My Night At the Phillies Game

I love going to baseball games. I've been to about 17 so far this season, some not even involving the Yankees. One of those games was this past weekend in Philadelphia where I saw the Phillies take on the Pittsburgh Pirates. I posted here early in the game about the amazing seats and the celebrity sighting of Joe Biden. And I think that Citizen Bank Park is one place where they get the fan experience: it's cozy, accommodating, easy to get to and a fun ballpark to be at with great sightlines. So it was a cool night.

Well, it got a lot cooler.

Fans in the area kept on sneaking down to get an autograph or take a picture with Joe Biden and Ben and I decided to make our move. We kept on being rebuffed in favor of little kids who wanted to meet the Vice President. Every half inning, people would swarm. And we kept on plotting our route and our approach to the VP. Once other fans in the area began to realize who he was (at first the woman behind me thought he was Bob Barker from The Price Is Right), they would make their way down to Joe, including Tony Orlando who happened to be in the ballpark as well. But we weren't able to get down to see him.

Finally, we had our chance. Ben and I made our zig-zag move down and we were the first in line. Then the security guard let us know we couldn't go down because Joe only wanted kids. Ben chimed in "we both voted for him!" Somehow, despite the fact that more than half of voting America did the same, this put us over the top. Ben and I snuck down and got a picture with the big Phillies fan (with Jill sitting right next to him). I was star struck but I managed to keep it together enough to get this picture, shake his hand and get back to my seat.

Despite the Phillies being down by four runs going into the 9th inning and Matt Capps, the Buccos' closer coming in, I stayed. Why? Because I never like to leave a game early. I was at Yankee Stadium earlier this year when the Yankees came back from 5 runs down against the Angels (seems like so long ago after how the Yanks played them this weekend), so I know anything is possible. Well the Phillies started their comeback. A homerun from pinch-hitter extraordinaire, Matt Stairs. A few base hits. And then a bomb from Ryan Howard to tie it up (after I said "just get it to Howard with two men on base...he's going to launch one"). Before everyone could even return to their seats and get over the jubilation of the Phillies tying the game, Raul Ibanez (also known as "Rauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuul" in Philly) hit a first-pitch double. Everything Capps threw was being hit--hard. The Phillies would load the bases with one out for the catcher, Paul Bako. And he would deliver a game-winning hit to send the Philly faithful who stayed (a good amount of people left, though the Bidens were there until the bitter end) home with a big win. The Citizen's Bank Liberty Bell run again and the fans and players celebrated.

And the rain that had threatened the whole night started with the last out. My friend Jen said "God said that He'll hold off the rain until the Phillies win". Well that's exactly what happened. The game ended and the skies opened. But no Philly fan was complaining that night as they all went home happy. And I wasn't complaining either...I met Joe Biden!