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 meets up with Rick Morris of the FDH Lounge in Cleveland, Ohio in the middle of May!‏

On Saturday, May 17th I woke up early so I could go to Avis to pick up a car rental for the weekend. I wound up getting a Ford Focus since that's all they had left. I drove it back home so I could pick up the King as we drove all day to go to Cleveland, Ohio. We stopped off at the rest area in Pennsylvania just past the Delaware Water Gap just before 1PM. Luckily we got there at the right time. When we came out of the rest room, the line was a mile long. A few buses pulled in for a pit stop on their way to Yankee Stadium. The Yankees were playing the Pirates that day at 4:05PM. There was a mixture of Yankee & Pirate fans. As I say, timing is everything. I was beside myself but I was all smiles when I got there. 

Reason to smile

We got back in the car ‎& I drove to Brookville, PA where we got gas & made to order food at Sheetz around 3:45PM. I wound up eating my chicken fingers & mozzarella sticks in the car as we continued on to Cleveland. We arrived there shortly after 6PM. I arranged to meet up with our pal Rick Morris of the FDH Lounge outside Progressive Field, home of the Indians by the Bob Feller statue. I called him when I was 20 miles from downtown. He told me he was there already. He said he was going to stop off at a local bar so he could watch the Preakness. I told him I'll see him by the statue when he got done. We wound up meeting up around 6:30PM. We had bought some cheap tickets in advance so we were able to head right inside once we met up. We wound up meeting the King who was inside already in section 554 upstairs behind home plate. 

Me by Bob Feller statue

View from section 554

As for the game we saw, the Indians were hosting the Oakland Athletics on this night. Former Met & Indian Scott Kazmir was starting for the A's. Thanks to home plate umpire Jerry Layne he wasn't long for the night. He wound up getting ejected for complaining about the strikeout zone or the lack thereof. He lasted just one ‎& a third innings. He gave up a run on a wild pitch while walking three & striking out one. However he got off the hook for the loss thanks to his teammate, third baseman Josh Donaldson who tied the game at one with a run scoring single in the top of the third inning which was followed by a two run homer by first baseman Brandon Moss which gave the A's a 3-1 lead. The Tribe got a run back in the bottom of the sixth inning thanks to a sacrifice fly by shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera to make it a 3-2 game. The Athletics wound up putting the game away with three more runs in the top of the seventh inning when Josh Donaldson & Brandon Moss struck again. This time Donaldson delivered a two run triple & Moss added a run scoring double to give the A's a 6-2 victory. Relief pitcher Dan Otero threw three & two thirds of shutout relief to earn the win. Josh Tomlin who started for the Indians suffered the loss despite getting a quality start as he went six innings allowing three earned runs. The bullpen let it slip away once he came out. 

Regardless of the outcome, it was great to spend some quality time with our pal Rick Morris who's a big fan of the King & I. I want to thank him for always making time to join us when we come to visit. 

After we said our goodbyes to him, we walked back to the car ‎& we drove 200 miles to Somerset, PA where we spent the night at Days Inn.

Stay tuned for another special post that will recap how we spent that Sunday.

Thank you for reading & following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman