America's Pastime: Part 2

We got to check out two more parks this weekend, and as promised, here are my thoughts on each:

Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia Phillies:

After eating an amazing cheesesteak at Jim's and a walk around Independence Hall, we made our way to the ballpark.  We got there a couple of hours early, so we could watch bp from our left field seats.  Phillies fans are for real about their home run balls.  Everybody had gloves (except us), and if you did not catch the ball off the fly, you could expect to be booed.  I got robbed a couple of times by gloves, so we didn't end up with any souvenirs.  After bp and before the game, we made it over to Chickie's and Pete's to get the famous crab fries and cheese sauce, which was phenomenal.  Great game, great atmosphere.  It was alumni day, so we got to see all the past Phillies come out and greet the crowd.  Philly fans know their stuff, and they are die hard.  Everybody we saw supporting the Mets was heckled.  Unfortunately, the Mets pulled out a 1-0 game behind a gem from Santana.  The only problem was the seats were about a foot wide, so everyone was on top of one another.  Really my only complaint about the park.

Camden Yards - Baltimore Orioles:

So this was my first trip to Baltimore, and the city is a dump.  We ate at Chap's Pit Beef on the way, and even though the location was questionable, the sandwich was great.  Our seats at Camden were 16 rows back from home plate, so we had a perfect  view of the game.  Camden is probably my favorite park so far.  I loved it so much, I bought a Ripken shirt to rep during the game.  The home run ball plaques on the sidewalk past right field to commemorate some of the longest HRs hit there is a great idea.  The statue of Babe Ruth (a native of Baltimore) and the numbers of the Orioles' greats as you walk in the park were amazing too.  Got to see Jeremy Guthrie outpitch Mark Buehrle (who would have guessed that).  We also got to enjoy a crabcake at the ballpark.  Overall, to date, this park takes the cake.  I mean, you can't beat the atmosphere/history of Fenway, but out of the rest of the parks, this is by far my new favorite.

Hopefully, I can make it to at least one more park this season, but next season, my plan is to have another epic adventure where I can hit up at least 3 or 4 on one trip.