Royalty is hitting the road again to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Buffalo, Cleveland, & Pittsburgh over Memorial Day Weekend!

Here's the game plan:

I'm renting a car from Enterprise Rent A Car on Friday morning to start Memorial Day weekend off right.

I'll be driving up North of the Border to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Buffalo, Cleveland & Pittsburgh to see some Major League Baseball games before returning to NYC early Monday morning. My pal Mike Carroll aka Sabre Mike as we call him is joining me as is my pal John Newkirk. In addition, I plan to see our pals Andrew Kulyk & Peter Farrell aka USRT who live in Buffalo along the way either in Toronto and/or in Buffalo for dinner Saturday night. Furthermore, due to a change in plans, another sports traveler, Paul Nieuwland who lives in Mississauga, Ontario which is a suburb of Toronto won't be able to join us now. Moreover, Sunday we'll be joined by our pal, Scott Bultman who's driving from Indianapolis to spend the day with royalty in Cleveland & Pittsburgh. 
             
Friday May 26th Columbus Crew at Toronto FC 7PM

Saturday May 27th Rangers at Blue Jays 1:07PM                                  

Sunday May 28th Royals at Indians 1:10PM

                              Mets at Pirates 8:05PM

Monday May 29th Brewers at Mets 4:10PM
           
If you're interested in going on this exclusive getaway royalty style just let me know so I can arrange to have you join Mike, John & I as well as the rest of the very special guests we're meeting along the way.

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 w/o 5/28 in review

National Anthem on Memorial Day

Monday was Memorial Day so I was off from work so to speak. It was a day of remembrance as we saluted the fallen heroes who lost their lives fighting for our right to live free here in America. They may be gone but they're never forgotten.

As for the King and I we went to Citi Field to see the Mets play the Phillies in a holiday matinee game.
Our friend Frank Anichiarico joined us so did Vincent Ascanio. We also had our pal Frankie Centola who came up from Philadelphia for the game. We arranged to get him a ticket.

As for the game we saw, the Phillies scored first as former Met Ty Wigginton delivered a two run double in the third inning. The Mets tied it in the fifth inning as Vinny Rottino hit a laser beam over the fence in left field to tie the game at two. In the sixth inning, the Phillies regained the lead as John Mayberry Jr. hit a two run homer to make it 4-2 Phillies. In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Mets tied it up again as Scott Hairston hit a two run home run. In the seventh inning, Ty Wigginton got a run scoring single to give the Phillies' a 5-4 lead. He continued to haunt his former team as he hit a three run homer to put the game out of reach as the Phillies beat the Mets, 8-4. Ty Wigginton finished the game with three hits, a single, double and home run. He also walked twice and he drove in six runs. What a game he had. The Mets had a chance to win this game but their bullpen imploded.

After the game, since we had no other games to get to, we wound up going home.

Tuesday morning before I went back to work, I went to Avis to return the car I rented for the weekend. I safely drove 423 miles over the long holiday weekend. After work I went to Taste of Dolly's for dinner on my way to Citi Field.

I hopped back on the 7 train for one stop to get to Citi Field. On my way, I got a tweet from a fellow ballpark chaser, Bill Pritchard who said he's going to the game too.

We wound up hooking up for a little while. It was great to meet and greet him. He told me he was making a road trip to Chicago and Milwaukee in the middle of June. He said the furthest West he's ever been was Cleveland. I told him he was in for a treat. He's going to Wrigley Field to see his favorite team, the Red Sox play the Cubs. He's going to see the Cubs play the White Sox on the South side and he'll be heading up to Miller Park in Milwaukee too while he's out there. I suggested that he get some Ballpark E-Guides that way he can have some great helpful information to guarantee he has an absolute blast. We exchanged contact information so we can hook up again in the future.

We also got a visit from our pal Andy Weinstein who was at the game.

As for the game we saw, the Mets rebounded as they dodged the rain drops that delayed the game just over an hour in the bottom of the eighth inning as they beat the Phillies, 6-3.

Wednesday night after work I went back to Citi Field to see the Mets play the Phillies in the rubber match of the three game series. I was joined by the King who got the crowd in our section going with his signature strikeout call. Some nights are better than others. This was one of the better ones. We also had some other company as our pal Phil Butleman was present and accounted for. He was joined by a nice young man, David Sack who he knows from going to see LIU basketball. We also had our buddy Mike Klein there who made a rare appearance. He was a regular at Shea back in the day. He had his nephew Joe Klein with him. It was great to see both of them. In addition, Ralph and Vincent Ascanio were on hand as they usually are.

As for the game we saw, it was close like Monday afternoon until the bullpen came in when Mets manger Terry Collins decided to pull starter Dillon Gee with two outs in the seventh inning. Bobby Parnell came in and he allowed the tying run to score. The game was tied at three. The Mets' bullpen sprung a leak and the game got further away as the Phillies' went on to win the game, 10-6. As a result, they won the series two games to one.

Thursday night after work I had a night off since they were no games in the area. It worked out because I was able to catch on things at home.

Stay tuned for some special posts I'm going to do that will recap the surprising amazing weekend I had.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty sees another doubleheader on Jackie Robinson Day!

Me at Citizens Bank Park

April 15th marked the 65th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in the Major Leagues.
As a result, all teams and players acknowledge this momentous occasion by honoring this baseball legend by wearing his number 42 which was retired by all teams. Only a select few like Mariano Rivera of the Yankees still wear 42 on a regular basis.

Royalty celebrated this special day by seeing not one but two Major League games on this Sunday.

First of all, we met up with our friends Phil Butleman and Bryan Gilligan by Yankee Stadium as the King proceeded to drive us all to Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia where the Mets were visiting the Phillies that afternoon.

Thanks to our friend Frankie Centola who was there with his son Frank the third, for getting us tickets for the game.

It was nice to see them again as always. We'll be returning the favor on Memorial Day when the Phillies visit Citi Field to play the Mets.

As for the game we saw, the Mets were looking to sweep the Phillies. The Mets jumped out to an early 2-1 lead after the first inning. The score remained that way until the seventh inning when the Met bullpen came on and imploded.

The Phillies finally broke through against Met pitching. Mike Pelfrey who started, worked in and out of trouble for six innings. He handed over the one run lead to the bullpen and they let the game get away as the Phillies poured it on as they avoided being swept. The Phillies wound up whipping the Mets, 8-2.

After the game, we drove back to Yankee Stadium for game two of our doubleheader.

We arrived with a little time to spare as the King managed to get the job done despite the usual Sunday traffic heading back to NYC.

In the nightcap, we got to see the rubber match between the Angels and the Yankees on Sunday night baseball thanks to ESPN.

The Angels drew first blood in this one as they scored the first run of the game in the top of the second inning thanks to a home run by Mark Trumbo. The Yankees answered right back to tie the score in the bottom half of the inning as Raul Ibanez delivered a run scoring single.

The Yankees tacked on four more runs in third inning and Derek Jeter hit a three run homer in the fourth to give the Yankees' a 8-1 lead. The Angels' came back to cut the deficit to 8-5 but the Yankees added three more runs late to win the game, 11-5 to take the series, two games to one. During the game, I received a visit from a co-worker of mine, Dan Juvan who was at the game with his friend Issac.It was very nice of them to come up to the royal box to say hello.

In addition, I did get to see some other special guests while I was at the Yankee game that night as well. Stay tuned for the special post I'm going to do regarding them.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty w/o 5/30 in review

Mets Season Ticket Holder of the Game

I lived at Citi Field for the whole week except for Thursday afternoon because I was doing something called work.

Monday night the Mets had a nice military salute and tribute for all the brave men and women who have and continue to protect our country day in and day out. We're always proud to be Americans everyday but Memorial Day is one of those days that patriotism takes on more meaning.

On this night, the Mets built a lead against the Pittsburgh Pirates only to have the score tied up at the seventh inning stretch.

Apparently the Mets were inspired by the special rendition of God Bless America in honor of Memorial Day. They stormed back to retake the lead by scoring two in the seventh inning and two more in the eighth and they held on to beat the Pirates, 7-3 sending the crowd home happy.

It should be noted the Hooligan's were in attendance as well. They provided their usual added entertainment as they sang their songs as the Mets batted.

Tuesday night the Mets scored a run in the first inning. Unfortunately they didn't score anymore. They wound up giving up three runs in the eighth inning and two more in the ninth as they fell to the improving Pirates, 5-1.

It should be noted that Pirate rookie Josh Harrison made his major league debut and he got his first major league hit.

Wednesday night I was back for more punishment as it turned out. The Mets had a 2-0 lead going into the seventh inning when the Pirates broke through on the Mets again. They scored five runs in the inning. They added four more in the eighth to put the game away. The Mets added one more as they lost this one, 9-3.

We did have a special surprise guest on this night so it wasn't a total loss or waste of time. The King's half brother Charlie Casiano stopped by to say hello. It was a pleasure to see him again. Hopefully he'll join us for a road trip in the near future.

Thursday night I got a break from watching Mets baseball. After those last two games, it couldn't have come at a better time.

Friday night I went back to see if they could win again in front of me. This time their division rival, the Atlanta Braves who were visiting Citi Field for the first time this season.

The Mets once again had a lead until the late innings. This time they were up 3-1. Their starter Jonathon Niese pitched well before he was taken out of the game with two outs in the eighth inning. The bullpen allowed the Braves to tie the game after Niese departed. Jason Isringhausen was victimized this time. In the ninth inning, they brought in Francisco Rodriguez aka K-Rod in to keep the game tied. He failed to do so. He got hit hard this time as the Braves chopped him up as they scored three more runs to take game one of the series, 6-3.

Saturday night was different in more ways than one. The week before my ticket representative for the Mets, Michael Parton arranged for me to be selected as the Mets Season Ticket of the Game. I got to say the two words baseball fans long to hear before the game starts. That being "Play Ball." It was a thrill and an honor to do so.

I must have inspired the Mets who wound up scoring five runs in the seventh inning to break open a scoreless game. They amazingly hung on to win, 5-0. Dillon Gee pitched seven shutout innings to improve his record to 6-0.

It should be noted our fan club in section 516 was in the house supporting me. I also had Vincent Ascanio who took the great picture of me on the scoreboard as you can see and his father Ralph was with him for this special occasion.

Sunday the Mets and Braves wrapped up their three game series at night thanks to ESPN which decided to take the game. As a result, Citi Field looked a lot less crowded than it would have been for a day game.
Those of us including our pals Manny Bonilla and Arjun Lal who decided to show up got treated by the Mets as they had early 6-0 lead. Despite that they still tried their best to blow the game. Thankfully they held on again to win, 6-4.

In the future, if you plan to come to Citi Field let me know so we can arrange to hook up.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman