Memorial Day weekend memory

Last year, our holiday weekend was highlighted by preparing a meal for the families staying at the Ronald McDonald House and listening to Roy Halladay's perfect game, old-school style, on a radio.

Little did we know that a week later Trent would be born and that this year we wouldn't be able to do the Ronald McDonald House meal again. But we are preparing a kiddie's meal - Trent's first birthday party next weekend.

Halladay is scheduled to pitch this afternoon. With the Nationals hitting .229 for the season, I think there's a chance he'll repeat last year's performance.

Sorry, Joe Wolf's Vertical Jump.

Thanks, Fox

In an effort to be more positive, we won't complain that we had to give away tickets to tonight's game instead of taking Trent to his first game because of Fox's bonehead decision to move some Saturday games to the night instead of the afternoon.

Nope, we're just going to enjoy the wonderful day we had with our son.

Trent woke up in an exceptional mood that did not diminish all day, even though he took just two 20-minute naps by dinner. We took care of some things for his upcoming first birthday party, went to our local zoo (he was engrossed by a recently shorn alpaca) and then capped it off by taking him out for ice cream (we give him little tastes and he gets cranky when the spoon goes into our mouths instead of his). And, of course, he played as hard as an 11-month-old can.

With the ice cream-fueled sugar kick, he stayed up a little later than normal, so he did get to see a portion of tonight's game.

It was such a great day that we're no longer bitter toward Fox. Although Trent would have been adorable on Phan-o-Vision. (And, he would have gotten to see the Phillies beat the Rangers 2-0.)

The Big Piece comes through for our little guy

On the way to Trent's bath tonight, Christine checked in on the Phillies. Ryan Howard was up in the 1st inning of a scoreless game.

"Hit a home run for a sick little boy," Christine said.

I shot her a look. Trent's had a rough go this week with a fever, sore throat and earache, but "those kinds of requests are reserved for kids with cancer," I said.

Apparently not. As requested, Big Brown came through with a three-run home run.

Whirlwind

In three hours on Saturday I went from sweating my butt off finishing some yard work on a pleasant spring afternoon to holding onto my hat and hoping our Bull’s BBQ didn't get whisked away in gale force winds at Citizens Bank Park.

Yes, the winds were so bad that I was having the blasphemous thought of wondering how it compared with the first half of Game 5 of the 2008 World Series. It wasn't a good sign when we pulled into the parking lot that the first sight we saw was a woman wrapped in a blanket and the first thing we heard was some guy say it was like a tornado.

In other words, perfect weather for Christine and I to make our 2011 debut at the ballpark.

We didn't make our usual predictions this year, but we did predict we’d see Joe Blanton more than any other starter in the five games we go to this year. We stand corrected: Kyle Kendrick is the front runner.

Actually, he pitched a good game – two hits and a walk in five shutout innings. He probably could have gone more, but he hasn't been stretched out to be a starter.

Ryan Howard hit a homer for Trent (who stayed home with his grandmother), and the Phillies manufactured two other runs to spoil the major league debut of Braves prospect Julio Teheran. Phillies 3, Braves 0.

Shane Victorino made a couple of nice catches in center, but the defensive play of the game was Martin Prado, who ran across half a continent to rob the Flyin' Hawaiian of an extra-base hit to lead off the bottom of the 8th.

Observations from the stands: For the second year in a row, we saw the Kentucky Derby at a ballpark. Last year we were in Baltimore. We saw another race once in 2007. … It was Youth Baseball Night as 3,000 youngsters paraded around in their uniforms. One of the teams seated near us was sponsored by a roofing company that uses my last name. (No relation.) We happened to be there for last year’s event as well. It was very windy that night, too. And, we saw Lady Pha Pha. … An Asian tourist sat in front of us. He asked me to take a picture of him, then another without the flash, then another with the scoreboard, then another with the World Series trophy. OK, that last one was a joke, but I thought I broke his camera when the screen went blank and up popped some Japanese words. ... The 7th inning stretch seemed weird. I realized this morning that that’s because we’re rarely at Saturday games and are used to God Bless the America. … It was cold, so I got a coffee. … Christine loved watching a little boy in front of us enjoy himself with the fans. The whole section cheered when he was caught by the scoreboard camera.

Scoreboard: We can pretty much see the new scoreboard from our house. It’s nice to look at, but they could do a better job arranging things on the screen so it’s less busy. It seems as if they've also updated other scoreboards and televisions throughout the park, which makes those that haven’t been updated seem woefully inadequate.

Antiquated Phillies shirts: Bobby Abreu, Pat Burrell, Jim Thome and the debut of Jayson Werth. And a very unusual Geoff Jenkins that said G. Jenkins. We saw a bunch of random teams represented, such as the Reds and Giants, but the strangest was a guy in his 70s wearing a Tigers hat and jersey. A short while later, we spotted an even older gentleman wearing a Ryan Howard jersey. It made us smile.

Tomorrow night

Really? Kyle Kendrick is starting? SERIOUSLY???

In 25 years, our little baby will be a man

The other day it hit me that this is my 25th anniversary of being a Red Sox fan. Before Trent, this is something I would have realized months ago and had some kind of big, stupid build-up on the blog. (Actually, a check of the archives reveals that I did think about it last year.)

I apparently forgot all about it until Friday when trying to think of things to talk about with an almost 11-month-old over his oatmeal as I thought about my first birthday as a father.

This year's celebration was a bit different from last year's mini-cation in Baltimore. I fired up the grill and gave Trent his first taste of flame-charred goodness, and also his first taste of ice cream later. He helped open my presents, which included some baby Red Sox garb: reversible hat (red and blue), onesie and bib.

We also started getting the yard ready for a more important birthday celebration we're planning for June: staining the front porch, picking up a picnic table and assembling a little swing and slide for Trent. He loved it.

Christine and I did have a lingering adults-only meal on Saturday.

But back to Friday's oatmeal ... when I remembered the anniversary, I thought about all that has happened since Roger Clemens first struck out 20 batters and what will happen in the next 25 years: Our little baby boy will be a young man finding his own way in the world. Maybe he'll wear a Red Sox cap, but I doubt it'll be reversible.