Royalty w/o 8/27 in review

The King and I with Dylan Van Cleve 

Monday night after work I went up to the Bronx on the D train. When I got up there I went to Burger King where I met the King and Vincent Ascanio. I wound up getting a few Whoppers for dinner. Nothing beats flame broiled burgers and more importantly I had them my way with just lettuce. They were made to order and they tasted really good.

After we got done eating we made our way over to Yankee Stadium to see the Yankees host the Toronto Blue Jays. I was thinking of our pal Sean MacDonald who's originally from Ottawa, Canada then he moved to Japan for quite some time until he recently relocated to Singapore. Regardless he still loves watching baseball and he always roots for the Blue Jays. With that being said, he was with us in spirit.

As for the game we saw, the Yankees scored first as Robinson Cano hit a solo homer to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. The Blue Jays answered right back as Adam Lind tied the game at one with a solo homer of his own in the top of the second. In the fourth inning, Robinson Cano homered again and the Yankees tacked on a few more runs to take the lead again, 4-1. The Blue Jays got within one as Yorvit Torrealba hit a two run shot to make the score 4-3 in the fifth. The Yankees responded as Nick Swisher did the same. The Blue Jays inched closer again with a run in the seventh to make it 6-4. In the top of the ninth, the Blue Jays were down to their last out with two men on when Colby Rasmus who previously played for the St. Louis Cardinals crushed the ball into the second deck in right field to give the Blue Jays a 7-6 lead. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Derek Jeter aka Captain Clutch lived up to his nickname as he tied the game at seven with a solo homer to right center. The game went into extra innings. The Blue Jays went on to win, 8-7 in 11 innings thanks to a throwing error on a pick off attempt by Derek Lowe which put pinch runner Mike McCoy on third base with nobody out after Yorvit Torrealba got a single to start the inning. After a strikeout, Mike McCoy scored the eventual winning run after a ball was grounded to third by Adeiny Hechavarria. McCoy raced home and he beat the throw to make Sean a happy camper on this night.

Tuesday after work I did the same drill except I met the King for dinner at the 7 Fish Market where we had some seafood.

This time we saw a much faster game with a different end result. The Yankees scored a run in the third and fourth innings to take a 2-0 lead off starter Ricky Romero who's had a rough year on the mound. Third baseman Adeiny Hechavarria sliced the lead in half in the fifth inning with a solo homer to make the score 2-1. That's the way it stayed as the Yankees won much to Sean's chagrin. Yankees' starter Phil Hughes pitched 7 strong innings to earn his 13th victory of the season.

Wednesday night after work I went home since the Blue Jays and Yankees wrapped up their series in the afternoon. The Blue Jays wound up winning the game and the series.

As for me, I came home and I made dinner then I went out and I did my laundry. When I came back I packed up my bags in preparation for our weekend getaway.

Thursday I took off from work so I could pick up the King as he worked at the Post Office for the last time. He decided to take a buyout that they offered him to retire. I went to Dollar Rent A Car to get a car for the day by LaGuardia Airport. I proceeded to pick up the King and off to Philadelphia we went to see the Mets play the Phillies in a matinee.

We were joined by our pal Andrew Van Cleve who recently became a father for the second and last time. On August 22nd, his wife Nicole gave birth to their second son, Micah. With that being said, the letters USB have taken on a new meaning. It used to stand for the Ultimate Sports Baby who is Dylan who was with Andrew at the game. Now it stands for Ultimate Sports Brothers aka Dylan and Micah.

As always, it was great to see Andrew and Dylan. They made the Met loss as it turned out much more bearable. I want to thank them for keeping us company.

As for the game we saw, the Mets were looking to sweep the Phillies. Mike Baxter lead off the game with a home run. Scott Hairston hit one of his own in the second inning with one out. After that, it was all Phillies as they scored single runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings to take a 3-2 lead. That's how it ended as the Phillies avoided getting swept by the Mets.

Since the game went so fast, the King and I decided to change our game plan from going to Trenton, NJ to getting closer to home since we had to return the car rental early Friday morning before we caught our flight to Milwaukee for our Labor Day weekend getaway.

With that being said, we wound up in Coney Island where we met up with Vincent Ascanio. We all went to MCU Park to see the Brooklyn Cyclones host the Hudson Valley Renegades.
 
As for the game we saw, both teams were battling to make the playoffs. In the second inning, the Cyclones scored first on a fielder's choice by Brandon Nimmo to take a 1-0 lead. The Renegades tied the game in the fourth inning on a single by Justin O'Connor. The game remained tied until the ninth inning when the Renegades' shortstop Leonardo Reginatto delivered the big blow, a two run homer which was the difference as the Renegades clinched a playoff spot with a 3-1 victory.

Stay tuned as I'll be doing some special posts that will go into detail about our latest annual traditional journey to the Midwest. It was a blast that doesn't get played out. In fact, I can't wait until next year to go back for more. Please bear with me as I try to find time to recap it for you.

Thank you for reading and following.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman