Game five of Man Trip 5--our spring training baseball experience on the west side of Florida--was the Phillies-Devil Rays game in Clearwater. The match was held at Bright House Networks Field, home of the Phillies for spring training and home of their single-A affiliate, The Threshers. Did you know this...? A thresher must be some kind of shark because that is the minor league team's logo. I picked up three girls softball jersey-like t-shirts with this logo on it for my three daughters.
The quote of the game was easily, "YOU HAD THAT COMING YOU PIECE OF CRAP!" shouted by my neighbor in the seat to my left. He 
was a 40-something Mets fan. I knew this because he was wearing long, shimmering blue shorts, a huge Mets jersey that said "Beltran" on the back, and a Mets' cap. He must have lived in South Florida (on the east coast) because he talked to me about going to the Sony Tennis Tournament the night before (in Key Biscayne, outside of Miami) and not getting home until 1:30 am. Then he got up at 5 am to drive to the game where we now sat together. I used to go to that tennis tourney back when they called in The Lipton and back when I lived in Ft. Lauderdale--I loved it. He must have had great seats for the match, because he showed me all the close-up photos he took there.
Met fan had other homeys at the game with him (about five), but he and I talked quite a bit about the odds and ends of baseball and its players 
until he took a call and they all left abruptly to "see the boss." He said they'd be back, but they never were. But his outbursts about pitcher Brett Myers--took the cake. Myers was the Phillies' pitcher--and he did a capable job--but when he came to bat for the first time, Met Fan roared from our 18th-row box seats (behind home plate), "Ahhh--here's Myers... Myers--You're a piece of... (decorum prevents me from typing his full sentence here)!!" Then he confided in me, "Anybody who beats their wife is (decorum again). He beat is wife last year--it was in all the papers."
I nodded, "Really?" Then he surprised me with, "I know him, too." "You do?" I asked. "Yeah, we're buddies"--and I am not exaggerating, but he said this with affection in his voice, before he screamed again at the batting pitcher. Finally he added, "We grew up together... as kids."
Next time Myers came to bat, he was hit in the back of the neck with a pitch. As he took his base, Met fan screamed, "YOU HAD THAT COMING YOU PIECE OF CRAP (this is what he actually said)!!" He was so happy, that I was surprised when he didn't jump up from his seat to do a little dance. Later, he taunted Myers with the threat of another beanball, before he and his posse left to meet more of their Met-fan friends.
Comments