Royalty sees the Mets play the Nationals in DC!‏

After the King & I spent the night at Days Inn in Somerset, PA we got up that morning & we ate breakfast there. When we got done, I drove 185 miles to Nationals Park to see the Washington Nationals play the Mets that Sunday afternoon, May 18th. We wound up parking the car in a ten dollar lot since free parking in DC is few & far between. We didn't want to risk having a problem so we decided to play it safe. We parked the car at 12:45PM. We then walked over to the ballpark. I went to the box office to see what the cheapest tickets they had were. They told me $25 each. Upon hearing that, I walked away. A few minutes later I found some people who had extra tickets. They wanted $20 a ticket. I told them I'll give them $20 for the pair. Thankfully they decided to give in to me. The King ‎& I proceeded to walk into the center field gate. We met up upstairs under the press box in section 312. I saw some empty seats in the last row which was row J. I wound up staying there for the whole game. Shortly thereafter, I got comfortable I heard a guy a few rows down in front of me get my attention.  It was Andy Morgan who follows me on Twitter. His twitter handle is @natsfan37. He was with his wife & young son. A few minutes later he came up to introduce himself. It was nice to meet him. I remember following him because he was a Gio Gonzalez fan. Gio had signed something for his son. We spoke & we exchanged contact information. He said he may try to come up to Citi Field in August when the Nationals come back. I told him to let me know. 
 

View from section 312

As for the game we saw, the Mets took an early 1-0 lead off of Nationals' starter Jordan Zimmerman when catcher Juan Centeno drove in a run with a single in the top of the second inning. The Nationals got even in the bottom half when Ian Desmond hit a solo homer to knot the score at one. The Nationals took the lead for good when Met killer catcher Wilson Ramos drove in a pair of runs with a double in the third inning & two more with a single in the fifth inning off of Mets' starter Zack Wheeler to go up 5-1. The Mets got two back in the top of the sixth but the Nationals added an insurance run in the eighth as they beat the Mets, 6-3. 

Near the end of the game, I got a visit from a fellow roadtripper & ballpark chaser, Ben Fallon who stopped by with his son Declan. We follow each other on twitter also. Ben's twitter handle is @steel6rings. We've met a few times in the last year. I want to thank him for taking time to visit me. He said he would have came by earlier but he got an unexpected upgrade to a suite just before the game started. 

On the way back home, the King & I stopped off at Burger King for a quick dinner in New Jersey on Route 1. We got back home around 11PM. 

Monday morning I returned the car to Avis then I went to work. I wound up driving 1,172 miles safely over the weekend.

Stay tuned for another special post that will highlight the visit to Citi Field by the two teams we saw open the season in Sydney, Australia.

Thank you for reading & following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty meets up with fellow roadtripper Dave Block aka the Gratitude Guy in Milwaukee!

After the King & I survived the 15 inning marathon game at Citi Field on Fourth of July, we made our way out towards Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We went to McDonald's to get some food to take out after the game. We ate it in the car as we finally got to escape from New York.

We wound up stopping in Maumee, Ohio which is just outside of Toledo just after 2AM Eastern Time. We stayed at Days Inn. By doing so, we had 340 miles left to drive to Milwaukee on Friday July 5th. Thankfully we were gaining an hour due to the time zone change. We got some sleep and then we woke up in the morning & we went to Waffle House which was nearby before we got back on the highway finish the mission.

We finally arrived in Oak Creek, Wisconsin which is a suburb of Milwaukee around 4:30PM Central Time. It's also right up the road from the airport. We went to MainStay Suites where we met up with fellow roadtripper and huge fan of ours, Dave Block aka the Gratitude Guy. Dave was able to get us a royal deal at the hotel so we all got to split the expense. It worked out really well. He had arrived earlier in the day as he flew in from San Diego where he lives to join us for the weekend. As a result, he was able to check in to the hotel early. We went inside and we dropped off our bags.

Branded Steer

Once we got situated, we went next door to have a pre game dinner at the Branded Steer, a Wood Grill Rotisserie & Saloon before I drove us all to Miller Park which was ten miles away to see the Brewers host the Mets. As for our meal, it was excellent. We ordered chicken wings which were delicious as an appetizer. I then had wood grilled salmon for my main course. The King ordered pork chops and Dave had ribs. We were all very satisfied customers. It was a perfect way to cap off a long tiring day.

Prince at Miller Park

When we got done, we went to Miller Park. We got there with just enough time to spare. We wound up sitting in the upper deck in section 423 behind home plate. We sat down and we relaxed. Shortly thereafter, we got a surprise visit from our pal Marc Beck from NYC who was also at the game with his wife and daughter. It was so nice of him to come up and spend some time with us.

As for the game we saw, the Mets and the Brewers played another long game. The Mets eventually won, 12-5. Zack Wheeler pitched and he struggled to get through five innings. He did pick up the win. In addition, he also got his first major league hit in the third inning. The bottom line is a win is a win. After suffering the day before at Citi Field, we'll take it. Quite amazingly, we drove 895 miles to see it.

Stay tuned as I'm going to do another special post as our weekend getaway continued through the Midwest.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty closes out the month of June with a two city baseball doubleheader!

Back on Sunday June 30th, I rented a car for eight days so I could have it for the Fourth of July weekend getaway I had planned. I wound up getting a royal upgrade when I went to pick up the car. I wound up renting a Hyundai Sonata which was equipped with XM radio from Dollar Rent a Car by LaGuardia Airport. I would have rented from Avis but it was cost effective and more convenient to go to Dollar this time.

By getting the car when I did, I was able to avoid the extra expense of the outrageous holiday weekend pricing. With that being said, it always pays to plan ahead. You snooze, you lose. That's just a word to the wise. Royalty knows the tricks of the trade all year round.

In early June, I found out that the Baltimore Orioles were playing the New York Yankees on Sunday night baseball at 8:05PM. As a result, I decided to rent a car from Dollar a day earlier than I originally planned too. That way I could drive the King and our pal Bryan Gilligan to Baltimore after we all went to Citi Field to see the Mets play the Nationals in the afternoon.

As for the Mets/Nationals game, we were joined by my buddy Tolu Robertson who stayed over to see his Nationals play again at Citi Field. After he saw the Mets beat his team Saturday, he was hoping to see them get even on Sunday. Thanks to my pal Gio Gonzalez who started the game, they did indeed. With that being said, stay tuned for a special post that I'm going to do about Gio. He always warrants & gets plenty of royal treatment on my blog.

Gio Gonzalez vs. Zack Wheeler

As for the game we saw, the Nationals whipped the Mets, 13-2. Zack Wheeler made his first home start for the Mets that day. He looked good in the first inning then the Nationals proceeded to toss him a beating much to delight of Tolu & I because Gio was the benefactor of the much needed offense after a rough beginning.

Since the game was well in hand and Gio was done for the day after he pitched seven strong innings there was no need for us to stay to the bitter end. The score was 10-0 Nationals when we checked out of Citi Field. In retrospect, it turned out to be the right move because we had some pockets of traffic which caused delays as we drove to Baltimore. I did my very best to get us there on time but that wasn't possible given the circumstances. I did drop off Bryan & the King so they could get inside ASAP. They wound up missing a few batters. As for me, I missed the whole first inning. That's the way it goes. You can't win them all. I tell it like it is so there's no need to lie. It is what it is.

As for the game we saw once we got settled in, the Orioles led 4-0. The Yankees sliced the lead in half late in the game. As a result, the Orioles called on their closer Jim Johnson who's been shaky thus far this season after he pitched so well for them last year to close it out. Thankfully for the Oriole fans on hand he was able to seal the deal without too much difficulty. By doing so, the Orioles completed a three game sweep of the Yankees. It should be noted not everyone in the building left happy. There were a good number of Yankee fans present and accounted at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

Stay tuned for the special post of my latest encounters with Gio Gonzalez of the Washington Nationals.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman