Bronx

On Opening Up All of the Bronx

New Yankee Stadium, 2012

Friday, June 25, 2021

Oakland Athletics vs. New York Yankees

New Yankee Stadium

MLB, American League

Bronx, NY

7:00 PM 

 

Outside the Game: 

I'm not claiming to be uber-woke, or whatever the hell the kids are calling it these days, but I knew what "Juneteenth" was before last year. In college, I took a class on Reconstruction, which included reading Jubilee, a historical novel that rather prominently features the holiday. Why that piece of information hasn't drained out of my long-term memory like everything else is a question for greater powers than myself. But here we are.

My new company had the day off before Biden went nuclear and made it a national holiday at the last minute this year, and--frankly--for anyone arguing against it, exactly how racist do you have to be to oppose a new Friday holiday in June? There are guys in the Klan who have no problem with this.

At any rate, I had a day off work and nothing to do, and the Yankees were at home, so I decided to grab a ticket. This was made easier by a trick of fate that had today as the day that the Yankees would be opening up the stadium to full capacity. The hasty transfer over to 100% open had gummed up the works on the Website, and the phone lines at Ticketmaster were similarly down. I whittled away the morning and afternoon with some cooking, laundry, and chores before checking one last time before resigning myself to buying a ticket at the stadium.

Right before I was to head out at 3 PM, the Website started working again, I grabbed my online ticket, and I headed out to the light rail. The light rail took me to the PATH and then to the subway, with nothing much in the way. It was a little surreal to take this trip again, as with most things this year, in a way both completely familiar and alien at the same time. I was super early, but I had nothing else to do, and I half-consciously bounced along on my trip out the Bronx.

I emerged into the high summer afternoon with some time to spend. I walked around the stadium to check out the Covid setup before heading out the park they had built on the site of Yankee Stadium. In the intervening years, I've never actually had a chance to go there, so I walked out to the old Bat by the renovated LIRR Station and took in Ruppert Plaza, with its already weathered cobblestones of historic dates related to the old stadium, and Elston Howard Field on the site of the old diamond.

After some leisurely walking around, it was getting close to gate open time, so I made the short walk back over to the stadium, and placed myself on one of the socially distanced entry lines. There were no vaccination checks here, just standing in the baking summer sun until the trip through the metal detectors was over. The only excitement during the wait was allowing an older gentleman through to the front of the line, which mercifully provoked no outrage. And in I went.

At the end of the game, the crowd dispersed groggily into the night. The subway situation was crowded, but not packed, and I had an uneventful public transportation ride home, facilitated by being able to take the light rail home instead of a Lyft since it was still technically a weekday.

The Stadium & Fans: 

Center to home, New Yankees Stadium

New Yankee Stadium hadn't changed all that much since my last visit. Obviously, the Covid testing tents outside and the socially distanced entrance set-ups were different, but the facility itself hadn't changed much at all. While it was later on in the summer, and this night was the first where the stadium was at 100% capacity, there were a lot of the protocols that the Mets had in place (removing all tables and chairs, zip-tying unoccupied seats, etc) that weren't still in use, but I wasn't sure if it was because the Yankees had taken them away or had never implemented them in the first place.

The stadium wasn't close to full capacity, but that no doubt had to do with the fully opened seats being only available for purchase for a day or so. It was the most crowded game I had been to yet in two years, though, and the crowd, as with most Yankees games, were into the contest, even as the Yankees were going through a rough patch for the season.

New Yankee Stadium remains a pale shadow of what it replaced, and its windowless museum and the dead zone of concrete hallways sacrificed in the name of exclusive seating areas behind home plate are even more disappointing in fresh review. I hope they find a way of doing something useful with it.

At the Game with Oogie:

Scoring away again

Thanks to this being the first completely open game and the decision being made essentially within a day, there was a dearth of people who made advanced purchases of seats. My same-day purchase of a seat in the upper deck right behind first base was the only one sold in my (no doubt) newly opened row, as what I suppose to be the socially distanced seats in the rows in front and behind me were occupied. It was nice to have a row to myself, though not as nice as pod seating, but what can one do?

I wandered around the park right when gates opened, and I was able to hit both Monument Park and the museum with no lines. I got to see the most recent inductees to Monument Park since my last visit, as well as the half-hearted Pride flower arrangement that someone in corporate thought would be sufficient support for the LGBT community. I grabbed some fries in a helmet at some point, along with chicken tenders or the like. After hitting the team store, I just parked in my seat until the start of the game.

In keeping with my baseball this season, Jomboy Media was in attendance in a luxury suite down the third base side. I was able to pick them out with the zoom on my camera and send a photo to an amused Jimmy. The group of college-aged kids in front of me were talking about one his recent Breakdowns or other. I doubt they would have believed me if I told them I was messaging with him during the game.

The Game: 

First pitch, Yankees vs. A's

The Yankees were fighting to get back into the playoff race against one of their primary Wild Card antagonists, the Oakland Athletics. As seemed to be the regular this year, there was inclement weather earlier, but we looked set for gametime.

The A's got on the board early, with a two-out solo homer to right, putting them up 1-0, while New York went down in order in their half. Things cooled off in the second, with both sides sitting back down in order, but Oakland got back to work in the third, scratching in a run off a back-to-back double and single, extending their lead to 2-0. But in the bottom the third, the Yankees tied it up at two with a walk and a homer to right of their own, leaving us with a fresh game a third of the way in.

The A's stranded two runners in the top of the fourth, while New York went in order. Oakland wasted a walk at the start of the fifth, while the Yankees grabbed their first lead quickly in the bottom of the frame with a solo shot to right. They also just as quickly lost that lead in the top of the sixth, as the A's strung together two singles and a homer to bring across three runs and regain a 5-3 lead. New York stranded a runner on third after a single and a wild pitch for their part of the sixth.

Oakland threatened again in the top of the seventh, with runners on second and third and no outs after a single, hit by pitch, and wild pitch, but they left them on the vine to wilt. The Yankees squandered a single in the bottom of the inning. Both sides went in order in the eighth, and the A's left a single on the bases in the top of the ninth. Perhaps true to their form this year, New York ended the game by grounding into a one-out double-play to seal Oakland's 5-3 victory.

The Scorecard: 

Yankees vs. A's, 5/25/21. A's win, 5-3

Since this was my first time back at the parks after a couple of years, I decided to use the home scorecards again, which in this case is a one-page insert in the league's most expensive $10 program.

The scorecard is split with the visitors on top and the home Yankees on the bottom, with a Yankees rosters along the top left and an Umpires roster on the bottom left. Pitching lines for both teams are in the center. Player lines are for 11 innings with a pre-printed diamond in each square. There are lines for ten players and replacements, with each player line ending in at bats, runs, hits, RBIs, and errors, and each inning column ending in runs and hits per inning. The six pitching lines track innings pitched, hits, runs, earned runs, walks, and strikeouts. It is functional and compact, as you'd expect from the marquee franchise in the sport.

There wasn't a lot out of the ordinary from a scoring perspective beyond some weird stats. There were a ton of strikeouts (19 total) for a game that really wasn't a pitcher's duel. All but one of the eight runs came on home runs. The only particularly interesting play of note was a 5-3 putout in the top of the second that got a gem (!) by virtue of Gio Urshella going to the tarp to nab and throw out the runner at first.

The Accommodations: 

Back at my socially-distanced apartment in Jersey City

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

Stand Alone Trip, 2021

Tampa Bay

On an Inadequate Tribute to a Man (In That Man's Opinion)

Geroge M. Steinbrenner Field, 2015

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Toronto Blue Jays vs. New York Yankees

George M. Steinbrenner Field

Grapefruit League (Spring Training)

Tampa Bay, FL

7:05 PM

Outside the Game:
For the first time the entire trip, I had a completely leisurely morning with which to work, as I would be attending a night game for the first and last time. I didn't even have a long travel to the stadium, and there were no social commitments to bind me.

I stayed in bed much longer than normal, and eventually, I went downstairs to be mobbed by the dogs. I had found that Dodger had torn apart a box between the time the rest of the household left and I awakened, and Loki had nearly escaped her cage. I let all the dogs out to do their business while I grabbed some water and enjoyed the morning. As soon as I seemed to be not paying enough attention, Dodger would jump into my lap out of nowhere out, derp-face in full effect, out of fear I may be thinking about petting another dog.

Eventually, I went upstairs to gather my belongings. I made sure all the dogs were secure, said goodbye to the dogs, and headed out my car. A morbid thought struck me as I was driving away. Statistically, I wouldn't see Josie ever again. Given the time differential of my trips and fact that she was already 15 didn't bode well for the math. This made me a little depressed on my drive to the zoo, and it is also why I can't have nice things.

The last time I blew through Tampa, I had visited their aquarium, but with my one free afternoon, I was going to take in the Lowry Park Zoo, which happened to be relatively close to the field as well. I parked up at about ten o'clock and paid my way in. It was a lot larger than I was expecting, so I just grabbed a map, picked a direction, and got going. I nearly immediately saw that they had those wax vacuum-mold animals kiosks, so I knew I would eventually be walking out with at least one of them.

I spent quite a relaxing morning and early afternoon going about the park. Most of the rides (including a log flume and small roller coaster) were included in the admission. I had planned to go on the log flume later, but sometime between the first time I passed it and "later," it had broken down with mechanical troubles, so that probably worked out for the best.

I feels ya, brocephious.

I saw all the exhibits and got some lunch, and it pretty much had expended all the time I needed. I went into the gift shop to get presents for everyone at work who had covered for me these last two weeks, and then I found a shaded porch swing area in the Australian section and may or may not have taken a nap.

It was eventually time to go, to I went out to the car, stowed everything not baseball-related, and headed out to the stadium.

It turned out that Steinbrenner Field was right next to a community college and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers football stadium. A couple of turns got me to the VIP parking entrance. I had gotten these tickets from my accountant, who had Spring Training season tickets every year for himself and to share with clients. He asked me every year if I wanted any, and this year, I took him up on the offer. These VIP tickets got me early entrance to the stadium, as well as the special parking.

I had to take a long and winding road to the special lot, and it took four people in vests to get me to my eventual resting place. I grabbed my gear and headed out about a half hour before the gates were to open for season tickets.

After the game, I had an hour or so drive ahead of me, assuming no traffic. I got out to my car easily enough, and the VIP parking really did let me slip out the door as quickly as possible, and I was off and heading east.

Although it was well beyond my more recent bedtimes, I managed to make it to the hotel with no incidents. A friendly Indian man checked me in, and I was off to slumber after setting everything up for the next day's drive.

