Late night baseball

The west coast games start at 10:00 pm, so there is no likelihood of sticking it out to the final innings. I am sorry that I couldn't stay awake for the last game of the Dodgers series, knowing now that in the ninth inning the Phillies bats came alive. No magic home runs, just base by base by base until there were 4 more runs on the board. I heard the final score this morning  7-3, and thought to myself: This is what I love about baseball.

Opening Night with Friends Phillies vs. Brewers

A deceptively warm day turns into a chilly evening especially in the windy 400 level sections, but it is a lovely night of baseball with Ellen, Peter and Shaofei,  a student who helped the Drexel visitors to China in July 2013. I had been waiting for a chance to reciprocate his generosity in guiding us in Beijing, and this was the perfect opportunity. You see, he had never seen a professional baseball game, and knew little if nothing about the game.

With just a few tips from me about watching the pitchers, the scoring, and after introducing the unusual vocabulary of baseball, we were able to enjoy a game that had all that you'd want for a demonstration of the pleasures of baseball (except a win!). All in all he saw a balk, a steal, strike outs, two double plays, a triple, a home run (darn, for the other team), a batter getting hit, some walks, beautiful diving catches, some errors, and the newest twist in the game-replay reviews. Not to mention, an elementary school singing the Star Spangled Banner (really it was cute, but couldn't they get a real singer for the opening night?!), and the four of us swaying as we sang Take me out to the ballgame
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Wearing the opening night T-shirt on a glorious, chilly night

The Phillies were playing some nice 'small ball', and the first pitcher Hernandez was doing well. At 4-4 in the 8th, we were quite hopeful. Too bad it fell apart when the relief and closers took over.With an error by Ryan Howard, the runs started pouring with the final discouraging score of 9-4

Let the season begin 2014

I am never sure in the beginning what I will feel like when the season starts, but this year I have these sensations of excitement, of Halleluyah that surfaced in the past week. There is a new TV program on every night that shows all the games in progress, which is helping me see who all the players are on the other teams. Of course, I'm quite happy when the Phillies are highlighted especially when they are winning.

I know, I know it's early. Looking forward to Wednesday's Opening Night game. Hope the weather is good