Despite a tornado watch and heavy, rain-laden clouds, 40,000 Phillies fans and I headed to Citizens Bank Park last night for a game against the Cincinnati Reds. What motivated this devotion craziness? A bobblehead, of course. It was Jimmy Rollins Bobblehead Night!
I was at the park on Monday, on what was a much nicer night, for a game against the same opponent, and there were thousands fewer fans in the stands. That’s the power of the bobble. Those little pieces of plastic fill the seats, even damp ones.
Anyway, the game was a good one, a defensive battle. Phillies pitcher Brett Myers had a no-hitter going for six-and-two-thirds innings. Just as the fans in my section seemed to be waking up to Myers’s feat, though, Reds first baseman Joey Votto ripped a pitch to centerfield, driving in what would be the winning run (Myers had walked a previous batter). Reds pitcher Edinson Volquez, who already owned the League’s best ERA, pitched seven scoreless innings for the Reds. Volquez did look vulnerable at times. The Phils had two men on base in the fourth, and Volquez hit two batters in the fifth, helping the Phillies load the bases. But they just couldn’t finish the deal. They also had a chance in the eighth, after Volquez left the game, but the Phils’ bats just weren’t there. The Reds won, 2-0.
Somehow or other, I managed not to get wet at the game. When I left for the ballpark, it was raining outright. When I got off the subway near the park, it was still sprinkling. But by the time I got to my seat—dry thanks to an attentive usher—the rain had stopped. And it didn’t start up again until my friend and I were walking back to the subway.
Obviously, I was meant to have that bobblehead, and it was meant to be dry. Or something.