Fighting The Yard Goats

Saturday, June 10, 2017
Hartford Yard Goats @ Reading Fightin' Phils
FirstEnergy Stadium - Reading, PA

Pitching: Parker French vs. Drew Anderson
Results: Fightin' Phils defeated Yard Goats, 4-1

We went to a game on May 13th that rained out before it began, so we went to this game with our raincheck tickets.  It turned out to be a lucky turn of events because there was a fireworks show scheduled to take place after the game.

They do a really nice job with the fireworks after Reading Fightin' Phils games, but the marketing for it makes me chuckle.  For the last few years, every fireworks game that I've been to was promoted as "the largest show in the history of FirstEnergy Stadium".  I like to think that they have a notebook somewhere with the total number of fireworks that went off after the last game, then they go ahead and add a sparkler or something to make the next one the largest in the history of the ballpark.

 

Tonight is also "Superhero Night", so the promotional team at Reading has decided to celebrate by reminding the players that they're in the minor leagues by making them wear special Captain America themed uniforms in tonight's game.  I get it... they're trying to make the game fun for kids, but I had plenty of fun at West Palm Beach Expos games when I was a kid without seeing Rondell White dressing up as the Green Lantern.

The game was scoreless until the Fightin' Phils put together a rally in the bottom of the 5th when catcher Chace Numata singled and scored on a fielder's choice.  Center fielder Zach Coppola reached on a fielders choice, and second baseman Scott Kingery drew a walk to put two runners on left fielder Andrew Pullin.

Pullin helped the Fightin' Phils pull ahead even further with a two run triple to put the Phils ahead 3-0.  Reading tacked on another run in the bottom of the sixth.

Drew Anderson did his part, giving up only two hits and a walk in seven innings of work.  Yard Goats shortstop Anthony Phillips, who played for Reading in 2014, hit an RBI double off of reliever Austin Davis in the 8th, but it would be their only run of the game.  Alexis Rivero pitched a scoreless 9th to record his first save and lock down the win for the Phils.

 

Broken Clocks and Wood Paneled Ice Machines

Tommy's Italian Specialty Shop

Tamaqua, PA
I've passed by this place lots of times on the way to Reading Phillies games, but I've never stopped in for something to eat before today.  The food was good, but there's something about this place that's just a little off.

First of all, the building has an old broken clock above an old broken sign that tells you if the restaurant is open.  This is near a suspiciously old street light.  I'm not able to confirm if it's also broken, but I suppose the same could be said for just about any random street light that you come across before it gets dark.  Then again, if it is dark and the light is broken, you might not be able to see that it's there at all, so you wouldn't be able to confirm that a broken light exists.

I was tempted to bring this up to the server, but there were more puzzling things to discover inside.

They must really like soda here, but they can't seem to settle on a brand.  The sign on the outside has a 7-Up logo, and one of the first things that you see when you walk into the place is an old 7-Up soda cooler that doesn't hold soda (more about that later).  Then, there's a Coca Cola cooler that holds the real soda, and a Coke clock on the wall.  Then, there's a menu on the wall with a big old picture of a Pepsi in the center.

The 7-Up cooler looks like it's been there since the 70's or 80's, but at some point between then and now, it has been demoted from soda to milk, tea and pizza shells.  My first thought upon seeing this is that I wish I had one of these for my garage.  It would be pretty cool to have a vintage 7-Up cooler for drinks and snacks.  That train of thought was quickly derailed when I saw the ice freezer.

I have many questions about this freezer.

First of all, why is there a random freezer with about 50 bags of ice sitting in the dining room of this restaurant?  I've been to plenty of diners that have a candy and gum counter at the register, or even a t-shirt, but do these folks really have a side business slinging bagged ice to folks for $1.99 after they've had their lunch?  I suppose they must have had a customer one evening who finished their meal and when they were asked if there will be anything else before getting the check, they exclaimed "Golly, I really wish you sold massive bags of ice so I don't have to stop on the way home".

Also, what's with the wood paneling?  I could understand if there was wood paneled walls or if the restaurant had a cabin feel to it, but nope.  Just a faux-wooden freezer in the corner that stands out like a very bizarre sore thumb.

Well, enough of the ambiance.  It's time to place my order... and oh good, there's a manifesto on the front of the menu.  What is a customer?  Hmm... I guess I've never thought about it too deeply, but The Hoagie King has me covered with a full detailed explanation.  Apparently the customer is the most important person in the business, unless that person happens to be a woman.  Perhaps I'm reading too much into this, but there seems to have been a pretty deliberate effort to be gender specific.

My question is: do I have to prove my gender to deserve the most courteous attention they can give me, and if so, what form should that proof take?  Are jeans and a t-shirt enough, or do I have to grow a beard?  Can I just show you my drivers license, or do I have to drop trow right here in the dining room and show you what's going on downstairs?  Hey, I'm just asking questions here, because there are no fewer than nine pronouns specific to men.  That's a few too many to be accidental.

Thankfully, I decided not to wear a pink skirt and a cute little Hello Kitty top to the ballgame today, so I was given prompt customer service when I ordered my iced tea and cheesesteak.  It was pretty good; not the best cheesesteak I've ever eaten, but certainly not the worst.

Let's Get Together And Eat Some Ice Cream

Bob Marley's One Love
Ben & Jerry's (2017)

You can never go wrong with caramel and bananas.  Adding little fudge peace signs and branding it to one of the greatest singer/songwriters of all time is just icing on the cake.

I totally didn't mean to only buy ice-cream that is co-branded with musicians, but I also picked up a carton of Chocolate Cherry Garcia.  Both flavors are limited edition, and I am a sucker for limited edition products regardless of what celebrities they use to promote it.

Quench Your Thirst With Fire

Pepsi Fire
PepsiCo (2017)

Of all the different limited edition flavors that Coke and Pepsi come out with, the ones that use cinnamon are my favorite.  There's something about it that pairs well with cola.  However, from a marketing perspective, I think they're making a mistake by calling it "Fire".  It makes it seem more lik it's supposed to be spicy, like sriracha or Tabasco.

Pepsi is doing a cross-promotion with Nintendo, but you could hardly tell from the packaging.  They really missed a golden opportunity to use Mario's Fire Flower on the cans.  I'm sure more people would have bought it just for that rather than for an opportunity to win a Switch.

On The Road To Mob City

I-81 South
Hazleton, PA

Monday Night Raw in Wilkes-Barre

WWE Main Event / Monday Night Raw
June 5, 2017 - Mohegan Sun Arena - Wilkes-Barre, PA

Last night, I went to see Monday Night Raw with my friend Angel and his family.  To be honest, I haven't kept up with the weekly WWE television shows in many years, but I'm familiar with just about everyone on the roster from the pay per views on the WWE Network.  A few of them are guys who I saw wrestle many times over the years in Chikara and Ring Of Honor in the tri-state area.

Overall, it was an enjoyable event.  I'm glad I got to see The Big Show wrestle in person.  He was in a tag team with Enzo Amore against the charter members of the Bullet Club.  I followed Enzo since his days on NXT, and he's one of the most entertaining and over-the-top characters I've seen in many years.

The main event could have been straight out of an ROH show ten years ago with Seth Rollins (the former Tyler Black) taking on one of my favorite wrestlers of all-time, Samoa Joe.  After the match, Bray Wyatt ran to the ring to make it a double team attack on Rollins.  Finn Balor then hit the ring to make the save, and the night ended with a pretty funny scene of Finn convincing Seth to do his pose with his arms outstretched.

Here is the card and the match results:

WWE Main Event (Taping)

Singles Match	Drew Gulak defeated Lince Dorado
Singles Match	Bo Dallas defeated Curt Hawkins

WWE Monday Night Raw (Live)

Singles Match	Roman Reigns defeated Bray Wyatt
WWE Raw Tag Team Championship Match	The Bar (Sheamus and Cesaro) defeated Heath Slater and Rhyno
Singles Match	TJ Perkins defeated Mustafa Ali
Singles Match	Kalisto defeated Titus O'Neil
Tag Team Match	The Big Show and Enzo Amore defeated The Good Brothers (Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson)
WWE Raw Women's Championship Match	Alexa Bliss defeated Nia Jax by disqualification to retain the title
Singles Match	Samoa Joe defeated Seth Rollins

Here are some photos from the show:

Drew Gulak vs. Lince Dorado - I saw both of these guys wrestle for Chikara.  In those days, Gulak wrestled as Soldier Ant in The Colony.

Curt Hawkins vs. Bo Dallas

The fireflies are out in Wilkes-Barre for Bray Wyatt's entrance.

Bray Wyatt vs. Roman Reigns

Dean Ambrose came out to confront "The Drifter" Elias Sampson.

Are Samoa Joe and Paul Heyman are going to be friends?

Um.. maybe not.

I remember when Rhyno was a monster back in ECW.  These days, he's teaming up with Heath Slater, who has the absolute worst Titan Tron entrance video I have ever seen.

Sheamus and Cesaro defeated The Hardy Boys the Raw Tag Team Championship on Sunday night at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view.

Mustafa Ali vs. TJ Perkins.  For some reason, WWE insists on calling him TJP.  I guess they figure they don't have enough three letter initials on the show.

WWE Cruiserweight Champion Neville came out to discuss a title shot with TJ Perkins after the match.

The discussion didn't go well for Perkins.  Neville turned on his former ally and knocked him out.

Goldust didn't come out to the ring, but he did appear on the Titan Tron to cut a promo against R-Truth.  It looks like he's going back to the roots of his Hollywood gimmick where he quotes lines from films.

Kalisto vs. Titus O'Neil

The Miz and Maryse had a pretty long comedy sketch to celebrate his Intercontinental Title victory over Dean Ambrose from the night before.  Miz attacked a man in a bear costume believing it to be the former champion.  As it turned out, Ambrose was disguised as one of the cameramen.

The Miz has turned into one of the most entertaining heels of this generation.

I was pretty excited to see Doc Gallows and "Machine Gun" Karl Anderson, but I wish WWE would do more with them.  They're one of the most talented tag teams in the business.

At least they still let them do the Bullet Club hand signs.  Yes, I know it's from the Kliq, and then the Wolfpac, and then DX, but by this point, it has pretty much been taken over by the Bullet Club. 

WWE writers never really knew what they were doing when it comes to The Big Show, but I've been a fan of his since he was booked as Andre The Giant's son in WCW.

Big Cass was attacked by an unknown assailant in the back, so Enzo teamed with The Big Show to take on Gallows and Anderson.

The Big Show tossed his partner at Karl Anderson.

I'm glad that I got to see The Big Show wrestle.  He seems like a genuinely good dude.

I'm not gonna lie - I'm not a big fan of Nia Jax, but her character does have a presence.

Alexa Bliss is the Raw Women's Champion.  Her match with Nia Jax ended in a DQ when Mickie James and Dana Brooke got involved.

Samoa Joe vs. Seth Rollins was a pretty awesome main event.

For as far away as our seats were, I was surprised at how well this photo came out.

Samoa Joe won the match with a Coquina Clutch.  After Raw went off the air, there was a dark segment in which Bray Wyatt came out and formed a temporary alliance to beat Seth Rollins down.

Finn Balor ran in to make the save, which resulted in a Rollins/Wyatt and Joe/Balor brawl in the ring.

Seth and Finn fought off the heels.  They then had a pretty funny interaction where Finn tried to convince a reluctant Seth Rollins to do his pose for the crowd.

Delicious, Send More

Sunday Call Chronicle
Allentown, PA - June 5, 1977
The story of the Hawaiian Mafia, also known as "The Company", would make for one hell of a cool mobster movie.

It's Just Like Cinderella And The Pumpkin

Rocky Balboa's Pontiac Trans Am
Road Champs (1979)
This toy car was at the Hometown Farmers Market.  I was tempted to buy it because I love the Rocky movies, and because my parents first date was to go see Rocky 2, but I settled for taking a photo.  I probably would have picked it up if it were a buck or two, but I don't collect toy cars and $15 seemed a little steep to me.  Now that I see they're selling for over $50 on eBay, I wish I would have bought it.

It's Got Electrolytes

Pickle Ice
Van Holten's (2017)
Usually, I buy things like this because they're weird and I feel like I have to try any weird foods I can get my hands on, but I actually really like pickle juice.  That's all that these are - the same thing that a jar of pickles comes packed in, with a few electrolytes added so that I can make Idiocracy references while I'm eating them.

Harvey and I

Me and my little buddy, Harvey.

A Beacon Of Hope and Corned Beef

Reuben sandwich
The Beacon Diner - Tamaqua, PA

There's something about roadside diners that makes me feel very happy and at peace.  If I ever hit Powerball, I'm buying an RV and taking the world's longest road trip to visit every ballpark and diner I can find.  If I'm lucky enough to find myself in that situation, I suspect a lot of the food I'd be having at these diners is a reuben.

Most of the time that I'm in Tamaqua, it's because of the Hometown Farmers Market, and I eat so much while I'm there that I'm not hungry enough to stop at the Beacon.  I have to make it a point to eat a little less because this really is a beautiful little diner, and the food is outstanding.