Royalty w/o 9/16 in review

Monday night after work I came home I made myself dinner then I went around the corner & I did my laundry.

Tuesday night after work I went out to Citi Field to see the Mets open up a three game series with 2012 World Champion San Francisco Giants who were making their first & only appearance in Queens. As an added bonus for their fans the Giants went to the Bronx to play the Yankees over the weekend too. As a result, the Giants got to spend six straight days in the area. With that being said, there were a good number of Giant fans at all of the games. At Citi Field, they was a large group of fans that took over the last two or three sections out in left center field behind the Party City Party Deck. There was a sea of black & orange for the Giants not blue & orange for the Mets. Thanks to the Giant fans who made the trek across the country plus the ones who remember when the Giants played here in NYC way back in the day for helping to enhance the attendance so the announced crowd could look more legitimate.

As for me, I went straight to ballpark. I was greeted by my pal Sam Citron when I arrived at the Rotunda gate. After we exchanged pleasantries, I went inside I decided to have Two Boots pizza for dinner. Since it was another Citi Tuesday I was able to get my $10 gift card just for showing my Citi Card at the special booth out behind the Apple in center field. By doing so, I was able to enjoy some of the great food choices Citi Field has to offer. When I finally got upstairs to section 516, I was joined by Pat Gorman, Michael Abrams, Mike Jaffee who made a rare appearance, Al Linderman & Frank Anichiarico who happen to be Giant fans from way back when they were very young. That was their team. It should also be noted that on this night it was the King's 7,400th lifetime baseball he's seen live in person. It was also his 245th baseball game in 2013 for those who were wondering.

As for the game we saw, it was a marathon time wise as it lasted three hours & 55 minutes. The Giants went on to outlast the Mets, 8-5.

Wednesday night after work I returned to Citi Field for game two of the three game set between the Mets & Giants. This time I had chicken tenders & Nathan's fries for dinner at the ballpark. They were really good. I wound up sitting in section 515 that night with Manny Morales, Phil Butleman, Charlie O'Reilly, Al Linderman, Frank Anichiarico, Alan Gimpel & Pat Gorman who were present & accounted for.

As for the game we saw, the Mets' rookie catcher Juan Centeno who was called up from the minor leagues got his first major league hit. The Mets went on to win this game in dramatic fashion. They entered the bottom of the ninth inning trailing by a score of 4-1. The Mets rallied to come all the way back as Josh Satin delivered the game winning hit to cap off the four run rally to give the Mets a 5-4 victory.

Thursday I took the day off from work knowing the Mets were playing an afternoon game at 1:10PM to wrap up their series with the Giants. In addition, the Philadelphia Eagles were also home against the Kansas City Chiefs at Lincoln Financial Field on Thursday Night football. When I saw that on the NFL schedule back in April I decided that would be a perfect day to take off so I could see both games.

In the morning, the King went to Dollar Rent a Car by LaGuardia airport & he picked up a car for a week since he decided to make one last road trip before the regular season came to a close. By doing so, he drove Vincent Ascanio & I down to Philadelphia for the Eagle game. He came back home & he picked me up & we drove over to Citi Field for the afternoon game.

When we got to the Promenade level in section 515 we were joined by Mike & Sharon Jaffee who usually like to attend the mid week afternoon games that I normally don't get to go to. It was nice to see both of them again. In addition, Michael Abrams, Phil Butleman, Al Linderman & Alan Gimpel came back for more as well.

As for the game we saw, it was a rare fast one as the Giants went on to beat the Mets, 2-1 in two hours & 37 minutes. By doing so, the Giants took two out of three from the Mets before they headed to the Bronx for the weekend.

Thankfully the game went fast. It turned out that we needed it to do so because getting down to Philadelphia during rush hour is no bargain. In addition, we ran into some pockets of traffic that delayed us even further. We did manage to stop of at McDonald's fast off I-95 in Pennsylvania. I was able to get myself chicken nuggets and a few grilled onion cheddar burgers to go along with an order of fries, a drink and three chocolate chip cookies which I ate in the car. It definitely hit the spot.

Me at Lincoln Financial Field

When we got closer to the City of Brotherly Love, we found out that the Eagles were retiring Donovan McNabb's #5 jersey at halftime. I wound up sitting with our pal Frankie Centola on the Club level. The King & Vincent Ascanio bought tickets at the box office since they had a limited number available. We also met up with our buddy Andrew Van Cleve who went to the game too. Furthermore, at halftime I got to see our pal Sean MacDonald who is in the midst of seeing all 32 NFL teams play a home game this season. As always, it was great to see him again.

