Game 4 Win

Well, we were at Game 4 of the 2008 World Series last night between the Tampa Rays and the Philadelphia Phillies. It was fantastic! We got there hours before the gates opened - I think we may have been technically the first ones in line - at least, the first ones at the outfield gates. It was a beautiful fall day and the Eagles game provided some entertainment for a while - there was a projection screen set up along Citizens Bank ballpark, along with the many news agency vans and souvenir stands. My dad and uncle sat at the gates of the park and talked baseball with other fans as they slowly collected.

Inside the park, the workers were getting ready to hand out the "rally towels" to all fans - something so simple, and yet they unify people in a small but real way. When they finally opened the gates, they opened every other gate - of course, ours wasn't one of them. So although we lined up first, we weren't the first ones in. You would have thought the people we shared conversation with through the gate could have told us our gate wasn't going to open, but they didn't.

Walking inside our park was different - the air was different somehow. It was World Series air. My dad ran off to Bull's Barbecue for his standard fare. I decided to get in line at Tony Luke's since the line was relatively short (I think I only waited 10 minutes to place my order). That cheese steak was a World Series cheese steak - and boy did it taste good!

We scouted out our seats in left field, below the big scoreboard. They were actually quite good if you don't mind being away from home plate and not seeing the big board graphics. We were able to see, perhaps for the last time, Pat Burrell in a Phillies uniform. His stock seems to have risen in Philadelphia, although perhaps not enough to justify bringing him back.

Across Ashburn Alley from us was the Baseball tonight setup - we could see John Kruk and Karl Ravitsch with Steve Phillps and Peter Gammons. After the game, they would broadcast baseball tonight. As the fans were leaving, they would chant Kruk's name and although he was working on some kind of a report, he would raise both his arms in acknowledgement to the crowd and the fans would cheer. The pictures I took came out a little blurry, but I got a good one of Kruk's back ... :)

The stadium began to fill and as I walked around to see where my aunt and uncle got to stand with their standing room only tickets, I ran into my friend who works for a local newspaper. I didn't realize he was also a big Phillies fan, though I should have ... So, there were 4 other people I know at the game besides me - 4 out of about 42,000 or .01% ... My aunt and uncle's spot was great - just slightly off center from home plate (towards the third base side) at the metal "troughs" behind the first section of seats. They got fantastic "seats" much cheaper than those around them if they got theirs off stub hub. Home plate section seats were going quite high, if I recall - $1500 and more. Anyway, my uncle said this game was one of the highlights of his life.

I believe that was the most people I have ever been with simultaneously. Back in 1990, I was at a conference with 20,000 people, but the attendance this night was 42,000. Now perhaps I was at a game at the Vet (seating capacity I believe 60,000+) with more people, but I don't remember it - and there certainly wasn't the emotion of a world series game then. I've never been to a Penn State game, or any of the other mega-stadiums. So I believe this was the loudest game I've ever been to, if not the largest crowd. As I stood there in the outfield and let the sheer volume of the cheers come in like waves from the ocean (I couldn't tell you if there was one single Ray fan there that night), what came to my mind? Heaven. Or, more precisely, praising God with all the other saints of all time. Standing before God and having my heart so engulfed by his majesty that praise pours out of me like it never has before ... and standing with billions of other Christians as they do the same. "Awesome" does not even begin to describe this experience. That small Phillies game was just a foretaste of the divine glory that will be revealed. What attracts us to these events, these things "bigger than life?" Is it not the faint echo of something truer, something far more satisfying that has been lost as we live apart from God in this sin-cursed world where death is chained to these bodies?

The Phillies crushed the Rays 10-4. Even the pitcher hit a home run!

God has crushed and will continue to crush his enemies - the World, the flesh, the Devil, sin and death. This victory will be worthy of all praise above any praise we have ever uttered or imagined ...