David Foley, a west coast-based Philadelphia sports fan is here to contribute an account of last night's game in San Diego and a chance encounter with the World Series MVP. In addition to several past Fan Reports here at the Level, David is also part of the Phinally Philly team. Here's his story from Petco Park:
Last night the Phillies rolled into San Diego fresh off a sweep of the atrocious Nats and won what was a fairly unspectacular game aside from back to back jacks from Utley and Howard, of course. The Phils offense put plenty of guys on base and also stranded many of them (11 to be exact.) Hopefully that's something that doesn't become a trend. Joe Blanton was terrific as well going seven strong in his second impressive start in a row.
As for Petco Park, the place really is a great venue...too bad it was barely half full and the fans that were there seemed largely disinterested for most of the game. I figure this probably had a lot to do with the fact that it was an overcast Monday night with a so-so pitching matchup. There were tons of Phillies fans there though and by the end of the game we pretty much took over the lower level of the park. I have to give some credit to Padre fans: they may not be the most passionate bunch, but they are largely classy and polite...with the exception of the elderly couple in front of us. No joke, they were making some rude/inappropriate comments to anyone in our section who dared cheer or get into the game whatsoever and late in the game the old lady went so far as to yell at me to "SHUT UP!" after Adrian Gonzalez was called out at second in the bottom of the ninth. I don't take pride in mouthing off to the elderly, but I did have to tell her to "get over it, it's a frickin' baseball game" to which she promptly shook her head in disgust and went back to being a miserable old hag. Memo to the elderly: IF YOU DON'T LIKE BEING AROUND PEOPLE ENJOYING THEMSELVES, STICK TO THE RECLINER IN THE OLD FOLKS' HOME.
Now on to the real meat of the story; my experience in the Gaslamp District after the game. For anyone who hasn't been there it is basically a few blocks full of bars, pubs, and clubs walking distance away from Petco Park. A pretty awesome place to go and have a few beers after the game. At one point me and my two friends were walking down the sidewalk when a bald guy came walking up to us pretty quickly. The first thought that came to my head was, "man he really looks like Shane Victorino..." at which point I realized it WAS Shane Victorino. Unfortunately it all happened so fast that all I could muster was, "Shane Victorino?!?" as he strolled past, and he didn't even turn around. He had a shopping bag in his hands and seemed to be in a rush, but I was a little bummed he didn't even acknowledge me (I also realize talking to some random Phils fan may not be his idea of a good time, but still.) Of course there is also the possibility that it wasn't Shane, in which case I owe some random bald dude in San Diego an apology (but I am 99% sure it was Shane. I wasn't intoxicated either, for the record.)
About 30 minutes later we came up to a bar that had a big outside patio area in front. One guy walked by us and said, "that long-haired pitcher from the Phillies is in there." I round the corner only to see none other than COLE HAMELS standing in front of a huge table of what I assumed were his family and friends (He is a San Diego native after all.) I debated whether to try to get a picture or an autograph...no I really don't want to bother him like that. But I HAD to do something...so I walked up to him and waited while he finished a conversation with a couple people at the table. I felt like an enormous douche and debated just leaving altogether, but how many chances do you have to meet a guy like Cole Hamels in-person? He finally turned around and I said something I had thought up as I was walking over to him, "Hey Cole, I don;t want to take up too much of your time but you are having a great season. Keep it up." I shook his hand, and he said, "Hey thanks man." I pat him on the back and walk away. Holy freakin' cow I can't believe that just happened!So long story short I have no visual proof this happened (although my friends did witness it), so you'll just have to take my word for it. I do, however, have a picture of me with one of the two signs I brought with me to the game. Kind of ironic that the Pads would use Jake Peavy to try to sell team jerseys when he likely won't be there in another month or so.
And the other sign? "Raullll for MVP!" Get on the bandwagon early, people!
Thanks to David for the west coast transplant perspective. Remember, on the road trips or at home, let us know if you'd like to chime in with your Phillies game experiences. It's great to see and hear that in addition to a lot of individual groups showing up at Petco, there were as many as three busloads of fans clad in red, descending upon the stadium (seen in these pics).
Original Story:
http://www.the700level.com/2009/06/fa...
