Royalty sees another MLB doubleheader and meets another ballpark chaser over Cinco De Mayo weekend!

Saturday morning I got up after I got a good night sleep and I made myself breakfast. When I got done I got ready for another busy day. The King went out to have breakfast with at his mother's house. He told me he'll meet at Yankee Stadium.

The Hermans meet - Gary & Rebecca

I wound up getting to the Stadium a little earlier than I normally would have because during the week I arranged to meet up with another ballpark chaser who was planning to be at the game too. Ironically she has the same last name as me. Her name is Rebecca Herman. She was visiting NYC with her son Trevor. They live in San Diego. I got wind of her excursion on Facebook through the Ballpark Chaser group that I belong to. She said she had seats in section 320B in the Jim Beam Suite. That was perfect because the King and I sit in section 420B which is right above where they were sitting. When I arrived at the Great Hall, I sent her a text message so I could see where she was. They were in the Jim Beam Lounge eating at the time. With that being said, I headed upstairs. When I got nearby, I called her and she came out to meet me. We got to speak briefly because she left her son alone and she didn't want him to think she got lost. She told me she's in the process of writing a baseball book. She said her friend is doing it with her. They have interviewed 18 different managers so far. It sounds like it's going to be a great read. I look forward to staying in touch with her. We follow each on Twitter. Her handle is @TheBaseballPHD. Feel free to follow her too especially if you like baseball. She's a very intelligent person who can teach you a thing or two about baseball and life. Please feel free to read her blog for all the details and pictures about their visit to the Bronx.

After I said goodbye to her, I went to my seat. I got to see our pals Phil Butleman, Vincent Ascanio, Bryan Gilligan and Rich Wolber who were in attendance among the announced crowd of 41,349.

Jessica, Luis Nunez & I at Yankee Stadium

In addition, we met up with a few people who came from California to visit. They were Luis and Jessica Nunez. They were Oakland A's fans. Luis is from LA and his wife Jessica is from Oakland. They wound up sitting a few rows behind us. During the game, we started talking to each other. Luis had some time off so they took a vacation to come East for 10 days. They said they were planning to go to Boston and possibly Niagara Falls while they were here. They didn't have a set game plan though. We did exchange contact information so if and when I do get back to the West Coast which should be in the near future, we can hopefully meet up again.

As for the game we saw, the Yankees got a great pitching performance from their starter, Phil Hughes who pitched eight shutout innings. In the process, he struck out nine Athletics. The Yankees gave up a few runs in the ninth inning but they held off the A's to take game two of the series by a score of 4-2.

After the game, Bryan drove the King and I as well as Vincent Ascanio down to Philadelphia for game two of the day. We got to Citizens Bank Park, home of the Phillies with plenty of time to spare. It helped that the Yankee game was nice and crisp. We wound up sitting up in section 419 which is just to the right of home plate. They announced a crowd of 40,091 which was short of a sellout so we had just enough room to sit and relax.

View from Section 419 at Citizens Bank Park 

As for the game we saw, the Phillies were hosting division rival, the Miami Marlins, who are off to a terrible start after they dismantled their team again in the off season. On this night, they sent rookie Jose Fernandez to the mound to pitch against Cole Hamels of the Phillies. It was a great pitchers' duel as Jose Fernandez allowed just one hit and a walk both to Freddy Galvis. He threw seven shutout innings while he struck out nine as he earned his first major league win. He got run support from rookie right fielder Marcell Ozuna who hit his first major league home run to lead off the second inning to make it 1-0. In the third inning, second baseman Chris Valaika added a solo shot to make it 2-0. The Marlins made those runs stand up as they beat the Phillies, 2-0. Cole Hamels went eight strong innings but he was the hard luck loser.

Sunday was Cinco De Mayo, the King and I spent it at Yankee Stadium. We saw the rubber match of the three game set with the Athletics. We were joined by our pals Pat Gorman, Rich Wolber, Larry Peim and Phil Butleman.

As for the game we saw, Andy Pettitte started for the Yankees. He pitched better than he did his last time out against the Astros but he wasn't great. He allowed four runs, three earned in five innings of work. He left the game with the Yankees losing 4-1. The Yankees rallied to tie the game at four as they scored three runs in the sixth inning to get Pettitte off the hook for the loss. The Athletics got a solo homer with one out in the eighth inning as Josh Donaldson hit a ball into the left field stands which turned out to be the game winner as the Athletics won, 5-4. As a result, they left the Bronx taking two out of three.

Stay tuned for my w/o 5/6 in review.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman