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Phillies vs. Mets, 6.28.05
Last night I ventured out to Flushing, Queens for a healthy dose of fresh air, luke-warm domestic beer in plastic bottles, and baseball. The Phillies (my hometown favorite team FOR LIFE) were in town to play the Mets. Now, I do enjoy going to Mets games regardless of who they play, because I legitimately enjoy the Shea Stadium experience. It's an ugly, utilitarian baseball stadium with little distraction from the game itself, a relic from a time long buried by glitzy new stadiums named after corporations.*
But my blood still bleeds Phillies Red (along with Eagles Green and Flyers Orange), and always will, so any enjoyment I derive from watching the Mets play vanishes when they face the Fightin's. Sadly, we got shelled, losing 8-3 in a poorly managed game nearly bereft of a Phillies offense.
I went with Steve, Ben, and Zack. Steve has lived most of his life in Pittsburgh, so he's always happy to see the Phillies lose. Ben and Zack, on the other hand, are both die-hard Phils supporters. Zack is unabashedly vocal about his hatred of the Mets, and after last night, I must echo his sentiment, the Nothing Terribly Grandiose way:
Regardless of the loss, I took the opportunity to get some snaps (and exercise my zoom... we were about 12 rows from the back of the stadium, so for a lot of these I was at 14x1, which accounts for the graininess). Again, this is a small sample of what I took. If for some reason you're stalking me and must see everything I photograph, let me know and I'll post them all to a snapfish album and you can look at every single damn one! Otherwise, shut your dirty little mouth!
And look at these:
Zack, looking contemplative, and the newly-clean-shaven Steve.
Ben. Not visible is his scorebook, which accompanies him to every single game he attends.
Bobby Abreu, who currently leads Phillies hitting at .319.
As of press time, we are unable to confirm whether this is Pat Burrell or Jason Michaels. Sorry. Either way he looks lonely.
Geography lessons at Shea.
Did they really expect anyone to just know that?
The Phillies dugout.
The Mets dugout.
The Mets bullpen. Racism sponsored by Konica Minolta.
One of my arch-nemeses (and yes, I have many). Look at a close-up of this shot:
Ummm... yeah... he really does look like he's... Alright, Mr. Met. I see.
A Phillies supporter in the crowd representin' Rico Brogna. Brogna is the subject of a legendary, but sadly lost-in-the-annals-of-time, commercial from the Phils '99 season. I'll see what I can do to actually track that down... maybe all hope is not lost. He's also name-dropped in a never-used rap lyric I wrote around the same time: "I shift into fifth and I make it look EZ-GO/Rolen like Scott and Brogna like Rico/I cause more crime than Fat Tony D'Amico."
There are few active Phillies with better all-around baseball names than Chase Utley. Come on, can you think of a better name on the Phils right now? [Keep scrolling for respect rightfully paid to the runner-up, Amaury Telemaco.]
Utley came to the plate in the 4th with bases loaded, two outs, Phils trailing 2-1. We were all praying for a slam, but Chase couldn't close the deal. That's alright dude... you're still Chase Motherfucking Utley. Victor Zambrano can't take THAT from you.
Jason Michaels, who was hit not once, but twice, by pitches last night. No mound-rush, no fight. He's a classy guy, that Jason Michaels. He picks his battles.
The t-shirt launch after the 6th inning.
This is probably my favorite "action pitch" shot from the night. I like the composition a lot.
Lieberthal hits! Woohoo!
The aforementioned Amaury Telemaco, who came in late in the game to provide relief. Say it a couple times out loud, slowly: A-m-a-u-r-y T-e-l-e-m-a-c-o. He and Chase Utley should play detectives in a 70's cop film and use their real names. BADGUYS: "Oh shit! It's Chase Utley and Amaury Telemaco! Get to the chopper!"
America! Fuck yeah!
***************
* Editor's note: Shea Stadium was named after New York attorney William A. Shea, who championed baseball as a cultural institution in New York City. For you history buffs out there, read more here. Also, I would be committing blasphemy as a Phillies fan to not include the history of the now-extinct Veterans Stadium, a place I hold very near and dear to my heart. I grew up seeing games at The Vet with my family and friends, and until its demolition in 2004 it represented, to me, what it was to see live baseball. In my heart it still does.
*****N*T*G*****
But my blood still bleeds Phillies Red (along with Eagles Green and Flyers Orange), and always will, so any enjoyment I derive from watching the Mets play vanishes when they face the Fightin's. Sadly, we got shelled, losing 8-3 in a poorly managed game nearly bereft of a Phillies offense.
I went with Steve, Ben, and Zack. Steve has lived most of his life in Pittsburgh, so he's always happy to see the Phillies lose. Ben and Zack, on the other hand, are both die-hard Phils supporters. Zack is unabashedly vocal about his hatred of the Mets, and after last night, I must echo his sentiment, the Nothing Terribly Grandiose way:
Regardless of the loss, I took the opportunity to get some snaps (and exercise my zoom... we were about 12 rows from the back of the stadium, so for a lot of these I was at 14x1, which accounts for the graininess). Again, this is a small sample of what I took. If for some reason you're stalking me and must see everything I photograph, let me know and I'll post them all to a snapfish album and you can look at every single damn one! Otherwise, shut your dirty little mouth!
And look at these:
Zack, looking contemplative, and the newly-clean-shaven Steve.
Ben. Not visible is his scorebook, which accompanies him to every single game he attends.
Bobby Abreu, who currently leads Phillies hitting at .319.
As of press time, we are unable to confirm whether this is Pat Burrell or Jason Michaels. Sorry. Either way he looks lonely.
Geography lessons at Shea.
Did they really expect anyone to just know that?
The Phillies dugout.
The Mets dugout.
The Mets bullpen. Racism sponsored by Konica Minolta.
One of my arch-nemeses (and yes, I have many). Look at a close-up of this shot:
Ummm... yeah... he really does look like he's... Alright, Mr. Met. I see.
A Phillies supporter in the crowd representin' Rico Brogna. Brogna is the subject of a legendary, but sadly lost-in-the-annals-of-time, commercial from the Phils '99 season. I'll see what I can do to actually track that down... maybe all hope is not lost. He's also name-dropped in a never-used rap lyric I wrote around the same time: "I shift into fifth and I make it look EZ-GO/Rolen like Scott and Brogna like Rico/I cause more crime than Fat Tony D'Amico."
There are few active Phillies with better all-around baseball names than Chase Utley. Come on, can you think of a better name on the Phils right now? [Keep scrolling for respect rightfully paid to the runner-up, Amaury Telemaco.]
Utley came to the plate in the 4th with bases loaded, two outs, Phils trailing 2-1. We were all praying for a slam, but Chase couldn't close the deal. That's alright dude... you're still Chase Motherfucking Utley. Victor Zambrano can't take THAT from you.
Jason Michaels, who was hit not once, but twice, by pitches last night. No mound-rush, no fight. He's a classy guy, that Jason Michaels. He picks his battles.
The t-shirt launch after the 6th inning.
This is probably my favorite "action pitch" shot from the night. I like the composition a lot.
Lieberthal hits! Woohoo!
The aforementioned Amaury Telemaco, who came in late in the game to provide relief. Say it a couple times out loud, slowly: A-m-a-u-r-y T-e-l-e-m-a-c-o. He and Chase Utley should play detectives in a 70's cop film and use their real names. BADGUYS: "Oh shit! It's Chase Utley and Amaury Telemaco! Get to the chopper!"
America! Fuck yeah!
***************
* Editor's note: Shea Stadium was named after New York attorney William A. Shea, who championed baseball as a cultural institution in New York City. For you history buffs out there, read more here. Also, I would be committing blasphemy as a Phillies fan to not include the history of the now-extinct Veterans Stadium, a place I hold very near and dear to my heart. I grew up seeing games at The Vet with my family and friends, and until its demolition in 2004 it represented, to me, what it was to see live baseball. In my heart it still does.
*****N*T*G*****
posted by JMP at 2:51 PM
4 Comments:
I saw the Rico Brogna guy, too, but unfortunately, he was wearing a 1993-era, blue and orange Mets jersey, thereby eliminating him from eligibility as a Phillies fan...
Ah... I couldn't see the coloring very well. Damn you, partial color-blindness!
jmp - think its Burrell. A bit ago, I read an article by Rick Reilly (my fave SI guy) about how no one keeps score at baseball games anymore, and the first person I thought of was BHill, and how I was certain that he still did this. And, don't know if you heard or not, but maybe JMichaels isn't the mound-rush type of guy. He'd rather hit cops outside of bars in Philly. Allegedly, of course.
Yeah, there are few people on the planet that remain that dedicated to keeping score by hand. He started when he was young and he'll never stop. You should check out his page: http://greasedpokerchips.blogspot.com. It's exclusively baseball related.
And I don't know much about JMichaels' antics off the field...He kind of looks like Daulton though, if that says anything...
I like the name, by the way!
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