Donovan McNabb #5

As for the game we saw, the Eagles wound up losing to the visiting Kansas City Chiefs, 26-16. The Eagles committed numerous turnovers throughout the game & the Chiefs took total advantage of their opportunities. It was also the return of former Eagles' coach Andy Reid to Philadelphia where he brought plenty of success during his tenure there. On this night he wound up getting the last laugh as his Chiefs beat his former team.
After the game, the King decided to drive Frankie home. He lives in the Philadelphia area. Then he drove Vincent Ascanio back to Brooklyn before he finally took us both home. As a result, we arrived back in Astoria at 4:35AM. I laid down for a few hours then I got up and I went to work.

Friday I was exhausted but I still went back to work. After work, I went up to the Bronx to see the San Francisco Giants continue their road trip as they spent the weekend at Yankee Stadium taking on the Yankees. This was their first visit to the new Stadium. They came to the old one back in June 2002.

I stopped off at U.S. Fried Chicken before I went into the Stadium. I had a few slices of pizza there. When I finally got up to my seat in section 420B row 7 I was greeted by Frank Anichiarico, Pat Gorman, Phil Butleman & William Frank Guthrie who were also in the building.

As for the game we saw, it was a pitcher's duel until the seventh inning between Tim Lincecum of the Giants & CC Sabathia of the Yankees. With the bases loaded & two outs, Alex Rodriguez aka A-Roid hit a grand slam to right field that cleared the bases and it gave the Yankees a 5-1 lead. For what it's worth, A-Roid passed legendary Yankee Lou Gehrig for the most grand slams in MLB history by hitting his 24th of his career. Speaking of legendary Yankees, Mariano Rivera came on to pitch a scoreless ninth inning as the Yankees beat the Giants, 5-1.

After the game, our pal Bryan Gilligan drove the King, Frank Anichiarico & I to Donovan's Pub for a post game meal. We were joined by the King's brother Charlie Casiano who met us there. It was a good time as it always seems to be when we get to go there. It was nice to see Charlie again.

Saturday afternoon the King & I went back to Yankee Stadium for game two of the series with the Giants. Al Linderman & Frank Anichiarico were there to see their Giants play again. We also had Bryan Gilligan & Vincent Ascanio on hand as usual.

As for the game we saw, the Yankees silenced the Giants, 6-0 as Ivan Nova threw a six hit shutout.
After the game, the King drove Bryan, Vincent & I to Philadelphia where we saw the Mets play the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park that night. We once again stopped off at McDonald's and we took out some food & we ate it in the car since we were pressed for time.

We got to the game just before it started. We wound up sitting up in section 421 under the overhang because there was a threat of rain for most of the night. Shortly after we sat down, we got a visit from our pal Andrew Van Cleve who came up to say hello. He was sitting downstairs with his father who came to visit from the Bay area. As always it was great to catch up with Andrew.

As for the game we saw, the Mets built a 5-1 lead by scoring four runs in the top of the sixth inning. The Phillies answered back by scoring three in their half to make it a 5-4 game. With one out in the top of the seventh inning, David Wright walked then the umpires decided to put the tarp on the field as the rain picked up. We all wisely decided to leave knowing that the game probably wasn't going to be resumed based on the weather forecast. It turned out we were right. As a result, the Mets won the game, 5-4.

Sunday afternoon the King went back to Philadelphia to see the Mets play the Phillies again. As for me, I passed up the opportunity to go to Yankee Stadium for what turned out to be Mariano Rivera Day. I stayed home watching the ceremony on television while I waited to leave the house to go out to MetLife Stadium to see the Jets play the Buffalo Bills in a battle of young rookie quarterbacks. I'm referring to E.J. Manuel who was drafted in the first round surprisingly by the Bills and Geno Smith who surprisingly fell to the Jets in the second round.

As for the game I saw, it was the second rounder who lead his team to victory. Geno Smith made a few mistakes that resulted in turnovers but when he needed to shine, he did. He lead the way as the Jets beat the Bills, 27-20. It should be noted that running back Bilal Powell ran for 149 yards on the ground which helped the Jets hold off the Bills.

Stay tuned as I will continue to play catch up. Please bear with me as I try my best to do so.

Thank you for reading & following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman