Spectrum Field

Philadelphia Phillies, Grapefruit League
Clearwater Threshers, Florida State League

8/10

 

 

The crowds make their way in for another Phillies/Pitrates showdown

Another glorious Florida afternoon.

The seats filled a lot more than this before the first pitch with almost 8k on hand.

I caught a day game here near the very end of spring training in 2018, before an evening drive to South Carolina, on the way to the Balt-Wash area. As far as I remember, this was the absolute last Spring Training game here for 2018. The all Penn. rivalry made it all the more interesting. 

This is one where the review is getting typed a few years after going, so memories are fuzzy. The park itself is a pretty nice facility, that appears to have inspired some of the parks that came after it, plus some renovations. Food I don't remember much about either way. Atmosphere was pretty decent, especially for the spring. A tight game that ended after 9, tied at 5, helped this out for sure. I'll be back here a few more times I think.



Linescore
2018-03-27
                       123    456    789  R H E
Pittsburgh       400   000    001  5 12 1
Philadelphia    000   040   010   5  9 1
Temp: 79F  Time: 2:55   Att: 7,958

Citizen's Bank Park

Philadelphia Phillies, National League

7/10

A very busy sky at the entrance to the ballpark.

A decent crowd takes in the Phillies and Reds on a Saturday afternoon.

Looking back in you can see the upper deck is sparsely populated, but the lower bowl is nearly full.

This is as close as I could get to the standard, "behind home plate" shot.

I headed out to onto the Pennsylvania Turnpike from Pittsburgh for the few hours over to Philadelphia for the Reds/Phillies. I ended up having some issues with my debit card and paying the tolls on the turnpike, so I arrived in the 2nd inning. This is another retro-modern park, located in the middle of the "Sports Complex". I paid to park in the lot directly next to the football stadium across the street. The arena hosting the 76ers and Flyers is off in another corner.

It was a muggy, overcast, spring afternoon in Philly, with a decent, but not huge crowd out to see the Fightin' Phils. The Phinatic was out and had a steady entourage of wellwishers following him around the entire day.

The park itself however, I would describe as "adequate". It's a much needed upgrade over Veteran's Stadium, with a decent view of the downtown skyline. Besides the large Liberty Bell light display in right centre field, there's nothing really unique about it. The food is also(surprisingly) average, although it's always tough to judge that in just one visit. I had the "Crab Fries", which were also very popular in Pittsburgh the night before. I'm honestly not sure why, I found them pretty average. The atmosphere, for all the lore of the rabid, borderline toxic Philadelphia sports fan, was enthusiastic, but par for the course too. The game was very back and forth. Michael Saunders hit one of very few homeruns as a Phillie and Tommy Joseph hit a walk off single in the bottom of the 9th.

Overall, this is hardly a bad ballpark, but I'd put a return trip to Pittsburgh ahead of coming back here. 7/10.


Linescores
                        123   456   789   RHE
Cincinatti           200  001    000   390
Philadelphia       110  100    001   470
Temp: 73F  Time: 2:47  Att: 30,100