffalo Boys got to experience the way Royalty rolls on the road.

After we ate we all walked back to the Wells Fargo Center for game two of our doubleheader. We saw the Nets play the 76ers.

As for the game, it was a blow out from the start. The 76ers got off to a fast start and they never looked back as they cruised to an easy 115-90 victory. With the win, the Sixers clinched a playoff berth.

After the game we drove to Elkton, Maryland which is 90 miles from Washington D.C. and we got a good night's sleep.

Saturday morning we went to the Waffle House that was conveniently located right across from the hotel. It should be noted there was a Cracker Barrel nearby as well.

After eating a hearty breakfast, we hit the road to get to Nationals Park for the afternoon game between the Atlanta Braves and the Washington Nationals at 1:05PM.

We were in contact with the Buffalo Boys since they were going to join us too. They got off to a late start so they said they would meet us at the ballpark. They wanted to park their car by the Verizon Center where they were going after the baseball game to see their Sabres play the Capitals. They proceeded to take
the Metro, which is the subway in our Nation's Capitol right to the ballpark.

I told them we'll get tickets for them. There was six of us all together which included our friend Bryan Gilligan who drove the King and I. As for Andrew and Peter, they were meeting a friend of theirs, Mark Byrnes who used to live in Buffalo but now resides in Baltimore. He joined them for the game too.

Upon arrival at Nationals Park, we decided to go to the box office since we got there early. We were hoping they still had some $5 tickets available. When we got to the window they said they do but it's one per person for those. So we each bought one then we went to a different window and bought three more so everybody was covered. We were able to upgrade ourselves once we got inside the park too.

We got our money's worth and then some. Unfortunately we had to suffer through two rain delays.

However they did manage to get the whole game in. Royalty reluctantly left in the bottom of the 7th inning due to time constraints. The Nationals went on to beat the Braves, 6-3.

We went back to Philadelphia to see the Phillies play the Astros again.

We wound up missing the first inning in Philadelphia too. Mother nature made it impossible for us to follow the game plan that we had drawn up. That's the way it goes sometimes. We can't control the weather.

Once we got settled in, we did see Cliff Lee dominate on the mound for the Phillies as he struck 11 Astros in 7 innings.

Despite the cool weather, the ballpark was still mobbed with people standing everywhere. They announced a crowd of 45,000 plus but I would like to believe they had 50,000 in there.

After the game we came back home.

Stay tuned as I recap the interesting day the King and I had on Sunday in a special post.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman