Douglas Witmer

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

file under : personal baseball history

Last night I celebrated my birthday two days early, taking my 8-month-old son Ruben to the ballpark. The Phillies opened an important 4-game series with the New York Mets...this could decide the fate of the season for them. The weather was perfect, and I realized if I was going to be able to catch any of the games the only night that would work would be last night. So we headed down to the ball park early (as you can see in this phone camera picture the Mets are still taking batting practice), got a nice seat (easy since I only needed one), and had time to get Ruben a Phils cap and a nice big chunk of soft pretzel before the game started. I wore my 1980s maroon wool cap. Typically this season I've been wearing my Phils road jersey with current red cap (like Ruben's). I wanted to try something different so as not to jinx the game.

We sat on the outfield porch, just above left field. It's a good vantage point, particularly to be able to see the outfielders work. Any New York/Philadelphia game brings out intense rivalry. And the Phillies are still relatively close in second place behind the Mets. The atmosphere in the ballpark was playoff-like, and heavily populated by Mets fans, who were all around us.

Ruben and I took our seat. A few minutes later a suburban-looking white guy with two sons arrived...all in Mets colors. With them were two other guys. The guy who sat beside us was well-built, had glowing exotic black skin, expensive Lacoste sunglasses, and a vibrant green mesh tank top that you could basically see through. He was clearly with the suburban Mets fans, but I couldn't figure out how someone like him got with folks like them. He sat down and completely filled to overflowing the seat beside us. Ruben was transfixed by this guy and couldn't stop trying to touch his skin and shirt. After a few of my apologies, he replied in a friendly way: "I guess he's never seen a Jamaican before." I said that that was probably true, since he was experiencing a lot of things for the first time. That's when I realized the bright green mesh tank top coordinated with some other black and yellow accessories. Our new Jamaican friend was wearing his national colors. Soon I also realized that this was the Jamaican's first ballgame..Throughout the game we exchanged similarities between baseball and cricket.

The Phils got off to a good start, with their rookie pitcher J.D. Durbin holding down the Mets for 4 scoreless innings, while the Phillies batters mounted a small lead. There was extra excitement in the air as it was the return of the Phillies star second baseman Chase Utley, who had missed the previous four weeks with a broken hand. Utley eventually hit a double and a home run, and had several good defensive plays. Ruben loved it--going 5 2/3 strong innings before becoming inconsolably annoyed with the Mets fans all around us. All the overstimulation had finally gotten the best of him. We left the game with the Phils ahead 3-2, and listened to the game driving home. The Phils eventually built on their lead and crushed the Mets 9-2, sealing the deal with pinch hit 2-run homer by the Japanese infielder Tadahito Iguchi.

[I'm listening to tonight's game as I write this post, and Phillies slugger Ryan Howard has just won the game in the 10th inning with a two run home run, his 35th this season...GO PHILS!]

Labels: baseball, children, Phillies