Phillies vs. Nats Game 4/14/11-With Pictures

Have you ever been to Citizen's Bank Park in Philadelphia? The Phillies have sold out 130 home games in a row.  Yes, 130.  It's not too tough to get tickets to the games, thanks to StubHub and other places like that, but odds are you're not going to sit anywhere up close to the action, and you are going to pay hefty prices for the tickets because the sellers know they can sell them to dedicated Phillies fans.

In stark contrast to that is Nationals Stadium in Washington, DC.  The Nationals are still running a promo where you can buy two season tickets and get two season tickets free.  They can't even give away tickets to their ballpark.  The Nats pretty much never sell out their stadium, it's easy and cheap to get a ticket to the game (on game days they sell upper level tickets for $5), and it is relatively easy to get to the stadium.  The DC Metro dumps you off literally right outside the park and with just a short walk you are there.  There are some sparse parking lots, but to park anywhere near the stadium is $50.  Metro is the way to go.

So when the Phillies are in town the stadium is a bit more full than it normally is.  On other days the crowd is mostly young DC professionals who come to the games right from work in business suits with their Nats hats on.  When the Phillies are in town most of the ballpark is filled with rough and tumble Philadelphia fans with those young DC professionals mixed it.  It's like water and oil.  It's easy for Phillies fans to make their way down to DC for these away games.  For those who don't live on/near the East coast, I-95 runs north to south from Maine to Florida.  Philadelphians hop on I-95 and take that route right into DC, and it only takes about 2 and half hours.

This series was particularly important for Phillies fans, as it is the first time Jayson Werth met up with his old team.  Right or wrong, Phillies fans heckled Werth pretty badly.  No doubt Phils fans outnumbered Nats fans.  There were buses that came down from Philly and dumped off scores of people.  People got tickets out in right field just so they could be close to Werth and let them know how they feel.  Here was the scene this past Thursday night:

That's Werth out in right field looking up at the signs that Phillies fans brought.  But who can blame him for leaving and going to get much more money?  I think deep down the Phillies faithful understand that.  But what happened earlier in the year with Werth's comments about the team he won a World Series with is far less forgivable, or forgettable.  Remember this?  To say you hate your former team shows an utter lack of decorum and disrespect, and just pours fuel on the fire that was already kindling within Phillies fans.  Werth would've been booed--that's a given--but it certainly was magnified due to him not being able to keep quiet.

Anyway, on to the game.  I wanted to go to a few games in this series, but the weather was crappy two out of the three nights.  I decided to only go to the final game on Thursday night, with Cliff Lee pitching.  I got a ticket just four rows above the Phillies dugout, which made for some really interesting sights and sounds.  I guess I am kind of a brat when it comes to wanting to sit close to the field.  After the first time I did it I was hooked on the aspect of the game where the players and coaches interact with the fans.  At least Phillies players and coaches do this, I can't speak for other teams.  Charlie Manuel interacted with us fans the whole game.  The coaches threw us baseballs and the players acknowledged us, and a few signed some autographs.  Pre-game Phillies fans lined up during batting practice just like it was a home game.

All of these people are Phillies fans waiting for the players to come off the field after batting practice.  Of course they eventually did.

Here's Charlie Manuel and the coaches watching batting practice before the game.

Here's Shane Victorino walking into the dugout after shagging some fly balls.

This is Wilson Valdez, a utility infielder who is filling in for Chase Utley who is on the DL with a knee injury.

Speaking of Utley, it was a good sign to see him talking some grounders and even taking some batting practice before the game.

My hero, and star of this here blog, Roy Halladay running in from the outfield with other pitchers.

And then the game started, and Cliff Lee was masterful.  It was a real pitcher's duel for awhile.  Here is Cliff throwing the first pitch to his friend and now foe Jayson Werth.  Werth eventually struck out a few times this night.

And then here is Cliff coming off the field after the first inning:

I took a lot of pictures, can you tell?! 

I got this sweet action shot of Ryan Howard during his first at bat.  He had an off night.

I guess the rest of these pictures are pretty self explanatory.  Just some additional shots from the game.



I really liked this shot I took of Cole Hamels talking to Charlie Manuel. 

After the win, you can see Roy Halladay laughing along with Cliff Lee.  Back to back complete games for the Phillies for the first time since 1999.  Lee had 12 strikeouts, and at one point he had five in a row.

One last thing of note, the programs that the Nats gave out actually had two limited edition baseball cards in them!  One is of Ian Desmond and the other of Jayson Werth.  I'll have to scan them and post them in a later entry.  All in all I had a great time at the game, and plan on going again when the Phils come back to DC at the end of May.   I hope you enjoyed the pictures.