As parents, we try to impart to our kids those things that are most important to us. And for me, near the top of the list is a love for baseball.So to that end, since Zach was three years old, I have taken him to at least one home Phillies game and one out-of-town game every season. We started going to games in 2003, the last year at Veterens Stadium. Since then, we've seen Ryan Howard, in his Rookie-of-the-Year season, homer at Shea Stadium in a Phils victory over the Mets. We saw the Phillies beat the Nationals at the home opener in 2005. And we saw them lose to the Cardinals in at 2006's season opener. We were there to see the Phillies defeat the Yankees in interleague play, and we watched as Roy Halladay out-pitched Randy Johnson at Yankee Stadium.
In June of 2006, we waited out a rain delay at the old RFK Stadium in Washington, and stuck around well past midnight to see the Phillies fall to the Nationals in extra innings, then came back the following afternoon to see the Phils pick up a win against those same Nats. We were back in DC this year to see the Phils beat the Nationals en route to their second straight NL East championship.
We've seen games at Camden Yards in Baltimore and PNC Park in Pittsburgh. And we've been to a dozen or so minor league games in places like Wilmington, Camden, Atlantic City, Lancaster, Reading, Staten Island, and Brooklyn.
But despite all of this, Zach's interest in the sport has waned over the past few years. He'll still watch an inning or two with me on TV now and then, and he'll still go to games with me. Sometimes.
There are other diversions in his life that capture his attention now in ways that baseball does not. He loves anything to do with Pokémon. He is a voracious reader. And he is addicted to computer games. But baseball? Not so much these days.
So over the weekend, I took drastic measures. I splurged on a pair of tickets to Game 2 of the Phillies-Dodgers National League Championship Series game on Friday. If you don't really pay attention to baseball, you might not be aware of the extent to which the atmosphere at a playoff baseball game is much more intese than that of a regular season game.
The crowd was hanging on every pitch, erupting in cheers with every Phillies hit and every Dodger out. And there was plenty to cheer about that night. The Phillies offense exploded for four runs in the 2nd and four more in the 3rd. A spectatacular Shane Victorino catch in the 7th inning shut down the biggest Dodger threat of the night, and closer Brad Lidge struck out the final batter in the 9th to seal the Phillies victory. Fireworks lit up the sky when the last out was made. And the celebration continued as the stadium emptied, with the crowd shouting spontaneous chants.
If a game like that doesn't make the boy fall in love with baseball, I'm afraid nothing will.And if it just isn't meant to be, well, I still have hope for Phoebe and Ben...
