Last Year’s Gridlock Looms Large Over Pirates’ Opener

PNC Park (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Fans arriving for Opening Day on Monday will be getting an earlier start to tailgating around PNC Park, and so will police hoping to avoid last year’s gridlock — but not by much.

Police spokeswoman Sonya Toler said officers assigned to ease congestion and operate signals at the busiest intersections will start arriving at their posts at 10:30 a.m., at least 45 minutes earlier than last year.

But this year’s first pitch is about a half-hour earlier, about 1 p.m. Parking lots and garages open to tailgaters at 9 a.m., and the ballpark gates open at 11. Officials urge fans to have patience, use mass transit or park farther away from the ball field.

“If people can curtail their excitement with a little bit of patience, we’ll be able to help them get where they need to go,” Toler said.

Read more: http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/5830137-74/parking-pirates-fans#ixzz2xYokJ1U5
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All Around Pittsburgh, They Are Raising The Jolly Roger

Handkerchief code (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As the Pirates enter the last weekend of home games, play-by-play announcer Greg Brown’s signature call, “Raise the Jolly Roger” — based in dark pirate history — is raising the jolly spirits of the new Pirates Nation.

Fans are buying Jolly Rogers by the thousands, with Pirates retail sales now equalling those of the Steelers, even with the NFL season underway. Retailers are gushing. Fans are celebrating. And the entire region is marching toward the playoffs under skulls and crossbones.

And it all started decades ago, when Mr. Brown had a crazy idea as a Pirates front-office employee.

He thought the historic pirate theme could be exploited, so he marched to a team executive’s office, knocked on the office door, and entered to find the exec’s face buried in paperwork, glasses balanced on the bridge of his nose.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/region/all-around-town-they-are-raising-the-jolly-roger-704146/#ixzz2fSISs2Hl

A-Rod No Stranger To Reading

Although his days in the minors never brought him to the Eastern League, Alex Rodriguez was here before.

The New York Yankees third baseman has fond memories of trips to Reading during his childhood.

“It’s a familiar place for me,” Rodriguez said. “I used to come here as a kid to visit family most summers. I never thought I’d come back. I’m excited. It’s been a long time.”

Rodriguez returned Monday as a famous and controversial member of the Trenton Thunder, who defeated the Reading Fightin Phils 6-5 at FirstEnergy Stadium.

Read more:  http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=493320

Scranton Triple-A Baseball Park Grant – No Comment

An interesting article appeared in yesterday’s Morning Call about PNC Field in Moosic, a Scranton suburb.  The 22-year-old, 10,000 seat stadium is in need of repairs to its concrete and steel structure.  PNC Field is the home of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, a Triple A farm team for MLB’s New York Yankees.

So along comes Fast Eddie offering a $20,000,000.00 grant to help repair the aging stadium.  This would be the largest grant ever given during the Rendell administration’s tenure.  The money would come from the state’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program.

It seems officials would like to see PNC Field become more like Coca Cola Park in Allentown, which is more family-friendly. 

Now the catch is, there must be matching funding for the project.  As of Monday, there was no definite answer where the other half of the money would come from.  The entire project is being kept a secret for some reason.  Rendell’s office is not commenting on what exactly the money will be used for.  At this juncture, one can only speculate what the project will entail.

The Rendell administration is braying about the economic impact of fixing the stadium.  That is all well and good but why all the secrecy?  The Yankees are making no comments either.  It is time for new leadership in this state who believe in transparency!

Local Phillies Fan Who Was Tasered Gets Probation

Seventeen-year-old Steven Consalvi, from Gilbertsville, made the national news when he got tasered for running onto the field at Citizens Bank Park during the 8th inning of a Phillies game.  His father, Wayne Consalvi, owns an auto repair shop in North Coventry Township and was interviewed by the local media regarding the incident.

Steven received 80 hours of public service and is on probation for six months.  I think this young man is fortunate to have escaped without more serious charges.  Hopefully he learned his lesson and others will think twice before doing something like this.  It may seem like the “cool” thing to do at the time but the consequences far outweight the “thrill”.  Fortunately, this sentence should not mess up his permanent record.

Phillies Hang On To Beat The Yankees 8 – 6 In Game 5

The Phillies hung on in another nail-biter tonight to beat the Yankees 8-6.  The Phillies took a 3-1 lead when Chase Utley hit a three run homer. 

We continued to lead the rest of the game but the Yankees closed the gap with 3 runs in the 8th inning and 1 run in the 9th inning. 

Lee did a great job pitching tonight and Park and Madson finished off the game.  Madson struck out Teixeira to end the game! 

Game 6 here we come!!!

Phillies Suffer Heartbreaking 9th Inning Loss To The Yankees

I thought we were going to pull out a win until the 9th inning…too upset to discuss further at this time. 

Lee is back in tonight so maybe, just maybe, we can at least win one more game before we go back to NYC. 

 

Thank God for the Eagles today.  Otherwise ……

Phils Lose Early Lead – Yankees Win 8 – 5

Game three was a heartbreaking 8-5 loss to the Yankees at home.  The Phils lost their early 3-0 lead over the Yankees with the final score at Citizen’s Bank Park being 8-5.

Let’s hope for better results tonight!

Go Eagles and Go Phillies!!!

World Series Tied Up At 1-1

So the damn Yankees tied it up tonight after a 3-1 win.  BUT the next game is at Citizens Bank Park here in Philadelphia so we have the home field advantage!  Look out, Philly is in the house on Saturday!

World Champion Philadelphia Phillies 6 – Pathetic Yankees 1

So A-Rod and friends didn’t exactly grind us into the dirt tonight.  Whatsamatta boys?  Havin’ an off night???  Does it usually take you 9 innings to score a run?? 

Guess being over-confident, cockey, arrogant and disrespectful of our Phillies got you a bad case of Karma.  What goes around comes around.  Or in the words of Bea Arthur (Maude) God will get you for that!

Maybe the Yankees should eat some humble pie before they come back tomorrow!  Just sayin’….

Phillies vs. Yankees In The World Series

At least we don’t have to travel far.  The defending champs, Philadelphia Phillies, will show the big spending Yankees how we roll!

GO PHILLIES!!!  It’s beat Yankee time!!!

Angels Stayin’ Alive In Play-offs

In a major nail-biter the Angels beat the Yankees 7-6.  Literally down to the last pitch with Yankees on every base, two outs and only a one run lead, the Angels managed to hang on tonight when Nick Swisher hit a pop up out to shortstop Eric Aybar!

So now it’s 3-2 in the series and we have to wait a little longer to see who the Phillies are up against.  That’s okay, it gives our boys a nice rest so they are ready to kick butt and win us another World Series!!!!!!

Go Phillies!

WORLD SERIES HERE WE COME!!!!!!

Philadelphia 10 – LA 4.  It doesn’t get any better than that folks!

Another exciting game!!!  Off we go to face an undetermined foe!  Yankees or Angels – only time will tell.

Another exciting game at Cititzen’s Bank Park!  Philly ROCKS!

Take note Donovan….watch and learn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PHILLIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Phillies Upset Dodgers In The Bottom Of The 9th

What an “on the edge of your seat” game that was!  HOLY COW!!!  Bottom of the 9th, 4-3 Dodgers, 2 outs and Jimmy Rollins hits in 2 more runs in for the WIN!!   5-4 Phillies!!!

Phillies are now 3-1 over the Dodgers.  One more win sends us back to the World Series!  Let’s home that comes Wednesday night right here at Citizens Bank Park!

Go Phillies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Phillies Wallop The Dodgers In Game 3

The Fightin’ Phillies shut out the Los Angeles Dodgers 11 – 0 in game 3 of the NL Championship series. 

Thanks for improving on the Eagles’ performance earlier today which was a total disaster.

Phillies Make The Playoffs!!!!!

Tonight’s 10-3 victory over the Astro’s clinched the Phillies their third straight NL East title!! Congratulations to our Philadelphia Phillies!!!!