The700Level.com - Philly Sports & Minutiae

Highlights of Saturday's HEIST

The kids over at Walkoff Walk have a recap of the events of the HEIST at the Phillies game on Saturday. My favorite comes from MDT in the comments, "If you want to confuse the shit out of a section at a baseball game, wait until the game is at its most pivotal moment and then get forty people to all start chanting "WE WANT SHRIMP! WE WANT SHRIMP!"

On Yankee Stadium & The Bleachers

Sunday had the makings of a great baseball game long before CC Sabathia threw a single pitch. The defending world champions of baseball were playing for a series win at Yankee Stadium against a stacked New York squad and it'd be my first time ever stepping foot in the Bronx to catch a game.

Being a huge baseball fan, I'm rather ashamed that I never stepped foot into the House That Ruth Built. Such is life, I guess. Taking the D train to the stadium on Sunday in a car full of Phillies fans had me about as excited as I've ever been to see a ball game in enemy territory.

The atmosphere and the game did not disappoint but the ball park did to a certain extent.

In Which Cole Hamels and the Phils Try to Get an Early Lead, Maintain It

I'm not going to kick these late-inning rallies and rivals'-back-breaking comebacks outta bed. Last night's game was as entertaining as it gets; if they'd scored seven runs in the first, allowed maybe a scattering of three Nats runs throughout the game, and maybe taken a nightcap in the bottom of the eighth, sure, it would have been a real nice win. Nowhere near as fun, though, as watching two grand slams, each of which took the lead back for the Fightins.

Speaking of "TheFightins," Meech and I will be down at the game tonight with the guys from Birdland, mostly likely meeting up in the Jetro lot. We'll see how the traffic (Springsteen concert tonight) will jive with my commute.

But, heroic comebacks aside, it would be nice to see the Phils get an early lead from their hot lineup, and then keep it as Cole Hamels mows down Nats like they were a poorly put together reincarnation of the Montreal Expos playing in a major city that doesn't seem to give a gyaddamn about them.

Phils Pitchers Falter Against Nats

For what seemed like the fifteenth straight game, the Phillies starter got off to an extremely bad first inning last night in DC. Perhaps the drain of an extremely emotional past few days has caught up with the squad and they had some cobwebs to shake loose, but despite being down only a run late into last night's affair you never got the sense the Phils would claw back.

It was Adam Dunn who got the Nats on the board and put them ahead for good. He hit a blast deep into the second deck of right centerfield, not far from where our group was sitting.

After a shaky first few outings at Citizens Bank Park to start the season, many thought the pomp and pageantry effected the teams performance on the field. Returning home tomorrow, they'll have to play through the extremely emotional circumstance of playing the first games in Philadelphia without Harry Kalas in the broadcast booth. It will no doubt be an emotional weekend.

A Somber Day At The Ball Park

Monday was supposed to be a fun, beer-soaked day at the ball park amongst readers and commenters of The700Level in enemy territory on their opening day. It didn't exactly go that way.

I was enjoying a few cold beers prior to heading to Nationals Park yesterday when I saw the news that Harry Kalas had been taken to the hospital. I hopped onto a packed green line metro train not knowing what the story was or how he was doing. As I popped out into the sunlight after the long escalator ride up at the Nationals stop, I opened up my Twitter account and every single message was an emotional retelling of the horrible news of Harry's death. It was shocking. Not the way you want to find out about a friend's death. In the middle of thousands of fans walking to the ball park for an opening day game, I felt like I was the only one who knew. How could all these people be so excited to see a baseball game when Harry the K had just died?

Perhaps the only comforting aspect of the sadness was the news that Harry's final moments came at the ball park, in the broadcast booth, a place from which he provided the soundtrack to our summers.

82nd Airborne Parachuter Comes Up Short (Just Like the Phils!)

Last night started out on a most amazing note with good old Uncle Cholly hoisting up the championship flag in center field but later stumbled downhill once Brett Myers took the mound.

Perhaps the 82nd Airborne Parachute Team's performance was a bad omen. Matt and I were standing in leftcenter on the rail in Ashburn Alley and noticed that one of the parachuters totally didn't make it into Citizens Bank Park. He's reportedly okay. The above photo is from my camera phone.

Sixers Win Tight One In Spectrum's Encore

America's Showplace was a venue known for it's ability to entertain. In one last gesture to honor its history, the Sixers and Bulls left fans feeling like they got their money's worth Friday evening. Sure, there was plenty of ugly play and poor officiating (We're looking at you Joey!) but the excitement of a game coming down to the wire spiced up by a few high flying slams by the likes of Speights and Iguodala and the venue was feeling electric, like it hadn't missed a beat.

At times, like when walking through the extremely jam packed hallways, the venue felt totally dated. But when the action on the floor was going on, the intimate building had that amazing Philadelphia sports vibe that runs through the pipes of all the venues and the veins of all the fans. It was a great evening to pay some last respects and create one last memory.

Iguodala Falls Just Short Of Triple Double In Win Over Wizards

Andre Iguodala put up some numbers last night in DC and was only a rebound short of a triple double en route to the Sixers win over the struggling Wiz. While Iguodala led the way with 22 points, it was a balanced scoring attack with six players reaching double figures. Louis Williams was a big spark off the bench putting up 16 including a nasty put-back dunk. Sweet Louis is amazing to watch in person as his quickness is astonishing. [Video Highlights Below]

Sixers @ Wizards

Sixers @ Wizards, originally uploaded by The700Level

So I took the metro down to the Verizon Center in hopes of finding a cheap ticket to watch these two super hot teams. Little did I know someone would simply hand me a freebie and say, "Enjoy!" Thank you, kind sir.

Let's see how bad this is. Go Sixers.

WS Memories: Video of Brad Lidge's Final Out

It was the moment we had all dreamed about. With Brad Lidge on the mound in game five of the 2008 World Series, the Phillies were one out away from bringing this city to new heights most of us had only dreamed about.

Below is a video of my view of the final out in all of it's earthquake-like glory.

This Really Just Happened

WORLD SERIES CHAMPS!!!!!!!!, originally uploaded by philliefan99

Good morning, Philadelphia. It's roughly 5:00 A.M. in the morning and I just got out of a taxi at my parents house in Media. I'm half drunk, half in disbelief, and half dreaming. But I did get home early/late enough to get a copy of Thursday's Daily News and Inquirer at WaWa as we snatched up some late night Shorties. They are most glorious covers.

The Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series tonight. Yes, the Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series. Okay, one more time, the Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series and they did it tonight at Citizens Bank Park in South Philly.

We went from CBP to witness history to Septa to witness revalry to Center City to witness debauchery.

Toss Your Balls Right Here

Oh, have I already mentioned that I was at Saturday and Sunday's World Series games? Because I was.

That said, I have no idea exactly how many baseball games I've ever been to in my life. I'd guess it's somewhere in the vicinity of the 150-200 range but really don't know. I've never caught a home run or foul ball. Nothing, zilch. My fielding percentage is zero for zero.

So last night, it's in between innings and I'm sitting in my seat minding my business (probably tinkering with my iPhone like a loser) when I hear a slight commotion and look up. As I'm looking up, I can see a baseball coming directly at me from above with six or seven pairs of hands all coming together directly above me and slightly to my right. I thought for a split second about jumping up and trying to fight the dozen or so hands for the ball but instead I kind of just watched. With my eye clearly on the ball, I see three or four hands close to snatching it.

These Are Good Days to be a Phillies Fan

The happily drunk fan sitting in front of me was telling us all exactly what we were thinking. It started at some point in the fifth or sixth inning, "40 MORE OUTS UNTIL THE PHILLIES WIN THE WORLD SERIES." After every subsequent Tampa batter to make an out, he updated his statement and screamed it loudly for all of us to hear until it reached 27. Then he simply lost his mind.

The Phillies are one win away from bringing a championship to the city of Philadelphia.

While I voiced my displeasure with the section I sat in for the NLCS game I attended against L.A., I have to give mad props to the fine fans in section 144 last night at Citizens Bank Park. From the crazy guys in front of us to the old timer behind us, high fives were flying around CBP like Phillies home runs last night. It. Was. Awesome.

This city can taste it. It's so close.

Video: Madson and Lidge Shut the Lights Out On Game Two of the NLCS

Section 319 was oddly quiet for much of last night's game two of the 2008 National League Championship Series. I'm not quite sure whether it was an isolated thing or whether the entire crowd in South Philly was a bit reserved. Sure, there were plenty of moments of uproarious celebration when the Phils were putting up four runs an inning or when Shane was making circus catches at the wall, but overall, the crowd was tamer than I had expected and certainly not up there in terms of loudest games I've been to.

You can attribute this to the length of the first few innings and the fact the Phils were up by a comfortable margin throughout most of the game.

Things in the stands did however light up as Madson was closing down the eighth and when Lidge shut the lights out in the 9th. Goosebumps!

Video from section 319 below.

Fly Eagles Fly-Over

Something about a flyover always gets me ready for carnage.