Games I've Been To

CLICK HERE	7/26/06	Eagles Training Camp	Lehigh University	Donovan McNabb looked extremely strong after missing half the previous season with a Sports hernia ... Darnarian McCants was the offense star of the day (although he wound up being one of the teams' last cuts later in came). Hank Baskett also made some nice catches as an undrafted free agent ... Koy Detmer showed up for the day with a completely shaved head ... After the AM practice I had a front row spot for the Dave Spadaro Interview with WR Reggie Brown and WR Greg Lewis. Brown was asked to explain to the kids in the audience what not to put into your body to stay healthy - his response, jokingly, "Crack."
CLICK HERE	8/12/05	Eagles Training Camp	Lehigh University	This camp experience was largely ruined for me by a rent-a-cop security guard on a power trip who threatened to take my camera away from me. (Click on the link for the full story.) ... The highlight of the practice was David Akers who put on a display hitting 5 in a row, increasing the distance each time, the finale a 63 yarder that got a huge ovation ... After the AM practice I had a front row spot for the Dave Spadaro Interview with LB Jeremiah Trotter, FB Jon Ritchie and RB Reno Mahe.
CLICK HERE	8/05/05	Eagles Training Camp	Lehigh University	I went to camp with my Dad, his first time. We only stayed for the AM practice. Unfortunately we picked the wrong field to stand and watch. The defense practices right in front of us for 30 minutes, followed by full team drills for the next 30 minutes, but then the next hour was on the field on the far side of the complex ... My ticket was drawn in the lotto (1 in 50 chance) to go through the autograph tent. I got to shake hands and say hello to Darwin Walker, Jevon Kearse, Todd Herremans, Steve Scuillo, Trey Darilek; and got Hank Fraley and Shawn Andrews to sign my pictures that I took at prior camps ... We had front row viewing of Dave Spadaro's interview with N.D. Kalu and Hank Fraley ... Todd Pinkston ruptured his Achillies tendon and is out for the year, although we didn't see it. It must've happened in that last hour that we couldn't really see anything on the opposite field.
CLICK HERE	7/26/05	Bowie 10 - Reading 2	First Energy Stadium	Joe Zenyuch invited me to this game along with Jim Wright and Bill Prutzman. As icing on the cake it gave me a chance to see Hayden Penn who had recently returned to AA after filling in admirably in Baltimore when they had some injuries. His numbers for this game were OK (8 hits, only 2 K's in 6+ innings), but he looked special to me. He was bringing it around 95 MPH the entire game ... The Bowie line-up was riddled with fringe border-line major league talent including former Expos starting center-fielder Peter Bergeron whose star has obviously fallen all the way to AA, former Rule-V draftee Simon Pond, and 2nd-tier prospect Ramon Nivar who spent some time with Baltimore earlier in the year as well ... O's former #1 pick Tripper Johnson hit clean-up, and homered in the game - his 9th of the year ... Michael Bourn was 0-for-4 for Reading and grounded into a DP to kill a rally.
CLICK HERE	7/05/05	Akron 5 - Reading 3 (10 innings) (Cole Hamels AA-debut)	First Energy Stadium	Cole Hamels was recalled the night before from A-ball to make his AA-debut. I showed up an hour early to claim the best spot down the rightfield line to get some great pictures of Hamels warming up. Hamels began the year as Baseball America's #3 Phillies Prospect, but if it was done today, he'd probably be #1. (Ryan Howard is now in the majors, and Gavin Floyd has struggled mightily at AAA.) The amount of media and cameramen watching Hamels every move was impressive. No wonder he seemed a little nervous in the first inning: Walk, wild throw on a pick-off, hit batter, passed ball, strike out, strike out, wild pitch to score a run, ground out. You could tell just watching him in the bull-pen that he has something on his pitches that doesn't come along very often. If he couple his talent with some experience and ability to change speeds, he's could be special.
CLICK HERE	6/28/05	Reading 3 - Portland 2 (10 innings)	First Energy Stadium	Bev was eating dinner with a bunch of friends from college, so I took Jolie out for a burger, the R-Phils moon-bounce and a few innings. It also was a chance to see an Akron team with a number of good prospects. Unfortunately their best prospect, Michael Aubrey (Baseball American #2 ranked Indians prospect), was getting the night off; but I did get to see Brad Snyder (#4), recently called up from A-ball, and Franklin Guttierrez (#3), and Jeremy Sowers (#5) who was the Aeros' starting pitcher ... It also meant seeing Reading's own Michael Bourn (Baseball America #5) in the middle of a nice hot streak. He doubled, singled and stole a base before we headed home int he middle of the 3rd inning ... We also got to see Jim Deschaine's 1st of 2 homers on the night.
CLICK HERE	6/08/05	Reading 5 - Portland 1	First Energy Stadium	Seung Hak Lee made it an easy victory for the R-Phils by pitching 6 innings of shut-out ball, backed by homers from Chris Roberson and Juan Sosa ... I went to this game to see some of the Red Sox top prospect - a majority of which are on this Portland team, including Hanley Ramirez, Dustin Pedroia and Brandon Moss ... Pedroia was called up to AAA a week after this game ... The Phillies only real prospect in Reading this year is lead-off man and CF'er Michael Bourn who was 0-for-5 ... Hall-of-Famer Ryne Sandberg's brother Jared batted clean-up and was 0-for-3.
CLICK HERE	6/05/05	Phillies 7 - Diamondbacks 6	Citizen's Bank Park	Mike Lieberthal's disputed drive ended up a three-run homer and Randy Wolf pitched seven solid innings to lead the Phillies to their sixth straight win, and pulled them within 1 game of first ... This game wound up being Wolf's 2nd to last of the season before Tommy John surgery ... Pat Burrell, David Bell and Luis Gonzalez also homered. For Gonzalez, it was his 300th career homer ... Billy Wagner closed out the game for his 14th save, but not before allowing a run and putting runners on first and third with only 1 out.
CLICK HERE	2/22/05	Royals 3 - Chiefs 1	Sovereign Center	Goaltender Cody Rudkowsky stopped 29 shots in his first game with Reading since November 24, while forwards Cail MacLean (1g, 2a) and Eric Fortier (1g, 2a) each recorded three points ... With its victory, Reading (29-14-5) climbed into a tie with idle Wheeling (30-17-3) for first place in the North Division.

CLICK HERE	9/05/04	Phillies 4 - Mets 2	Citizen's Bank Park	Pat Burrell led off the bottom of the third with a line-shot off the glove of Mets' thirdbaseman, David Wright. Mike Lieberthal followed with a 2-run homer. Pitcher Brett Myers doubled, and lead-off hitter Jimmy Rollins made it 4 consecutive hits with a 2-run blast of his own ... Mets Super-Prospect David Wright hit a solo shot in the 5th to break up Brett Myers' no-hitter. Myers brought his record to 8-9 on the year with the win ... No player on either team had more than 1 hit. Afterwards the Cheskeys, Bev and I made our first trip ever to Chickie's and Pete's for crab fries.
CLICK HERE	8/02/04	Eagles Training Camp	Lehigh University	The crowd was T.O. crazy the entire day, chanting his name and cheering any time he did as much as scratch himself ... First round pick, Shawn Andrews, signed more autographs than anyone, and was the only player to sign before AND after practice ... Punter Dirk Johnson signed a picture that I had taken of him at last year's training camp ... Correll Buckhalter sat out practice after suffering an eye laceration the day before.
CLICK HERE	6/21/04	Reading 7 - Harrisburg 6	First Energy Stadium	I went to this game solely to see Randy Wolf up close - closer than you'd ever get in a major league stadium. Wolf was there on a rehab assignment. I got some fantastic pictures of him warming up in the bull-pen where he is only a few feet away from the stands. He looked good, pitching 4 innings (51 pitches), walked none and gave up only 5 hits and a run ... Mike Hinckley, the Expos #2 prospect was on the mound for Harrisburg and also looked impressive.
CLICK HERE	6/09/04	Akron 7 - Reading 6	First Energy Stadium	I went to this game to see Gavin Floyd and was not disappointed. We left in the middle of the 5th inning so we could get Jolie home to bed, but at that point Floyd had given up just 1 run - it would be the only earned run he'd surrendered in 8 innings. The Phillies' bullpen would blow a huge lead after Floyd left the game and long after we left the game ... Cleveland's best prospect, Franklin Gutierrez batted 3rd and was 2-for-5.
CLICK HERE	4/18/04	Phillies 5 - Expos 4 (1st Sunday game ever in new stadium!)	Citizen's Bank Park (5th game ever at the new stadium)	Phils won their 4th straight game thanks to Doug Glanville's lead-off walk-off home run in the bottom of the 9th ... New closer Billy Wagner got the win after pitching a scoreless 9th inning, reaching 96 on the radar gun ... Jim Thome put the Phils ahead 4-3 in the 5th inning ... Randy Wolf started the game by giving up home runs to Orlando Cabrera and Brad Wilkerson in the 1st inning, putting the Phils down 3-0.

CLICK HERE	9/21/03	Reds 4 - Phillies 3	Veterans' Stadium (4th to last home game at the Vet)	A sell-out crowd was sent into a frenzy thanks to Jim Thome's 44th home run, a 3-run shot down the RF line. But Vincente Padilla could not hold the 3-1 lead. Dernell Stenson (who was murdered in the following off-season) doubled to tie the game, and Tim Hummell blooped a hit to right to take the lead ... Sean Casey was 2-for-4 with a double and 2 RBI for the Reds ... A win would have pulled the Phillies ahead of the Marlins by 1/2 game in the Wild Card Race. Instead they remained 1/2 game behind. The Marlins wound up winning the wild card, and then went on to win the World Series against the Yankees.
CLICK HERE	8/22/03	Patriots 24 - Eagles 12 (1st game in new stadium!)	Lincoln Financial Field	The Eagles would've been happy just losing the game. Tom Brady threw three touchdown passes, leading the Pats to a 24-12 victory in the first football game at the new $520 million Lincoln Financial Field ... The game was costly for Eagles, who lost starting WR James Thrash to head and neck injuries, starting LB Carlos Emmons to a high ankle sprain, rookie DE Jamaal Green to a broken leg and DT Paul Grasmanis to a concussion ... The Eagles starters played the first half. Donovan McNabb was 12-for-19 for 111 yards.
CLICK HERE	8/14/03	Eagles Training Camp	Lehigh University	Brian Westbrook sat out practice after suffering a bruised knee the day prior ... Troy Vincent was BY FAR the most fan friendly player, spending at least an hour after the morning practice talking to fans, posing for pictures, holding babies and signing as much as he could ... Bobby Williams and Josh Parry also gave a lot of attention to fans along the fence.
CLICK HERE	7/20/03	Phillies 3 - Expos 2	Veterans' Stadium	Brett Myers took a shut-out and 3-0 lead into the 9th inning before yielding a 2-out 2-run home run to Brad Wilkerson. Jose Mesa came on to record the last out and his 19th save to preserve the lead, and brought Myers' record to an impressive 10-6. Myers struck out 10 and walked NO ONE ... Bobby Abreu was 2-for-2 with a walk, a steal and an RBI-double.
CLICK HERE	7/10/03	R-Phils 3 - Senators 1	1st Energy Stadium	Taylor Buchholz settled down after a shaky 1st to pitch six innings for the win, allowing only 4 hits and 1 unearned run ... Jeff Inglin hit his 14th homer of the year and was 2-for-3 ... Nate Espy was 3-for-4 with an RBI and two stolen bases.
CLICK HERE	6/08/03	Phillies 7 - A's 1	Veterans' Stadium	Kevin Millwood pitches 7 strong innings to reach 8-3 on the season ... Pat Burrell doubled and hit a 3-run home run and Marlon Byrd went 3-for-3 and stole a base. Jimmy Rollins was 3-for-5 with a double.

CLICK HERE	11/29/02	Bullies 3 - Royals 2	Sovereign Center	Ryan Mougenel had a goal and assisted on the other two scores for Atlantic City ... Steve Rymsha and Brandon Dietrich both scored in the third period for the Royals.
CLICK HERE	8/04/02	Dodgers 4 - Phillies 3	Veterans' Stadium	Omar Daal pitched 6 strong innings and homered to put the Dodgers up 1-0 against Brett Myers who was making his 3rd career start. Adrian Beltre also homered for the Dodgers ... Travis Lee was 3-for-3 for Philly.
CLICK HERE	6/30/02	B-Mets 4 - R-Phils 2	1st Energy Stadium	The Mets' Aaron Heilman, their top pitching prospect, gave up only 2 hits in 8 innings ... The B-Mets got home runs from Prentice Redman, Aaron McNeal and Chris Basak ... Mets shortstop of the future, Jose Reyes was 1-for-4.
CLICK HERE	6/18/02	White Sox 6 - Phillies 3 (12 innings)	Veterans' Stadium	After a 1 hour rain delay, the Phillies lost in 12 innings highlighted by a 2-run triple by Kenny Lofton, and spoiling a good game by Randy Wolf who gave up only 2 hits in 6+ innings ... Jeremy Giambi and Travis Lee both hit solo homers for the Phillies.