Off to Port Charlotte today for the Phils Rays game. It's about an hour and twenty from our hotel. It was perfect weather one again. We walked into Phils batting practice and headed down behind homeplate. Howard and Rollins were some of the few taking swings along with the new pick up, Luis Castillo.
Manuel was out watching and some kids came up to him that he seemed to know. 3 kids accompanied by 2 men. One of the men asked James where he got his shirt. He was wearing a July 4th Werth t-shirt jersey, with the A merican flag in the Phillies logo on the front. He answered, "Modells, up in Philly." The man said, "Where?" James repeated. The man's friend asked him to repeat it but louder as he pointed a small video camera at him. The 3 of us were a tad confused. Finally the man introduced himself, "Hi, I'm Mitch Modell, Modell's is my company." Commence jaw hitting the floor. Dad processed to ask when they are getting more Utley day jerseys in, pointing out the fact they have been out for a while. Mr. Modell instantly pulls out his phone, hits a few buttons and is connected with someone obviously at Modell's asking what was up with the Utley day jerseys. 5 minutes later he tells us they should be online by the weekend. How crazy is that? While he was on the phone we chatted with his friend. I notice a ring on Mr. Modell's hand and I make the comment, "Wow is that a series ring?" His friend replies, "Yeah, he has about 7 of them." Floored again. It was the Yankees World Series champ ring from 2009, just insane.
Mr. Modell told us to hang on and left for a minute. While he was gone Charlie Manual walked over to the stands and started signing items through the protective net. The 3 kids with Modell were asking if we wanted anything signed. Dad agreed and handed one of them his hat. He ran it over to him and he signed it. Dad was happy! Modell came back and handed each of us a 10$ gift card. What a nice guy!
Oswalt started the game but unfortunately he took a Manny Ramirez line drive to the head. He turned his head enough to catch it behind his ear. He got up and walked off the field and seemed ok. Later we found out the x-rays were negative and he would be ok. The Rays pulled out the victory and looked pretty strong.
So after the Rays game we had tix for the Yanks Jays in Tampa. We stopped for gas and drinks and I took over driving duties. We got back on the SAME interstate we got off and it was grid lock. When we got off it was totally fine, suck! Well it ended up taking us 2.5 hours to make a 1 hour and 10 minute trip. Got to the game in the 3rd inning.
The 7th inning stretch was rolling around and a camera lady sat right in front of us so we started chatting with her. She was getting ready to film for the stretch. Well the song started and she started filming. I looked at the big screen and there I was, then dad and I got the iphone up in time to snap one shot.
If you have a look at the pic of the 3 of us you'll notice James is wearing a white shirt with a Phils logo with the flag in it, the same one Mr. Modell asked about it. Well have a look at the super blurry image above. You can make out his shirt with the logo, semi cutoff, but it's there. A Phillies logo on the jumbo tron at a Yankees game! Haha! Ever better, Mr. Modell told us early that they would be at the game! Doubt he saw it but just a cool story.
