Royalty sees a rare weekend of back to back baseball doubleheaders in NYC!‏

Due to some quirks in the Major League Baseball schedule, a rarity occurred over the last weekend of April. The Mets & Yankees were both home. Friday night the Mets played the Miami Marlins at Citi Field while the Yankees hosted the Angels at the same time. With that being said, the King & I wound up going to Citi Field to see the Mets play since we're Met fans.

Official stamp in my 25 Game MLB Pass-Port Book

As for the game we saw, the Mets lead 2-1 until the 8th inning when they got victimized by the long ball as the Marlins hit back to back homers after the first two batters, Giancarlo Stanton & Casey McGehee struck out. ‎Jarrod Saltamacchia & Garrett Jones did the damage to give the Marlins a 3-2 lead. The Mets rallied in the bottom of the ninth inning they had the tying run at second base with two out. They got even as Omar Quintanilla delivered a clutch run scoring single. After Eric Young Jr. doubled to put runners on second & third, former Yankee Curtis Granderson came through with the game winning single to right field to give the Mets a dramatic 4-3 victory. 

Saturday afternoon the King ‎& I went up to the Bronx to see the Yankees play the Angels at Yankee Stadium. 

Official stamp in my 25 Game Pass-port Book

As for the game we saw, the Angels got on the scoreboard first as Mike Trout hit a solo homer to right center field to give the Angels an early 1-0 lead. The Yankees came back in the bottom of the second inning. They loaded the bases thanks to a hit by pitch, an infield single ‎& a walk after Alfonso Soriano took a third strike for the first out. Then Kelly Johnson flew out to left field for the second out. With catcher John Ryan Murphy batting, Angels' starting pitcher Hector Santiago balked which tied the game at one. It also allowed the base runners to move up to second & third. Then John Ryan Murphy delivered a clutch two out two run single to right center field to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead. Jacoby Ellsbury grounded out to end the inning. In the top of the fourth inning, the Angels came back as they capitalized on an error & a double to tie the game at three. In the bottom of the fifth inning, John Ryan Murphy hit his first major league home run which wound up being the difference in the game as the Yankees beat the Angels, 4-3. Since Yankees' starting pitcher Vidal Nuno was unable to pitch five innings, he didn't qualify for the victory. As a result, Dellin Betances who pitched two innings of shutout ball in relief picked up his first major league win. 

Official stamp in my 25 Game MLB Pass-Port Book

After the game, the King ‎& I took the subway over to Citi Field for game two of this rare weekend doubleheader. When we got upstairs to the Royal Court in section 515, I got a special visit from a fellow ballpark chaser. I'm referring to Jeff Haines who came from Kansas to visit his daughter Marilyn who's going to graduate school here in NYC.  It was great to meet & greet Jeff who loves reading what I write. With that being said, I'm very grateful. 

Jeff Haines & I at Citi Field

As for the game we saw, the Mets jumped out to a 3-0 lead thanks to a sacrifice fly by David Wright & a two run homer by another former Yankee Bobby Abreu. The Marlins got one back in the second inning to make it 3-1. The Mets added a few more runs in the third inning thanks to a double by Lucas Duda to go up by a score of 5-1. The Marlins came back to take the lead, 6-5 as they scored five in the top of the sixth inning. The Mets benefited from a throwing error which allowed them to tie the game at six. It stayed that way until the tenth inning when the Marlins got a lead off game winning homer from Jarrod Saltamacchia to win it, 7-6.

Sunday afternoon the King & I returned to Citi Field for the finale of the three game series between ‎the Mets & the Marlins. 

Official stamp in my 25 Game MLB Pass-port Book

As for the game we saw, the Mets got a stellar start from Dillon Gee who wound up throwing eight shutout innings. The Mets rewarded him with four runs as they beat the Marlins, 4-0. By doing so, they won the series two games to one.

After the game, the King ‎& I went back to the Bronx for our second game of the day thanks to ESPN who decided to show the Yankees & Angels as their Sunday night game that night. As a result, we got to complete a rare weekend of baseball doubleheaders without having to leave the five boroughs. 

Official stamp in my 25 Game MLB Pass-Port Book

As for the game we saw, we got to see Masahiro Tanaka who started for the Yankees. He pitched well as he allowed two runs & he struck out eleven over ‎six & a third innings of work. He was a little wild as he walked four. He left the game trailing to 2-1. The Yankees got him off the hook when Mark Teixeira lead off the bottom of the seventh inning with a homer to tie the game at two. In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Yankees took advantage of a few walks, a passed ball & a wild pitch which scored the winning run as the Yankees beat the Angels, 3-2.

Stay tuned for another special post that will recap the return of Robinson Cano to the Bronx.

Thank you for reading ‎& following along. 

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty sees plenty of baseball over Mother's Day weekend!

Saturday afternoon May 11th the King & I went back to Citi Field for game three of the series between the Mets and the Pittsburgh Pirates. We met up with Jean Ann Harrison, Bryan Gilligan, Frank Anichiarico, Manny Morales, Pat Gorman, Rich Wolber, David Sack and Michael Carson who were also in attendance.
As for the game we saw, the Pirates beat up the Mets. They raced out to a 9-0 lead after five innings. They lit up Mets' starter Jonathon Niese who gave up eight runs in four and a third innings. The Mets finally broke the shutout in the sixth inning when they got a run off of starter Francisco Liriano who was making his first start for the Pirates after overcoming injuries to get back to the Major Leagues. Liriano went five and a third innings. He walked two and struck out nine. He earned the victory as the Pirates cruised to a 11-2 victory.


With rain on its way to the area, we wisely left after eight innings at 4:01PM so we could get to the car without getting soaked since the King was driving us to Scranton, Pennsylvania to see a minor league baseball game. We almost avoided the rain. As we got close to the car, the sky opened up. Luckily we didn't get too wet.

The game was delayed after the Pirates batted in the top of the ninth inning. As a result, we made a sound decision leaving when we did. After a 47 minute rain delay, the game resumed. We wound up missing a lead off homer by Andrew Brown of the Mets which made it 11-2 Pirates.

As we got further away from NYC, the weather improved for us. We wound up getting to Scranton with plenty of time to see the first pitch at newly renovated PNC Field which is the home of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. It's the Yankees' Triple A affiliate in the International League. On this night, they were playing the Gwinnett Braves, the Atlanta Braves farm club on Bark in the Park night. It should be noted there were dogs galore.

Jason Heyward playing for Gwinnett Braves

Curtis Granderson playing for the RailRiders

In addition, we wound up seeing a few Major Leaguers play because they were on rehab assignments. I'm referring to Jason Heyward who was playing for the Braves and Curtis Granderson who played for the RailRiders. Furthermore, we also saw former Major Leaguer Chien-Ming Wang start for the RailRiders as he attempts to make a return to the big leagues. He pitched well on this night as he allowed three runs in seven and two third innings. He didn't get a decision because he left with the game tied. The RailRiders got the winning run in the bottom of the eighth as Melky Mesa delivered a double that proved to be the difference as the RailRiders beat the Braves, 4-3.

Trevin Jaggars & I at PNC Field in Scranton, PA

During the game I got to meet another person I follow on Twitter who was also there. I'm referring to Trevin Jaggars. His Twitter handle is @Trevin8. Please feel free to follow him.

What a week it was for tweets and greets.

Sunday May 12th was Mother's Day. The King & I went back to Citi Field to see the Mets and Pirates wrap up their four game series as Matt Harvey tried to get a split for the Mets.

We were joined by Jean Ann Harrison, Phil Butleman, David Sack, Al Linderman & Alan Gimpel. In addition, we also had our friend Alvin Pachter and his father from Scranton there. They weren't able to join us Saturday night so it was nice to see them Sunday instead.

As for the game we saw, the Mets got Matt Harvey off the hook for the loss as Mike Baxter came through again as he tied the game at two in the seventh inning with a run scoring single. The Mets' bullpen gave up the go ahead run in the eighth inning. By doing so, it gave Jason Grilli a chance to get another save. He pitched a 1,2,3 ninth inning as he struck out two Mets to preserve the 3-2 win for the Pirates as they took three out of four from the Mets.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty w/o 5/16 in review

After work tired and all Monday night I went to Citi Field to see the Mets play the Florida Marlins.
The game was delayed at the start by an hour and twenty minutes due to rain. They finally started at 8:30PM.

As a result, I decided I need to get home at a reasonable time so I left the game after 6 and a half innings which is a rarity. The game was tied at one when I left thanks to Mike Stanton of the Marlins who hit a blast into the batter's eye by the Apple in straight away centerfield in the top of the seventh inning. What a shot it was.

The score stayed the same until the eleventh inning when the Marlins took the lead when an unlikely source delivered which turned out to be the game winning hit as they won, 2-1. Relief pitcher Burke Badenhop took his at bat and came through in a big way with two men on and two out.

I wish I was there to see it but I was so tired I needed to catch up on sleep from our busy weekend in Chicago and Milwaukee.

Tuesday night I was planning to go back to Citi Field but just before I left work I found out the game was postponed. It was odd because it rained throughout the day but it had stopped when I left work and it wound up not raining again the rest of the night.

They could have played as it turned out. I looked at it as a blessing since I was still tired. So I was able to go home and catch up on some much needed rest.

Wednesday night I wound up back at Citi Field despite the fact the weather forecast wasn't that good. The Mets were hosting the Washington Nationals on this night. Ironically they did get the game in somehow even though it rained most of the night. It didn't rain very hard until around the seventh inning. I thought for sure the tarp was going on the field. It didn't, the grounds crew did put lots of drying agent on the infield so they could try and finish the game without a delay and luckily they did.

The Mets beat the Nationals, 3-0. It should be noted that the King and I had some company as our friends Manny Morales and Martin Caamano were there with us braving the elements. We did get to enjoy each other's company so it worked well that we all showed up.

In addition, we were treated as some of the Hooligan's were present singing and adding comic relief as the game and night wore on.

Thursday night I went home after work to relax and to get ready for the Subway Series in the Bronx over the weekend.

Friday night after work I went up to Yankee Stadium for game one of this year's Subway Series between the Mets and the Yankees.

The Mets fell behind in this one early as Mark Teixeira hit a solo home run to give the Yankees an early 1-0 lead. The Mets tied the game as Justin Turner hit a double. Later in the sixth inning, Daniel Murphy hit a solo home run that was the difference as the Mets took game one, 2-1.

There were a number of Met fans sitting around us so it felt more like we were at Citi Field even though we were in the Bronx. Those people went home happy.

Saturday night I was back in the Bronx for game two. This time the Yankees beat the Mets, 7-3.

The Yankees used the long ball as their home runs accounted for all their runs.

Once again there were a lot of Met fans in the building. It was somewhat surprising compared to year's passed when Yankee fans didn't part with their tickets as easily. I guess they need the extra money in case they make another playoff run in October.

Sunday the King and I returned to the Bronx for the rubber match.

The Mets went ahead 3-1 in the second inning after the Yankees took a 1-0 lead thanks to Curtis Granderson who hit a home run in the first inning against Mets starter Mike Pelfrey.

The score remained that way until the bottom of the seventh inning when Mike Pelfrey unraveled. He loaded the bases with Yankees thanks to a hit, a walk and he hit Francisco Cervelli near his head. He proceeded to give up a two run single up the middle to Derek Jeter that tied the game. Pelfrey was done probably a few batters too late. The Met bullpen came on and added fuel to the fire as the Yankees continued their hit parade which helped them score 8 runs to take a 9-3 lead. That's how it ended as the Yankees took two out of three to win the first installment of the 2011 Subway Series.

For us Met fans, it was the same old story. The Yankees weren't playing well coming into the weekend but the Mets always find a way to lose to them.

We'll have to wait until July 1-3 to see the rematch at Citi Field.

I can only plan and arrange the games I and others attend, I don't control the outcomes.

The goal is whenever you decide to take in a ballgame, that you see a good one.

When you're ready to go, please let me know so I can arrange to get you there and back without a hassle.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty w/o 3/28 in review

After work Monday I went to Madison Square Garden as the Magic came back to play the Knicks for the second time in 5 days. This game wasn't originally scheduled but back on November 2, 2010 the game was postponed due to an asbestos scare. As a result, it was rescheduled for this night instead.

The Knicks came home in a downward spiral. The last time they played each other the Magic beat the Knicks, 111-99. This time the Knicks played better but they blew a 6 point lead late in the last minute of regulation. The game wound up going into overtime. The Knicks managed to overcome the letdown and they went on to beat the Magic going away, 113-106.

Tuesday night I went out to Newark, NJ with the intention of seeing the Nets play the Houston Rockets at the Prudential Center.

As it turned out, my plan of action didn't turn out as expected.

Stay tuned for a special post that will describe what happened on this particular night. If you've been there you'll know what I'm talking about. If not, this will give you reason to reconsider if it's worth the hassle or not to go there.

Wednesday I decided to take the night off so I could recharge the batteries and brace for the beginning of the new baseball season.

After working a half a day I went up to Yankee Stadium to start the baseball season. Please feel free to see the live post I did from my season seat in Section 420B row 7 seat 3.

As for the game, the Yankees opened the new season with a victory. They beat the Tigers, 6-3. Mark Teixeira hit a three run home run to open the scoring for the Yankees after the Tigers took a 1-0 lead. The Tigers came back to tie the game at 3. Former Tiger Curtis Granderson came back to haunt his former team when he hit a home run in the 7th inning. The "Grandy Man" delivered off former Yankee pitcher Phil Coke. With that being said, Curtis had a "Coke" and a smile.

The Yankees added a few insurance runs before Mariano Rivera closed it out in the ninth inning 1,2,3. It should be noted Granderson made a nice running catch to get the second out.

After the game, the King and I went to the Nassau Coliseum to see the Islanders play their crosstown rivals, the Rangers.

It was a playoff like atmosphere as these two teams battled it out.

The Rangers scored the first goal of the game but the Islanders went on to score the next six before the Rangers squeezed one more by former Ranger Al Montoya who thought he had it.The Islanders won, 6-2. As a result, many Ranger fans who were in attendance stormed out of the building.

As for the weekend which started early for me on Friday, stay tuned as I'll be writing a special post that recaps the adventurous getaway we had.

As always, thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman