Phillies Parade

Where to start...

I took a couple hundred pictures at the Phillies parade, but I won't subject you to all of them.


First, I went down Pine Street to Broad and saw a band playing on the roof of a bus:



I watched the parade go by from the corner of Pine and Broad. It was hard to see because this guy put his tall girlfriend up on his shoulders right in front of me.

This is an idea of what it looked like before they blocked me:



The parade was going from 20th and Market down Broad to the stadiums, where there would be a big rally in Citizens Bank Park. Free tickets for this went really fast online, but a woman standing near me gave her six tickets to some other people near me. I asked if they had any extra, and they gave me all six tickets because they weren't going to go. My cell phone wasn't working, but finally I got in touch with Luke, who had sort of seen the parade when it went by City Hall. We decided we'd try to get over to the stadiums. But of course there were no cabs, and the subway was only running Northbound.

I had always wanted to walk over to the stadium (it's about three miles) but the neighborhoods between here and there are usually not too safe. But we walked with a whole bunch of people up Broad Street behind the parade:



And then we caught up with it:





We went through some back streets and ended up in a huge park where we had a great view of the parade.





Cole Hamels is in the front of this float (wearing black):



Shane Victorino is in the front of this one:



We were back on the move, and we caught up with the parade again at the park:



Here's the Flyin' Hawaiian again, and you can see Brad Lidge (the closer) in the back:



Here you can see Charlie Manuel (the manager) next to Cole Hamels, and the trophy is in the back:





We got into the stadium and bought Cokes and nachos. We had given our extra tickets to two women with two little kids, and it was great to see that they were in there, too. The one kid seemed really happy. From then on, it was a lot of big screen shots of players, the Phanatic, and Harry Kalas (who is a legendary sports announcer).

Each player came into the stadium in a convertible. Pat Burrell brought his dog along. The players' families sat near them in the infield, and some of the kids played in the dirt.

Matt Stairs lives in Bangor in the off season:



"Zombie" Romero used to play for the Red Sox:



Jamie Moyer grew up in the area. He skipped school to go to the parade in 1980 (the last time the Phillies won):



Then we had fireworks and confetti at the same time, which was totally awesome but unphotographable:



Harry's call when they won:

Phillies

I stayed up for the whole game last night (it was rain-delayed an hour and a half, so it didn't even start until 10). Even if we're not at the ballpark, it's really cool to have the World Series so close to us. I ran up to the roof in the bottom of the 9th and caught the whole fireworks show from the stadium. As soon as they won I could hear people yelling and honking their horns.

It's a pretty pessimistic city, especially about sports, but people are cautiously excited now. On my walk home from work I see a Phillies sign in a window, colored and signed by a kid, maybe in school or daycare. The city workers are all wearing Phillies hats. "Fightin' Phils" towels hang in upstairs windows.

The other day I heard a kid telling his mom, "You be Ryan Howard and I'll be Jimmy Rollins, and I'll pitch to you..."
The mom said, "But Jimmy Rollins isn't a pitcher."
"Oh, who's the pitcher?" the kid said.
"Cole Hamels."
"Okay, I'll be Cole Hamels, and you be Ryan Howard..."

ALDS Game 2: D Matsuzaka vs. E Santana

I forgot Daisuke is pitching tonight so we don't have any sushi for the game.

Dunkin' Donuts "Uphill Battle" spot makes its Treeboat television premiere.

I'm hoping the early lead prompts Daisuke to work in the strike zone a little more than he usually does. Except with Vladdy at bat. Just roll the ball to the plate on the ground and let him swing at that.

Whoops. Torii Hunter just wrecked his knee in protest of a close play at first. That's embarrassing.