You might have guessed that we were discussing weather yesterday because we had tickets to today's game.With a good chance of thunderstorms and our luck with the weather at ball games, we fully expected a washout. Instead, the weather you see in the picture to the right is what we got from inning one through nine.
Game: The sunny day was fitting for a game dedicated to Shane Victorino and his native Hawaii. The game itself had two simple plot lines: a bunch of two-run home runs and a fine outing by Country Joe Blanton.
The Phillies matched the Cardinals' first inning run, but then Chase Utley (pictured scoring) put them up for good with a two-run home run in the 3rd inning. He was matched by Ryan Howard in the 5th, Jimmy Rollins in the 6th and Raul Ibanez in the 7th.Victorino, the man of the hour who never seems to shrink when the spotlight is on him, didn't join in the two-run fun, but he did go 2-4 with two singles and a run. He appeared to have a stolen base in the first inning, but the umpire sent him back. We never got an explanation in the stands.
Although his native Nashville wasn't feted throughout the game, Blanton stole the day from Shane-O. He went eight innings, and with just 108 pitches, he could have gone out for the 9th. His strongest inning was his last. After a leadoff single to Skip Schumaker, he struck out Julio Lugo, Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday (pictured) to end the inning.Despite the protests of a youngster sitting behind us, Charlie Manuel went with Brad Lidge to preserve the 9-2 win. He allowed a double to Rick Ankiel and needed 21 pitches, but he ended the inning without a run, lowering his ERA to 7.00. Former SoxandPhil Joe Thurston made the last out.
Observations from the stands: Lots of Hawaiian music throughout the day. The Phanatic hula'd with professionals, then lead his own thing involving a bunch of guys pretending to row a boat with wiffle ball bats. We didn't get it either. ... The Aloha Hula Show did the national anthem. It was a string version - very different, very nice. ... Stephanos Tsirakoglou sang an operatic God Bless America. He kept it moving. ... That kid I mentioned earlier kept Christine and I entertained with constant chatter, such as "Howard looks weird when he sweats," "Paul Bako has to work his way up in the game" and "Rollins hit a grand slam yesterday. Did Pujols? Did Holliday?" ... Matt Stairs, getting a rare start, used Stone Cold Steve Austin's Glass Shattered entrance music. ... All the Phillies had Hawaiian shirts superimposed on their scoreboard pictures - Stairs got a pink one. ... J-Roll came out to Michael Jackson in his first at-bat, but none of the rest. Christine was taken in the 4th when he chose Kriss Kross' Jump for his intro music. ... It was a very annoying day with people around us. There were constant beer runs and invasions of personal space. None was worse than late in the game when a large guy sitting next to Christine leaned forward and shifted to relieve himself of some gas. It was audible, but thankfully, she did not smell it.
It was also a good day for T-shirt watching, including this new RAUUUUUULL Ibanez version. ... We saw a growing number of Charlie Manuel shirts, including his All-Star T. We also saw two Carlos Ruiz shirts. We were glad to see some love for Cholly and Chooch. ... Kind of tacky is a new Phillies Hall of Fame T-shirt that lists every Phillie in the hall, including stalwarts such as Ryne Sandberg, Tony Perez and Johnny Evers. Well, maybe I would get a Red Sox version, assuming it would have Tom Seaver, Rickey Henderson and Juan Marichal. ... There were also lots of recent antiquated Phillies garb, including Jim Thome, Billy Wagner, Bobby Abreu, Pat Burrell and the debut of Chris Coste to this list.Pictures: It was such a photogenic day, we couldn't get them all in this post. Keep checking throughout the week for some more highlights.
Red Sox: The less said, the better. John Smoltz gave up six runs in five innings in a 6-2 loss to the Orioles. We're 2.5 behind the Yankees. Oh well, off to watch the highlights of Red Sox left fielders Rickey Henderson's and Jim Rice's induction speeches.
3 comments:
I should have buzzed you. Noah and I went, too... nice game.
Was this the first father/son Phillies game?
Well, first if you don't consider that one when he was just a baby and that Liza came along. I got a first-game certificate and plan to write in both dates. At the least, this is the first he'll remember. And it's the first Phillies home game... he's seen them elsewhere.
About that David Bell cycle question, I was thinking about it before it went up on the scoreboard. I was looking at the Phillies' lineup and noticed that there's not the 7-8-9 hole to the same degree there was when he was manning third. I remembered the cycle as his only decent game.
Post a Comment