April 5

Thursday morning: Jenny and I had an early lunch together, from there it was time to head to the ballpark for the 46th Opening Day in Reading Phillies history. The Portland SeaDogs were the opponent for an unusual opening day doubleheader. Scheduled doubleheaders are rare in minor league baseball, this one came about because there is no game on Easter Sunday. The R-Phils' roster is a mix of familiar returnees and promising newcomers and on this day the results were excellent as the club won both games of the double-dip. In the opener catcher Sebastian Valle hit a solo home run and outfielder Jiwan James knocked in a run on a sacrifice fly but it took an extra-inning two-run homer from outfielder Leandro Castro to give the club a 4-2 win. Michael Cisco was the winning pitcher in relief of starter Jonathan Pettibone. In the nightcap the boys completed the sweep with a 7-4 verdict as infielder Cesar Hernandez had two doubles and two RBI, Castro had a two-run single, returning outfielders Stephan Susdorf and Michael Spidale each contributed an RBI hit and infielder Tug Hulett recorded an RBI groundout. Chris Kissock won it in relief of spot starter Tyson Brummett, Justin Friend finished it for the save. The official attendance was 6825 but the crowd was small at the outset, a 4:05 start on a Thursday can be tough for a lot of people. All told the second game ended five hours and seven minutes after we started, it could have been better but it could have been worse. The series continues with single games on Friday and Saturday. Take care, thanks for reading.