Game - 52 - Philadelphia Phillies

Game 52 - Atlanta Braves vs. Philadelphia Phillies @ Citizen's Bank Park in Philadelphia, PA (5/21/2016)
Philadelphia Phillies.  Check!  All 4 Philadelphia teams.  Check!  All 7 teams in the state of Pennsylvania.  Check!  Three straight Philadelphia gams in a row and I am now complete with not only all the Philadelphia teams, but all the teams in the state of Pennsylvania.

This blog will be short as I am over 2 months late in completing it.  I guess the summer has just gotten away from me.

After watching the Flyers and 76'ers in April, Ryan and I traveled back to Philly in May to see the Phillies.  We met up with a college buddy of mine (Drew Blank) and his son Alex.  It was a very familiar feeling as we stayed in the same hotel that I did on my April trip.  As mentioned in my previous post, I love the way Philadelphia has laid out all their sporting venues in one area with lots of bars and restaurants around to support the crowds.

Drew picked us up at the airport and we headed straight to Citizen's Bank Park to grab lunch and watch the game.  There was a bit of a scare that the game might be rained out, which would have been very disappointing for all of us.  Our original seats were in the outfield and not under cover.  It started to drizzle in the 2nd inning so we decided to find seats somewhere else.

After negotiating with the usher, we found new seats out of the rain; however, we spent the better part of the game moving all over the park into different seats, which was a lot of fun.  The fact that the weather was suspect, the crowd was very light; therefore, we had no problem moving to just about anywhere we wanted.

The game itself was rather boring and it did rain almost the entire time.  In the 8th and 9th innings, there was a lot of standing water on the field, but I think the umpires were committed to getting this game in as opposed to calling for a rain delay.  In the end, the Braves won 2-0.

The park is nice, but nothing overly special (sorry, no offense Philly fans).  Normally Philadelphia fans are great sports fans, but due to the weather, it just wasn't the same.  I was hoping to see the Liberty Bell ring at the park (see photo above), but that only happens when the Phillies hit a home run; therefore, we were disappointed.  Ryan was obsessed with the Philly Phanatic (mascot), which is one of the most recognized mascots in all of baseball.  In fact, the only thing he wanted to remember this trip was a mini bobble-head of the Phanatic.

Unfortunately not a lot of money generated for charity this game (just $2), but every little bit helps and I hope it encourages others to donate, which would be great. 

To learn more about how to donate to the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research, please go to:
http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/christopher-apel/christopherapel