The Stadium & Fans:

Home plate to center field, George M. Steinbrenner Field

George M. Steinbrenner Field, on 1 Steinbrenner Drive, in the Steinbrenner Sports Complex, perhaps unsurprisingly has a giant statue of George M. Steinbrenner at the entrance. As a monument to a monumental ego, it perhaps pales to locales such as the giant pyramid in downtown Taipei to former Taiwan dictator Chiang Kai-shek, but only on a matter of scale. George is inescapable around the park, which perhaps is well enough for a man whose pathological need to win helped revive the Yankees dynasty in the late 70s and 90s. No doubt he would think that the place didn’t feature himself enough.

I judge you from beyond the grave.

Steinbrenner Field has been around for a couple of decades, so while it is stately, it doesn’t quite match up with newer “palace parks” in the Grapefruit League, which would probably cause The Boss to tear down this stadium and re-start the same way he did in a deep blasphemy to the original Yankee Stadium. The park lies diagonally across from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL stadium, and down the street from the main training complex. A couple of practice fields are on the grounds, but they are only accessible by people with special tickets, in proper Yankees fashion. In addition to the giant King George statue, there is also a mini Monument Park, with just player numbers and descriptive plaques as opposed to the real deal up north, and a 9/11 monument has been added to the proceedings after that tragedy. A team store, the ticket booths, and the executive offices all also have entrances on the outside of the park. Outside of VIP parking by the stadium, the main parking lot is across the main road next to the facility, with a skybridge allowing plebeians to reach the park. The entire park is surrounded by Tampa sidewalks, and the back of the scoreboard and batter’s eye has a giant Yankees mural facing the street.

All the entrances to the park are up stairways from street level. The main entrance is by home plate, and there is an additional entrance in right field where the bridge over from the parking lot connects. It is a familiar Spring Training layout, with an outer, wide promenade running around the park from left field to right field, connecting to a smaller seating area walkway at the outfields and via regularly spaced ramps around the park. That grandstand walkway separates the box seats by the field from the regular seating area further back.

What sets Steinbrenner Field apart is that it is the last vestige in the world of what the original Yankee Stadium looked like. The backing behind the home plate seats evokes the old gray façade of the original stadium (now holding the press box and the luxury boxes in the spring park), and the seats in the old stadium style appear to be in two levels, with a version of the old bunting running along the sun shade that runs over the seating areas from first base to third base. This imagery and colors of the old stadium ends rather abruptly when you turn away from the home plate area and look out on the field. Outside of a giant digital board in left center with the Yankees bunting, it is all Florida Spring training park, looking out onto a treeline and endless, flat, blue skies. A long digital scoreboard is in the left field corner, the batter’s eye is in dead center, and a Walgreen’s picnic seating area is in the right-center corner.

All the concessions, play areas, and memorials are in the outer promenade. Most of the concessions and team stores are adorned with the famous Yankee stadium bunting, and a small play area by home plate is near all the stadium dedications and memorials. Multiple team stores are located around the promenade, in keeping with the Yankees’ capitalist core beliefs.

The Yankees continue to have limited between-inning entertainment, even in Spring Training--except for the demeaning YMCA dance for the Southern grounds crew. Yankees Spring Training tickets remain one of the hardest to come by in the Grapefruit League, and while the crowd is there to try and grab easier autographs than you’ll get up north, they are also there to watch the game.

At the Game with Oogie:

Hot dog and souvenir soda

While I was walking around the park before going in and taking my regular photos, I was pounding the pavement behind center field. I heard something pass behind me, and quickly turning around, I saw a ball fly by, bounce once, and then end up out in the four-lane road behind the stadium. A pristine batting practice ball.

Now, there was a lot of traffic on the road--a lot of traffic. It was kind of amazing that the ball wasn't hit and deflected at all, but it just stayed out there. So I waited. Eventually, there was a red light on the road, and I had until the turning traffic starting coming down the street to run out and grab the ball and make it back.

My precious

It took a bit of running, but I did it, now with my new prize in hand, only slightly worse for wear. I finished my walk around and photos and headed to the main entrance.

In addition to the snazzy parking space, my season ticket got me in a half hour early for some extra time to walk around before the plebs came in. I did my tour of the place, took my pictures, bought my souvenirs, and then got down to some food. I grabbed the hot dog and souvenir soda to start with, and then grabbed an Italian sub at one of the unique concessions that the stadium housed.

My ticket was a couple of rows back just behind first base, and it was easily the closest I had ever been to Yankees players. A-Rod and Mark Teixeira were warming up right by the bag, so it was the closest I'd get to either of them for sure, and it was a nice way to watch the game.

Except for the fans. I was mostly in a season ticket area, so it was mostly snowbirds or permanent resident Yankees fans, but there was a group of college-aged kids a couple of rows behind me. One of the guys thought it was funny to make fun of A-Rod--which, to be fair, it is--but he kept it up nearly constantly for the entire game until he was pulled for a replacement. It made for kind of a tedious experience, especially when interspersed with Yankees fans trying to get him to shut up.

At least it reminded me of home.

The Game: 

First pitch, Blue Jays vs. Yankees

This meaningless Grapefruit League matchup had the visiting Toronto Blue Jays facing off against the New York Yankees at the pagan temple to George Steinbrenner. The relatively quick game would feature a great deal of pitchers and end with sadness for the home team.

