Last January, we met up with the Phillie Phanatic during his World Series Trophy tour and we promised him that we'd pay him a visit this season. After all, he had recently moved into a new home and all that we knew of Phillies games was Veteran's Stadium. C'mon, the Vet? Who would want to go there? That's where they booed Santa Claus. He assured us that his new home had all the amenities of the newer ballparks (for instance, real grass) and that we had to check it out. Well, a promise is a promise and after all, they happened to be celebrating Oktoberfest this day so we joined up with the Mascothunters-in-law (both die-hard Phillies phans) and headed into Philadelphia.
First of all, the Phanatic was right. Citizens Bank Park is everything that the Vet was not. First and foremost, it is a baseball park. Not a cookie-cutter, multi-purpose, artificial turf-wearing concrete eyesore. The entrances have statues of old ball players and allow you glimpses of the field before you even get your ticket out. Seats are angled properly to let you watch the game without craning your neck to the side. And as a plus that even some of the newer ballparks don't have, the concourse is open allowing you to see the action while you wait in line for another bratwurst and a beer (did I mention it was Oktoberfest?). The most unique feature has to be the giant likeness of the Liberty Bell above the outfield bleachers. It rings every time the Phils hit a home run or win the game. With the Phils recent success, good tickets aren't cheap but if you are willing to plunk down around $75 a seat on Stubhub, you can find yourself pretty much even with the dugout in the lower level.
Although my stomach got sidetracked by anything and everything ending in "wurst", the stadium offers some good food as well as some Philadelphia staples like Tony Luke's cheesesteaks. We did the cheesesteak thing a few years back when we were in town to see the Penn Quaker and had already gotten our Phanatic pic so today was all about taking it easy and watching a good ballgame. Fortunately, the two teams obliged. The Marlins jumped out to an early lead and withstood a Ryan Howard homer and a late Phillies comeback to hold on for a 4-3 victory. But the Phillies got the last laugh as they are currently still playing (up 3-1 in the NLCS) while the Marlins have been working on their golf game for the last 3 weeks.
As the baseball season comes to a close, a few interesting tidbits:
1. Of the four teams to advance to the championship series (Phillies, Dodgers, Angels and Yankees), only the Phils have a mascot. There are only four major league baseball teams currently without a mascot (the three mentioned above and the Cubs) and if the Phils repeat this year, this may prove something. The Angels had a Rally Monkey, who was fired after they won the 2002 World Series and they haven't been back. The mascot-less Cubs just completed their 101st consecutive year without raising a banner. The Yankees spend and spend but its been nearly a decade since their last title. Coincidence? We'll see who's celebrating in another week or two.
2. This makes 5 major league parks that we visited in 2009 (Pirates, Indians, Mets, Marlins, Phillies). When we went to see a winning team play in their home park (93-69 Phillies, 87-75 Marlins), they lost. When we went to see a team who finished with a losing record (70-92 Mets, 65-97 Indians, 62-99 Pirates), they won. Probably just a coincidence but definitely a good argument for the Nationals or Orioles to give us season tickets.
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