Royalty sees baseball doubleheader in Reading, PA & Baltimore in June!‏

The King & I drove to Carlisle, PA after we left Cincinnati Sunday night, June 8th. We spent the night at a Travelodge there which put us a little over an hour away from Reading. Since we ate so well at the Champions Club at Great American Ballpark, we didn't need to stop to eat along the way. That worked out well since we had to get to Reading, PA aka Baseballtown early Monday morning for their traditional 9:35AM game at First Energy Stadium. Back in February we stopped by the ballpark which was covered by snow. We knew when June 9th rolled around that we would be back there for that game. True to our word, there we were. I decided to take that day off from work so I could make it. That day the Reading Fightin Phils, the Phillies Double A affiliate in the Eastern League hosted the Richmond Flying Squirrels, the San Francisco Giants farm team. Upon arrival when we got inside in front of the press box, we saw our pal Bryan Gilligan who drove himself there from Westchester, NY where he lives. As always, it was nice to see him again. 

Here I am in February & in June

First pitch 9:36AM

As for the game we saw, the Fightin Phils took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning. The Flying Squirrels answered right back with four in the top of the second inning. They extended their lead to 5-2 with a run in the third inning before the Fightin Phils fought back. They scored two in the bottom of the sixth, they tied it with a run in the seventh ‎& they capped off the comeback with a three run double by right fielder Peter Lavin in the bottom of the eighth as he wound up being the hero as the Fightin Phils went on to defeat the Flying Squirrels, 8-5.

                                                                                        

After the game, the King ‎& I drove towards Baltimore where we saw another baseball game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards as the Orioles opened a series with their division rival, the Boston Red Sox. On the way there, we stopped off in Lancaster, PA. By doing so, I got to visit my parents for an hour or so. It worked well since we had some time to kill & it was right on the way. I'm glad I got to spent some precious time with them.  After we said our goodbyes, we continued on to Baltimore. 

On our way to Baltimore we ran into some rush hour traffic which delayed us twenty minutes to a half hour. With that being said, we wound up parking the car on the street in the neighborhood shortly after 5PM. The King & I were hungry so we stopped off at Pickles Pub which is right across the street from the ballpark for dinner. ‎Luckily we were able to get a table since it was jam packed. I had grilled tuna along with some chicken wings. We also had a pitcher of a pale ale beer. It was our first time there. I've heard good things about it. We hope to go back there someday if & when time allows.

When we got done, we walked over to Oriole Park ‎ & we went inside to see the game. We had tickets in advance so it made for an easy entry. Upon arrival, we went up to section 336 which is right behind home plate. We wound up meeting our friend Phil Butleman there. He was supposed to join us for the weekend but he bailed out at the last minute. He took Greyhound down there. We gave him a ride home. It was good to see him again.

View from Section 336

As for the game we saw, it was a quick one for a change. We saw a well pitched game by Orioles' starter Bud Norris who allowed three hits over eight shutout innings. He got some offensive support thanks to the long ball. His teammates supplied the power as Adam Jones hit a solo homer in the first inning, Nick Markakis added a two run blast in the fifth & Ryan Flaherty rounded out the scoring with a solo shot in the seventh inning. They all came against Red Sox starter & loser Jake Peavy who pitched pretty well. The Orioles beat the Red Sox, 4-0 in a mere two hours & twenty one minutes. That's just what I needed since I was getting up early to go back to work that Tuesday morning.

Stay tuned as I fast forward to the end of June when I got to take a break from seeing a sporting event.

Thank you for reading & following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman