Royalty w/o 4/15 in review

Monday as you already know from reading along that the King and I spent our time in Boston and Pawtucket, Rhode Island experiencing another horrific day in our lives. It reminded us of 9/11/01 on a smaller scale. For no good reason, three innocent people lost their lives and others lost limbs which have altered their lives for forever while others were treated for various injuries as a result of this terrible act. Life is short enough. You never know when the next lunatic is going to strike again. With that being said, we have to be grateful for those who we consider our friends and family. Some of us have more than others. Regardless of what you have, you should count your blessings and savor your time together. My thoughts and prayers are with those people affected directly and/or indirectly. With that being said, we say stay strong, Boston. We're all behind you in this time of need.

Tuesday night after work I went up to Yankee Stadium to see the Yankees open a three game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks who beat them back in the 2001 World Series which ironically occurred right after 9/11 here in NYC.

Earlier that afternoon, the Yankees announced that they were going to honor those affected in Boston by having a moment of silence. In addition, the flags were all at half staff in remembrance of the tragic events that took place. Furthermore, after the third inning, they played a Boston favorite these days at Fenway Park. I'm referring to Neil Diamond's song, Sweet Caroline. It was a nice classy touch by the Yankee organization to acknowledge those who are in need of everybody's support during this unfortunate time.

Yankees & Boston Unite - Stay Strong

It was an emotional night at the ballpark. Once the game started, things seemed back to normal for us in the stands. It should be noted that in honor of Jackie Robinson Day which was also on Monday, the players all wore his number 42 as a tribute to him breaking barriers back in 1947. The Yankees made sure that they put up the player's real number on the scoreboard so people like us who keep score could figure who the players were. For whatever reason, they didn't do that at Fenway Park on Monday morning.

As for the game we saw, the Yankees fell behind 2-0 as the Diamondbacks scored twice in the top of the third inning. The Yankees responded in the bottom of the fourth as Robinson Cano hit a three run home run to give them a 3-2 lead. They added an insurance run in the seventh inning as Eduardo Nunez hit a sacrifice fly to make it 4-2. Fittingly the real number 42 these days, Mariano Rivera came on in the ninth inning and he retired the Diamondbacks 1,2,3 to notch another save which was his third of the season and the 611th of his legendary career as the Yankees closer. Ironically the Yankees won, 4-2 which symbolized the theme of the number 42 for Jackie Robinson on this night.

Wednesday night after work I returned to the Bronx for game two of the three game series with the Diamondbacks. This time things were getting more back to normal if you will but Boston is still and be in our prayers for the foreseeable future.

As for the game we saw, CC Sabathia started for the Yankees. He got roughed up early as first baseman Paul Goldschmidt hit a two run homer to give the Diamondbacks a 2-0 lead. They tacked on another run in the fifth inning as left fielder A.J. Pollock hit a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0. In the seventh inning, the Yankees offense finally awoke. They rallied to tie the game at three as Diamondbacks' starter Wade Miley unraveled with two outs in the inning. He wound up walking in a run to make it 3-1. After he departed reliever Tony Sipp came in and he gave up a two run single to Brett Gardner which evened the score. The Diamondbacks escaped further damage for the time being. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Travis Hafner came up as a pinch hitter with two out and nobody on. He proceeded to hit a homer to right center field which turned to be the difference as the Yankees won again, 4-3. Sabathia allowed three runs in eight innings as he picked up the victory. Mariano Rivera threw another 1,2,3 ninth inning to preserve the win as he recorded his 612th career save.

Thursday night after work I repeated the process again. This time the Diamondbacks did their best to lose again. They took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Didi Gregorius who was recently called up from the minor leagues hit his first major league home run. The King and I saw him play back in March 2012 for the Cincinnati Reds in a spring training game in Goodyear, Arizona. In the sixth inning, Martin Prado, a former Atlanta Brave, hit a solo homer to make it 2-0. The Yankees answered back in the bottom half of the sixth as Robinson Cano hit a solo shot to get the Yankees on the scoreboard at 2-1. They evened the score again with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning when catcher Francisco Cervelli who's not known for his power hit a home run to left field to send the game into extra innings. After both teams threatened but didn't score in the eleventh inning, the Diamondbacks finally broke through with four runs in the top of the twelveth inning as Cody Ross got a single to drive in the first run and former Yankee Eric Chavez delivered a bases clearing three run double to give the Diamondbacks a 6-2 victory as they avoided getting swept again like they did in the 2001 World Series which they won by winning all their home games.

Stay tuned for some special posts that will recap the weekend we spent mostly at Citi Field with a side trip to Philadelphia for Sunday night baseball.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty goes to Fenway Park on Patriot's Day in Boston on Jackie Robinson Day!

Sunday night after the Yankee game, the King drove Vincent Ascanio, Phil Butleman and I towards Boston. We stayed over in Vernon, Connecticut which is about 10 miles north of Hartford at Motel 6. By doing so, we were in position to get to Boston which was 90 miles away in time for their traditional Patriot's Day game which coincides with the running of the Boston Marathon.

We wound up parking the car on the street within walking distance of Fenway Park for free by a meter because it's a legal holiday in Massachusetts at 10AM which gave us plenty of time to make the first pitch which was threw at 11:05AM.

It's always a thrill to go to Fenway Park to see a game. For me, I've seen at least one every year since 1986. This was my 95th baseball game there.

As for our pal Vincent Ascanio this was his first time to the old ballyard. It was great to have the opportunity to show him the way there.

Upon arrival we stopped off outside the Green Monster by the left field gate where we saw our favorite street vendor, Sausage Connection which is run by Harry and his mother who were call affectionately call Mama. They were so happy to see us again. Mama told us she's 81 years young. She looked great. It's always a pleasure to see her. She doesn't work as often as she used to but she always tries to make Patriot's Day. We were grateful she did. Of course, we introduced Vincent to them. They treated us royally as they have for over the 25 + years we've known them. We all ordered steak tips which served as our breakfast on this day. They were delicious.

The King, Harry, Mama, Me & Vincent Ascanio

Once we got done, we headed inside. We wanted to make sure Vincent got to see the unique features of going to Fenway. He said he had a blast.

Green Monster 

Royal View from Section 24 at Fenway Park

As for the game we saw, in honor of Jackie Robinson Day all the players wore the number 42. With that being said, it was hard to differentiate who was who. The umpires also wore number 42.

The Red Sox were playing the Tampa Bay Rays. Both starters, Jeremy Hellickson of the Rays and Ryan Dempster of the Red Sox both threw seven strong innings. The Red Sox lead at that point, 2-1. The Rays tied the game at two in the top of the ninth inning. In the bottom of the ninth, the Red Sox got a game winning double off the Green Monster from Mike Napoli as Dustin Pedroia raced around the bases all the way from first with one out to give the Red Sox a dramatic 3-2 victory at 2:07PM. Since we positioned ourselves out near the left field gate we were able to get out of the ballpark before many of the 37,449 that we were on hand. We stopped by Harry & Mama to say one last goodbye.

We then headed back to the car. In the process, we got to take a peak at the Boston Marathon which runs nearby. We had to go underground to get to the other side of the street so we could get back to the car. Thankfully we did so with relative ease unlike back in the day when we ran into wall to wall people trying to do so.

Stay tuned for a special post that will recap the unexpected turn of events that occurred shortly thereafter. A sad but unforgettable day indeed.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty meets two more special roadtrippers, RJ Breisacher and Chuck Booth at Yankee Stadium on Jackie Robinson Day!

Me with RJ Breisacher and Chuck Booth

The life of royalty has its privileges in more ways than one.

Being a sports fan and attending live sporting events on a daily and nightly basis is lots of fun.

Besides having a chance to see the best athletes perform on the biggest stage, every so often I get to run into people who share similar interests to mine.

With that being said, I had the unique privilege and honor of meeting up with a few more special people when I was at Yankee Stadium for Sunday night baseball on ESPN on Jackie Robinson Day.

I got to meet and greet two more roadtrippers, one was a rookie if you will and the other a seasoned vet when it comes to sports travel.

First of all, I got to meet up with a young man named RJ Breisacher who's in the midst of living a dream.
This young man is a true American hero. He has served our country in Afghanistan while we were at war. For that, I want to thank him for his service.

Since returning to the country, he decided he wanted to chase his dream of attending a baseball game in all 30 current Major League ballparks. In the process, he's keeping a blog called Baseball Dreamin' where he's tracking his adventures.

Please feel free to follow his dream as he lives it. He's only 26 and he's seen other parts of the World. Now he's seeing the Country he defended while he was abroad.

On the other hand, I also got to met up with a guy who's from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Chuck Booth who's trying to rewrite the Guinness Book of Records by attempting to break his own record of seeing all 30 Major League ballparks in 24 days in 2009.

He's in the midst of his latest streak which officially began in Anaheim on April 7th where he met up with my pal, Steve Fekete aka the Padre Punk.

RJ and I had the privilege and honor of meeting and greeting him too as he was able to get back from Toronto, Ontario, Canada where he saw the Blue Jays play the Orioles that afternoon. He flew back to LaGuardia airport and he arranged to get to the Bronx on time to keep his potential record breaking streak intact.

Needless to say, regardless if indeed breaks his record or not, it's quite an attempt and accomplishment on his part.

Upon meeting and greeting him, he did refer to me as a pioneer of sports travel since I've been doing this for 25+ years now. I was humbled by his commentary.

He's been a travel expert for the last four or five years. While he was with RJ and I, he gave us some of his tricks of the trade. It was an absolute pleasure to meet and greet him and RJ as we were able share unique stories that we've encountered in our lives.

I hope to cross paths again with these guys as well as other roadtrippers who are making the rounds to see their favorite team and/or sport.

I always offer my assistance to everybody. If you share the passion, please feel to pick my brain.

I always look forward to meeting up with new people so we can continue to expand this great fraternity that keeps growing leaps and bounds like the population.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman