Hot Hot Hot...Not Not Not

One of the hottest nights so far of the summer, July 6, I go with a group of students from the English Language Center and 5 of my friends. I like these new set of seats, Section 206 Row 6 which are just left of right field with a nice view of 1st base and the line between the pitcher's mound and home plate. We suffer through the blazing sun until it sneaks behind the jumbo screen, then can settle in for the rest of the game.

Tonight is special. Ryan Howard, who tore his Achilles tendon in the very last out that sent the Cardinals to the World Series in 2011, is going to play tonight.  The cheering begins for this crowd favorite  as  he retakes his place at 1st base, but  the cheering reaches its full pitch when he steps up to the plate for the first time. His signature stance with the bat stretched high in front of him is what we have been waiting for.

It is a miracle....He swings at the very first pitch and it is almost out of the park for a double. Up on the board the batting average says 1.000. What a great start, batting a thousand. He ends the night with a .667, 2 out of 3 hits, but is stranded once on second and once on third.

Throughout the game, Robert explains the rules to our Brazilian students, while the Kuwaiti, Venezuelan, Chinese and Korean students listen in. I'm loving that the Kuwait student has gone directly to the ballpark store to buy everything he needs to be decked out in full Phillies garb, a bright red and white t-shirt and cap on backwards. He fits right in.

English Language Center goes to the ballgame

What they don't understand fully is how bad the 8th inning is for Phillies fans. Kendrick surprisingly pitches a good 7 innings so that the score remains 0-0  keeping us hopeful. Then Bastardo is brought in for no apparent reason, and all is downhill from there. With 3 men on base, he WALKS the next batter. That is bad enough, but to put the nail in the coffin, the  next batter hits a GRAND SLAM.  Our row is in agony, groaning with our head in our hands.

There is no redemption that night, no joy in mudville, I'm afraid. And losses the next 2 nights give the Atlanta Braves a sweep. The Phillies are 11 out of first place and 13 under. 500.


Two bright spots
In the section next to us, we notice a lot of commotion, a camera, a man on his knees. It's a suprise marriage proposal.  She apparently says YES

More important, though. Carlos Ruiz is chosen for the All Star team for the first time (let's hope he doesn't get hurt!)

The Silver Spring Thunderbolts

This is the time for aspiring college players to form summer leagues throughout the country. The local Silver Spring team the Silver Spring Thunderbolts plays blocks from my brother's house at Montgomery Blair High school,  the alma mater of me,my brothers, and my niece. (though my niece is the only one who graduated from this version of the school). So, it is a nice homecoming, and a pleasant way to spend a summer evening.
After a full afternoon watching the Yankees complete a sweep of the Washington Nationals and going through notebooks full of my mother's estate papers for 4 hours, we finished up a delicious meal outside and took the short ride to the ball field.


Marc, Barbara and I arrived rather late, and found out that after the 5th inning there is no charge. There were plenty of seats, real seats not bleachers,with all of them behind home plate, the best way to watch a game. In the 6th inning, the Thunderbolts were losing 5-3, and never recovered from the deficit. One of the players tried to score but got caught in the hopping game of tag with the opposing  catcher who tagged him out.

An unusual  incident occurred when we all thought that the opposing pitcher had 'balked' by raising his leg and then stopping the pitch. It seems that calling a balk is quite a complicated skill. When asked after the game by my brother who caught up to the umpires as they left the ball park, one of the umps told  him that the pitcher had  taken a step BACK off of the rubber first, so it did not count as a balk.  Who knew how complex pitching could be?  Check out this 6 minute video Balk Rules

As with any game, there were fun games and diversions.  An interesting trivia question, a ball toss, and OMG,  the players tossed hot dogs into the stands. Barbara caught one, but the wrapping came apart and the hot dog fell on the ground. We couldn't stop laughing for how silly and unexpected it was.
The final score 6-3

Venus in Transit

It was too cloudy to see Venus sliding her way across the sun,  but I did get to visit the Drexel University observatory for the first time  and in the process found out about their open houses. http://www.physics.drexel.edu/observatory/

The observatory is a small dome that is reached by a wooden bridge on the roof off the main Drexel building (Its called Main building!) The folks running the event were a bit overwhelmed by the number of people who responded to their announcement to watch the transit. I never even made it to the observatory dome itself and  left to find another way to watch. As I was walking down the 4 flights of stairs I heard angelic voices of a chorus singing some haunting chorales on the wide stairways in the Great Court.

