Philadelphia

The next morning we hit the road again for The City of Brotherly Love. Though, it was one of the last few times we'd hit the road on this trip, as our days away from home were soon coming to a close. It's only about a three hour drive, so we got to the area where the Phillies' stadium, Citizens Bank Ballpark, is located a little before lunch time. We searched around for parking for a bit, and found out we could park at a Holiday Inn only a block or so away from the park for a decent price, but we had to wait about an hour until the lot attendant got there. We were dreaming of Philly Cheesesteaks the whole ride, so to kill some time we drove to the popular stop Geno's and also got some waterice (sort of like italian ice) at a place nearby and ate it in the truck. The cheesesteak was definitely satisfying, especially the kind with cheese wiz on it, but I don't think it was the best steak 'n cheese I've ever had. The water ice was good too, but uber sugary.

After satisfying our stomachs, we went back to park the truck and then went on a search for a metro stop (its called the Southeast Pennsylvania Transit by the way, SEPT for short) because we wanted to go check out the liberty bell and Independence Hall, the famous building where both the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were enacted. The subway was pretty simple to use, but they still deal with the token system, unlike DC and Boston who have switched to the card type system and I think is much better. We got to Independence Hall, which most certainly had the look of a 18th century colonial building, but unfortunately the tours ended up being sold out for the day so we couldn't go inside. Across the plaza, the Liberty Bell is located inside its own building which showcased the history of the famous bell, time lines of events and famous addresses and speeches in its presence, some short videos, and the bell itself in the back of the building. It was a fun thing to see, especially for those with an interest in American History. That wrapped up our tourist sight seeing for this city, and it was time to catch the train again and head back to the ballpark.

We got to Citizens pretty early, which turned out to be good because there was a lot to do. We walked around the outside a little bit first, then headed inside the park while the Dodgers, the visiting opponent for the evening, were taking batting practice. Out in center field, behind where you see the big sign with the bell on it on tv, there's a concourse with all kinds of games to play and collect tickets and get free stuff with the tickets. First, we did the fastpitch which was probably the coolest one of the trip. There was a cardboard cut out of a catcher and if you hit the mitt a bell would ring, which I did at about 75mph so I was happy. Next was a trivia game that Andy did against some kids and their dad, but it was tough for non-Phillies fans. The only question we each knew was what number Jimmy Rollins, their shortstop, wears...and I only really knew that because I saw it on someone's jersey that walked by. Nonetheless, Andy got a ticket and we moved along to the last one, a run-in-place run the bases game. You run in place as fast as you can and lights light up on a board and circle the basepaths in a race to home plate. I took that one home so we each ended up with three tickets, which got us each a free plastic cup thanks to Citizens Bank.

At this point, batting practice was still going on so we sat in the left-center field bleachers and watch that wrap up, but we were curious why it was done so early as there was still a lot of time left before game time. It turns out there was a celebrity softball game featuring local "celebs" from radio stations and news stations and such. The only guy I had vaguely heard of was the play by play guy for the Sixers. It served as good entertainment and a chance to stay in the shade on another hot day. I also took the opportunity to get some food from a big BBQ stand that was also in the center field concourse. It was pretty good, but nothing like the ribs that Steve smoked for us back in Wisconsin. Man, that seems like ages ago already.

Once all that was over, we headed to our seats which were in lower bowl but the last row of the section down by the right field foul pole. But that didn't matter much because we had a great view of the field and could the jumbo tron and all the important stuff. The fan attendance and atmosphere was very impressive as there wasn't an open seat in the house that we could see. It was a lot of fun, especially coming from DC and Baltimore. It was an exciting game too. Roy Oswalt started for the Phils, our first time seeing him since his last start as a Houston Astro back in Texas, and Chase Billingsly threw for the Dodgers. It was a tight scoreless game until the fourth inning, when the bases were loaded and a run scored on a ground ball in the infield. The hometown team got on the board again in the 6th on a double by Raul Ibanez that scored Mike Sweeney, who had just entered the game after pinch running and was thrown into the fire right away. That was all the scoring for the night.

The atmosphere of the park was really what made it a great time. It was packed, like I said, and all the fans were really into the game and knowledgeable about what was going on. I couldn't help but notice a lady in front of my checking players' stats on her phone all night, and the lady to the right of me who was with her husband (who was listening to the radio and tuning everyone out) and family, but she was well aware of all the players and knew what was going on. You definitely don't see that in a lot of places around the country, even in some of the better teams' venues. There was one guy in the section to the right of us who was more than into the ballgame, yelling all night and getting really upset at one point when the third base coach didn't send the runner on third home on a fly ball to the outfield. He surely would be been out by a mile, as it wasn't that deep of a ball and the outfielder gunned a perfect throw home. But this guy wouldn't shut up for like two innings saying how he should have been sent home, cursing out the coach, who he knew by name. This all made for great fun, and in the end everyone was happy as the Phillies won 2-0.

Philadelphia also has, what both of us agree to be, the league's best mascot, the Philly Phanatic. The large green indescribable creature (pictured above) did not disappoint this night. He was all over the place, but his best moment was before the game started. He drove out onto the field on a quad and was racing around the outfield pumping up the crowd for the game. He made his way over to the Dodgers dugout along the first baseline and was doing his best to distract them before the game. One of the dodgers eventually threw a gatorade cup at him, and the battle was on! He momentarily hid behind his quad, evading more potential incoming fire, and then hopped on and drove away. But it wasn't over. He headed over to the Phillies dugout and sneakily grabbed a baseball. Then did another lap and was again in front of the Dodgers dugout. He took cover again behind his quad, but this time retaliated and hurled the ball grenade style into the dugout! It was pretty awesome and hilarious, and I'm sure caught the Dodgers by surprise. But it was all in good fun and made for great entertainment.

So that was the end our trip...for now. You've probably heard we're taking a hiatus at this point so Andy can go to his cousin Nora's wedding in Maine. We'll reconvene next week as we go to the new Yankees Stadium. But for now, we hit the NJ Turnpike for a late night drive, headed north to Germantown, NY to the Crawford house for the night.