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.

Strasburg and the Nats

The morning after the Baltimore game we all got going our separate ways.  Brian was hurting quite a bit from the night before so he kinda dragged his feet a little but the rest of us were feeling great.  The Lavoie party had to drive all the way to Connecticut but we were only going about an hour away to the other side of DC to Fairfax, VA, where my cousin Luke lived.

When we got to Luke’s house, his wife, Liz, was on her way out to a bridal shower but us men hung around the house and relaxed with stories of the open road and our tales from across the country.  We broke out the Wii once Liz got back, on a conquest to beat the high score of the “3-point shooting” game that their friend had set.  We gave it a good run its money but it was out of reach.  We grilled out for dinner with some BBQ chicken and brats.  The Yankees/Red Sox game was on Sunday Night Baseball which provided us with our entertainment for the night. 

On Monday Luke and Liz went to work but since we had both see most of the tourist stuff in downtown DC on previous trips, we headed down to Mount Vernon, to the home of George Washington.  Washington took pride in his farming so his home was a farm with almost every type of crop possible for that climate somewhere on the property.  It was almost a self contained village because they had all types of crafts scattered across the property.  I thought it was most amazing that they still had blacksmiths, which made all the tools, to try to keep the integrity of the era.  We checked out GW’s grave, the waterfront and took a tour of the farmhouse and then called it a day. 

We scooted up to McLean, VA, to my Aunt Betsy and Uncle Ray’s house where my cousin Mark was just in from his internship in Salzburg, Austria. We assisted him in assembling his keggerator for the upcoming wedding in Maine.  Mark invited over one of his friends, who was really into baseball as well.  It turns out that the friend (sorry I forgot your name), went to Stephen Strasburg’s first game, and unless you have been living under a rock, you know that was a big game.  He was actually the fan that caught the first major league home run hit off Strasburg, and he threw it back! It sounds crazy I know, but he got interviewed on PTI and created his own little 15 minutes of fame. 

Another fun fact he told us about was the Presidents race.  Like every other team that has copied the sausage race in Milwaukee, the Nationals have a race where the four presidents from Mt. Rushmore race against each other around the warning track.  He informed us, from his inside source, that whoever is running as Teddy is not allowed to win!  How unfair is that.  Teddy is allowed to do anything he wants, as long as he doesn’t win.  We ended up crashing at Mark’s house for the night with the Nationals game and more importantly, Stephen Strasburg, on the horizon for the next day. 

On Tuesday, we gathered ourselves up after breakfast and made the trek over to Luke’s for showers and to get our stuff.  We planned on taking the Metro into the game to avoid traffic and parking fees so the McLean house was the better home base.  Around 2:30 we headed down to check out the park ahead of time and maybe get some beers before the game.  The metro was a breeze to navigate so we got there with plenty of time but there aren’t really any bars or anything in that part of town so we just headed right to the park.

I’m not sure if the architects did it on purpose or not but, when walking up to the park, it gave the slight appearance of a battleship on the water.  It may have just been the angle we were walking up to the park but the bottom levels are covered in a smooth gray façade and the upper deck looked like the antennas and dishes that would be protruding from the deck.  That comparison might be a stretch but its better than just thinking it was a just another ballpark. 

Right outside the gates, there was a tent set up with a beer garden inside called the Bullpen.  This was a great place to hang out, people watch, and get some non-$8 beers before the game.  They had some live music and a good beer selection.  Also, there was a fast pitch area, which cost $2 (lame), but provided great entertainment from all the fools that could not throw a ball faster than 60.  They did have a high score board, where if you beat the speed of the current high speed, you got a free beer and hot dog.  Unfortunately our age group’s speed we had to beat was 88 (which is REDICULOUS for not warming up and off flat ground with no rubber) so that was not going to happen. 

After a few beers the park opened up so we headed into the park.  Right at the entrance was the presidents (the ones from Mt. Rushmore) that do a race around the park in the middle of one of the innings.  Since we heard what a hard time Teddy had winning we decided we needed a picture with him.  I tried to pump him up and say “it was his night that night” and he got really excited.

We took a lap around the stadium to see what cool stuff there was to see, and you could tell that the nationals didn’t have much history, because they had history from all across baseball, not just Nationals/Expos.  However we were there the night when Andre Dawson, an Expo great who had just been inducted to the hall of fame this year, returned and was celebrated at the stadium.  There was a little ceremony and video montage of his career before the game for him. 

We made our way to our seats (at least our section) way up in the upper deck and there was a definite buzz in there air mixed in with some uncertainty.  Strasburg was coming off his first trip to the DL as a professional so people were questioning how good the game would be. On ESPN earlier that day, it was announced that he would be held to a 90 pitch limit, which indicated a short outing anyway. 

