Sunday, September 28, 2014

See You in 2015, Phanatic!

2014 Topps Opening Day
Between Innings #BI-5
Phillies 5, Braves 4
Game 160 - Friday Night, September 26th in Philadelphia
Record - 73-87, 5th Place, 21 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies came back from a 4-0 deficit to defeat the Braves 5-4 in the final 2014 game we attended.

What It Means:  Inexplicably, my personal record when attending Phillies games this season ended up at 7-6.  I only started tracking this on the blog a few years ago, and this marks my first personal winning season in three years.  The Phils went 5-9 in games I attended in 2013, and 4-8 in games I attended in 2012.

Citizens Bank Park about a half hour before game time
What Happened:  Cody Asche started the three-run sixth inning rally with a double driving home Marlon Byrd.  The Phils took the lead for good when Carlos Ruiz scored on a Byrd ground out in the seventh.  Jonathan Papelbon was greeted with a chorus of boos from the home crowd, but he survived the ninth to record his 39th save.

Featured Card/Field Report:  Doug and I arrived early, and made our way to the second floor of the Majestic Clubhouse Store so that we could say hello to the Phanatic.  With only Doug and two other kids there, the Phanatic made an appearance at around 6 pm.  The Phanatic did a little skit and then invited the kids to dance with him.  The other two kids were pretty shy, so Doug took the opportunity to have the Phanatic to himself for a dance routine.

Anything that happened after that would have been hard to top!  We told the Phanatic to have a great offseason and then we settled in to watch the game.  The game was mostly an afterthought as Doug and I spent the majority of the time discussing what offseason moves the team needs to make.  I especially liked Doug's suggestion that the Phillies trade Papelbon for Mike Trout and Domonic Brown for Andrew McCutchen.

Still no giant card for Jerome Williams
Dancing with the Phanatic
See you in 2015!

4 comments:

Steve F. said...

Nice pix! That's not the second floor of the Majestic Store, though. Did you run into the Phanatic a second time? We went Saturday night (HOF Club tix on StubHub for just $27), and continuing a theme, while you saw a win, we saw another loss. My personal record this year was 2-7. Uggh. I took my son and one of my daughters, and we did all get high-fives from the Phanatic, but no photo opps.

I like those proposed trades. How can we get Ruben hired to be the GM of either the Pirates or Angels so that we can make it happen--because he's the only GM In baseball who might make those trades....

Jim said...

It's the Phanatic's "house" which is outside the second floor of the Majestic Clubhouse Store.

Steve F. said...

Interesting. I don't think I have ever seen that! Something to look for with my kids next door. Can you get there through the Phanatic Attic in the Majestic Store? Or do you have to approach from the outside of the store?

Jim said...

Go to the second floor of the Majestic Store and exit through the back. I don't think you can get there any other way. For a 7:05 game, he makes an appearance around 5:50. Well worth it!