Royalty is going back to the Bay Area over Labor Day weekend!

Here's the game plan:

The King & I are flying to San Francisco on American Airlines. We leave New York JFK Airport on Thursday, August 30th at 7AM Eastern Time, we arrive in the City by the Bay at 10:19AM Pacific Time if all goes well. Upon arrival, I'm renting a car for the long weekend from Payless Car Rental. I plan to drive right to San Jose upon arrival. Due to a change in plans, we're going to Oakland that night instead. Thanks to our pal & fellow sports traveler Tike Narry we'll be sleeping at his new house while we're there. Friday morning I plan to drive to Stockton so we can spend some quality time visiting the King's sister who lives there. We'll be returning to San Francisco that night to see the Giants play. Saturday we get to see a Bay Area baseball doubleheader with the Giants playing that afternoon & the Athletics home that night. Sunday afternoon we're going back to AT&T Park then we're going to Tike's house warming party that night. Labor Day Monday we'll be in Oakland that afternoon. We should have enough time for a farewell dinner before we head back to the airport in San Francisco to catch our red eye flight back home. We're scheduled to leave there at 10:16PM Pacific Time & if we don't get delayed for any reason we should land back at New York JFK Airport at 7AM Eastern Time Tuesday morning.       
   
Thursday August 30th Stockton Ports at San Jose Giants 12:30PM Pacific Time

                                       Mariners at Athletics 7:05PM Pacific Time

Friday August 31st Mets at Giants 7:15PM Pacific Time
                            
Saturday September 1st Mets at Giants 1:05PM Pacific Time                                                            

                                          Mariners at Athletics 6:05PM Pacific Time

Sunday September 2nd Mets at Giants 1:05PM

Monday September 3rd Yankees at Athletics 1:05PM Pacific Time 

If you're interested in going on this exclusive getaway royalty style just let me know so I can arrange to have you join us & many other people we plan to meet out there.

It's going to be a blast so why not come for a "royal" ride.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty is heading to Denver & Seattle for a Reunion of Sports Travelers in late August!

Here's the game plan:

The King & I are flying to Denver, Colorado on American Airlines. We leave New York LaGuardia Airport on Thursday, August 20th at 7:25AM Eastern Time, we have a layover in Chicago at O'Hare  where we'll meet up our pal Paul Nieuwland & his family who are coming from Toronto. Ironically they're going to be on the same flight as us from Chicago to Denver. We all leave the Windy City at 10AM Central Time & we're scheduled to land in Denver at 11:36AM Mountain Time. Upon arrival, we'll all be meeting up with another friend of ours, Chuck Booth who is in the midst of a season long MLB baseball odyssey. Chuck will be using one of his many free rental certificates he has accumulated from being such a frequent renter to get a car for one day from his favorite car rental company, National Rent A Car. As a result, he's going to drive us all around while we're there. In addition, the King & I will be staying over with our pal Scott Bultman who is currently living in Denver.

On Friday August 21st we're all flying out to Seattle, Washington for the rest of the epic weekend. Chuck will arrive around 2PM Pacific Time he said while the rest of us get in at 2:50PM Pacific Time. Upon arrival, Chuck will wait a short time so he can meet up with us. He will then do a similar maneuver as he's going to rent a car again from National Rent A Car for all of us as well as many others who will be joining us in the Emerald City. After the big bash finally ends the King & I will board a red eye flight back home to LaGuardia Airport Sunday night August 23rd at 11:50PM Pacific Time. We have a connecting flight in Dallas-Fort Worth that leaves there at 7:05AM Central Time before we're scheduled to arrive back in the Big Apple at 11:36AM Eastern Time Monday morning the 24th assuming all goes well.  

Thursday August 20th Nationals at Rockies 6:40PM Mountain Time

Friday August 21st White Sox at Mariners 7:10PM Pacific Time
                            
Saturday August 22nd 2nd Annual Ballpark Chasers Meet Up

                                     11AM BBQ at Ken Lee's House in Renton, Washington

                                     Tour of Safeco Field 3:30-4:30PM 

                                     White Sox at Mariners 6:10PM Pacific Time
                     
Sunday August 23rd White Sox at Mariners 1:10PM Pacific Time

                                  Memphis Redbirds at Tacoma Rainiers 5:05PM Pacific Time 

If you're interested in going on this exclusive getaway royalty style just let me know so I can arrange to have you join the King & I.