Another student and I stopped to linger and listen and I mentioned to him rather pleadingly “Heaven would be listening to this music and watching the transit at the same time”. The student took out his computer and voila, we got to watch on the screen as the hall filled with lovely voices.

Heaven can be found in many places

This is a story...

 Perhaps this is a story about a baseball game: 

 Halladay has let 4 runs go by, some as home runs. We are sad to watch him flounder. "Not the Halladay we know" say my friends. In order to keep up our spirits, we cheer when the opposing team doesn't score in an inning.

Perhaps this is a story about rising stars: 

Freddy Galvis, Jake Deikman, Ty Wiggington, Hector Luna (he of grand slam fame just a few games ago) who help the Phillies get the 2 runs to the Nationals 5.

Perhaps this is a story of families: 

My cousin's son (technically my cousin as well) plays his last collegiate baseball game, then graduates from LaSalle University cum laude. I am one of 30 family members who show up to cheer him on the whole weekend. This is the amazing Zaslow-Flax 3 generation clan that continues to live in the same area, supporting each other in good times and bad.

Perhaps this is a story about a day of endings: 

Only a mere 2 months after the first open house to start the sale, today we turned over the keys of my mother's house to the new owners who love the house as a new home.
We are glad that they are nice people and will cherish the house that was ours for 43 years.
Marc and I arranged to meet with our financial advisor. Eric joins us through Skype. We are very glad to see each other and learn about our good fortune.

Perhaps this is a story of anticipation of good things to come
Meeting with Headlong Dance, Andrew and Amy, telling stories, improvising a bit, an appetizer in preparation for a performance.

A new song written.  

Perhaps this is a story...

Senior Stroll Around the Bases After a Winning Game

My status as a Senior (as in over 55) with all the rights and privileges associated with it has been officially recognized today. For today, you see, was the afternoon Phillies vs. Astros game that ended with the Senior Stroll Around the Bases, a most pleasant event that capped a winning game.

It was almost a washout, and would have been if the weather forecasts had come true. Last night and this morning, the much needed rain soaked the city. Even up until 12:00 today it was wet and soggy, not the best outlook for holding the game.  Checking on the Phillies site, there was a tweet posted at 9:08 a.m that Amaro, the general manager had called the ballpark to have them take up the infield tarp.  Around 12:00 more tweets indicated the game would start as planned.  As I walked to catch the subway, the rain cleared away, and it seemed all was going well for a good afternoon of baseball.

Janet and Tobie on the field

Sure enough, the whole afternoon, though cloudy, was rain free. The Phillies scored two runs in the 2nd inning and continued to hold the lead throughout the first 8 innings. In the top of the 9th Janet and I made our way down to the 1st level to wait  to start the stroll onto the field which we assumed would start soon. The problem was that the game was far from over. Standing in the long line, we couldn't see the field, but knew something bad had happened when we heard groans and boos.  Hunter Pence missed an easy catch, which resulted in an Astro being flagged to home-the tying run. We edged over to watch the game, where an usher let us sit in the100 level section (very nice!). When the Phillies didn't score any runs in the bottom of the ninth, the extra innings battle began.

A pitcher I had not seen, Jake Diekman,  was making his Major League debut as the closer after being called up from the Lehigh minor league team on Friday. The Phillies news page described it this way. "It was a memorable  [debut], to say the least, and occurred in a high-leverage situation. And as a result, he had his first big league victory"   Diekman's long pitching stride has an elegance that caught my attention. Certainly, a pitcher to watch.

The stroll begins

The bottom of the tenth, Hunter Pence at bat. His  long left leg is raised in preparation  for the powerhouse swing that so electrified us when he first arrived in Philadelphia.   He redeemed himself with  the winning home run! High fives all around for a 4-3 victory.

Trying out for  position of second base

We returned to the line for our chance to stroll onto the field singing 'High Hopes, he's got High Hopes....' Smiles all around.

Dozens of Ballpark folks ushered 1000s of fans down the steps and onto the field, helping everyone take pictures along the way.

View of the stands from the field

As promised,  a lovely thrilling stroll from 1st to 2nd to 3rd and  home plate. The gentleman in a wheel chair behind us  had seen games in all three ballparks. Like me, it was his first time on the field.

Whoever thought this up should get a raise!