In the first inning Strasburg brought the heat, throwing 99 a few times, but it was obvious that he didn’t have his best stuff when he walked the second batter.  Dan Uggla made him pay for that by crushing a 2 run HR that screamed over the fence.  This is when the Nationals fans got there kicks in. 

National’s fans seem to be a sarcastic bunch.  They loved to cheer for the mistakes that the team made, once Strasburg was pulled early in the game, before even reaching his 90 pitch mark, they were saying things like “Oh here we go, Batista will shut them down”, which he didn’t.  Also it didn’t help that Anibal Sanchez of the marlins had a pretty good game on the other side of the frame.  He let up no runs through 6 and 2/3 with 7 K’s. 

As soon as Strasburg was pulled, looking at the entrance, we could see clearly from the upper deck that people were flooding out of the stadium.  By the end of the game there were probably 1/10 of the people that were there for the first pitch.  We got to move down close to the field to get a better view though.  All in all, it was one of the worst games that we have seen on the trip. An early blow out to a team with no enthusiasm to get back in the game and fans that enjoyed seeing their team mess up.  It still beat any day not going to a baseball game though.

The East Coast...Part Two

After going to the game in Atlanta on Thursday night, we had to get to Baltimore, Maryland to meet my Dad, my sister Lauren, and her fiance Brian for the Orioles game Saturday night. We headed out from Georgia Friday morning and drove straight to Greensboro, NC to stay with Andy's cousin Tim and his wife Cathy, who were hosting us so we could split up the 10 hour drive. We got to their house in the late afternoon and a few hours later went out to dinner to a local Vietnamese restaurant. We got talking with them about our trip and what not during dinner and the food was delicious and we were more than stuffed. But, it didn't stop us from getting ice cream supposedly the most popular spot in town, just across the street from UNC-G. The ice cream certainly lived up to expectations! We went back to the house to watch the Sox-Yankees game...I felt like I was in New York or something with Andy, Tim and Cathy all die hard Yankees fan. However, I got the last laugh as the Red Sox won! (Although, Tim almost made me sleep in the yard in my tent. Almost.) We woke up the next morning to biscuits and gravy to get us started for the second part of our trek up to Baltimore. Thanks to Tim and Cathy for having us and showing us around Greensboro. It really seems like a nice town, hopefully we'll get to spend some more time there at some point.

So, we hit the road once again and despite Tim's advice to not take 95 north to Baltimore, for some reason we didn't it anyway and ran into some pretty heavy traffic. Our GPS (which has some issues sometimes but for the most part gets us where we need to go) also got us going pretty much through downtown DC instead of going around the city. Anyways, we got there, and apparently did so easier than my family, as it took them 7 hours to get from New Haven, CT to Baltimore! Ouch! But, I was ecstatic to see them, as I hadn't seen any of my family in almost three months.

So, we caught up with each others lives in the hotel for a bit, then headed over to Oriole Park at Camden Yards which was only a few blocks from where we were staying. We headed over, and it was the first time any of us had been to this stadium so it was really fun to check it out. One of the nicest parts is the open concourse in left and center field. You can only get there with a ticket, but you still feel like you're walking on the street as the famous brick buildings are on your left and the field is on your right. Andy and I even noticed a footbridge that was one or two stories up and went over the street into the field. We were both a little curious about that, probably some VIP area. We kept walking around and ended up finding some open seats near the left field foul pole. I was told to just by the cheapest tickets you could and sit wherever there are open seats, and I would give this advice too after going to a game here. There was a decent crowd (all things considered) but there was still lots of empty space scattered about. For Dad, Lauren and Brian it seemed strange to them to see so many empty seats (having only been to Fenway) but with all the empty ballparks Andy and I have seen this summer it really wasn't that bad.

Before the game started, we got to see an Orioles Hall of Fame Induction ceremony which was pretty cool. For those who don't know, Buck Showalter recently became the manager of the Orioles and has really turned the team around and they were actually undefeated going into this game under the Buck Show. There was definitely some excitement in the air and it was an entertaining game against the Chicago White Sox, though the ChiSox took away the victory 4-2 with AJ Pierzynski, Alex Rios, and Carlos Quintin doing most of the damage.

There were some interesting fans around us too. Some kids in front of us to the left were from western Mass, and then the guys in front and behind were all from New York. They certainly made for more entertainment throughout the game, so it was a great time all around. After getting back to the hotel, Lou, Brian, Andy and I went out to some bar for a couple more beers but it was pretty late so we crashed after that, and a failed attempt to walk to the harbor. They all had to leave early in the morning to head back up north, so we all said our goodbyes and hit the road again! It was great to see you all...very glad you could make it down for this part of the trip!

We're still playing catch up but there's so much to talk about so we'll continue in a later post. Check back soon.

The East Coast...In a Flash!

Sorry once again to everyone for the delay in posting. We didn't have too much internet access and frankly, spent more of our free time enjoying the end of the trip! Also...we recently passed the 2000 hit marker! (The ticker is at the bottom for those of you who haven't noticed) Thanks for reading everyone and the trip is almost over, so keep checking in and enjoy the blog while it lasts.

So...to catch you up on our recent travels. Andy left off last in Florida on August 7th and since then we've been to Atlanta, Greensboro North Carolina, Baltimore, Washington DC, Philly, Germantown and now Boston! The end of this trip has sure gone by in a flash. It seems like only last week when we were partying it up in San Diego with Matt.

We made our way from West Palm Beach to Atlanta, Georgia where we stayed with our friend Megan Bucheit from Northeastern. Megan's working for a music festival planning company down there for the summer, traveling all over the country as well from music festival to music festival. It actually sounded like a blast...another great way to spend a summer. So we got to her place in the evening and after catching up and resting up we headed out to a bar called the Vortex. It was a cool place and the best part is they had a bingo style game going on called "DRUNK". So we had some food and some beer and played that which was a lot of fun, and we even won some prizes! I got a gift certificate, so that paid for some of our grub. Andy got a chattering skeleton toy thing (hard to explain), and some other halloweenish flavored items like a rope with skulls on it and a skull bowl. Not sure what was up with the theme of the prizes, but it was a good time nonetheless.

The next day, Meg had to work so Andy and I spent the day seeing the sights of downtown Atlanta. We drove into the city (again, the public transit here was sub par it seemed) and first got some much needed food at a taqueria. I got the "diablo burrito" and, despite that it seemed pretty tame at first, I was sweating it out by the end due to its spiciness. After that we went to the Aquarium. It boasted the reputation of being one of the best aquariums in the world, and honestly it lived up to that. The place was HUGE! We saw whale sharks, other types of sharks, beluga whales, sea otters, just about every type of fish you could imagine, crocodiles, poisonous frogs...you name it we probably saw it. One of the bigger tanks had a tunnel built at the bottom so you could walk through and look up to see all the animals swimming above and around you. That was really awesome.

Across the street was the World of Coke so we headed there next. It started off with a lady talking about the history of the company and showing us all kinds of different memorabilia, new and old. The oldest thing they had there was a soda fountain from the late 1800s that you might find in a pharmacy, where Coca-Cola was originally sold. It was pretty cool. Then we saw a "4D" movie, which was a 3D movie but there were special effects as well like moving seats and mist sprayers and some weird thing that poked you in the back to pretend like a bug was stinging you. Scared the crap out of me, that's for sure. After the movie, we walked around a bit, saw a polar bear (mascot, fake), then went to the tasting room where we could sample 54 different beverages produced by Coke around the world. There is no way anyone could ever do all 54 though, wayyy too much sugar.

After that, we were super excited for the game because my friend from home, Joe DeBoer, and two of his buddies from work were meeting us to go to the Braves game that night! They work for the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and were in Chattanooga, Tennessee for training which is only a couple hours from Atlanta. It didn't seem like they were going to be able to make after talking to them early in the week, so when we found out they were coming it was a great surprise. Two of Megan's friends also joined us at the game, so we had the biggest crew we've had at any game with the eight of us. The game started off on a good note, as I caught my first t-shirt toss t-shirt out of those air canons that they shoot off. I got pretty luck though, because he was aiming for the upper deck and it hit some rafters and fell back down to the lower level and I just happened to be walking by after getting a drink or something. You know what they say though, sometimes its better to be lucky than good. The Braves were playing the San Francisco Giants and we got to see a pretty good matchup between Tim Lincecum (last year's NL Cy Young Award winner for the best pitcher in the league) and Jaer Jurrjens of the Braves. It was a good game, and Eric Hinske blasted a homer in the sixth to help propel the Braves to a home victory. More importantly, I won 5 bucks as Hinske was my pick of the night in Home Run Derby! Atlanta won 3-2 in a great game.

I'll leave it at that for now. Atlanta treated us well and much thanks to Joe and Megan! It was great seeing you both! From here we were headed up to Greensboro, NC to stay with more of Andy's tremendously large family, this time his Uncle Tim. More will be coming tonight or tomorrow so be sure to check back.

Florida

As Ben mentioned in the previous post, the condo was an excellent relaxation hub. We basically vegged out all week before the tampa game. We played some golf, fixed up the truck a bit, and got to know the pool pretty well.

After catching our breath for a few days, Friday rolled around and that meant our Yankees at Rays game up in Tampa. We drove up to meet a relative of Ben's, Pete. He met us at our hotel an immediately took us out to lunch and we proceeded to discuss all things Tampa.

After lunch pete brought us over to the bar that he actually owned, Doubles. It was a working mans bar, as he put it. I thought it had an excellent atmosphere with a pool table, darts, and tvs a plenty. Pete pointed out some old photos that decorated the place of movie stars like Marilyn Monroe and Paul Newman and explained that it was ironic that the photos were left over from the previous owners because it was a ruff tough biker bar. Even bikers like movies stars apparently. After a few rounds he hooked us up with some free Doubles t-shirts and took us on a tour of the highlights around St Petersburg (where the stadium is actually located, not Tampa).

We got back the the hotel and turned right around to head to the stadium. It was free t-shirt night and we had already missed out on Houstons tshirt night so we knew we had to get there early. Once we got there, the place had an electric atmosphere. The Rays were only 2 games back of the Yankees for first place of the AL East at the time. ARod was sitting on 599 HRs, Vasquez was throwing for the Yankees and _ was starting for the Rays so it looked to be a pretty good matchup.

Walking up to the stadium the place seemed to be 50-50 Yankees fans to Rays fans. After the game got going it turned out to be more like 70-30 rays to Yankees but they definatly had a presence.

Before the game we walked around the stadium and checked out all the things to do. First we waited to go up to the stingray tank. They have a tank out in right center with 10 to 15 stingrays that you could pet for free and feed for a small fee. After that, near center field, there was the "Ted Williams Hitters Hall of Fame." it seems a little odd that this was here but Ted Williams was a major community contributor in the metro area. I'd have to say that this was one of the coolest things that I've ever seen at a ball park. They had stuff from all decades, teams and events. It wasn't totally dedicated to hitters either. Lots of community service awards and management awards were on display as well. There seemed to be an underlying theme of Red Sox and Yankees though which we thought was cool.

After those things there wasn't much to write home about at the stadium. There was a lot of stuff for kids to do and lots of places with diverse food choices but we just did our usual lap and then found our seats.

It was also Latino night at the park so right behind us was a band of Latino music which played throughout the game. It was extremely loud for us but it made it exciting at the same time.

The game can be summed up by 2 plays. Swisher hit a 1st inning 2 run home run to give the Yankees an early lead and then the Rays took the lead in the 7th with a 3 run home run by Matt Joyce, the Rays right fielder.

After the game there was a free Los Lobos concert which we were allowed down on the field for. We just wanted to go out on the field so we stuck around and watched some of it before heading back to the hotel.

Saturday we drove back and Sunday we headed down to Boca Raton beach for some fun in the sun. Monday we played some more golf before heading to Miami Tuesday for the Marlins game.

The Florida Marlins currently play at the Dolphins stadium but are moving in 2012 to their own. We got there early to get tickets and hopefully check out some of Miami. We went to the pro shop to get tickets and it was all dolphins stuff except for a few sections which were Marlins gear. It was obvious who the money makers were.

After we got tickets we had some time so we drove to Miami beach and got some food then headed back to the stadium.

The marlins match up seemed pretty one sided because Roy Halladay was pitching for the Phillies and the Marlins had a kid who was making his first major league appearance. The game came out just as we thought. Right off in the first inning the Marlins let up a few runs. Then Halladay went to work shutting down the Marlins. He did give up a solo home run to Dan Uggla to left field but that was all for them. The real story of the game was the marlins defense. I'm not sure how many errors they were actually scored but they should have had many more.the center fielder ran back to catch a ball and got turned around so the ball ended up landing right next to him. The third base man had a rough night all night. Uggla booted two easy ground balls. It was just messy.

After the game we headed back up to the condo and got ready to head up to Atlanta the next day.

Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure

Hey Everyone....a quick side note from our usual postings.

On September 25, 2010 I will be joining some friends in running the Susan G. Komen Race for a Cure in Boston. This is a 5k fund raising event to benefit those suffering from breast cancer and to help develop a cure for the disease. Our team is raising funds, and I have a personal fund raising goal of $500, all of which goes towards developing a cure for breast cancer and helping those in need. Any help you may be able to give will be greatly appreciated!

You can read more about our team and donate at the following web address: http://komenmassrace.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=347587&lis=0&kntae347587=3C4C92F1B78F47F2A4E422CE7FB6AF4F

If you have any questions, or would like to join our team, feel free to send me an e-mail. Thanks very much!!