It's going to be a blast so why not come for a "royal" ride.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty starts June by seeing three different teams play at Yankee Stadium in consecutive days!‏

Thanks to a rain out on April 30th, the Yankees wound up hosting three different teams in consecutive days at Yankee Stadium. They were scheduled to play Sunday, June 1st against the Twins & Tuesday June 3rd against the Athletics. Since Monday  June 2nd was scheduled as an open date for both the Yankees & Mariners they decided to make the game that night. As a result, it set up a rare occurrence. 

View from Section 420B

‎With that being said, here's how it played out.

On Sunday afternoon, I arranged to get my pal & fellow road tripper Blair Long a ticket for the game in the row right in front of the King & I in section 420B. Since there were a few empty seats by us he got to sit with us for the duration of the afternoon. It worked well. That way we were able to enjoy the game together. It was nice to see him again.  

As for the game we saw, former Yankee Phil Hughes pitched eight strong innings just allowing two runs. ‎The Twins trailed, 2-1 after eight innings. In the ninth inning, Josh Willingham lead off with a solo homer which tied the game & got Phil Hughes off the hook for the hard luck loss. The Twins wound up batting around as Josh Willingham flew out to center field to end the inning. In between the Twins added five more runs as they made a winner out of Phil Hughes who got the last laugh on this day as his new team, the Twins beat the Yankees, 7-2.

‎Monday night marked the return to the Bronx again for Robinson Cano. He & his new team, the Seattle Mariners came back to the Bronx to play the make up game. Not only did the Yankees see their former teammate but they wound up facing Felix Hernandez who's one of the best pitchers in baseball. 

As for the game we saw, the Mariners lead off hitter James Jones played college baseball at LIU in Brooklyn. My pal David Sack has seen him play there. It was a homecoming for him. He had a rough night though. He went hit less in five at bats which included a sacrifice bunt which was part of the decisive four run seventh inning which gave the Mariners' the lead for good. Robinson Cano once again heard the boos as he walked a few times, got picked off first base & he singled in his last at bat ‎to finish the game one for three. Felix Hernandez  pitched well. He gave up two runs in seven innings to earn the victory as the Mariners broke open a 2-2 tie as they went on to whip the Yankees, 10-2.

Tuesday night after work I returned to the Bronx hoping to make it three days in a row seeing three different teams play. Mother nature did her best to put a damper on that but thankfully she cooperated after an hour & twelve minute ‎delay. With that being said, first pitch wound up being at 8:17PM. As they say, better late than never. 

As for the game we saw, the starting pitchers pitched well. Scott Kazmir, a former Met, went six & a third innings. He allowed two runs while he striking out ten. Hiroki Kuroda who started for the Yankees gave up just one run in six & two thirds innings. The Athletics tied the game at two in the top of the eighth inning so neither starter got a decision. The game went into extra innings. The Yankees bullpen sprung a leak as Adam Warren got tagged for three runs in the top of the tenth inning which proved costly as the Yankees fell again, 5-2. 

Wednesday night when I got to Yankee Stadium I went to get my 25 game MLB Pass-Port book stamped at the Guest services booth by gate 6. While I was doing so, I saw a familiar face. It was my buddy Steve Cirvello who works as a business partner with my pal Rick Morris of the FDH Lounge. Steve told me he bought a bleacher ticket off of Stub Hub. I told him to come upstairs with me instead. It worked out well as there were some empty seats near the King & I. As a result, we got to enjoy each others company for the rest of the night. Steve can be found on Twitter. His handle is @FDHNYB. Please feel free to follow him & show him some royal love. 

As for the game we saw, the Athletics overcame a 4-0 deficit as they went on to cruise past the Yankees again, 7-4. 

Stay tuned for some special posts that will go into detail about our weekend getaway to Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Reading & Baltimore.

