Who says baseball is boring?

After a lackluster first few games that I've attended, I am a bit apprehensive about going to the game, so to clear my mind I concentrate on the sights and sounds and the people that I meet. Leaving early enough around 5:15 allows me to stroll to the subway to enjoy the splashes of red and white shirts, hats and backpacks that weave through the subway cars as we all board the Orange Line to the ballpark. Then at the end of the line, stepping out of the station, I am thrilled by the sounds of the ticket barkers-  "Have a ticket" Need a ticket", the food vendors-"buy your water here, it's $4.50 in the park, buy it for $1.00 here" "Pretzels, hot pretzels", crowds at the sports bar across the street. It all brings a smile to my face. A darling couple with tickets in hand for Diamond Club seats 11 rows behind home plate-tell me that the tickets are a retirement present from their son. "Who's pitching", I ask? "Cole Hamels"  A woman with a Phillies RBI shirt explains the Phillies youth sports for boys and girls that she coaches.

It is all grand. I am slowing down, easing into another game as I find my seat that is the usual birds eye view of home plate, and panoramic view of Philadelphia. The weather-perfect. The friends who have joined me-perfect.

Let's play ball.

You can read the sports writers play by play for a better description of the game, but for me it is one of those 'sit on the edge of your seats' evenings. Most notable are the tremendous diving catches in the outfield and breathtaking balletic outs at  the infield. Cody Asche at 3rd dives to stop a line drive in its tracks and later jumps like a basketball player with his arms stretched as high as he can to catch another.

Ben Revere

End of game 14th inning

A nice steal adds to the drama, and an unfortunate hit to Carlos Ruiz' head another. But of course the most tension filled parts of the game are the 5 extra innings that could go either way several times. The pitchers take charge and do their job, including Papelbon, ( who seems to have changed his entrance music to something even louder than before). There are many chances to be heroes to make that final hit to bring in the run, but the one most deserving for that honor is Chase Utley, who drives in a runner with a home run to right field.

 The final joyous score-Phillies 5  Marlins 3

But wait, the night (or morning by this time) is not over. The field is cleared, the lights turned off in preparation for fireworks.

To use a tried and true phrase: We are blown away.
These are the best choreographed fireworks I have ever seen, from bombastic to quiet, from patriotic to pop, the music and lights mesh perfectly.

Happy happy happy.

At last a clear night for baseball 2014

Peter, Ron, Gayle, Tobie with Phillies sunglasses

Though there are clouds and a chill at noon, the sky turns blue and lovely for the evening. I think about the anticipation, trying to analyze the indescribable once again as I walk to the subway garbed in Phillies T and hat and a bit of a spring in my step. The Phillies are last in the division and I still feel excited. Go figure.

Trout Jerseys-all the fashion trend

To my puzzlement, at the ballpark 1000s of fans are wearing Angels T shirt with the number 27 on the back. How could there be so many LA Angels fans here tonight and why is everyone so enamored of.........oh I get it- that's Mike Trout's number. And he came from Millville NJ, 35 minutes outside of Philly. Turns out the shirts were made special for this evening's 'homecoming' of sorts, as 8000 Millville fans stream into the park to cheer on their hometown hero.

Even I know about Mike Trout, the 22 year old phenom. Here's a piece from a news article:

"You can feel the energy on Main Street at Jim's Lunch, where Jim Maul's family has served the locals since 1923. "Hey, anyone going to Mike Trout's game Tuesday night?" yells Jim from behind the counter.
"The whole town is coming, you kidding me," says Steve Stanick, president of the Millville American Little League where Trout played. "This is about the biggest thing that's ever happened around these parts." As many as 8,000 of Millville's 28,000 residents loaded onto buses and into cars to make the drive to Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday to see Trout make his Philadelphia-area debut"

As we stroll around the park before the game, Gayle spies a woman with a sign that reads ' I was Mike Trout's art teacher". I go right up to her and she is delighted, giddy even, to share that-yes- she taught Mike Trout in elementary school. I can't help but take her face in my hands to drink in the giddy, infectious pride.

But there isn't too much to shout about in his performance. Yes, he does get on base, but no long home runs (fortunately for the Phils) Still, every time he comes up to bat, the crowd cheers. Even when a hit or a homer could mean the Phillies would end up behind (which they eventually did).

Enough about Mike Trout. The Phillies are doing okay with a 2 run lead until Cliff Lee starts to lose control and Cody Asche makes a costly fielding error that lets in two runs. Two more runs later, the Angels are ahead 4-2.  The Phillies never have a sufficient rally, despite another run batted in, and with an anticlimactic double play in the bottom of the 9th inning, the game is over.

Yet, yet, yet........of course it is disappointing........ and of course it's hard to watch gifted athletes underperform. There were some lovely outfield diving catches, and Ryan Howard did catch some over the head balls for a nice surprise that saved the last few innings.

In spite of the loss and the guy behind us who has had his heckling quips down pat, and some over analyzing by Peter's guest, we have had a nice evening. Not exhaltant, not uplifting, but a fine way to spend an evening with friends with the Philly skyline out in front of us, a full moon behind us, and baseball.

First game postponed

The previous day's game is played under terrible conditions, but it seems they don't want to lose two games to postponements. That is what happens to the April 30th game. I am prepared in the morning for the worst case scenario:  my pack is filled with two layers against the cold, rain gear, heavy socks, an umbrella, winter coat, gloves, hat. The day is stormy from the morning on out, and soon enough the game is called.

See you June 2

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
.

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