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Friday, April 7, 2017
Washington Nationals @ Philadelphia Phillies
Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA
2017 Home Opener
Photo Album
Seats: Terrace section 320, row 2, seats 21 - 22
Pitching: Max Scherzer vs. Vince Velasquez
Results: Nationals defeat Phillies, 7 - 6 [Baseball-Reference]
Notes: ...
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Saturday, May 13, 2017
Portland Sea Dogs @ Reading Fightin Phils
First Energy Stadium - Reading, PA
Star Wars Night
Photo Album
Game rained out before it began.
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Saturday, June 10, 2017
Hartford Yard Goats @ Reading Fightin Phils
First Energy Stadium - Reading, PA
Superhero Night
Photo Album
Seats: Box 6, Row 20, seats 15-16
Pitching: Parker French vs. Drew Anderson
Results: Fightin Phils defeat Yard Goats, 4 - 1 [MiLB.com]
Notes: ...
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Saturday, July 1, 2017
Rochester Red Wings @ Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs
[7 inning double header]
Coca Cola Park - Allentown, PA
Photo Album
Seats: Section 108, row B, seats 1 - 2
Pitching:
Game 1: Tim Melville vs. Vince Velasquez
Game 2: D.J. Baxendale vs. Jake Thompson
Results: Game 1: Iron Pigs defeat Red Wings, 2 - 1 [MiLB.com]
Game 2: Red Wings defeat Iron Pigs, 9 - 0 [MiLB.com]
Notes: ...
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Sunday, July 9, 2017
Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs @ Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders
PNC Field - Moosic, PA
Photo Album
Seats: Terrace section 320, row 2, seats 21 - 22
Pitching: Domingo Germán vs. Zach Eflin
Results: Iron Pigs defeat Railriders, 5 - 2 [MiLB.com]
Notes: ...
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Sunday, August 13, 2017
New York Mets @ Philadelphia Phillies
Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA
Alumni Day
Photo Album
Seats: Diamond Club section G, row 8, seats 11
Pitching: Christopher Flexen vs. Zach Eflin
Results: Mets defeat Phillies, 6 - 2 [Baseball-Reference]
Notes: ...
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Thursday, August 24, 2017
Miami Marlins @ Philadelphia Phillies
Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA
Photo Album
Seats: Section 420, row 3, seats 9
Pitching: Vance Worley vs. Jake Thompson
Results: Marlins defeat Phillies, 9 - 8 [Baseball-Reference]
Notes: ...
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Monday, September 4, 2017
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders @ Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs
Coca Cola Park - Allentown, PA
Photo Album
Seats: Terrace section 320, row 2, seats 21 - 22
Pitching: Jose Pena vs. Henderson Álvarez
Results: Iron Pigs defeat Railriders, 4 - 3 [MiLB.com]
Notes: On September 1st, the Rochester Red Wings had a 2 game lead in the wildcard race. The Red Wings would lose both games over the weekend while the Iron Pigs defeated the Railriders in both halves of a Sunday double header after a rainout on Saturday. This put the Iron Pigs and Railriders at a tie for the wild card on Monday morning. Because the Iron Pigs had won the season series against the Red Wings, the Iron Pigs would clinch the wild card spot with a win in this afternoon game on Monday, September 4th - the last game of the International League regular season.
Henderson Álvarez had just been acquired by the Phillies less than three weeks prior to this game. He hadn't appeared in a major league game since 2015 when the Phillies picked him up. Álvarez was once a promising young starter for the Blue Jays and Marlins. He pitched a no-hitter against the Tigers in September 2013 and was named to the 2014 NL All Star Team, but shoulder injuries took him out of the majors. At 27 years old, he found himself pitching for the independent Long Island Ducks. Less than four years after pitching the 5th no-hitter in Marlins history, he was on the mound to punch the Iron Pigs ticket to the Triple A playoffs.
The Iron Pigs gave Álvarez a pathway to victory right off the bat. Scott Kingery drew a walk and stole second to start the bottom of the 1st, and J.P. Crawford hit his 15th HR of the season in the next at bat. Crawford was called up to Philadelphia immediately after the game, so it's possible that this may have been his last minor league home run. Álvarez would go on to give up just one run (a solo HR to Tyler Austin) on 5 hits over 7 innings to get his second win as a member of the Iron Pigs.
Kingery, Crawford and Dylan Cozens each had a hit in the game, while fellow prospect Brock Stassi went hitless. Carlos Tocci came into the game as a pinch runner in the bottom of the 8th, but didn't have a plate appearance.
Railriders DH Tyler Austin hit his second HR of the game off of Pedro Beato in the top of the 9th. Beato also gave up singles to Cito Culvin and Jonathan Diaz, but he settled down to strike out Jake Cave and get Billy McKinney to ground out to end the game for his 33rd save of the season. This ended the Iron Pigs season at 80-62 as the wild card team in the playoffs.
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Saturday, September 16, 2017
Oakland Athletics @ Philadelphia Phillies
Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA
Photo Album
Seats: Section 420V, row 9, seats C - D
Pitching: Kendall Graveman vs. Ben Lively
Results: Phillies defeat Athletics, 5 - 3 [Baseball-Reference]
Notes: We arrived to this game a bit late. My wife and I visited the Timeline Arcade to meet Howard Scott Warshaw. From there, the quickest way to drive to Philadelphia took us through Maryland and Delaware. It began to rain pretty heavily on our way to the ballpark, so I had hoped that the game would be delayed, but no such luck. The game started on time, and we got to the ballpark in the top of the 2nd inning just as Matt Olson hit his 20th HR of the season. The delay would come later.
We decided to get some food at Harry The K's as soon as we got there. That turned out to be a good decision. The rain had turned into a torrential downpour, and the game was delayed in the bottom of the 3rd, just before our drinks arrived. The delay lasted 1 hour and 46 minutes. We spent most of it from the dry comfort of our table at Harry's, having dinner and dessert and watching the rain fall on the field. It was actually quite a pleasant experience.
The delay worked out well. It knocked both starters out of the game, and the Phillies tied the game against reliever Chris Smith in the 4th inning. Two innings later, the Phillies took the lead when Jorge Alfaro hit his 4th HR of the season (a two run shot off of Simon Castro), and they kept the lead for the rest of the game.
Despite giving up a solo shot to Jed Lowrie in the top of the 9th, Hector Neris closed out the game for his 21st save of the season. In total, this game featured 14 pitchers and a number of bats off of the bench, including Ty Kelly, Maikel Franco and Hyun-soo Kim. The game ended at quarter past midnight with a final score of 5 - 3. It was the only Phillies win that I got to see in person in 2017.
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Thursday, September 21, 2017
Los Angeles Dodgers @ Philadelphia Phillies
Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA
Photo Album
Seats: Section 320, row 2, seats 21 - 22
Pitching: Kenta Maeda vs. Mark Leiter Jr.
Results: Dodgers defeat Phillies, 5 - 4 [Baseball-Reference]
Notes: I brought Dad to this weekday game. It was our first game together since the 1994 Marlins back when we lived in South Florida. It was also the last time the Dodgers would play in Philadelphia in the 2017 season. At 38 years old and in the final year of his contract with Los Angeles, this may be the last time Chase Utley would play a game in Philadelphia.
Dodgers 3B Justin Turner was hit by a pitch in the top of the first. He took his base and took the field in the bottom half of the inning, but he was removed from the game in the bottom of the 2nd. This led to a shift around the diamond. Austin Barnes came into the game to play 2B, Chase Utley moved from 2B to 1B, Cody Bellinger moved from 1B to CF, Chris Taylor moved from CF to SS, and Logan Forsythe moved from SS to 3B.
The Phillies made Kenta Madea throw a lot of pitches and knocked him out of the game after the 3rd inning. The Dodgers would use 7 pitchers in the game to varying degrees of success.
Cesar Hernandez led off for the Phillies and had a great afternoon going 3-4 with a double. Rhys Hoskins also hit a double, and Nick Williams hit his 11th HR of the season. J.P. Crawford walked three times and got his first career stolen base in the bottom of the 6th.
Sadly, Chase Utley went 0-3 and was pulled for a pinch hitter in the top of the 8th. Mark Leiter was doing well against the Dodgers, but a Curtis Granderson home run in the 6th to eat into the Phillies lead. Leiter finished the inning, but Ricardo Pinto came in to pitch in the 7th and immediately gave up a home run to Andre Ethier to tie the game. Chris Taylor hit a triple in the next at bat. Hoby Milner came into the game and got Cody Bellinger to ground out, but Taylor scored from 3B to give the Dodgers the 5-4 lead. This would be the final score of the game.
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New York Yankees @ Cleveland Indians
Progressive Field - Cleveland, OH
2017 ALDS Game 5
Photo Album
Seats: Section 452, row A, seat 12
Pitching: CC Sabathia vs. Corey Kluber
Results: Yankees defeat Indians, 5 - 2 to win the ALDS 3 - 2 [Baseball-Reference]
Notes: I was in town on a business trip and managed to get a ticket to Game 5. The Indians had won the first two games in Cleveland, and the Yankees won games 3 and 4 in New York to tie the series.
This was my first visit to a MLB ballpark outside of Philadelphia since 1994. I can't explain why, but Progressive Field didn't feel right to me in the way that Citizens Bank Park does. The video packages that introduced Indians batters and relievers felt like something out of an episode of Monday Night Raw. Seemingly every half inning featured members of the "Fan Crew" on the big screen asking for the fans to cheer. This made for an atmosphere that felt more like a minor league Railriders game than a major league playoff game. The loud, long and repeated hip hop clips didn't help much either. I recognize that part of my apprehension is that it isn't my home park, but I left the game feeling very thankful for Citizens Bank Park and hoping that it would never turn into what Progressive Field has become.
As for the game, the Indians looked helpless against the Yankees. The fans were intense for the first two outs, waving rally towels with "Rally Together" and "Cleveland Against The World" on shits, towels and signs. They mood got a bit more somber after Didi Gregorius homered in the top of the 1st. The crowd felt defeated after he homered again in the 3rd. The Indians managed to keep Aaron Judge hitless (0 - 5 with 4 k), but Sabathia, David Robertson and Aroldis Chapman kept the Indians to 2 runs on 5 hits, and kept the returning Edwin Encarnación hitless.
I came to this game with no dog in this fight, but casually rooting for the home team for the night, but I drove back to the hotel with a new respect for the 2017 Yankees - a team who no one expected to contend who outplayed a 102 win team who concluded a 22 game winning streak less than a month earlier.
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