A Blog about The World FUCKING Champion Philadelphia Phillies, from an obsessed fan's perspective.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

First Phillies Road Trip of the Season

On Monday morning, my buddy and I packed up and headed to St. Louis for some good ol' Phillies baseball. We made it to St. Louis around 3 pm and got checked in to the Millenium Hotel then immediately got on our Utley and Howard jerseys and headed to Mike Shannons for a little pregame action. Normally, I don't get drunk during Phillies games as I like to actually enjoy them. This time, however, I got much drunker than I anticipated. We were standing on the patio, enjoying some beverages and a local news station came up and asked to interview me about the whole A-Rod thing. I have picked up the book, but I haven't read it yet. Anyway, they ask me some questions and we head to the game.

We get their when the gates open around 5 or so, after getting hustled out of $3 by a street magician. We head down to the 3rd base line where the Phils are warming up so we can catch some BP and watch the guys field some balls. I met a family of Phillies fans from Illinois, and got to talking to them a little. Well, a ball comes rolling over and I grabbed it. I decide to be a nice guy and give it to their son, who is probably about 3 years old and decked in Phightins clothes. So, I hand him the ball and get some "Aww, what a sweet kid" comments. The kid then holds the ball for about 2 seconds, and then throws it back. Back on the field. It was pretty humorous. Anyway, the dad buys us a few beers so I figure I just sold the ball for $15.50.

We have 2nd row box seats on the 3rd base line for the game, so we eventually get settled in after making friends with "Jim," the Cardinals security guy. Nice guy, he went back and forth with us for a while joking around. Big Joe Blanton was on the mound as the first act of the Redneck Wrecking Crew 2 night show. Now, around this point is when things start to get a little fuzzy for me. Anyway, the Ryan Howard grand salami was by far the highlight of the game. Ankiel crashing in to the wall was scary as hell, and seemed to sober me up for a few minutes. It was just nasty looking, the way his head came back after his body smashed the wall.

Well, after the game is over and they finally kick us out after we stood around contemplating how far we could run out on the field before we were tasered, we decide to head over to Mike Shannons again as we're told it's quite the hot spot after games. They were correct. We met up with a few Phillies fans we saw there before the game, and took turns buying rounds of shots and beers. We nearly had a few altercations with some wannabe hardasses, but made it out of the bar unscathed. We somehow manage to find our way back to our hotel and decide the hotel bar needs our business. As my buddy passes out at a table, I go to the bar to buy 2 beers. Three Cards fans decide to run their mouths to me, and so I holler to my friend "(Friends Name), take off your jersey." My friends is pretty jacked, and he takes off his Howard jersey and these 3 guys couldn't leave fast enough. Apparently the bouncer decides we're not leaving quick enough either, and escorts us to the lobby. We talk to the lady working at the counter, and she gives us the number of a Papa Johns to order pizza from. I decide that we need about $30 worth of pizza delivered to us, for some reason. As soon as we get to our room, my friend passes straight out and I'm left waiting an hour and a half for a pizza. I decide to pass the time by apparently sending Chad Durbin a drunken message on Twitter and by making a drunk wall post on my girlfriends Facebook profile, as well as updating my status to let everyone know how awesome my night was and how much my Phillies ruled and their teams were full of pussies. . .It was embarassing when I woke up the next day and discovered this. The pizza finally gets there and I eat half of one of them, and a few breadsticks. I ate about $6 worth of the $30 of pizza. Nice.

Tuesday starts with a hungover walk to Hooters, where the service sucked terribly. We decide to walk to the Landing, where we had some amazing times last time we came to St. Louis for a Phils game. We then decide to go up in the Arch because my buddy has never been up in it. It was terribly exciting. . .Anyway, we get bored and head to the park in our Phillies attire. It's like 3:30 and we're bored as hell. Well, there were a shitload of people outside the gates and they opened them. I was like "what the fuck, it's early as hell but ok." So, I go inside and head to the 3rd base line. I walk down there and see another guy in Phils clothes sitting in the 3rd row. I get down there and look over, and it's Jamie Moyer sitting there on his cell phone. Then I look in the dugout, and Sarge Matthews is sitting there. I get to thinking maybe I'm in here by mistake. A security guard comes over and says "How'd you get in here?" I tell him they opened the gates, and he says no they didn't. I argue with him briefly, and then he realizes there was some sort of DARE program and they must've let me in on accident. He calls on his radio for someone to escort me out, but I tell him they scanned my ticket and if I go out, then I can't get back in. He doesn't know what to do. Then he decided I can just go sit over there in the DARE program until it's over. I sit through and hour+ program about how tobacco is terrible, etc. with about 800 screaming 12 year olds. Finally, it's over and I can go watch the Phils warm up. I watch Pujols smash some balls in BP, and watch the Phils throw. Jimmy Rollins rolled a ball over and I grabbed it, so that was sweet. Every time Raul Ibanez would come by, I would scream "Rauuuuuuuul!!!" and he'd look over and wave/smile or nod. I would do the same with Carlos Ruiz, yelling "Chooooooooch! My boy!" He was enjoying it.

We get to our seats for this game, and we're front row over the Phils bullpen in left field. I watch Brett Myers warm up for a bit, and then get ready to enjoy the game. The Phillies relievers got seated, and once they saw us they gave us a wave or a head nod and stuff so that was pretty sweet. By the 2nd inning, we were getting peanuts and ice and various other things thrown at us and being called a lot of names that weren't very nice. I'm used to it, watching games on the road a lot, but I've never had it this bad so early in the game. I received a lot of boos when I stood up yelling when Victorino hit that frozen rope homer in the 1st and it got worse from there. In the 4th (I believe), when Ludwick went deep and the ball landed in the Phillies bullpen, I yelled for them to throw it back as a joke. They tossed the ball to me instead, which was pretty cool. Well, it was until some little girl came over and said "can I have that homerun ball?" I was already receiving a lot of boos and decided I couldn't be that big of a dick, so I gave her the ball and got a few cheers and handshakes. The Phils held a lead all game, and finally people got bored with throwing stuff at us by about the 6th inning. People were pouring out of the place by the 8th inning. Some guys decided it would be cool to try to heckle Lidge as he warmed up, but I just tried to drown them out with my "Lights Out Lidge" chants. It worked, and they went back to their seats, defeated. When Lidge gave up the homerun to Pujols, it landed about 6 rows back from us, then bounced 2 rows behind us. Sadly, I was unable to get to it so I could throw it back. After the game, however, Chad Durbin came out and threw us up a ball before he left the pen, which was a pretty cool thing for him to do. All in all, it was a great time and it was great to see the Phils get the sweep of the short 2 game series. Howard and Werth always dominate when they go to St. Louis, and it showed this time.

Next road trip is coming in about 2 weeks in Cincinnati. Should be a great time.