Philadelphia Phillies 3, Colorado Rockies 1 -- Thursday, August 6, 2009

Having left Melvin in Chicago three days earlier, my 2009 baseball road-trip ended in Parking Lot E outside Citizens Bank Park. Not really, because I still had a two hour drive back to New York. But the parking lot is where I met Jerry, Rob, Murph' and their friends after the Phillies game. I just wanted to double-check how to get on the Walt Whitman Bridge but I ended up spending an hour or so shooting the breeze with the business partners and brothers-in-law. These guys more than made up for The Pie Lady, the guy in Ogden who needed three seats and the deputy sheriff in Idaho.

I wasn't sure if I would want to see any more baseball after Chicago so I didn't buy tickets for the last three games. This was not a problem in Toledo and Pittsburgh, where I got very good seats as a walk-up. However, the Philadelphia game was a sell-out. (It was Raul Ibanez poster day, or maybe there was another explanation.) I scalped a standing room ticket and eventually found myself on the scoreboard porch, on the stairs under the asterisk-thingee next to "Citizens Bank Park" in photo below by The West End. I lasted six innings there before I had to use the mens room. There wasn't any more scoring after that anyway.

Both starting pitchers gave up doubles in the first inning that ultimately scored on a sacrifice fly. Cliff Lee, who was making his first start in Philadelphia after coming from the Indians, gave up a double to Dexter Fowler, who scored on Todd Helton's sacrifice. In the bottom of the inning, Jimmy Rollins hit a two-bagger off Aaron Cook, who Mel and I saw win his tenth game on July 26. Chase Utley hit the sac fly that gave Rollins the opportunity to come home. The Phillies scored their other runs in the bottom of the fifth. Catcher Paul Bako hit his first home run of the season and Rollins had an RBI triple.

MLB Reports: Wrap-Up Box Score

Before I left, I joked that I might not want to see another baseball game ever after the trip was over. Although the itinerary was some times tiring, I was not burnt out by it. With Melvin as my companion and co-pilot, I drove 4,799 miles across America to see 16 baseball games in 20 days.