cook & son bats' blog · in philadelphia with the folks (6/10/2011) in mid-june, my folks...

In Philadelphia With The Folks (6/10/2011)In mid-June, my folks came to Pennsylvania for a quick visit. My mom had never been to Citizens Bank Park. So on June 10, 2011, we headed down to Philadelphia to see the Cubs vs. the Phillies.

My folks love Philadelphia, so before going to the game, we took a quick walk around the Rittenhouse Square area:

Then it was down to the stadium for us. On the way into the ballpark, Tim wanted to get his picture with this statute of Joe Brown…

…which he has been photographed multiple times in the past. My dad’s picture of me taking Tim’s picture actually came out looking much better than the picture I took.

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Cook & Son Bats' BlogTodd, Tim and Kellan Cook love Baseball, the Seattle Mariners and trekking around the country to visit

stadiums and watch games. These are their stories.

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of 17In Philadelphia With The Folks (6/10/2011) « Cook & Son Bats' Blog

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A little further down the sidewalk, I gathered my folks together with Tim for this photo outside of the LF gate:

When we entered the ballpark, the Phillies were taking BP and LF was still the only part of the stadium that was open to the public. My dad hung out a few rows back in section 141 (the first section in homerun territory in left field), while Tim, my mom and I headed to the first row in section 140 (which is in foul territory and was in the shade).

A few minutes later, a ball was hit right down the line and it came to rest in foul territory. Phillies starter Kyle Kendrick was in LF and he slowly walked over to grab the ball. When he walked below us, he looked up at me and…

Kendrick: “Hey, is that a Mariners hat!?”

Todd: “Yeah!”

Kendrick: “And that’s a Mariners shirt!?”

Todd: “Yep.”

(FYI, it was a t-shirt with an intentionally sorta faded original Mariners logo. Also, at some point during this exchange, Kendrick tossed us the baseball he had just grabbed off of the warning track. Thanks, Kyle!)

Kendrick: “Are you from Washington?”

Todd: “I live there for about 22 years, but live here now.”

Mom: “I live in Seattle!”

Kendrick: “I’m from Mount Vernon!”

Todd: “Cool. I used to play a lot of baseball in there when I played American Legion ball.”

Todd: “So, are you a Mariners fan!?”

Kendrick: (makes a wishy-washing, non-confirming/non-denying gesture)

Todd: “Well, were you a Mariners fan growing up?”

Kendrick: “Oh, definitely!”

My, Oh, My! Great to learn there is a Washingtonian and Mariners fan (I know he’s still a Mariners fan!) on the Phillies. I now have a newfound appreciation for Mr. Kendrick.

Here is a combination of the Kendrick hanging out in LF and the baseball that he tossed up to us:

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After chatting with Kendrick, I headed out to CF to look around. My mom and Tim stayed put and my dad got this shot of Grandma reading to Tim the give-away book (Phillie Phanatic: The Philadelphia Story) that he received upon entry into the stadium:

On my way back to LF, I stopped in the front row just in front of my dad. Right then, someone hit a homerun directly in line with me. But it sailed over my head. I turned around sure that my dad would catch it. But he didn’t even see the ball coming and another guy caught the ball about one foot to my dad’s right.

I left the front row and met up with Tim and my mom again to watch the Cubs pitchers warm up along the LF line…

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…and then my mom move over to section 141 and joined my dad in the front row.

Not much was going on, so Tim spent some quality time touching the foul pole:

When the Cubs pitchers’ finished throwing, a coach (who I think was Dave Keller)…

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…tossed Tim a baseball.

Thanks, Dave!

When the rest of the stadium opened, we headed over to the “pizza slice” in RCF:

Kerry Wood (34) and Jeff “Fighting Irish” Samardzija (29) were both shagging balls in CF…

…I was thinking it would be nice if one of them tossed us a baseball, but James Russell (40) beat them to it. Russell tossed us a baseball from about 100 feet out into the grass. I was in the “pizza slice” where you cannot scoot back. I grabbed the railing and reached up as high as I could and just barely got it before it sailed over me into the bullpen.

Thanks, James!

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Meanwhile, my dad was down 2-3 sections toward CF:

A Cub launched a homerun a couple rows back and he scampered up a couple rows and snagged the ball off of the stairs. My mom took this shot of my dad with is first baseball from Citizen Bank Park:

After BP, three generations of Cook boys tested their canons at the speed pitch…

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…and there was no actual speed present. Actually, it should be noted that Tim heated it up to “28 miles for hour,” an improvement of 2 miles since his last effort.

Next, it was time for a brief play stop in the kids’ play area. Then, we headed up the ramp…

… for a little tour of the upper deck.

We entered the upper deck at section 312…

…and we thought it was a nice background for a group shot:

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Next, Tim wanted to climb up to the very top row. So we headed to the section right behind home plate and climbed to the top. After taking in the scenery, we decided to go down a little lower to find an usher to take our picture. But a fan overheard us and offered to take our picture. Here is her camera handiwork:

And, what the heck, how about one more group shot from the bottom of the upper deck:

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Tim decided to do a statue pose in that last shot.

It was game time. We reported to our seats in section 138 right as Roy Halladay was delivering the first pitch of the game.

I didn’t take this until late in the game, but here is a panorama from section 138, row 10, seat 8:

The Philadelphia International Airport is southwest of Citizens Bank Park and there is always a steady diet of airplanes traveling from right field toward home plate on their descent toward the airport. But all of a sudden at the beginning of this game, the airplanes all reversed course…

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…Tim had a lot of fun watching airplanes traveling from home plate toward right field on their ascent from the airport.

