Game 29: April 24, 2015, Braves at Phillies

I admit that because the Phillies are my team and Philadelphia is my hometown I might not be entirely objective here. You’ll have to judge that.

Citizens Bank Park isn’t downtown the way some other stadiums are but it is easily accessible by subway. Frankly, I’m not sure why being downtown is an advantage unless you insist on never taking a car of mass transit at all. It’s not like Citi Field, Fenway Park, or Wrigley Field are downtown. So you take a subway if you want to go to Center City Philadelphia.

Wrigley and Fenway are known for their neighborhood nightlife. The problem is that those bars are always packed. You can’t move! To compensate for lack of a neighborhood, they’ve built Xfinity Live! It has a half dozen food and drink options. This one is the Spectrum Grill and it’s got an awesome big screen.

I was hankering for nachos and got that along with a Victory Storm King at the Victory Bar. Both were excellent. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a beer as good as Storm King inside.

The obligatory selfie in front of the stadium.

When I was in Toronto I couldn't find a doll of their mascot. That wasn't an issue in Philly, where the Phanatic is an institution. He's still the best mascot. His presence definitely up Citizen's Bank Park a bit.

They had wide concourses and a lot of food choices, although the beer selection was wanting. I eventually found a decent beer but it wasn't as good as the Storm King Stout.

There was one place I wanted to go for food, Tony Luke's. They're famous for their cheesesteaks. I tried to often sample cuisine from the area (e.g. Cuban food in Miami, pizza in Chicago), so going to Tony Luke's would be a natural even if I didn't love a steak sandwich.

Of course I do, and this one was great!

Most stadiums have generic soft serve ice cream. I was pleasantly surprised when I found Citizen's Bank Park had not only that but eight Turkey Hill flavors along with eight different toppings. I didn't have any ice cream, but this is how you do it.

Citizen's Bank Park had a Phillies Wall of Fame, including the history of the Philadelphia A's. It's better than Cleveland's, equal to the Mets, and a step below the Royals.

There's no plaque for beloved hero Pete Rose, for obvious reasons. Jim Bunning wore 14 before Rose and the Phillies retired his number when he was elected to the Hall of Fame. Phillies fans secretly know that a part of that retirement ceremony was retiring Rose's number.

They have Bull's Barbecue, a copy of Boog's at Camden Yards. The kids play area is smaller than Kauffman or Citi, but they still have something. Most stadiums don't.

And look they even have cup holders. Are you reading this Rogers Centre?

In the corridor they have big plaques for memorable moments. This is a fun nod to the fans.

A decent sized scoreboard.

If you remember I went to AT&T and sat so low that I couldn't see into McCovey Cove. Well, Citizen's Bank Park has one of the best views in baseball too. They positioned home plate to give fans a skyline of the city. Unfortunately, I sat too low for that.

The game was a gem. Both pitchers pitched extremely well. Neither team scored until he bottom of the ninth when the Phillies won with a walk off... Error. Yes, really.

This guy made a few appearances and he's always fun.

Game 28: April 23, 2015, Orioles at Blue Jays

Do you remember what I was doing last year during this week? I was going to five games in four days, all of which were cold. When you live in LA you forget how cold it is in the rest of the country. Well, I certainly wasn't caught without warm clothes this time. I made my one and only trip to Canada in 1979, when I was a teenager. So obviously my experience was limited. First thing you notice is that Canada is actually a different country! They make you go through customs and stuff.

And it wasn't one of the easier cities to navigate. They're working on a train from the airport to downtown but it's not done yet. So the choices were to cab it or take a bus to a subway to another subway to walk. I did that, but it was a chore especially because I was hauling a suitcase. I did do the obligatory stadium selfie.

I checked into the Renaissance Toronto Downtown Hotel, which is actually part of the stadium. It was a little more expensive, but I decided I wanted the experience. While the hotel was certainly convenient after the game, you wouldn't know you were part of the stadium. I recommend staying a few blocks away at an equally nice hotel. The hotel does have a bar where you get a view of the game, however.

While I'd read the beer selection wasn't very good it was surprisingly better than I'd been led to believe. I enjoyed the beer I got and the jerk chicken sandwich was also very good.

Unfortunately, there were no cup holders for me to put my beer in. Pretty much every stadium has them now.

Some people suggested that I get a hotel room facing the field and watch from there. Those rooms were about $200-$250 more than your standard room and they give you the worst view in the park. I wouldn't want to sit out there at all, let alone pay an extra $200 to do it. My seat cost $37. I suppose if you had 8 friends to invite up to your room, it might make sense. Look at this view.

Of course, Josh Donaldson nearly hit one up there.

And the Blue Jays were scoring a lot.

And Ace the mascot dropped by.

The Orioles scored four runs in the ninth, but the Blue Jays held on.

The roof was closed and that's understandable. It was about 8 degrees Celsius and that's apparently also cold in Fahrenheit. I still hate baseball indoors. The atmosphere stinks. The stadium wasn't really a lot of fun.