On an Accidental Vacation & Nazis
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| Citizen's Bank Park, 2021 |
San Diego Padres vs. Philadelphia Phillies
Citizen Bank Park
MLB, National League
Philadelphia, PA
4:00 PM
Outside the Game:
The Nation's birthday was upon us, and for the first time in two years, I was contemplating what to do with it. Memorial Day was a little too early in the recovery to be a factor except more time off at home, but fully vaccinated, I was looking to take the opportunity to go out into the world again.
My problem in this case was that I hadn't made any plans ahead of time because I didn't know what the state of the world was going to be. So I was limited in my reach and how much I was willing to spend. The best idea on short notice that I could come up with was to run down to Philly for July 4th. Except that the price for a hotel and an Amtrak train were through the roof and the weather forecast was not great, and I vacillated all morning on pulling the trigger on the train ticket until the last minute. With an hour to spare before having to leave and grab a Lyft to the train station, I made the purchase. I packed and repacked twice, and then set off to the station, getting there with about fifteen minutes before the train was due to leave.
I was greeted with the news that all NJ Transit trains were being delayed, but I could hardly care as grabbed a quick breakfast and slogged all the way to the other end of the station to get to my Amtrak train, arriving just before it pulled into the station. Once on the train, it took forever to find a seat, eventually getting one next to an overweight woman to begrudgingly put her leg down off the second seat she was occupying. I settled in for the ride. Of course, the WIFI didn't work, and the seat was right by a constantly opening door, so I couldn't do anything except just sit there for the hour or so to reach Philly.
When confirming my hotel reservation in the morning, the lady I spoke to said I could easily walk to the hotel from the train station, and with only my rucksack, I decided to risk it. Except that the sun decided to come out and bake me for the entire straight-line walk to the environs of City Hall. After a couple of false starts, I found my hotel and checked in with the same woman from before manning the counter. I strongly questioned her choice about walking.
I dumped all my stuff in my room and lay down for a little bit in the AC to get reacclimatized to the world and then headed out with my game bag and camera. I took a quick walk east to the historic district and nearly immediately saw a Ben Franklin doing an interview on the green in front of Independence Hall. I thought that was symbolic of something or other.
After a little bit of wandering, I had to grab another Lyft to the stadium. My driver was making some extra money driving while in school for air traffic control, which prompted an interesting discussion on the ride to the park that was unsuccessfully distracting me from the dark, encroaching clouds in the sky. My student driver dutifully disgorged me at the ballpark, and I walked up to the ticket window and had a pleasant transaction purchasing a ticket that I was assured was under cover on the first base side.
With my newly purchased ticket in hand, it began to rain. Faboo. I had about a half hour before the gates opened, so I walked around and took some pictures and walked out to the SEPTA station just to see where it was and grab a ticket, as I intended to take it for the first time after the game. As I came back to the gates as they were about to open, the rain picked up. The security people who came through the line told me I couldn't take my drawstring bag into the stadium. I asked if a clear bag was acceptable (it was), and then put the drawstring bag inside the clear dry bag that it was previously holding, and that apparently was good enough. Security!
A long, long time later, the game ended, and I wandered out to the inexplicable night to ride SEPTA for the first time. Having bought my ticket before the game, I skipped the scrum at the ticket machines and went straight to grab a train that was about to leave.
Now, you have certain troubles when you name your transit system something that close to "SEPTIC" to begin with, but the experience did not start off impressive, and it went downhill. The trains, facilities, and stations were all old and seemingly falling apart. I was in a car filled with Philly stereotypes, but they were all amicably drunk and not dangerous, so I tried to take it all in stride.
A group of 20-30 exited at the City Hall station by my hotel, and we all at various parts found some exits closed. Which, late at night, I guess is sort of acceptable. But as we travelled on, we found that literally all of the exits were closed. There was actually no way out of the station. We all started moving as a pack at this point, perhaps instinctively reverting to herb instincts to survive. After doubling back, we saw someone coming through a transfer station. This poor drunk was immediately badgered by questions from a couple dozen people asking if he came from an open entrance. We all jumped the transfer turnstiles and eventually found the one open exit, which had me quite grumpily heading back to the hotel.
Once there, I asked the person at the desk what the hell was up. She was stone faced, and the equally somber security guard told me that it probably had to do with the fact that a group of neo-Nazis had just blown through City Hall before being chased back to their van by a mob (I mean, what did they think was going to happen?), and the police were probably locking down the area.
Philly. Don't ever fucking change.
I bought some snacks, went back up to my room, packed up, and passed the Hell out.
The Stadium & Fans:
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| Home to Center, Citizen's Bank Park |
Citizen's Bank Park also hadn't changed all that much from my last trip there, and as this was post-COVID restrictions, I'm not sure what they had going on for that. I had a good deal of time to wander around because of the rain delays, and there didn't appear to be too many noticeable facelifts.
I'll say this for the Philly fans: They hung in there. There definitely was a certain amount of fans that bailed in the rain, but it was still an impressive turnout for a game with a bad weather prognosis, and they stayed for the whole ordeal. The Phanatic kept the crowd going through it all. (I wonder if it is waterproof in there?)
The weather in Philly remains weird. When it was raining, it was otherwise pleasant out, with a nice breeze and reasonable temperatures. When the rain stopped, it was unbearably hot and bright. I don't know how they manage it.
At the Game with Oogie:
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| This is an accurate representation of most of the game. |
The rain really started to come down as soon as I was inside. I took a couple of pictures before heading out to the center field concessions. In the uncovered area, there was still one line at one of the cheesesteak places, and if locals were willing to stand in this weather to get a steak here, it must be the place to go. I endured the elements under an umbrella long enough to order and retreat to somewhere with cover to eat my slightly moist gains (wiz with).
It was then wandering around for a while occupying my time as it was clear we were going to start with a rain delay. I eventually bought a bunch more food and headed out to my seat, which was--as promised--under cover. Everyone not sitting in my row or further back was piled up on the promenade. The original start time came and went with no change, though after an hour, the sky eventually cleared and the rain stopped, though another hour would pass before the game started two hours late. (Another rain delay would be in the cards for later.)
I was the only person in my row, again. Half of my row was under cover, and the other half wasn't, so I assume the season ticket holders didn't show up for the rainy game. Sitting in front of me was an older couple. The husband was a big baseball fan and his wife was along for the ride. I spent a good amount of time talking to them throughout all the delays. Right behind me were a couple of teenaged girls who kept talking about babysitting until they abandoned the game at the second rain delay. A couple of older guys were sitting next to them. One of them liked my Jomboy "Baseball Is Fun" hat I was wearing.
After the second rain delay in the fourth, a lot of people came up from the lower seats to claim covered seats. There was one guy a little older than me who went next to the couple in front of me, and he joined our little group for the rest of the game. We all rode it out to the bitter end, and I said my goodbyes after finishing my scorecard and heading out to the rainy night.
The Game:
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| First pitch, Padres vs. Phillies |
The glam swag Padres were coming into town to play the currently woeful Phillies (Blown Saves a Specialty), but things didn't go to script on this rainy, long afternoon, beginning with starting the game, which featured a two hour rain delay before the scheduled 4:05 PM start.
When the game got started, the Padres began the game on the pre-approved storyline, jumping out to a quick two-run lead on the back of a Tatis Jr. single and Machado homer. Philadelphia went in order in the first, leaving the Padres with a 2-0 lead. San Diego threatened again in the second with two men on thanks to walks, but on the basepaths they stayed. The Phillies tied it up in the bottom of the second with two solo shots, and even followed up with a double before they got put out for the inning. Both sides got tired and wet and went in order in the third.
The fourth saw a Padres single erased on a double-play and Phillies stranding a walk, but only after another lengthy rain delay on the last batter of the inning. The soggy teams both went in order in the fifth, and San Diego went in order in the sixth, while the Phillies found new life. A one-out triple was brought in on a sacrifice fly, and then a single, stolen base, and a double brought in another run, giving them their first lead of the night at 4-2.
The seventh saw the Padres go in order despite a single, thanks to a double-play. Philadelphia lead off with a single, and a two-out double nearly scored him, but he was called out at home. The increasingly lackluster San Diego went in order again in the eighth, while the Phillies stranded two walks. In the top of the ninth, the heart of the Padres order went in order, to the absolute surprise of the Philadelphia faithful who had assumed a blown save as a matter of course in the season, with the Phillies winning 4-2.
The Scorecard:
In keeping with my tradition of re-introductions this year, I bought the Phillies' home scorecard, a $1, four-page cardstock pamphlet. The layout was clean and generous, with a lot of space to score and write notes, which would be particularly important this evening.
There were fourteen spaces for player lines with replacements, and ten columns for innings. The player lines end with at bats, runs, hits, and RBIs, while the inning columns end with runs and hits. There is a section for hitting totals for each team, next to the six pitching lines, tabulating the standard innings pitched, huts, runs, earned runs, walks, and strike outs. The bottom third of the card is taken up by ads.
There were not many unusual scoring plays, but there were quite a number of plays of literal note. We begin with the rain delay before the start of the game, then in the top of the first, there was a note that the first hit of the game was originally ruled an E6 then changed. The top of the second featured a pop out to the catcher that was noted to be an attempted bunt. The bottom of the fourth recorded the second rain delay. The remaining play of interest was the bottom of the seventh, which was originally scored as a successful run from first on a deep double, but was then changed on review to a caught stealing 9-2 at home. Also of note was that the first and third innings for the Phillies were an exact copy of each other, with the top of the order going strikeout, strikeout, and F-9. Truly a stat that exists but doesn't matter, but interesting nevertheless.
The Accommodations:
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| Residence Inn, City Hall, Philadelphia |
As mentioned, I was at the Residence Inn City Hall, and despite my several adventures, it wasn't a bad little place. I was in a nice room with a kitchen. The king-sized bed was across from a desk and dresser combo, which in turn was next to the small kitchen, next to the small bathroom with a tub that I truly wish I had more time to try out.
Outside of external circumstances, it was quite convenient, and I definitely got my money out of the bed that night.
On Ringing the Bell
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| Oh, right. That thing. |
Philadelphia, PA
Outside the Game:
I didn't sleep well even though I was exhausted. I think it was some allergy thing with my eye. I was up early to go down and get "breakfast" which was a thoroughly disappointing brown bag with a piece of fruit, yoghurt, granola bar, and muffin. I even had to buy my own drink.
I grumpily took them back up to my room, ate, and napped until just before 9 AM. I packed up and checked out, leaving my bag at the counter until my train later.I marched over to the historic district again at the dawn of July 4th and deposited myself on the tiny line at the Liberty Bell, and made my first visit since grammar school. As I had a decent camera around my neck, I somehow became the picture guy for everyone, taking pictures for a number of families that wanted photos with the Bell. I eventually extricated myself and headed out through the Visitor's Center to walk up to the Constitution Museum, which didn't even exist the last time I was here. I was told by a helpful employee that the museum was free for the day, but not open until 10 AM. Thus duly informed, I wandered around some re-enactors setting up for the day and tried to see if there were any tickets left for Independence Hall, but they were all out.
After some more walking around, it turned out all the museums weren't opening until 10 AM, so I went back to the Constitution Museum. After a multimedia presentation, I wandered around the rather well-done museum, getting distracted in the statue hall, where they recreated the famous painting of the signing of the Constitution in statuary form.
When I was done wandering around there, I decided to head out to the Franklin Museum, but some heavy construction and the fact that I hadn't been there in nearly 40 years caused some navigation problems. A handwritten sign finally directed me to the correct entrance, and I was disappointed to find the puppet-heavy museum of my youth had received an upgrade in the intervening decades without consulting me. To be fair, the new museum was fun and interactive, but I still somehow felt betrayed.
I took the short walk to Betsy Ross' house. This one was very similar to what I remembered, but there's only so much you can change in a historic house. There was an exhibit in the basement kitchen on colonial cooking, and I had made all the recipes there. Thanks, Townsends!
Walking around the streets, there was a tobacco shop selling cigar boxes, so I picked up a couple, with the added perk of being able to play with the store owner's dog for a little while. I kept walking around, stopping at Franklin's grave (covered in pennies), Penn's Landing, and then blowing through Carpenter's Hall and the Second National Bank portrait gallery.
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| Two people held in equal esteem in Philly |
I was starting to get tired, and it was getting about the time to catch my train back, so I walked back to the hotel, grabbed my bag, and hailed a Lyft to the station after a half-hearted effort at mass transit. (Being locked in after a neo-Nazi raid the night before had left me circumspect of success.) A young guy picked me up and had me to the train station in no time.
I was immediately greeted by the fact that my train was delayed an hour and a half. I immediately tried to get on the train currently at the station, but there were no tickets left. The Amtrak attendant did get me on the train after mine, which was an hour later, but still on time and scheduled to depart earlier. Somehow, that train came and went before my original train did, even though they were on the same track, so that worked out, somehow. I grabbed some food and killed time until it was time to board, getting on a train that at least had working WIFI and my own seat. I took a little nap and caught up on my notes before pulling into Newark.
Yet another Lyft had me back home to start some laundry and order takeout before the explosions started to rock the night sky.
The Accommodations:
Back home, thankfully, in Jersey City
Click here to see all the photos from this trip.
Stand-Alone Trip, 2021
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