We also had a lot of fun watching the Phanatic and his friends and family entertain people around the ballpark. Here is the Phanatic hanging out in the crowd down the third base line:

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Note: it seems like the Phanatic always makes his first appearance during each game right around this same area down the 3B line.

We had never sat so close to a Phillies ballgirl. Between innings, Tim headed down and got this picture with Maureen:

Before getting Maureen’s autograph and photo, Tim reported to me that every ballgirl whose autograph he’d gotten in the past had signed her name with a little heart. He was sure that Maureen would adorn her baseball card with a heart too. But Maureen switched it up and signed her name with a little drawing of a baseball.

Those “friends and family” of the Phanatic included “Lady PhaPha”…

…who did a little dance with the second base umpire, Alan Porter.

Of course, in addition to the non-baseball entertainment, there was a game being played too. The Phillies took the lead early and led the whole way.

In the first inning, the Phillies scored a single run on a Ryan Howard groundout that scored Shane Victorino. In the second inning, they added two more on a two run homerun by Dominic Brown. I believe that this homerun makes Brown the first person whom Tim and I have seen hit a homerun in the minor and Major leagues.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, former-Mariner Raul Ibanez…

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…hit a double down the right field line. But he was stranded on base and the score remained 3-0 Phillies.

Halladay was, as they say, dealing:

Yep, its official, he’s good.

By the way, here was our view of Raul out in left field:

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It was official, we were having a good time and the ballpark and Tim highly approved of it:

Although the lead seemed insurmountable given Halladay’s dominance, the Phillies played a little tack-on in the bottom of the seventh…and it is a good thing that they did. After loading up the bases, Placido Polanco unloaded them with one swing:

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Our new friend, James Russell, had to come in to finish off the seventh inning for starter Victor Zambrano:

And that put the Phillies up 7-0.

But then Uncle Charlie decided to that his relievers needed to get some work in. So Halladay’s day was done with a line of 7 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9 K.

The relief corps did not fare as well. Between Jose Contreras (4 runs) and J.C. Romero (1 run), the Phillies gave back 5 runs in the top of the 8th, and all of a sudden we had a ball game again. And the “boooooos” were raining down in Citizen Bank Park.

Late in the game, the Phanatic (1B dugout) enlisted the help of his mother (3B dugout) to get the crowd going again:

This has nothing to do with baseball, but I was quite happy with the zoom job my camera did on the moon:

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At the end of the game, the Phanatic got some help from this guy in the green shirt and plaid shorts:

He was sitting just across the aisle from us and after a lot of hard work he got the wave going pretty good around the ballpark:

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It must have worked because Michael Stutes got a hold and Antonio Bastardo got the save, which of course resulted in a win for both the Phillies and their ace, Roy Halladay.

2011 C&S Fan Stats

12/1 Games (Tim/Kellan)

13/2 Teams [Tim – Mariners, Orioles, Rangers, Brewers, Nationals, Phillies, Mets, Rays, Braves, Diamondbacks, Astros, Royals and Cubs; Kellan – Mariners, Orioles]

7 Ice Cream Helmet(s) (Orioles (2), Nationals, Phillies (2), Rangers (2))

38 Baseballs (4 Mariners, 7 Rangers, 3 Orioles, 2 Umpire, 2 Nationals, 2 Brewers, 5 Phillies, 1 Mets, 1 Rays, 2 Braves, 2 Diamondbacks, 1 MLB Authenticator, 1 Easter Egg, 1 Glove Trick, 2 Royals, 2 Cubs)

5/1 Stadiums [Tim – Camden Yards, Nationals Park, Citizens Bank Park, Minute Maid Park, Rangers Ballpark in Arlington; Kellan – Camden Yards]

11/7 Player Photos* [Tim – Felix Hernandez, Adam Moore, Garrett Olson, Chris Seddon, David Aarsdma, Michael Pineda, Miguel Olivo, Ryan Langerhans, Greg Zuan, Mark Lowe, Michael Saunders; Kellan – Luke French, Milton Bradley, Franklin Gutierrez, Justin Smoak, Matt Tuiasosopo, Ryan Langerhans, Michael Saunders]

3/1 Management Photos* [Tim – Howard Lincoln, Jack Zduriencik, Eric Wedge; Kellan – Jack Zduriencik]

4 Autograph(s) (Michael Pineda, Michael Saunders, Mark Lowe, Felipe Paulino)

1 Bat* (Milton Bradley)

3/2 Mascot Photos* [Tim – Mariner Moose, Teddy Roosevelt, The O’s Bird; Kellan – Mariner Moose, The O’s Bird]

1/0 Divisions Closed Out** [Tim – A.L. West (Safeco Field, Oakland Coliseum, Angel Stadium & Rangers Ballpark in Arlington); Kellan – N/A]

1 Line-up Card (Royals vs. Rangers)

*includes Spring Training**divisions where we have seen each team play a home game.

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Posted on June 29, 2011 at 4:18 am Permalink No Comments

Filed in: Tim

Tags: Al Porter, Chicago Cubs, Citizen Bank Park, cubs, Dave Keller, James Russell, Kyle Kendrick, Mount Vernon WA, Phanatic, Philadelphia Phillies, phillies, phillies ballgirls, Placido Polanco, Raul Ibanez, Rittenhouse Park, Roy Halladay, speed pitch, the moon, umpire

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cook & son bats' blog · in philadelphia with the folks (6/10/2011) in mid-june, my folks...

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