Exhibition Game 1: 8-5 Phillies over Pirates

Free tickets from a co-worker? Sure, why not. So I ventured down to the old ball park with the ball & chain and her mom for what ended up being a "Top 5 Coldest Phillies Game" I've ever been to. The atmosphere was about what could be expected from a crowd of One Third Boy/Girl Scouts, One Third Drunk College Kids, and One Third die hards with nothing better to do on a Tuesday night. But of course, I have plenty of observations of my own...

• The Red Phanatic... I don't really get it. Aside from the "Paint the Town Red" promotion, it seems kind of out of place.

• Beers went up... I think. As I recall, your standard Miller and Coors lights were $6.75 last year and Aluminum Budweiser products were $7.00 each. They're $.50 higher now. I know the cost of a heater definitely went up! Your welcome, Cliff Lee!

• The new scoreboard is glorious. It's laughable how much better it is. The crew has a few kinks to work out (including misspelling the team name as "Pillies" once), but I think it's a huge upgrade. It was hard to watch the game with so much going on on the scoreboard.

•  Seeing the stadium after a nice off-season bath was refreshing. No gum stuck to Ashburn Alley and no urine on the bathroom floor... at least until the 6th inning.

• The Phils looked pretty runner-ish last night. They didn't net too many SBs, but they sure made Ross Ohlendorf work. Rollins, Victorino, and Castillo will all need to swipe some bags for this team to be successful in 2011.

• Ben Francisco is dialed in right now. I'm one who believes in the healing powers of one Charlie Manuel. His ability to fix swings is well documented, so don't be terribly surprised when Jayson Werth is an afterthought by the end of June.

• Oh, Hi Chooch!

 

• I would say that this year's crop of Phillies Ball Girls is not the best. I saw a few bad fielding errors and when they played the famous "...Will Be Ejected!" video, there wasn't a looker in the bunch. 

• The place cleared out in the 6th when most of the Phillies starters left the game. They advertised 42,000+ in attendance which still doesn't surprise me.

• Dare I say that one of my predictions is looking promising? All throughout the spring, the Phillies have been looking like a small ball team. Last night was no exception with RBI via single aplenty.

• If a Bell rings and no one is there to hear it, does it really make a sound?