graduation trip, part dos

 The day after the Yankees game, Dad and I woke up totes supes early (like 8 am! ha), packed up, and headed off to the car rental place to pick up a car that would be our friend and companion for the next five days.  Dad even went a little cray cray and got the GPS, which he later named Nicole.  Nicole was really good to us the whole trip, even though sometimes we didn't trust her and we wouldn't listen to her. (And then most of the time it turned out she was actually right in the first place and we should have listened to her and if you can hear us, Nicole, we're very sorry we ever doubted you!).

Anyway, after we figured out how to get out of the city, we headed off to Philadelphia.  It wasn't that long of a drive, but I bet I still took a nap (typical).  When we got to the hotel, dad had to hurry off to do some work and so I...took a nap.  When he got back, we went and ate, took another nap, and then headed to our next game!  The Philadelphia Phillies!  I have to say, for some reason I think this was my favorite stadium (besides the Red Sox stadium, obbbbvi).  I don't know, it was just very nice and clean and the fans were, for the most part, respectful.

Actually, I kind of have to take that back.  Toward the end of the game (maybe the 8th inning?) the score was tied at 2.  The Phillies were up and there was a man on first.  The batter hit a ball that looked like it could end up leading to a double play.  The guy running to second did his best to slide into the second baseman so he wouldn't be able to make the play at first.  He appeared to be successful, but then the ump said that he had obstructed the play, which meant that both he and the batter running to first were out. And HOOOOOLY COW, the fans did not appreciate that.  Every single call after that for the rest of the game was booed by the fans.  Every strike, every ball, every hit by the other team, every out made by the other team, everything.  It was a little cray.  They were also booing the ump.  It was a little ridiculous if you ask me.  But I guess fans will be fans and you gotta stick by your team, you know?

The game ended up going into extra innings, but in the bottom of the 11th, the Phillies blasted a grand slam into the stands and the crowds went WILD.  It was my second grand slam in two nights, so obviously I figured I would see one every single night from there on out, but it turns out that didn't really happen. Weird, right?

The next day we headed off to our next game in Washington, D.C.  Dad got us some pretty wonderful marvelous seats right by right field because our main man Bryce Harper plays in right field for the Nationals.  Bryce Harper is LDS (Mormon) and who doesn't love a Mormon celebrity, am I right?  So we we're kind of excited for that except then Bryce had to go and get injured recently and then wasn't able to play. Bummerrrrrr, because I really wanted to give him my number or something.  Oh well.  It was still pretty awesome because we had seats down low close to the field.  Also, here's something: the Nationals were playing the Mets and the Mets were hitting balls all over the place.  Unstoppable, really.  They destroyed the Nationals 10-1.  I was very impressed with them because well, they're the Mets.  But then I just need to give you a sneak peek because a few days later at a Mets game the Mets literally had NOTHING. They couldn't get a hit to save their lives, not a joke.  But that night at the Nationals stadium they had skillz, let me tell you what.  So I was glad I got to see them then or else I would have had very little faith in them in the future.

Also, at the Nationals game both dad and I knew we couldn't eat a whole hot dog, so we shared.  Can you guess which half is his and which is mine?  Let me just give you a hint that might not actually be a hint: I wish they would have fry sauce for hot dogs because then the intensity of ketchup would be decreased.  Okay, which one do you think is mine?  The correct answer is the ketchup one.  I still like ketchup, it's just that sometimes I wish it was a little less intense, ya dig?

Oh, and one more thing!  At this game we were wearing our Red Sox hats and ended up sitting right next to a man and his son who were also wearing Red Sox hats.  We ended up talking to them and they were doing a baseball tour, too!  Crazy, right?!  Actually, when we would talk to people at any of these games, they always thought it was so cool that we were on a baseball tour (which, duh. It totes WAS the coolest).  I just thought it was pretty neat that these guys were, too!

So that's game 2 and 3.  Join us next time for game FOUR (which was a dream come true) and game five with those silly Mets again.  Also, another sneak peek: I did embarrassing things at the Mets game.  Hope that teaser keeps you intriiiiiiiiigued.