Royalty sees Yankee Home Opener in the Bronx and Mets in Philadelphia that night!

Fist Pitch 1:11PM from Hiroki Kuroda

On Friday the 13th the only bad luck I was I had to work a half a day. After that, it was all good.
I went up to Yankee Stadium to see the Yankees open up their home schedule with the new look Angels who signed Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson in the off season.

It was a beautiful day weather wise for baseball in the Bronx which made for a festive atmosphere. I got to see some familiar faces of people I recognized who work at the Stadium and others I know from going to the games on a regular basis.

As for the game I saw, the Yankees took an early 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning off Angels' starter Ervin Santana. The last time I saw him pitch in Cleveland he threw a no-hitter. That wasn't happening today as Nick Swisher hit a three run double in the first inning which set the tone early.

Yankees' starter Hiroki Kuroda who they picked up in the off season pitched well as he dominated the Halos for eight plus innings as the Yankees shut out the Angels, 5-0.

It was a nice crisp fast game which gave the King plenty of time to drive me, Bryan Gilligan and Vincent Ascanio down to Philadelphia so we could see another major league baseball game at Citizens Bank Park where the Phillies were hosting the Mets.

We arrived with some time to spare. Upon entry by the first base gate, we were greeted by a familiar face as we saw a lady we know from going there so often over the years. Her name is Brenda. She was so happy to see us and vice versa. Nothing beats being treated properly and royally the moment you step foot on the premises.

We proceeded to go inside the ballpark. We headed upstairs to our usual perch there in section 319 where we stand and have a great view of the game.

While we were there we got visits from some people we know. First we saw our pal Andrew Van Cleve who was there. Secondly, we saw a guy named Jeff Prickitt who we met many years ago at the old Veterans Stadium. Ironically we met Jeff at a White Sox game in Chicago back in 1994 also. He always thought we were from Philadelphia because we went to a lot of Phillies games. We got to know him back in the day because of the King's infamous signature strikeout call. As a result, he always knew when Cougar which is another nickname the King goes by was in the building.

When he heard him he would come by to say hi. One time at the Vet he had a number of family members with him and he introduced us to them.

Jeff is a good guy and big fan of the King and I. This time he had his friend Matt with him. He introduced to him and we all got to spend some quality time together at the ballpark.

As for the game we saw, the Mets like the Yankees earlier in the day, got off to a fast start as they roughed up Phillies' starter Cliff Lee for three runs in the top of the first inning as Daniel Murphy hit a run scoring double and Jason Bay added a two run home run as the Mets went on to beat the Phillies, 5-2.

Stay tuned for some more special posts that will recap the rest of the weekend I enjoyed.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman