It was another sellout crowd for today's game. The view here is from Ashburn Alley.
Lots of Mets fans were on hand as well, including this group in neon orange T-shirts, hanging out on the second deck of Harry the K's.By the time Shane Victorino walked to force in the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning, I was long gone from the park. Blame it on Mets' starter Oliver Perez and his awful pitching. Or on being closed out of my usual parking lot and then ending up in a deadhead encampment. (If I had known the Grateful Dead were this weekend playing the Spectrum, their home away from home, I wouldn't have gone anywhere near that lot.) Or the hour+ it then took to creep around the Wachovia Center and back to Citizens Bank Park. Or the many edgy, to state it generously, Mets fans at the park.
After the third inning, when Shane Victorino grounded into a mindless double play, I couldn't take it anymore and bolted from my seat. After a couple more innings watching from Ashburn Alley, I was gone. Except to check the score (5-5 in the sixth), I didn't even listen to the game on the way home. Instead I lucked onto Juan Diego Flores singing something lovely by Rossini, then Miles Davis' fabulous version of "If I were a bell". When I got home around 6:30, the Phillies and Mets were still locked at 5-5. Then Victorino, not the most patient of hitters, drew the bases-loaded, two-out walk in the 10th to send the Mets and their fans home unhappy. Yay, Vic!
What is with the epidemic of walks throughout baseball? A night after Chan Ho Park walked six in his outing, the awful Ollie walked six in the two and a third he went today. And they are not the only ones. Throw strikes or go home!
