Royalty sees the Yankees play the Red Sox and also goes to Philadelphia to see more baseball over the weekend!

Friday night after work I went up to the Bronx to see the Yankees open up a three game weekend series with their division rival, the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. Before I went inside, I stopped off at Burger King for a light dinner with my pal Vincent Ascanio who I met there.

The beardless King

After we ate, we went to the Stadium and we met up with our pal William Frank Guthrie who was also there along with our other buddy Pat Gorman. Shortly thereafter, I did a double take. The beardless King was present & accounted for. Wow, what a difference a day makes. He was sitting with our friend Bryan Gilligan at the time.

As for the game we saw, the Yankees got back a few players who were out due to injuries. I'm referring to Mark Teixeira who was making his season debut at first base and former Red Sox Kevin Youkilis who also returned to the line up. After getting swept by the Mets in the Subway Series, the Yankees were hoping to get back on the beam. They had their ace, CC Sabathia on the mound. CC answered the call as he pitched seven and a third innings allowing just one run and he struck out ten. The Yankees got a few run scoring singles in the second inning off Red Sox' starter Jon Lester to take a 2-0 lead. They added another run in the fifth inning as Kevin Youkilis got a clutch two out single to make it 3-0. The Red Sox broke up the shutout in the seventh as Mike Napoli doubled in a run to make it 3-1. The Yankees answered back as Brett Gardner drove in a run to make it 4-1. Mariano Rivera came on in the ninth inning and he closed it out to earn his 19th save of the season and his 628th of his career.

After the game, Bryan drove the King and I to Donovan's Pub in Woodside, Queens so we could have our post game meal together. I contacted the King's brother Charlie and he joined us for the festivities as did our pal Frank Anichiarico. It was so funny because Charlie didn't recognize him at first. Once things settled down, we sat and enjoyed our food and drinks.

Charlie Casiano  & The beardless King

Saturday during the day I was able to clean up the house and then I went out and I did my laundry as well. When I got done, I made dinner for myself. After I ate, I went up to Yankee Stadium for game two of the series between the Yankees and the Red Sox. It was a rare Saturday night game in the Bronx because Fox was doing the game.


When I got up to my seat in section 420B, I saw William Frank Guthrie who was there again. I was pleasantly surprised. I barely made the first pitch due to the horrible service that the MTA provides us on the weekends here in NYC.

As for the game we saw, the Red Sox got even. In the third inning, they got a grand slam from Mike Napoli which capped off a five run outburst which set the tone against starter Phil Hughes. The Yankees broke the shutout in the fourth inning as they got a run courtesy of a sacrifice fly from catcher Chris Stewart to make it 5-1. In the eighth inning, left fielder Daniel Nava hit a three run homer off reliever Adam Warren to make it an 8-1 game. In the ninth inning, the Red Sox tacked on three more including one on a home run from Stephen Drew as they cruised to an 11-1 victory.

Sunday morning the King and I played softball. Our pal Bryan Gilligan met us at the field along with our pal Frank Anichiarico. Bryan then drove us all to Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia where the Phillies were hosting the Milwaukee Brewers. Our friend Frankie Centola mailed us four tickets for the game. We wound up meeting up with his brother Nicky who was also there. It was nice to see him again.

As for the game we saw, the Phillies jumped on the Brewers in the first inning after they had two outs. Jimmy Rollins doubled, Ryan Howard walked and red hot Domonic Brown hit a three run homer to right field to give the Phillies a 3-0 lead. John Mayberry Jr. followed with a single, catcher Erik Kratz doubled him in to make it 4-0. Third baseman Freddy Galvis then tripled to make it 5-0. Pitcher Cliff Lee flew out to finally end the inning. The Phillies added two more runs in the second inning as Cliff Lee cruised along until the eighth inning when he gave up four hits that were sandwiched by a double play ball. He was taken out after throwing seven and two thirds. He dominated the Brewers as he struck out eleven of them. The Phillies' bullpen managed to hold off a late Brewer surge as the Phillies won the game, 7-5.

After the game, Bryan drove us back to Yankee Stadium for the rubber match between the Yankees and the Red Sox. We got back with time to spare for the scheduled 8:05PM start. Unfortunately due to the threat of rain in the area, the start of the game was delayed. They finally decided to start the game 45 minutes late at 8:50PM. They over reacted because it didn't rain while they covered the field.

As for the game we saw, it was scoreless until the top of the fourth inning when the Red Sox scored the game's first run. Mike Napoli hit into a fielder's choIce that plated the run against Yankees' starter Hiroki Kuroda. In the top of the fifth inning, third baseman Jose Iglesias hit a solo home run to left field to make it 2-0. In the top of the sixth, David Ortiz hit a blast to right centerfield to extend the lead to 3-0. A few batters later, the sky opened up. As a result, the tarp was put back on the field. Since it was almost 11PM at that point I decided to leave so I could get home since I had to go to work in the morning. The King decided to hang around since he had nothing better to do. They wound up resuming the game 37 minutes later. They finished the top of the sixth inning in a matter of minutes he said. Shortly thereafter, the rain returned. With that being said, they decided to call off the game. Since it was official, the Red Sox got a 3-0 rain shortened victory.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman