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| Me with the Carruba family, Kristy, Rich and Dylan |
My first stop was Philadelphia where I was going to see the Phillies play the Atlanta Braves in the late afternoon thanks to Fox who decided about 10 days prior to take the game so it started at 4:05PM. Since they did I was put in a difficult position. I already had tickets for the Mets and Yankees who were both home that day at 1:10PM & 1:05PM respectively. I was hoping the Phillie game stayed at 7:05PM. Much to my chagrin it didn't. As a professional, I adjusted accordingly. I decided to take the easy way out if you will.
To make matters worse, the Washington Nationals were also home at 1:05PM that day and my boy Gio Gonzalez was pitching and he if won it would have been his 20th win of the season. As bad as I wanted to go there, I told a lady named Kristy Carruba who I worked with years ago that I would go to the Phillie game instead. She said she had an extra ticket so I told her I'll take it and the price was right so it hard to pass up the opportunity to do so. She was going to Citizens Bank Park with her husband Rich and their eleven year old son Dylan. Kristy arranged for me to meet Rich during the week so I could get the ticket in advance. By doing so, I was able to meet them at the seats upon arrival. We wound up seating in the Hall of Fame level by third base.
They got down there early so they could see the City of Brotherly Love and the ballpark. They were impressed with the ballpark. I personally love going there myself.
Kristy and I were able to catch up and I got to meet Dylan who's a big sports fan for the first time. They're good people and they're big fans of royalty. They read and follow my blog whenever they have time to do so. For that, I'm very grateful.
I got to give them an overview of all the different games and places I've been to over the years. They were dazed and amazed by my accomplishments. As I like to say, hard work pays off in everything you do in life. This is my passion so it's easy to do it with relative ease. I have a rock solid foundation in place that I've built upon over the years.
As for Kristy, she's a big TV watcher. Hence she has her own blog that she started which is called "Watching Way Too Much." If you like watching TV, I strongly suggest you take a look at it and follow along.
Kristy takes her TV watching to the extreme that I take my sports travel to. As for TV, I rarely watch but thanks to Kristy's blog I'm always kept in the loop of what's on TV these days.
As for the game we saw, the Phillies had their ace pitcher Roy Halladay starting. He's had an off year mainly due to an injury he suffered early in the season that caused him to miss some time. With him on the mound, I expected to see a good performance. Unfortunately, Roy didn't have it. He got lit up early and often on this day.
Michael Bourn who came up with the Phillies is now on the Braves. He lead off the game with a walk which is rare for Halladay. It was a bad sign. He got thrown out attempting to steal by Halladay though. It was quite a rundown he got in but he was finally tagged out. Martin Prado the next batter got a single. After a fielder's choice by Jason Heyward, Chipper Jones who's on his farewell tour got a hit. Freddie Freeman followed by hitting a three run homer to give the Braves a 3-0 lead. After the Phillies didn't score in their half of the first inning, the Braves went back to work as they chased Roy Halladay who couldn't get out of the second inning. The Braves added four more runs to take a 7-0 lead after an inning and a half. It was highlighted by Jason Heyward who hit a three run double. For good measure, Chipper Jones added a run scoring double to round out the scoring.
The Phillies broke the shutout in the third inning as they scored a run. In the fourth inning, history was made as Ryan Howard hit a solo homer to cut the deficit to 7-2. More importantly it was his 300th Major League home run.
The Braves added another run late in the eighth inning to sink the Phillies, 8-2. In the process, they put a damper on the Phillies' slim playoff hopes.
I want to personally thank Kristy, Rich and Dylan for their company as well as for the ticket for the game. I had a great time being with them. I look forward to doing it again at a ballpark and/or arena in the future.
Thank you for reading and following along.
Yours truly,
Gary Herman
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