So I had to be in NYC from Wednesday night to Friday this week. As I’ve been a Yankees fan since I was a kid and since I’ve never been to Yankee Stadium, I came in on an earlier flight to go to Wednesday night’s game against the D-Rays (why can I see a good team this year?) My buddy Bob, from Cleveland, and I headed up early to walk through Monument Park (scroll down to the Ms). The subway was, um, crowded, ridiculously so–like when Elaine gets stuck going to the L Wedding.
The stadium is old and looks every bit its age. We got to Monument Park at 6:10–55 minutes before game time–but they had closed it, despite the fact that it is publicized as being open until 45 minutes before game time. Very disappointing. I did take a couple of pictures from our pretty decent seats–though they are all the way across the field from the Park.
I did get to snap some pictures of Yankees warming-up. Here is Jeter stretching running, while A Rod gets stretched by a trainer.
Jeter making some long throws before the game.
But with a bunch of unallocated time before the game, we headed to the Yankees Clubhouse Store. They had some awesome stuff. Retro jerseys for Berra, Ruth, Mantle, Munson. They even had a pair of game-worn Hideki Matsui pants for $2500. I decided to save $2400 and just got a Mattingly jersey.
The pitching matchup (Cory Lidle v. Jason Hammel) left a lot to be desired. But it was Matsui’s second game back from injury, Jeter was in the midst of a hitting streak, and just seeing Giambi, Jeter, A Rod, Cano, Damon (only sort of), Matsui, Torre, Rivera, etc. on the field was great. Here is the infield warming up for the first inning.
A Rod hit a homer to deep right-center (he was 3 for 4).
Cano hit another homer and had 5 RBIs.
The Yankees won 8-4. (See all the pictures here.)
It was a little disappointing seeing Sal Fasano at catcher. Doesn’t he look like he should have played in the 70s? He’s only two years older than me. Wow, I’m getting old. Lots of fun–even for Bob.