Toronto went in order in the first, while the Yankees only had a two-out double. The Blue Jays started the second with a single, and then after two outs, a double and another single got in two runs, for an early 2-0 lead. New York struck back in the bottom of the inning with a one-out walk driven in by two more singles to cut the lead in half to 2-1. Toronto kept scoring in the top of the third with a leadoff triple that came in on a ground out to put the lead to 3-1, while the Yankees went in order.

The Blue Jays just had a two-out double in the top of the fourth, while New York further cut into the lead with a leadoff homer to center, making the score 3-2. Toronto manufactured another run in the top of the fifth with a leadoff single, a stolen base, an error on the stolen base, and a ground out, to extend the lead to 4-2. The Yankees went in order. The Blue Jays stranded a double and a walk in the sixth, while New York went in order again.

Toronto went in order in the top of the seventh despite a leadoff single thanks to a double play, while the Yankees stranded a single and a walk on the basepaths in the bottom of the frame. The Blue Jays went in order in the top of the eighth, but New York threatened with a one-out walk and double to make it second and third, but two more quick outs ended the potential runs on the bases. Toronto similarly threatened in the top on the ninth with a single and an error followed by an interference call to make it second and third with one out, but an infield grounder and a fly to left ended the opportunity. In their last licks, the Yankees tried to start a two-out rally with a triple, but a strikeout left him out there, with the Blue Jays securing their pointless 4-2 win.

The Scorecard:

Blue Jays vs. Yankees, 03/17/15. Blue Jays "win," 4-2.

The scorecard was part of the $6, full-color magazine program. Instead of in the traditional centerfold, it was about 3/4ths of the way into the program on one page, with the backing page including scoring instructions. It was largely a reprint of the major-league scorecard, with the visiting team on top, the home team on the bottom, and the pitching lines next to each other in the middle. Each batting line had a space for a replacement, and there were batter totals at the end of the line and inning totals at the bottom of each column. Each scoring square had a pre-printed diamond, but there was room enough to score, if a little cramped. The semi-gloss paper was okay for regular pencil and a little difficult with colored pencil.

There were a few plays of note. In the bottom of the first was one of the first overshift plays I saw in person (on Teixeira), and I recorded the out 4o-3 (and again in the bottom of the sixth). There was a caught stealing 7-2 in the top of the second as a runner tired to score from first on a long single to left. The top of the third featured a CS 1-3-6 on a pickoff rundown, but the best was the top of the ninth. After a single, there was a grounder to the replacement second baseman that was booted, and then he interfered with the runner going to second, recording one of the first player interferences I had to record, as an INT-4.

Speaking of replacements, every single player for the Yankees and all but two of the Blue Jays were swapped out starting the in fifth, though mostly in the sixth and seventh. Due to a subsequent replacement by the Blue Jays, I had to use letter footnotes to record another pinch runner in the ninth. Also of note was the eight pitchers by the Yankees. Everyone except starter Sabathia got one inning, while Sabathia had two.

The Accommodations:

Budget Inn

I was staying in a stop-off at the Budget Inn in Lake Wales, putting some distance in towards my return to the parents’ condo the next day. I was looking for a cheap, clean place to sleep, and this was pretty much it. I was a little nervous about this locale given how it looked on the outside, but the inside of the room was extensive and clean. One side of the room had a giant king-sized bed and nightstand, while the other had a dresser, with a flat-screen TV mounted above it. The bathroom was small but tidy. It was pretty much exactly what I needed that night, so it all worked out.

And perhaps most importantly, it didn’t have someone waking up at the crack of dawn to go play golf.

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2015 Grapefruit League

Bronx

On When Resting Is Not Restful

New Yankee Stadium, 2014

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Texas Rangers vs. New York Yankees
New Yankee Stadium
Major League Baseball, American League
Bronx, NY
1:05 PM


Outside the Game:
This would be an unusual baseball trip, as it was starting with a game at "home," and then progressing further afield.

One of my cousin's kids in Florida wanted to see Derek Jeter during his last season. He was going to fly out this week, and we were going to go to a game. As Thursday afternoon games were the easier ticket, and I could take my comp day for working on Memorial Day (and the fact that Jeter didn't often rest at home this year), we got tickets for this Thursday.

The worry originally had been the weather, but the storm that was supposed to hit on Thursday came in Wednesday night. The Yankees played an extra-innings marathon on Tuesday night, so it looked like Jeter would sit out Wednesday. But he played in the rain-shortened Wednesday game, which made his inevitable sit-out on Thursday all the more mundane. There's only so much you can do with planning.

Sir Not Appearing in This Movie

Although I had the day off, I got up at the same time as usual, as I wanted to make sure we could get into Monument Park, which involved getting there before the gates opened at 11 AM. My father showed up with guest in tow a little after 9 AM, and instead of taking my advice and going to the roomier parking lot by the hospital, my father insisted on going to the sardine can shops down by the river to save some walking. He again ignored my advice to go into an above-ground lot and instead went to an underground lot and was surprised that his suburban sled car did not fit into any of the available spaces. He had to get it valet-parked, but at least we were all off.

We got to the PATH trains, and I helped them get a Metrocard that both of them could use. Because they didn't heed my urging to hurry up, we missed the 33rd Street train and had to wait for the next one, which can be a sizable wait after rush hour.

Once we got going, it was relatively easy going after the change to the D train at 34th Street. We piled out into the early afternoon, and I walked them to the gate by Monument Park. My father was tired of walking, so I told him to stay there and wait on line while I took our guest around the park. Halfway around, my father showed up, saying he wanted to walk. Amazingly and completely unexpectedly enough, by the time we got back to the gate by Monument Park, the lines were down the street. I told them to get on line and wait while I scouted ahead.

There was a second, much-shorter line on the other side of the gate, so I got on that one and called my father on his cell phone. He didn't pick up, so I called him again. And he didn't pick up, again. So I had to run down to them and drag them back to the other line, while 50 more people had gotten on line while I was collecting them.

Eventually, the gates opened, and we went in, but more on that in a second.

Rawhide

The way out was the "welcome to the big city" moment, as we had to pack into a D train going south, heading into rush hour. It was a wall-to-wall people sandwich until we got off at 34th. We eventually got seats on the PATH back to Hoboken, and we quietly cooled off on our way back to retrieve the car for one of several identical-looking commuter parking lots.

They dropped me back off at my apartment a little before 5, and I put in a load of laundry and took a major nap. I put the clothes in the drier when I woke up, took a shower, and then booked my hotel for the night, about halfway down the route to southern Maryland.

A little before nine, I finished packing up and started driving south. Outside of another ten-minute delay paying cash to one of two open lanes on the NJ Turnpike at the Delaware Memorial Bridge, I quickly got shaken down in Delaware and reached my hotel a little after 11:30 PM.


The Stadium & Fans:

Center field to home plate from Monument Park, New Yankee Stadium

It had actually been a couple of years since I had been to New Yankee Stadium, and it was my first visit to the new Monument Park. On this return visit, I was really struck by how claustrophobic the interior walkways of the stadium are. This is done to make the ritzy areas behind home plate and center field hermetically sealed from riff-raff. But the experience waiting to get into Monument Park and the Yankees Museum are certainly diminished by waiting in line in a generic concrete hallway that would seem more at home in a Cold War-era military base. The only nod to adornment by the Monument Park entrance are giant representations of the retired numbers.

Majestic

The stairway into Monument Park is particularly grim, akin to walking down a dimly lit stairwell into a middle school sub-basement. But once you get outside, it is a different story. The panoramic view to home plate from the center field and the carefully manicured and maintained park itself are clearly a place rivaled only by Cooperstown in baseball history and reverence. Plaques old and new are enshrined, along with a particularly egregious dedication to George Steinbrenner, easily twice the size of any other memorial in the park. (And since his passing, another "modest" monument to the Boss dominates the top of the bleachers.)


Besides a few new minor additions, such as memorials to the yearly "Pinstripe Bowl" on the outfield wall and new flip-pictures of the players in the area by the food court, not a lot has changed.

Even for a weekday, mid-season game, the crowd was still rather substantial, although almost to a person disappointed in Jeter's no-show on the roster that day. Several fan signs were specifically addressed to the issue. And the crowd seemed a little too excited when Jeter's replacement was plunked on the arm in the bottom of the third, perhaps hopeful that Jeter would be called in to replace him. Sadly for the masses, the injury was not severe.


At the Game with Oogie:

Rodeo burger

As mentioned, my primary companions at this game were my father and my cousin's son. For the most part, I was showing him around the stadium, and we got there very early so as to see Monument Park. It was my first time in the new Monument Park, as well, so that was worthwhile all-around. While we were inside, I met one of the stupidest people who ever lived. This woman was complaining that Monument Park was a big letdown, because all it contained was "plaques."

Frankly, I don't know what she was expecting. Did she hope for holograms of each of the honored recipients? Perhaps she expected the shambling reanimated remains of those interred there to scare her as if in some haunted castle? I don't know what to make of it.

LINE! The Ride.

We eventually decided against going to the museum, as the wait in that line would take us to just before first pitch, so I took my relations around to the more noteworthy parts of the park, and then we settled on some lunch at the Johnny Rockets concession (as the lines at Nathan's had grown too long), and we hunkered down in our seats.

Straight out of central casting sitting next to us was a blowhard, everything-is-awful Yankees fan, who couldn't keep his trap shut the entire game, and mentioned how every action that wasn't an immediate out for the opposing team or run for the Yankees was evidence that Yankees manager Girardi didn't know what he was doing, and that the Yankees stunk. Presumably, the evidence from the outcome of the game was damned to be ignored.


The Game:

First pitch, Ranges vs. Yankees

Considering both pitchers sported ERAs north of 5, this match between the Rangers and the Yankees didn't look to be a pitcher's duel, but looks can be deceiving. To start, both sides went quickly in order for the first two innings.

In the top of the third, however, a leadoff walk for the Rangers changed things up, only to be quickly erased on a double-play. The next batter got an undeniable hit to center, as did the the next batter, and the next batter, plating a run. But a fly out to center ended the half at 1-0, Rangers. The Yankees only managed a two-out hit batsman in their half of the third, and the train kept rolling on as the Rangers went in order in the top of the fourth.

In the bottom of the fourth, however, the Yankees led off with a double, but two outs looked to leave him stranded before a two-out single to right brought in the tying run. A ground-out to first ended the inning at 1-1. In the top of the fifth, Texas had their own double (this one a two-out variety), and though the next batter walked, a strikeout ended the threat with nothing across. The Yankees started the bottom of the fifth with a walk, and a double brought him in to take the lead. The next batter bunted, and it was a bizarre play as the third baseman threw to the second baseman covering first, who did an awkward slide of his own near the base. The batter was called out, and the play was challenged, but upheld, as replay showed him barely touch the bag just as he caught the ball. After the challenge, a walk made it first and third with one out, and the runner at first stole second. A deep sacrifice fly to center brought the runner at third home, and another walk made it first and second with two outs, but a fly out to left ended the inning at 3-1, Yankees.

Texas went in order in the sixth, and the Yankees only had a two-out single to show for their effort. The Rangers started the seventh greeting the Yankees new relief pitcher with a no-doubt home run to left, but the subsequent three outs held the lead at 3-2, Yankees. The Yankees went in order, as did the Rangers in the eighth.

The Yankees started the bottom of the eighth with a single and double that brought the run home. The trailing runner made it to third on a fielder's choice, but was stranded there, with the score at 4-2, Yankees, after eight. Robertson came in to save the ninth, and gave up a one-out walk that stole second, but nailed down the 4-2 Yankees win.


The Scorecard:

Rangers vs. Yankees, 07/24/14. Yankees win, 4-2.

Not seeing a need to fork over $10 for a scorecard, I used the BBWAA scorebook. There were a couple of odd scoring moments in the game. For example, in the top of the third, the inning began with back-to-back singles that were uncontroversial. The third single to center field, however, was just out reach of the second baseman, who, having missed the ball, booted it further into center field. They originally scored it a single and an E4 that got the runner on first to third, but they changed the ruling to be two-bases on the single.

There was a challenge on a sacrifice bunt in the bottom of the fifth, where the covering second baseman made an incredibly awkward sweep slide in the vicinity of the base, but the replay clearly showed that he got lucky and was touching the edge of the bag with his foot when he just caught the ball before completely pulling off. The only other moment of note is the top of the fourth, where a 5-3 putout ended with a rather superfluous tag by the first baseman, just to be a jerk, I guess.


The Accommodations:

La Quinta Inn & Suites

Pretty much on a whim, I picked some place about two hours distant from my house that was along my route, and that turned out to be the La Quinta Inn & Suites in Elkton, MD, just over the border from the Delaware shakedown, as I didn't want to give those bastards another red cent.

My room turned out to be a humongous efficiency suite. The room entrance was at a living room/kitchen, with a fold out couch and easy chair on one side of the room, and in a smaller alcove, there was a full desk and kitchenette, with refrigerator, sink, a real coffee maker, microwave, and dishes and cutlery in the drawers. The next room in was the bedroom, with the king bed and end tables on one side, and the TV and dresser in the other. Around a corner was the bathroom, with the vanity and sink outside the bathroom, and the toilet and shower inside.

As I got settled in and was doing my various things, what eventually struck me was how completely quiet the room was. Located next to the elevator, I was worried about being disturbed by it all night, but instead, the clearly well-insulated room was eerily and completely quiet, except for the noises that I was putting out into it. And it was then that I went from being a little weirded out to considering the options of moving here permanently.

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2014 Maryland

Bronx

On Seeing A Game with the Old Man

New Yankee Stadium, 2010

Saturday, June 19, 2010

New York Metropolitans vs. New York Yankees
New Yankee Stadium
Major League Baseball, Interleague
Bronx, New York
1:05 PM


Outside the Game:
This one did not bode well for me, karmically. My cousin was unable to use her season tickets for one of the Subway Series games at the new Yankee Stadium and offered them to my father and myself. So already I have strike one, using a Yankee fan's season tickets. Since my father's various surgeries, this was the first ballgame he would be attending in a number of years, so strike two was the elderly fan recovering from illness sitting next to me and rooting against me. And I was going to see who (at the time) was the hot Metropolitan pitcher at the moment, so that was strike three right there, because that never works out for me.

That said, I had face value tickets for a Subway Series game, so it wasn't as though I was going to pass up the opportunity, no matter the unlikelihood of victory. My father drove out to Hoboken, and I took him to Yankee Stadium via mass transit for the first time in what was nothing short of forty years for him. The man hadn't taken the train to the gave since before he was married. He found the mass transit process to be novel and amusing, which can only be the reaction of someone who does not commute anywhere via this process on any sort of regular basis.

There but for the grace of god

After the game, we took a brief detour to the site of the old stadium, where on the dilapidated remains of the old bat (as in "Meet me by the bat") remain, which was a little maudlin for him. I also managed to disabuse him of his affection for mess transit as he was treated to the cattle call that was trying to get on the orange line after a game. In the future, he plans on driving to the stadium exclusively.


The Stadium & Fans:

New Monument Park

I had visited the New Yankee Stadium when it opened last season, so I had done most of my poking around then. Since we got to the stadium early enough, we had the opportunity to take our pick and get on one of the lines for either the new Monument Park or the new Museum. You cannot possibly do both before the lines get out of control and you'd have to miss part of the game to see it, not to mention the officials closing the Monument Park line fairly soon after the park opens due to its incredible length. Dad chose to see the Museum, so in line we went, and we got there early enough that we only had a ten minute or so wait to get in.

I have to say that I finally found one area where Not Shea beats the New Yankee Stadium: the museum. While the Yankee's museum was nice enough (and opened with the park, as opposed to the year wait for Mets fans), it seemed a little small and dark (it is tucked into the superstructure of the building, so there are no windows for natural light), and frankly a little perfunctory. It was nice enough, but the Metropolitan museum at Not Shea was much more visually attractive and engaging, and the Mets have a metric ton less history worthy of a museum than the Yankees, so it suffers even more in comparison. My father found getting around the new stadium much easier, as it undoubtedly is, so that was an extra plus for him.

As was the case with Subway Series games, only the most expensive of expensive seats were not occupied (if that), and the crowd was big early. As the fate of the game went back and forth, both fans had their chances at cheering, though the Yankee fans were somehow smug even in their cheering. So damn smug...


At the Game with Oogie:

Never a good sign

My old man, obviously. For a Subway Series game at Yankee stadium, it was dangerously close to a fifty-fifty split of Metropolitan and Yankees fans, with the remainder obviously going to the Yankees. Even though we were sitting in a season ticket holder area, there were a number of Mets fans in close proximity, which is always good to have, in case things get... disagreeable.


The Game:

First pitch, Metroplotans vs. Yankees

This was a rematch of an early-season Pelfrey-Hughes match-up that looked to be a pitcher's duel (both hurlers' troubles lying in the future), and despite the score, it for the most part lived up to the billing. The game started out fortuitously for the Metropolitans, with Reyes leading off with a home run. This lasted to the bottom of the first, where Gardner lead off with a single, got moved over by a single by Swisher, and then scored on a Teixeira doule-play ball. That lasted to the third, when Reyes hit a second home run, scoring himself and Blanco, who had walked earlier in the inning. It stayed 3-1 until the bottom of the inning, when Teixeira answered with his own two-run home run, tying it up. The Mets went quietly in the forth, but the Yankees tacked on another two-run home run, this time off the bat of Granderson, in the bottom of the frame to put them up 5-3. Despite some mild chances by both teams in the subsequent innings, that was the story of the game, with the Yankees winning by that 5-3 score.


The Scorecard:

Metropolitans vs. Yankees, 06/19/10. Yankees win, 5-3.

The standard, expensive $10 Yankees program/scorecard. Besides a surfeit of double-plays, nothing interesting happened scoring-wise.


The Accommodations:
Hoboken, sweet, Hoboken

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2010 Stand-Alone Trip

Queens

On Bright Lights, Big City

Saturday, May 22nd, 2010
New York Yankees vs. New York Metropolitans
Not Shea Stadium
Major League Baseball, Interleague
Queens, NY
7:10 PM


Outside the Game:
The last time I saw my cousin's son, Ryan, he was eightish or so, came up to about my hip, and was a Little League shortstop in love with Derek Jeter. We took him to a Yankee game at the old stadium in the late 90s, in what I seem to recall as an early interleague effort against the Expos.

In the intervening decade or so, he's gotten larger. He's now playing baseball for a college team in upstate New York, and he was driving back down to Florida with his girlfriend during this weekend, and was wondering if we could get tickets to see the Yankees play. The good news is that they were in town, but the bad news was that the weekend that he was coming through town was the Subway Series interleague games between the Mets and Yankees. And, of course, he was going to be in town on Saturday night, the hardest to get game of the hardest to get series of the regular season year in New York.

The other good news was that my father was willing to finance the outing, so a quick trip to StubHub and a 100% markup later, we managed to have three seats in the upper deck along the first base line.

The two drove to my parent's house, my father drove them to Hoboken, and I took them on a mass transit adventure to Queens. You forget how imposing the transit system can be to outsiders, especially when you use it every day as locals tend to, so I got to give the lowdown on everything as we went along, although I imagine they were listening politely, nodding, and hoping I'd shut up.


The Stadium & Fans:
Outside of a larger and more on-edge security presence for the interleague game, there wasn't a whole lot different about Not Shea from the last time I was there. After batting practice, I took my guests up and around the stadium, showing them that yes, people will wait in an hour long line at the Shake Shack for a burger, and yes, we have to go the long way around because of the luxury boxes. The largest stadium the girlfriend had seen previous to this was AAA, there was a crisis of scale for her.

The crowd was nearly split 50/50 Yankees/Mets, which is about what I expected, and everyone was pumped up for the game. After the weak loss the night before, both groups of fans were primed for war.

As soon as the last out was recorded, a Yankee fan in the upper decks with us threw his beer down on everyone and started looking for a fight. As the Mets fan beside me looked like he was going to take him up on his offer, I quickly ushered the out-of-towners back to the subway. As I passed a young Yankee fan crying at the loss, I remembered the belligerent beer-dumper, and I felt a little too good about his tears.


At the Game with Oogie:
As mentioned, I was with the two out-of-towners at the game. We got there early enough to watch the visiting Yankee batting practice and do all the requisite touristy stuff like take pictures at the home run apple and on the field before we got kicked out of the lower deck to trek up to our seats in the stratosphere. (And to be fair, outside of some impaired viewing into the right field corner, the seats in the upper deck weren't that bad at all.)

A secondary drama that was going on during the game was a teammate of my cousin's kid was also driving down from school, and he had the girlfriend's dog with him. He was going to meet up with them tomorrow, hand over the dog (I never did find out why he was taking the dog separately), and they would go their separate ways. At the last minute, he also managed to score tickets to the game, and his plan was to drive to a hotel his father found for him in NJ, drop off the dog, drive out to Queens, scalp the two extra tickets he had, and watch the game.

There were, needless to say, problems with this plan. I explained that even if the plan went perfectly, the cops were going to be out in force, and that some guy from upstate trying to scalp tickets was probably going to get plucked pretty quickly. Thankfully, that never became an issue. We got a call from the friend around the third inning saying that the hotel he had picked in Jersey charged by the hour, and he didn't feel safe leaving the dog. His new plan was to drive out to the game with the dog and see the second half of the game.

