I will be at the Friday and Saturday games. I know that there is a fairly large contingent of Phillies people in the midstate and in MD/NVa. If anyone else is going to come to the games this weekend, you might check in here, and maybe we could coordinate some awkward internet dates.

By the way, if you are buying tickets for Saturday or Sunday, I strongly suggest being on the third base side, toward the LF corner. It is supposed to be hotter than the hinges of Hell, and if you sit along 1B or in RF, you are going to get baked, but not in a fun, college-age way. Getting seats under the overhang is probably a good idea, and I would avoid anything behind the dugouts. I went for Section 268 for the Saturday start (4:05). Tonight, I will be in Section 17, which is in RF, but it is a night game and should be fine.

Baltimore is pretty generous about bringing things in to the stadium. Get your peanuts from the ladies at the church. If you are in town for the weekend, make sure to visit the venues listed after the jump:

• the Akbar on N. Charles Street (great Indian Food at really fair prices) - before MLB went all 9-11 on bringing things in, I had takeout from the Akbar in LF at an Orioles game. It was just...awesome.
• Bertha's in Fell's Point - get some Natty Boh in cans! Shotgun them!
• the Black Olive in Fell's Point
• Jimmy's (for breakfast) in Fell's Point
• American Visionary Art Museum
• Karmic Connection in Fell's Point - for the giant Buddha, not for the enormous selection of, uh, tobacco pipes
• Baltimore Museum of Art - also home to Gertrude's, which is worthwhile on its own for its presentation of regional Chesapeake cuisine. The Bay is so much more than over-seasoned blue crabs, which I love and I am not knocking, but the Old Bay kills the delicate flavor of the crabmeat. Let's just be honest about it. John Shields is great at presenting it. He was regional before it was cool.

I'd suggest other places in the area, but if you're there for baseball, you are pretty much downtown. I don't get out to Federal Hill much, but there are cool places there, too. Baltimore in general is pretty nifty. Don't miss out on it by staying just in the Inner Harbor tourist trap.