British Invasion, Part 3: Take Me Out to the Ballgame

British Invasion, Part 3: Take Me Out to the Ballgame

It all began one day last March with an incredibly moving comment left on my blog by a young woman in England named Emma grieving the loss of her fiance to DMD. E-mails, instant messages, and webcam conversations ensued, and we quickly became the best of friends. Soon after, Emma met Gary and I became friends with him as well. Not long after, Emma and Gary began making plans to visit me here in Philadelphia. This is part 3 in a series chronicling their visit...



When I first began exchanging e-mails with Emma and I told her about my love of sports, she expressed a desire to see a "proper" baseball "match" one day -- and to eat a hot dog while doing so. I promised her that if she ever made her way to Philadelphia, I would take her to a game and get her that hot dog. Well, she did, and tonight, I did!

With a clear sky, pleasant breeze, low humidity and temperature near 80 degrees, you couldn't ask for a better night for baseball -- except for a Phillies win! On the Sound of Philadelphia Celebration night, the game began on a sour note when old Phils' nemesis Vladimir Guerrero stepped to the plate in the top of the first and impaled the hometown team with a two-run homerun. It didn't get much better, as the Phillies offense could not muster much against Angels' pitcher Ervin Santana and the Angels hammered the Phillies' pitchers all night. It wasn't pretty.

The final score was 7-2. Normally, I would have been less than pleased about that. But my English mates had a great time and that was really all I cared about. "Hey, at least you got to see how the game is played," I told them.

"Yeah, the Angels showed how the game is played!" said my nurse.

All in all, though, it was a fun evening. And, of course, Emma got her hot dog!

With my friends headed to New York City tomorrow, Winheld's World will take a break. See you Sunday...