After a good night’s sleep and a relatively short, five-hour drive, we arrived in Philadelphia to watch the Phillies play the Kansas City Royals at Citizens Bank Park. Yes, that’s right. The Royals. We just saw them in their home stadium two days ago, and here they are again in Philadelphia. It’s our first repeat team!
Our Impressions of Citizens Bank Park
The Phillies’ fans are, without a doubt, the most enthusiastic fans we have seen so far. While their mascot, the Phanatic, probably helps, they really don’t need encouragement! Their enthusiasm was infectious and made the sold-out stadium with 42,326 fans feel intimate. Fans started a wave that went through all levels of the stadium’s seating seven times before exploding into applause for a significant play.
The Phanatic deserves a special note. Unlike most of the mascots we have seen, he seems to be on the field most of the time. He and “an umpire” had a dance-off on the field. At one point, after the “umpire” whipped out a Royals hat, the Phanatic dumped a bucket of water over his head. He also badgered players, sat next to fans in the stands, and rode all around the field on his cart.
Our Seats: Our seats were in Section 140, Row 7, Seats 1, 2, and 3. We were right by the 3rd base foul line pole and the views were excellent!
The Food: We were in Philadelphia, so we had to eat cheesesteaks at the ballpark! We tried two different vendors. Brad and Ryan got Tony Luke’s cheesesteaks, with Wiz and onions, of course. I got Campo’s, prepared the same way. We shared the sandwiches to make a comparison. Ryan thought they were different but equally good. Brad and I preferred the Tony Luke’s, which was slightly more peppery.
In addition to the cheesesteaks, we got two orders of crab fries. These were basically French fries tossed in Old Bay Seasoning and served with white cheese sauce. The cheese sauce is rather like a white cheese version of nacho cheese. They are sold by Chickie & Pete’s. While we liked the idea of dipping fries in cheese sauce, we found the crab fries to be very salty. In our opinion, they were good to try but not worth repeating.
Non-Alcoholic Beer Review: Citizens Bank Park is another Budweiser Zero park. Budweiser needs an additional non-alcoholic beer. Bud Zero is pretty good, but it gets old when it is the only brew available for people who choose not to imbibe!
The Bell Rang Thrice for the Phillies!
When the Phillies score a home run, the giant neon bell in the outfield “rings.” The Phillies had three home runs, and their opponents, the Royals, had two. That brought us to five more Home Runs for Housing.
The game was a close one, with each team in the lead for portions of the game.
Royals player Freddy Fermin had a great game, hitting both home runs for the Royals. Unfortunately, his teammates, Dairon Blanco, was less fortunate. He disagreed with the umpire’s call and made a comment that got him thrown out from the game. After a coach protested, he, too, was ejected.
Phillies player Brandon Marsh also had a tough night. He chased a ball into the outfield and ran full force into the outside wall, severely bruising his knee. Phillies shortstop Trea Turner showed his compassionate side when he reunited a young fan and his family before the game started. He noticed the boy crying, found out he had become separated from his brothers, and walked him to his family. Later that night, Turner’s newest fan cheered his three-run home run that moved the Phillies into the lead.
The Phillies won the game nine to six over the Royals.
Up Next:
After the game, we drove two more hours to get to Liberty Harbor RV Park, our home for the next three nights. We were all ready to stay put for a couple of days. Tomorrow, we’ll see the Houston Astros play the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. Thanks for following along!
