 |
| View from section 336 at Camden Yards |
Outside the ballpark, the King and I met up with our friend Manny Morales who was going to the game as well. Manny doesn't go to Yankee Stadium too often so we showed him how royalty enters the ballpark.
He was impressed with how easy it was to get in. He said he usually waits on a long line when he's on his own.
Now he knows how to do it for his next visit.
It was a pleasure to educate him on how it's done. When you live the life of royalty, you earn privileges from plenty of years of practice. It has become routine for us to learn the tricks of the trade. It's our way of beating out the competition.
As for the game we saw that night, the Blue Jays roughed up Yankee starter Bartolo Colon as they went on to beat the Yankees, 7-3.
Tuesday night I was back in the Bronx for game two of the series. The Blue Jays appeared to have a handle on this game. They lead 4-1 after seven innings thanks to great pitching from their starter Ricky Romero.
In the eighth inning, they decided to turn the game over to their bullpen. That proved to be a mistake as they gave up a pair of runs in the eighth and ninth innings to give the Yankees the 5-4 victory.
Mark Teixeira delivered the game winning hit after Curtis Granderson tied the game in the bottom of the ninth inning. Yankee starter CC Sabathia wound up going the distance and he earned the win as a result.
Wednesday night after work I went home to rest up since the Yankees played an afternoon game.
Thursday I wound up taking off from work and I rented a car from Avis for the day.
The King and I and our friends Phil Butleman and Al Linderman decided to take in a baseball doubleheader.
First we drove to Baltimore, Maryland to see the Orioles play the Kansas City Royals at Camden Yards in the afternoon.
Camden Yards is the Wrigley Field of the new retro ballparks that started the trend back in 1992. If you haven't had the luxury of seeing a game there I strongly suggest that someday you do.
This was my 79th game there. In addition, I've seen at least one there every year since it opened back in 1992.
Over the years, they've upgraded the scoreboards to stay up with the latest in technology. In addition, this time I noticed they fixed up many of their concession stands too. It's nice to see a great place get better over the years.
If the Orioles can get back to their winning ways from when this ballpark opened back in the 90's, Camden Yards can and will become the destination again for baseball in the Baltimore area on a regular basis. Unlike many of the newer ballparks, Camden Yards can hold up to 49,000 people.
As for the game we saw, the Orioles and Royals supplied plenty of offense early as the game was tied at 5 in the fourth inning. It remained that way as the game wound up going into extra innings. The Orioles blew a golden opportunity to win the game in the bottom of the eleventh inning. They eventually won it in the twelfth inning when Vladimir Guerrero delivered the game winning single up the middle to give the Orioles a 6-5 decision.
Since the game went so long we had to hustle to get to our next game which was in Allentown, Pennsylvania, home of the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs.
We had to drive 170 miles through rush hour traffic to make a 7:05PM first pitch. That was asking the impossible.
I did my best to get us there as soon as I could. We wound up arriving at 7:35PM. We were fortunate that our friend Jean Ann Harrison was able to arrange to have tickets left for us by her friend, business partner and Iron Pigs pitcher Jason Grilli. I had to go to will call and pick them up. We were very grateful.
Stay tuned for the special post that I'm going to do regarding the business they just started up together.
As for the game, since we arrived late we missed the Iron Pigs three run first inning when former major leaguers Pete Orr and Brandon Moss each homered to give the Iron Pigs all the offense they needed on this night as they hung on to beat the Rochester Red Wings, 3-2.
Friday I went back to work and afterwards I went out to Citi Field to see the Mets take on their division rival, the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Mets had a 3-2 lead after 7 innings. In the eighth inning, the Phillies tied the game thanks to a double by shortstop Jimmy Rollins. In the ninth inning, with the game tied the Mets called on their closer Francisco Rodriguez aka K-Rod to keep it that way. Unfortunately, the Phillies broke through and they scored three runs to beat the Mets who added a run in the bottom of the ninth inning, 6-4.
In fairness to K-Rod, the Phillies didn't hit him hard but they found the holes and they found a way to capitalize on their opportunity.
Saturday night I went to back to Citi Field. It turned out to be a replay if you will. The Mets lead this time, 2-1 after 7 innings as Mike Pelfrey pitched well. Once again the Mets bullpen failed as the Phillies got a tying hit from second baseman Chase Utley and then their clean up hitter Ryan Howard delivered a two run single to give the Phillies the lead in the eighth inning. They added another run as they beat the Mets, 5-2.
Sunday afternoon I went back for more. Luckily this time the Mets build a 8-0 lead after two innings and they managed to hold on and they salvaged a game from the Phillies, 9-5.
Thank you for reading and following along.
Yours truly,
Gary Herman
2 comments:
My entrance into Yankee Stadium was as smooth as can be thanks to your tip. I've already passed it on to a friend who was most grateful. Thanks again Gary.
What a great way to enter a ballpark,enter at 650,private bathroom,get in your seat at 7:00,you cant ask for anything better!
Thanks again man!
Post a Comment