I was at the Dodgers-Phillies game for 6 innings, my first foray into Citizens Bank Field. Dodgers were leading 5-1 going into top-7.
Some highlights from the left-center bleachers:
top-1
• Andre Ethier (one of my roto players) slaps an opposite-field double (almost a homer) to score Furcal, but Matt Kemp, who reached on an error (should've been an inning-ending double play) was gunned down at home on a relay from Burrell to Rollins to a catcher named Coste that I've never heard of. LA 1-0.
bottom-1
• before the inning starts, Dodgers CF Juan Pierre takes off his cap (he's got a Jordenesque shiny head) and does a series of the father/son/holy spirit signs; he proceeds to make the first out on Rollins' flyball.
• Iguchi (who's on my roto team as a replacement for my normal roto 2B Chase Utley) strikes out; but not until after "John the 5-dollar souvenir guy" goes through his spiel — "I've got baseball cards with all the great players from years' past, with Mike Schmidt on top!"
• Derek Lowe, who's historic stat is recording the wins in the clinching games of the '04 ALDS, ALCS and World Series, sets down the Phillies 1-2-3 when Burrell grounds out to Furcal, who ranges deep into the 6-hole and guns the ball to James Loney (my roto 1B).
top-2
• Phillies turn a 5-4-3 double play; 3B Dobbs, who booted the DP ball in top-1, almost bobbbled this one away, but grabbed hold of the ball and threw to Rollins, who shunned Loney's hard slide and still got Hillenbrand by a step.
bottom-2
• 2 cute girls get to their seats a few rows away; one of them is wearing an old-school Padres cap; her friend is chowing on nachos and a pool of hot cheese.
• Lowe retires Howard (4-3), Rowand (K) and Victorino (4-3); Victorino gets a louder ovation than Howard before stepping to the plate.
top-3
• Rollins makes a fantastic play when Lowe chops the first pitch from J.D. Durbin (a replacement for the injured Cole Hamels) up the middle for what should be a single, only to see the shortstop dive into shallow center, spring up and gun to Howard
• Furcal and Pierre each retired on 3-1 putouts; it signals the start of several plays by 1st basemen in the game
bottom-3
• due up: Dobbs, Coste, Durbin. I believe that right there is the reason the Phillies have zero chance to make the playoffs. Dobbs? Coste? Durbin? Sounds more like a law firm. That Lowe retires them on grounders (4-3, 5-3, 5-3) only confirms that, although Hillenbrand made a sweet play on Durbin (go figure) by backhanding a hard grounder down the line and throwing to Loney
top-4
• Jeff Kent blasts a long flyball toward our section. Most of us stand up hoping it's a homer, but it's only a double off the wall
• Ethier, a lefty, then CRUSHES the next pitch over the right-center wall. LA 3-0. "The same thing happened last night," said the woman in the row behind me. "What happened last night?" I asked her, to which she answered, "We fell behind 3-0 but came back to win — and Howard stole a base, the first one of his career!"
• Speaking of Howard, he records the final 2 outs of the inning on a foul pop-up and sharp grounder by his counterpart, Loney
bottom-4
• before the inning starts I go to buy 2 hot dogs and a bag of peanuts; compared with Dodger Stadium, they're pedestrian
• Rollins is the Phils' first baserunner when he rakes a 1-1 pitch down the 1st-base line for a double
• Taguchi (L4), Burrell (K; fans boo) and Howard (3U) do squat
top-5
• Rollins makes another unbelievable play, adventuring DEEP into the 6-hole to scoop Hillenbrand's hard grounder and gunning a one-hopper to Howard
• Durbin, who's decent not great not bad, induces a pair of comebackers
bottom-5
• Rowan singles on the first pitch and moves up on a wild pitch; some might rule it a passed ball on Martin
• Loney robs Victorino of a single by snagging a hard grounder and racing to the bag, Rowan advancing
• Dobbs (Lou's son?) grounds out to Loney to score Rowan. LA 3-1.
between innings:
• Phillie Phanatic rides his 4-wheeler onto the field, past the Dodgers dugout and, wearing a doctor's green, starts doing his shtick to Robert Palmer's "Doctor, Doctor." He then rides over to the 1st-base coaching box and shticks it up with Mariano Duncan; I'm watching on the JumboTron, and seeing Duncan laugh takes me back to the late-80's when Duncan was a flashy youngster for the Dodgers, making bunt-doubles a regular part of his arsenal; seems like yesterday.
• Kent bashes a double off the right-center wall to score Kemp. LA 4-1
• Ethier is intentionally walked, which is just silly
• Loney singles home Kent. LA 5-1. My roto players up to this point are 2 for 5 with a double, homer, walk and 3 RBI
• Hillenbrand is later intentionally walked to load the bases for Lowe, who strikes out
bottom-6
• pinch-hitter Chris Roberson (for Durbin) singles
• Loney snags a Rollins smash and the Dodgers almost turn a 3-6-3 double play, but Rollins is safe
• Taguchi almost hits into a 6-4-3 double play but barely beats it out
• Burrell singles to put runners at the corners
• Howard, with 33 homers and 99 RBI up to this point, works the count to 2-2. He grounds the next pitch to Kent, so in 3 at-bats in the game he hasn't gotten one out of the infield; scattered (muffled) boos are heard
I leave. I get lost in Phila. I start to get mad. I become furious. I drive and drive and drive and make circles and can't believe what is happening here. I pass the Philadelphia Art Museum, or is it called the Philadelpha Museum of Art? Get stuck on a 25 MPH road that winds and curves and is poorly lit. I end up somewhere, at a pizza place, the only place that's open, and the Israeli pizza maker and Eddie Murphy look-a-like customer try to give me directions without citing street names or landmarks, only "turn here" and "stay left there" and I'm fuming now. So I head back toward the Philadelphia Art Museum, or is it the Philadelphia Museum of Art? and am desperately seeking Route 1 North, trying to remember that the pizza guys said not to take City Drive. Oy.
Finally I find Route 1 North. And I make it back to the hotel I'm at now.
So, what was the final score of the ******* game?!
