Reading Phillies - First Energy Stadium - Reading, PA

If you're read just about any post in the history of Pics of Me in Front of Stuff outside aside from the first one way back in September 2008, you probably know I have a healthy fanhood (obsession?) for the Philadelphia Phillies. Use the search field on my blog and see how many blogs pop up from the word 'Phillies'.  Is Phillies a word?  They have been known to affect my attire as well as my facial hair so is it any surprise they have dominated my blog?  People thought I was going to die at Photo Day from a combination of the heat and mononucleosis.  I'm listening to Scott Franzke and Larry Anderson call the Phillies-Marlins game as I type this.  It's safe to say I am a Phan.
And also that Vance Worley is a good pitcher.  Ask Dustin Pedroia.
Before all of that came into fruition, when the Phillies were awful during most of childhood, I was a frequent visitor to their AA affiliate in Reading, the cleverly named Reading Phillies.  I spent a large portion of my childhood living down the street, like 10 blocks from the epicenter of Baseballtown.  I'm not really sure how Reading captured that moniker.  The local high school is best known for it's basketball team.  Lenny Moore (Former NFL All-Pro), Donyell Marshall (former NBA player and  All-American at UConn and he lived across the street from me) and Stu Jackson former (former coach of the Knicks and current NBA executive) are the most notable athletic alumni.  In the Rabbit series, John Updike gave an unflattering description of the people he grew up around in nearby Shillington.  But he was a Red Soz fan so he can go fuck himself.  Taylor Swift was born in Wyomissing, the Snob Hill of Berks County, and she sang the National Anthem before Game 3 of the 2008 World Series.

In case you missed it, the Phillies won that one.
Before she was a household name she sang the Star Spangled Banner before a Reading Phillies game.  Sadly, that's the best native I can come up with as a link to the Baseballtown moniker.
Here's where she sang:

 First Energy Stadium

  Here I am in First Energy Stadium

Ryan Howard just struck out again.
Here's some of the Official Family of PoMiFoS who were lucky enough to watch the game with me.

There was an actual baseball game that night as well.  The R-Phils bear the Richmond Flying Squirrels (not the River Rats like some people told me) 7-4.  J.C. Ramirez (not J.C. Romero who used to be a left-handed reliever for the Phils) started for the Phils and stuck out 9 over 6 innings while allowing 4 runs via 2 honers to Richmond 1B Wes Hodges, who actually has a Wikipedia entry. Here's the young J.C. (not Romero and not The JC...ya know, that Messiah guy) warming up.    

Thank goodness Michael Martinez just hit an RBI single.
Honestly, I love going to baseball games regardless of who's playing anymore.  The weather and the beer and the food and the friends almost always add up to a great time.  The weather was nice, the beer was cold, and I was with family I love, see above.  The food was a little disappointing though cheaper than the usual Major League fair.  Sadly, the Rita's Water Ice line stretched throughout the grandstand.  A nice woman in front of us informed us the line was about '2 to 3 innings long'.  The food was not Major League quality, but Minor League teams really try to entertain their fans.  For the R-Phils, this includes but is not limited to:

A mascot band

Reading has 5 mascots, from (L-R): Bucky, Screwball, Quack, Change Up, and Blooper.  Screwball has been there since my childhood, the other 4 are more recent additions.  To watch them play classic rock was a little bizarre.  To watch them play classic rock poorly and hear Quack, the lead singer, say he's proof you don't need to have talent to have fun playing rock n' roll was hilarious.  Along with the 5 mascots, the Reading features another character called Crazy Hotdog Vendor.

The picture does not do him justice.  Check out his Facebook page at the link above.

They also feature a dance squad.

That's right, a dance squads aka cheerleaders.  

There's no dance squads in baseball.  No crying either.

If Antonio Bastardo blows the save for the game I'm listening to, I may cry.
But really, minor league teams know how to entertain their fans.  The AA Phils ended their night with a fundraiser involving throwing tennis ball on the field.  The proceeds of which went towards the widow of Kyle Pagerly, a local policeman killed in the line of duty.  All those tennis balls helped raise over $1300 for his family.

Bastardo just shut the door on the Fish, but thinking about what all those tennis balls were for makes you realize baseball is not worth crying over.  But enough of being a downer, the night ended on a fantastic fireworks display just beyond the scoreboard.  I read a snarky twitter post regarding poorly taken photos of fireworks so I stowed my camera and just watched.  I've subjected you to enough poorly taken photos for one sitting.  I'll be back with some poorly taken photos later this week.