Thank you for reading & following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty w/o 5/13 in review

Monday night after work I came home and I made myself dinner. After I ate, I went out and I did my laundry.

Tuesday night after work I went up to the Bronx to see the Yankees open up a three game series with the Seattle Mariners. 17 years ago to the day was the anniversary of Dwight Gooden's no hitter which ironically was against the Mariners who had A-Rod in their line up at the time. It was the first no hitter I ever saw live in person. It was a very memorable night for me.

This time on paper history looked like it could repeat itself with Felix Hernandez starting for the Mariners and CC Sabathia going for the Yankees.

Before I went into the Stadium, I stopped off at Burger King a few blocks away to have a pre game meal. When I got done, I went up to my seat in section 420B row 7 where I was greeted by my pal and avid reader of my blog, Greg Venuto who came down from Norwalk, Connecticut to see his Yankees play. He told me he was in Washington DC over Mother's Day weekend. He went to visit his friend who lives down there. While he was there he went to see the Capitals play the Rangers. He also saw the Nationals host the Cubs. He enjoyed his time away. It was great to see him again.

It should be noted our friends Steve Tepperman and Pat Gorman were also in attendance on this night.

As for the game we saw, it didn't exactly live up to the billing. It turned out to be an ordinary occasion between two of baseball's best pitchers these days. The Mariners got to CC but they couldn't capitalize on their opportunities. They wound up getting ten hits off of him in six and a third innings before he departed. He allowed three runs only two of them were earned and he did strikeout ten in the process. Former Yankee Raul Ibanez felt right at home as he hit a two run homer to give the Mariners a 3-0 lead in the sixth inning. The Yankees finally scored a run off of Felix Hernandez who had kept the Yankee bats quiet as he struck out eight over his six innings of work. Once he left for the night, the Yankees bats awoke. In the seventh inning, they scored three runs to take the lead, 4-3. Robinson Cano delivered a two run double and Lyle Overbay hit a sacrifice fly to put the Yankees ahead for good. Mariano Rivera came on in the ninth inning and he closed it out. As a result, he notched his 624th career save as the Yankees took the opener of the series.

Wednesday night after work I went back to the Bronx for game two of the series. I stopped off at the Court Deli Restaurant first so I could pick up sandwiches for the King and I. I had a corned beef and he had turkey. After I rounded up some snacks at a few different stores in the area I went into the Stadium.
When I got up to my seat in section 420B row 7 I was joined by our pals Vincent Ascanio, Larry Peim, Phil Butleman, David Sack and Rich Wolber who were also present & accounted for.

I want to congratulate our pal Vincent Ascanio aka the Kid who saw his 700th live baseball game on this night.

As for the game we saw, the Mariners jumped on Yankee starter Phil Hughes who failed to finish the first inning as they scored seven runs which included a grand slam by former Yankee Raul Ibanez. He also hit a two run homer in the fifth inning. Kyle Seager added a three run blast in the sixth inning as the Mariners cruised to a 12-2 victory.

Despite the blowout it was an historical night because the Yankees called up third baseman David Adams earlier in the day and he made his major league debut on his 26th birthday. He became the 30th player in MLB history to do so. In addition, he was the first Yankee to do it since 1916. I got that fact from our pal Michael Abrams who has been to over 900+ consecutive Yankee home games. To cap off his memorable special day, David Adams got his first major league hit in the sixth inning.

Thursday night after work I went back to the Bronx to see the rubber match of the three game series between the Yankees and the Mariners. I wound up eating dinner at Burger King again.

As for the game we saw, the Mariners held on to beat the Yankees, 3-2 to take the series two games to one. I was happy because I was thinking about a few ballpark chasers I know from Seattle who like the Mariners.It should be noted that Yankee starter Andy Pettitte left the game with two outs in the top of the fifth inning with an injury. Former Yankee Raul Ibanez finally cooled off after destroying them in the first two games. This time he was held hit less in four at bats and he struck out three times.

Friday night after work I went back to Yankee Stadium as the Toronto Blue Jays came back for a weekend series in the Bronx. Since I had a big lunch I didn't eat before the game. I went up to my seat and I was joined by our pal William Frank Guthrie who was there. It was nice to see him again.

It should be noted that this day marked the 15th anniversary of the first perfect game I saw live in person as David Wells accomplished the feat against the Minnesota Twins on a Sunday afternoon at Old Yankee Stadium.

As for the game we saw, the Yankees got a stellar pitching performance from starter Hiroki Kuroda who threw eight shutout innings. He allowed just two hits as the Yankees beat the Blue Jays, 5-0.

After the game, Bryan Gilligan drove the King and I to Donovan's Pub in Woodside, Queens for our usual post game meal. We were also joined by our friend Frank Anichiarico who met us there. It should be noted that Donovan's recently changed ownership but many of the people we know are still there and the menu has been expanded. In addition, they now accept credit cards too.

Saturday afternoon the King and I took the subway up to the Bronx for game two of the series with the Blue Jays. We were joined by Vincent Ascanio and Bryan Gilligan who were there as usual along with our pal Pat Gorman.

As for the game we saw, the Yankees got two home runs from Robinson Cano, one in the third inning and the other in the fifth as the Yankees built a 5-1 lead. In the top of the eighth inning, the Blue Jays' Edwin Encarnacion hit a solo homer to make it 5-2. In the bottom of the eighth, Travis Hafner hit a two run homer that made the score 7-2. As a result, Mariano Rivera who had been warming up was forced to sit down since it was no longer a save situation. The Yankees got the last three outs as they beat the Blue Jays again.

Since the game was played in a timely fashion, Bryan who was driving us decided to skip going to Trenton, NJ. Instead he drove the King, Vincent & I to Allentown, Pennsylvania. By doing so, we got to go to Coca Cola Park, which is the home of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, the Phillies' Triple A affiliate. They were hosting the Rochester Red Wings, the Minnesota Twins farm team. After we parked the game, we walked over to the right field gate. We decided to ask around for tickets before we walked down to the box office. We lucked out. We came across different people who had extra tickets and they were kind enough to give them to us. We were very grateful. I wound up getting one in the Red Robin Tiki Terrace area which is located out in left field. The best part of it was it included free food. I was able to help myself to hot dogs, burgers and pulled pork. They also had chips and cookies along with soft drinks. Since we had time before the game started, I went out there and fed myself. When I had enough, I walked back to stand behind the plate with the King, Bryan & Vincent. We also had a guy who is a big fan of the King's signature strikeout call on hand which made for a captive audience.

As for the game we saw, the IronPigs broke a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the eighth inning thanks to a costly error which allowed the winning run to score by journeyman Ray Olmedo who has seen limited tours of duty in the major leagues from time to time from 2003-2007. For the most part, he's been a Triple A player the last five years. He continues to play in hopes of getting another shot at the major league level.

Sunday afternoon the King and I took the subway back to Yankee Stadium hoping to see the finale of the three game series with the Blue Jays. As we were getting ready to cross the street to go to the Stadium, we found out that the game was postponed due to rain. We got back on the train and we went home. We wound up watching TV unexpectedly.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty sees a gem by Felix Hernandez at Yankee Stadium then goes to Citizens Bank Park for more baseball!

Saturday turned out to be a great day to be a baseball fan.

The King and I as well as Bryan Gilligan and Vincent Ascanio enjoyed that luxury.

In the afternoon, we were at Yankee Stadium to see the Yankees play the Seattle Mariners. It was a real treat because we got to see one of the best young pitchers in the game. I'm referring to Felix Hernandez aka King Felix. He was opposed by Hiroki Kuroda who started for the Yankees.

Kuroda pitched well as he allowed a run in six and a third innings. Felix Hernandez was a little better as he dominated the Yankees from start to finish as he made that one run stand up as he beat the Yankees, 1-0. He pitched a gem. He gave up just two hits as he shut the Yankees down to earn his tenth win of the season.

The game went nice and fast. It took only 2 hours and 32 minutes which gave us plenty of time to get to Philadelphia for the second game of our major league doubleheader. I want to personally thank our pal Bryan Gilligan for driving us down there.

It was my first game in Citizens Bank Park since May 12th when we went there to celebrate Dylan Van Cleve's 2nd birthday.

We didn't get to see Dylan this time but we met his Daddy Andrew. It was nice to see him again.

In addition, our friend Manny Morales was there too. He decided at the last minute to make the trip down he said.

As for the game we saw there, Roy Halladay started for the Phillies as they played the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Halladay who had been setback by an injury earlier in the season, pitched seven shutout innings as he picked up the victory. The Phillies beat the Diamondbacks, 3-0.

It was great to see another game in one of my favorite modern ballparks.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty w/o 7/30 in review

Monday night after work, I went up to the Bronx to see the Yankees host the Baltimore Orioles.

Before I went into the Stadium, I went to Burger King to have dinner. I wound up getting a Memphis pulled pork sandwich. After I ate, I picked up a frozen bottle of water from my pal Jin Kim who was hawking them outside his store, KJY Fruit Market on my way to Yankee Stadium. Since it was so hot I needed some relief. For a dollar, I couldn't go wrong.

After I got inside the Stadium, I went up to my seat in section 420B row 7. I got to see Vincent Ascanio who was up there already. We exchanged pleasantries and we got ready for the game.

As for the game we saw, the Yankees scored first as Eric Chavez delivered a run scoring single in the bottom of the second inning to give the Yankees an early 1-0 lead. The Orioles responded quickly as former Yankee Wilson Betemit lead off the top of the third with a solo homer to even the score at one. The Orioles tacked on a few more runs in the fifth inning as they hit a few sacrifice flies to take the lead for good at 3-1. The Yankees played catch up the rest of the night. Former Mariner Ichiro Suzuki followed a solo homer by Eric Chavez with one of his own in the eighth inning to get the Yankees within a run. It was his 100th major league home run since he came over from Japan back in 2001. Unfortunately for him and the Yankees, that's the way it stayed as the Orioles held on for a 5-4 victory.

Tuesday night after work I returned to the Bronx for game two of the series. This time I decided to go to the Court Deli Restaurant to get a sandwich for the King and I. Right after I walked in, I turned around and my pal Eddie Pelle was there. What timing that was. Eddie said this was his first time there. He said he read about it on my blog so he decided to try it out. He asked me what he should get. I told him they have great pastrami and corned beef. He decided to order a combo sandwich. After we got done ordering, we took the food out so we could eat it at the Stadium.

Eddie told me he had a seat in section 415. I told him to come with me so he could get an upgrade. We went up to section 420B and we ate our sandwiches. Shortly thereafter, I asked Eddie how his sandwich was. He said it was delicious. That was music to my ears. After we finished eating, we watched the game.

As for the game we saw, the Yankees got off to a fast start as they scored five runs in the first inning. In the second inning, the Orioles got a few hits then they struck out twice. They started a two out rally as they strung together five more hits and a walk before they made the third out. Chris Davis delivered the big blow as he hit a grand slam. When it was all said and done, they scored seven runs as they roughed up Yankees' starter Ivan Nova in the process. They added another run in the third inning to make it 8-5. They added on more runs later as they cruised to an easy 11-5 win.

Wednesday night after work I went home so I could do my laundry. I ate dinner and rested up briefly.
Thursday night after work I went out to Coney Island to see the Brooklyn Cyclones play the Connecticut Tigers at MCU Park.

As for the game I saw, the Tigers tossed the Cyclones a beating as they whipped them, 11-3.

Friday night after work I went up to the Bronx to see the Yankees open a three game series with the Seattle Mariners.

Before the game, I met the King at the 7 Fish Market where we had a pre game meal.

After we ate, we went into the Stadium to see the game. We had a few veteran pitchers starting the game as the Mariners were throwing Kevin Millwood against Yankees' ace CC Sabathia.

As for the game we saw, the Yankees knocked Millwood around as they scored four runs off him in six innings. They added a few more runs against their bullpen. CC Sabathia on the other hand, pitched well and he even went the distance as the Yankees won the game, 6-3. He allowed just three hits and he struck out ten in the process.

During the game, I got a tweet from fellow roadtripper, Tike Narry, who was visiting the New Yankee Stadium for the first time with his wife and their seven year old son Patrick. I wound up meeting up with Tike and Patrick during the game on the concourse. He's from the Bay area. He told me he has season tickets for the San Francisco Giants and he goes to a lot of Oakland A's games too. It was nice to meet and greet them.
After the game, our friend Bryan Gilligan drove the King and I to Donovan's Pub in Queens for a post game meal.

Saturday the King and I went back to the Bronx to see game two of the series. We also got a ride to Philadelphia from Bryan Gilligan as we saw the Phillies game too that night.

Stay tuned for the special post that I'm going to do about our busy day.

Sunday the King and I went back to Yankee Stadium for the finale of the series.

As for the game we saw, the Mariners scored first to take an early 1-0 lead. The Yankees tied the game at one in their half of the first. They scored a run in the second and another in the fourth to go up, 3-1. Former Yankee Jesus Montero drove in his second run of the game to cut the lead to 3-2 in the fifth. The Yankees answered with a run in the fifth and they got two more in the sixth to pull away as they beat the Mariners, 6-2.

With that, another week of baseball was in the books.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty w/o 8/16 in review

Monday night, I went to see the first football game played at the New Meadowlands Stadium between the Jets and the Giants. The Jets were the home team.

As for the game, here are the details.

Tuesday night, I was at Yankee Stadium watching the Yankees behind CC Sabathia tame the Tigers, 6-2!

Wednesday night, I was back in the Bronx as the Yankees beat the Tigers again, 9-5!

Thursday with the Yankees playing in the afternoon, I was at work. After work, I came home to recharge the batteries and to prepare for my weekend getaway.

Friday night after work I was back in the Bronx to see the Seattle Mariners and their ace pitcher Felix Hernandez shut down the Yankees for 8 innings. He struck out 11 Yankees in the process. The Mariners cruised to a 6-0 victory.

Saturday morning I went to Avis to pick up my car rental. I wound up getting a Chevy Impala. I went to pick up the King and our friend Frank who went to the Yankee/Mariner game with us. We parked the car in the neighorhood for free.

We then walked over to the Stadium to see the game.

Before the game, I got to see people I had met last year who needed tickets to see Citi Field for the first time. I arranged to get them the tickets for Father's Day. They were Chris Miller from Stoughton, Massachusetts and his two step daughters. It was great to see them again.

The Yankees went on to beat the Mariners, 9-5!


Eduardo Nunez who was just called up by the Yankees the other day got his first major hit and run batted in.

After the game, Frank decided he'll go to Philadelphia with us to see the Phillies play the Nationals.

Since the Yankee game ended shortly after 4 o'clock, we had plenty of time to get down to Philadelphia so I decided to cut the cost of the trip down by avoiding some tolls on the NJ Turnpike as well as the Walt Whitman Bridge. We drove down the NJ Turnpike to Exit 9 and we picked up US 1 which takes you to I-95 that goes right into Philadelphia.

We parked the car on the street near the ballpark for free around 6:30PM, then we walked over to the ballpark.

We entered through the right field gate where we were greeted in royal fashion by Brenda the security guard and Lisa the supervisor. They always roll out the carpet when we come down. It's always a pleasure to see them and to say hello before we head into the park.

We proceeded to walk around towards the first base side to the elevator area where we saw our friend Jim Lowry who runs the left elevator. We exchanged pleasantries and we made our way up to section 319 where we stood to watch the game.

It was the first time we were seeing Nationals phenom Stephen Strasburg pitch. He was dominating the Phillies with 6 strikeouts until there was one out in the fifth inning. All of a sudden, he threw a pitch and he winced and he held his wrist. He wound up departing the game with an injury.

The Nationals were leading 5-1 at the time. They went on to beat the Phillies, 8-1!

After the game, Frank decided he wanted to go home so we dropped him off at the bus terminal in Center City Philadelphia.

The King and I continued on our way towards Baltimore. We spent the night in Harve de Grace which is around 35 miles from Baltimore at  a Super 8.

Sunday morning we got up and we went to Baltimore to see the Orioles play the Texas Rangers at Camden Yards. Before the game, we met up with our friends from Baltimore, Peter & Carmen Agnew.

They joined us for breakfast at the Eichenkranz Restaurant.

After we ate, the King and I made our way to Camden Yards to see the game.  We parked the car for free on the street in the neighborhood. Then we took a short walk over to the ballpark.

During the game, we got a visit from another ballpark chaser. For further details, check back for a special post that I'm going to do.

As for the game we saw, the Texas Rangers beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-4! The Rangers used the long ball not once but twice. In the first inning, Josh Hamilton, the Rangers third batter hit a 3 run home run to give the Rangers an early 3-0 lead. In the fifth inning, Vladimir Guerrero of the Rangers launched another 3 run home run to give the Rangers a 6-1 lead and they hung on for the victory.

After the game, the King and I took a 35 mile ride south to Bowie, Maryland to see a minor baseball game between the Richmond Flying Squirrels, the San Francisco Giants Double A affiliate and the Bowie Baysox, the Baltimore Orioles farm team. We arrived at 5:50PM for a 6:05PM start. I even stopped off at Wendy's to take out a quick meal.

The Flying Squirrels were victorious in this uprising if you will by a score of 4-0!

After the game, I drove us home. I dropped the the King off in Astoria, Queens at 1:30AM and then I took myself home and I arrived safely at 1:53AM.

I got a few hours sleep and then I returned the car rental to Avis and picked up my car and headed to work fresh as a daisy I might add. I drove 537 miles in the 2 days.

Another Royalty exclusive was in the books.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Stay tuned.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

      

Royalty w/o 6/28 in review

After resting up Monday night, I was all refreshed and ready to tackle the week ahead.

Here's how it turned out. Tuesday night I went to Yankee Stadium to see the Yankees take on the disappointing Seattle Mariners.

Cliff Lee who was acquired in the off season in a 3 way trade that involved Roy Halladay was scheduled to start the series opener. He dominated the Yankees last year when he pitched for the Cleveland Indians and later for the National League Champion Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series.

Now he's pitching for the Seattle Mariners. He was wearing yet another uniform and he owned the Yankees again. Lee threw a nine inning complete game to beat the Yankees, 7-4 to improve to his record to 7-3 this season. He going to be a free agent at the end of the season. I'm sure the Yankees will do whatever they can to sign him. Since they can't beat him they need to get him.

Wednesday night I returned to the Bronx. For the second night in a row the Mariners starting pitcher went to the distance to beat the Yankees. This time Felix Hernandez did the honors. Felix is a young star studded pitcher for the Mariners. He looked like the phenom that they signed to a long term contract on this night. He pitched a 2 hit shutout and he struck out 11 Yankees in the process.

The Mariners won, 7-0! With the win, Hernandez is 6-5. Thursday was an afternoon game.

Normally I would have been working but we were planning to hit the road so I took a vacation day instead.

I took off Friday as well as I could extend the holiday weekend.

Thursday before the Yankee game I rent a car from Avis for the weekend. I proceeded to drive to Yankee Stadium for the finale of the series.

The Yankees were trying to salvage a game in the series. After being shut down by Cliff Lee and King Felix as they call him, they were hoping to avoid being swept.

The Yankees behind their ace CC Sabathia led 2-0 going into the 8th inning. Then the Mariners finally broke through on CC. They wound up tying the game at 2.

In the bottom of the eighth, former Mariner Alex Rodriguez, A-Rod as he's known, came back to haunt his former team when he delivered a 2 run opposite field home run to right to give the Yankees the lead again at 4-2. The home run was the 595th of A-Rod's career.

Mariano Rivera came on to mow down the Mariners 1,2,3 in the 9th inning to preserve the victory for the Yankees and starter CC Sabathia who improved his record to 10-3.

After the game, the King and I and our friend Bryan Gilligan took a ride to Reading, Pennslyvania to see a minor league game.

I will continue with additional posts that will summarize and give details of the road trip that we took over the weekend to Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Washington D.C. and Bowie, Maryland.

Thank you for following along. Stay tuned.

Yours truly,

Prince Charming