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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Sandusky, Ohio

Saturday, July 16, 2005 - Tuesday, July 19, 2005

It had been a while since we did a 'crazy' trip, but in the midst of a weekend we got that out of our system. Michael was with us for the first part of the weekend, and we decided to head to Philly so he could go to his first Major League Baseball game. Headed out to Philadelphia on Saturday morning, getting there between 1:00 and 2:00. Walked around the 'Reading Terminal Market' for a while, which has become 'traditional' for us being this is the second year in a row that our trip to a Phillies game actually started with a stop here. Left the market, and headed to Citizens Bank Park. As we pulled into the parking lot, it began to rain. A thunderstorm moved through the area, and actually delayed the start of the game. While we were waiting for the game to start though, it gave us an opportunity to mill through the souvenir shop, and Michael played a couple of the games that they had near the BBQ. Had some BBQ from 'Bulls BBQ' in Ashburn Alley. Game started about 45 minutes late. Game summary below. By the time we got out of the parking lot, it was close to 11:30. Realizing that it would be VERY late by the time we got home, we decided to stay in the Philly area instead. Spent the night at the SpringHill Suites in Plymouth Meeting, PA. Got up on Sunday morning and headed back home, with a stop at "Rick's Diner" in Norriton for breakfast and the Waffle House in Carlisle for lunch.

Part two of our weekend started after Michael went back to his dad. Headed out around 6:00 for Sandusky, Ohio and the famous "Cedar Point" amusement park. Stopped for dinner at the Red Lobster near the Arnot Mall. We stayed at the Country Inn and Suites in Elyria, Ohio. Up on Monday morning and out to "Cedar Point", which is located in Sandusky, Ohio (one and the same as the city in 'Tommy Boy'). Hit lots of the rides while we were there, including: the antique cars; the caddilac cars (pretty much the same as the antique cars); the calypso; the cedar creek mine ride; cedar downs racing derby; Cedar Point & Lake Erie Railroad; the Corkscrew; Disaster Transport; the Iron Dragon (twice - by far the favorite coaster for both of us); the Wave Swinger (twice - Tim's first time on these types of swings - very cool!); the Wildcat; and the Demon Drop! Left Cedar Point around 7:00 and headed towards home, with every intent of getting home that night. Stopped at a Bennigan's in Mentor, Ohio (TERRIBLE food and restaurant) for dinner, and while we were eating dinner it started to rain....actually, it looked like a hurricane was blowing through! Left dinner around 9:30 and got back on 90, hoping to get home. Driving was terrible, probably the worst rain storm I've ever driven in. Speed was 35-40 MPH at points, with heavy rain making it difficult at times to see the road. We finally hit Erie, PA around 11:15 (mind you, it's only about an 80 mile drive from where we had dinner to Erie - should have only taken an hour or so). Decided that the weather was to bad to try and continue, so we found a Country Inn and Suites right off of 90 in Erie and spent the night. Drove the rest of the way home on Tuesday morning.

Sporting Event:
Florida Marlins vs Philadelphia Phillies

Philadelphia Phillies 10 Florida Marlins 5

Scoreboard Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Florida 0 0 1 0 0 3 1 0 0 5 11 2 Philadelphia « 3 3 0 0 0 0 3 1 x 10 14 0 Players of the Game Philadelphia C. Utley AB 5 R 1 H 2 HR 1 RBI 3 Philadelphia T. Pratt AB 5 R 1 H 3 HR 1 RBI 2 Florida Marlins Hitters AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG Juan Pierre, CF 5 1 1 0 0 1 1 .270 Luis Castillo, 2B 5 0 1 0 0 1 1 .324 Carlos Delgado, 1B 4 1 2 1 0 1 1 .295 Miguel Cabrera, LF 5 1 2 0 0 1 3 .342 Juan Encarnacion, RF 4 1 1 3 0 0 3 .283 Paul Lo Duca, C 4 0 2 0 0 0 0 .295 Mike Lowell, 3B 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 .227 Alex Gonzalez, SS 3 0 0 0 1 1 3 .282 Scott Olsen, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Nate Bump, P 2 1 1 0 0 1 0 .200 Randy Messenger, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .500 a- Jeff Conine, PH 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .263 Guillermo Mota, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 b- Damion Easley, PH 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 .241 Chris Resop, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Totals 38 5 11 4 1 7 15 a-grounded out for Messenger in the 6th b-struck out for Mota in the 8th Batting HR - Juan Encarnacion (12, Lieber) RBI - Carlos Delgado (69), Juan Encarnacion 3 (52) SB - Juan Pierre (26, 2nd base off Madson/Pratt) Team LOB - 8 Fielding DP - A. Gonzalez-Castillo-Delgado E - Carlos Delgado (9, Misplayed grounder), Alex Gonzalez (10, Misplayed grounder) Florida Marlins Pitchers IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Scott Olsen (L,1-1) 1.2 5 6 3 1 1 2 3.98 Nate Bump 2.1 5 0 0 3 0 0 4.03 Randy Messenger 1 0 0 0 1 2 0 6.48 Guillermo Mota 2 2 3 0 1 3 0 4.29 Chris Resop 1 2 1 1 1 1 0 9.39 IBB - Rollins by Randy Messenger WP - Randy Messenger (1) Pitches-Strikes - Scott Olsen 45-27, Nate Bump 48-25, Randy Messenger 17-10, Guillermo Mota 42-27, Chris Resop 24-12 Ground Balls-Fly Balls - Scott Olsen 4-1, Nate Bump 3-2, Randy Messenger 1-0, Guillermo Mota 2-2, Chris Resop 1-1 Batters Faced - Scott Olsen 12, Nate Bump 13, Randy Messenger 4, Guillermo Mota 10, Chris Resop 6 Philadelphia Phillies Hitters AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG Jimmy Rollins, SS 4 1 1 1 1 0 0 .277 Ramon Martinez, 3B 4 1 1 0 0 1 4 .257 a- Tomas Perez, PH-3B 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 .252 Bobby Abreu, RF 4 2 1 0 1 0 2 .302 Pat Burrell, LF 4 1 1 2 1 2 0 .290 Aaron Fultz, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .500 Chase Utley, 2B 5 1 2 3 0 1 0 .311 Jason Michaels, CF-LF 4 2 3 0 1 0 2 .309 Ryan Howard, 1B 2 1 1 0 3 1 1 .240 Todd Pratt, C 5 1 3 2 0 2 3 .255 Jon Lieber, P 3 0 0 0 0 0 4 .053 Ryan Madson, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 b- Kenny Lofton, PH 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .342 Ugueth Urbina, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 c- Endy Chavez, PH-CF 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 .232 Totals 38 10 14 10 7 7 18 a-singled for Martinez in the 7th b-grounded out for Madson in the 7th c-flied out for Urbina in the 8th Batting HR - Chase Utley (12, Olsen), Todd Pratt (5, Olsen) RBI - Jimmy Rollins (26), Tomas Perez 2 (18), Pat Burrell 2 (72), Chase Utley 3 (48), Todd Pratt 2 (19) 2-OUT RBI - Tomas Perez 2 (10), Pat Burrell 2 (35), Chase Utley 3 (21), Todd Pratt (3) SB - Jimmy Rollins (22, 2nd base off Mota/Lo Duca), Bobby Abreu (22, 2nd base off Bump/Lo Duca) CS - Bobby Abreu (5, 2nd base by Bump/Lo Duca) Team LOB - 11 Philadelphia Phillies Pitchers IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Jon Lieber (W,9-8) 6 9 4 4 0 3 1 5.14 Ryan Madson (H,20) 1 2 1 1 0 2 0 3.88 Ugueth Urbina 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 3.80 Aaron Fultz 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 2.61 HBP - Delgado (by Aaron Fultz) WP - Ryan Madson (5) Pitches-Strikes - Jon Lieber 80-60, Ryan Madson 27-21, Ugueth Urbina 16-8, Aaron Fultz 13-9 Ground Balls-Fly Balls - Jon Lieber 7-8, Ryan Madson 1-0, Ugueth Urbina 1-1, Aaron Fultz 1-1 Batters Faced - Jon Lieber 27, Ryan Madson 5, Ugueth Urbina 4, Aaron Fultz 4 Game Information Attendance - 33268 Game Time - 3:14 Temperature - 77 Umpires - Home - Brian O'Nora, First Base - Bill Welke, Second Base - Gary Cederstrom, Third Base - Tim Welke

PHILADELPHIA -- Jon Lieber got the elusive win he desperately needed. The veteran right-hander earned his first victory in seven starts and Chase Utley hit a three-run homer, leading the Philadelphia Phillies over the Florida Marlins 10-5 Saturday night. Todd Pratt added a solo homer and an RBI single for the Phillies, who have scored 30 runs in the first three games of this series and have won four of six. Lieber (9-8) allowed four runs and nine hits with no walks and three strikeouts in six innings. He was 0-4 in six starts since beating Texas on June 7. "I'm staring to get closer to turning the corner," said Lieber, who started the season 4-0 for the first time in his career. "My slider was better than it had been in the last couple of starts." Added Pratt, his catcher: "He's getting sharper. There's still some things that he needs to work on, but the mistakes are getting smaller. He'll be fine." Juan Encarnacion hit a three-run homer for Florida, which has lost five of six. The Marlins committed two errors that led to a pair of big innings and six unearned runs for the Phillies. "You can't give extra at-bats, it really hurt us," Marlins manager Jack McKeon said. Florida trailed only 6-5 in the seventh before Carlos Delgado's ninth error of the season helped the Phillies score three times on Jimmy Rollins' RBI fielder's choice and a two-run single by Tomas Perez. "That was big," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "We had plenty of chances to blow the game open earlier. They committed an error and we were able to get some runs. That's encouraging." Philadelphia jumped on rookie starter Scott Olsen (1-1) for three runs in the first inning, which was extended because of an error by Alex Gonzalez. Utley connected for his 12th home run, a three-run shot into right field. "Nothing was there for me," Olsen said. "I didn't have the location or the velocity." Pratt increased the lead to 4-0 in the second with his fifth homer, a shot that landed in the first row of the upper deck in left field. Olsen's night was finished four batters later. He lasted just 1 2/3 innings, giving up five hits and six runs -- three earned -- with one walk and one strikeout. "The kid didn't have it," McKeon said. "He wasn't throwing the ball. I don't know what was wrong." The Phillies improved to 18-11 against left-handed starters, including 9-4 at home. On Sunday, the team will face Florida ace Dontrelle Willis (13-4). Pat Burrell capped the second inning with a two-run single off reliever Nate Bump. Burrell has nine RBIs in his last three games, increasing his team-high total to 72. Delgado hit an RBI single in the third inning before Encarnacion's 12th homer got the Marlins within 6-4 in the sixth.

Notes The game was delayed 39 minutes at the start because of rain. ... Bump collected his first major league hit with a third-inning infield single. ... Burrell has a NL-best 25 RBI against left-handers. He had just 17 RBI against lefties last season. ... The Marlins have homered in a season-high seven straight games. ... Lieber threw 80 pitches, 60 for strikes. ... Miguel Cabrera had two hits, his 33rd multihit game of the season.

Bingo to Philly Stretch: 330 Miles
Bingo to Sandusky Stretch: 880 Miles

Total Mileage: 1100 Miles

Total Miles Travelled:
129,087 Miles!

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Page Last Updated: March 25, 2008