I explained that he was in northern Jersey and that he was going to try and drive out to Queens, through Manhattan, on a Saturday night. This apparently did not dissuade him.

At the top of the eighth inning, we heard back from the friend, who had made it out to Queens, but security was not letting him park or go into the game, because it was after the top of the 7th. He was apparently getting into an argument with security over it. I explained that security was already on edge and that he was going to get arrested if any of the rent-a-cops or real police got too annoyed. With everyone's cellphone's dying, the girlfriend managed to convince him to turn around and drive back my parents' house and meet them there while he could still avoid some of the traffic from the game before it lets out.

(He would eventually turn up at my parents' a half hour after we took the subway back to Hoboken after the end of the game and I drove them back to the house.)

The Game:
With Hughes going from the Yankees and Pelfrey going for the Mets,  it would look like we'd be seeing either a quick, tightly-pitched duel, or some manner of blow out if one or both starters threw a gasket somewhere.

The game kept mostly to the first scenario after a hitch for the Yankees in the bottom of the first. A two-out double by the Mets' Bay (who would go on to a 4-4 night, starting a breakout of his abysmal start of the season) was followed by a walk to Davis and two singles by Wright and Pagan, bringing home two runs. The Mets pushed across one more in the fourth, and the Yankees scraped a run together in the top of the 6th, but the majority of the night were the pitchers trading 1-2-3 (or four-and-out) innings. The Mets managed to get one more run in the bottom of the 7th, and then the starters came out.

Usually, this would be good news for the Mets, whose middle relief had been stellar (if overused) for the season up to this point. However, the Mets had to throw four relievers onto the mound in the 8th inning. Feliciano quickly gave up two runs without getting an out (getting pulled with a sterling nil innings pitched), replacement Nieve only managed get one strikeout before giving up a walk and getting pulled in his turn.

This brought Mets' closer Francisco Rodrigues in with one out in the bottom of the eighth. And although Mets fans watched in dismay as he threw what seemed like nothing but sliders, curves, and perhaps two 88 mph fastballs, Frankie managed to close out the eighth and get the Yankees in the ninth without giving up a run, but not for lack of trying. Relieved Mets fans took what we could get, and left with the win, 5-3.


The Scorecard:

Yankees vs. Metropolitans, 05/22/10. Metropolitans win, 5-3.

The standard Mets $5 program with paper scorecard centerfold, and the much-improved lighter background. With the visitors in tow, I only used two colors to score and didn't keep pitch counts.


The Accommodations: 
Hoboken, sweet, Hoboken

View my scorecard of the game at Flickr.

2010 Stand-Alone Trip

Bronx

On the House that Jeter Built

New Yankee Stadium, 2009

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Baltimore Orioles vs. New York Yankees
Yankee Stadium
Major League Baseball, American League East
Bronx NY
1:05 PM


Outside of the Game:
This was just a day trip from home. Travel on the subways is always more of a chore on Sundays, when the trains run at what can only be called a leisurely pace. By leaving a half hour or so early, I managed to get the the stadium to pick up my tickets about fifteen minutes before the gates opened.

After the game, I got to the subway just as a D was coming in. On the ride back to Manhattan, I was only almost killed twice by dance groups performing in the subway car. Threats to my life on the second leg of the trip home on the PATH were minimal, due to the lack of street dancers performing on them.


The Stadium & Fans:

Home plate to center field, New Yankee Stadium

How can you replace a legend? Especially when said legend still lies, veiled like an old Italian lady in mourning, right across the street?

Nonno passed.

To be fair, the new Yankee Stadium is as nice as any new park I've been to, and completely blows Not Shea out of the water. It is what Not Shea should have been, wants to be, but isn't. The history of the franchise infuses the place, but for all the historical references, it is very clearly a modern ballpark.

The main entrance "Grand Hall" puts the Robinson Rotunda at Not Shea to shame. And the park still has the gravitas (and pedestrain ramps) of the old place. The Yankees claim the dimension of the field is the same, but something about it looks a little off, though it seems correct in general dimensions.

The main promenade houses concessions and walkways that give access to the lower deck seating and the specialty restaurants in center field and by first base. Also in center field is the bunker entrance to the new Monument Park (and even though I got there right when the gates opened, the line was already an hour or so long). The middle deck houses the new Yankee Museum (also over an hour line) and the area in center field has a special section with tables on which to eat concessions. It also gives access to the new bleacher seats on either side of the center field restaurant. Having sat in some of the seats next to the wall, I can safely say you can at best see half the field. The upper decks (or whatever the euphemism is) only goes from left field to right field, holding the seats under the restored bunting around the edge of the roof.

The stadium was all well laid-out, convenient, clean, and personable -- and those are all adjectives that I would never apply to Yankee Stadium. And I think that may be its biggest problem. It is a very well-designed park, with many interesting details, and heavy thought clearly went into its production, but it was those rough edges and supposed "inconveniences" that made the real Yankee Stadium what it was. There is something just missing that you can't quite put your finger on.

From the upper deck

Even though it was the opening weekend of the football season and the Yankee's opponent was the last place team in the division, the stadium was nearly full, and the crowd was in the doors as soon as the gates opened. The crowd was loud and expressive as always, and a handful of Orioles fans scattered throughout the crowd made no impact between one or two continuing their "special" practice of shouting the "O" in the Star Spangled Banner.


At the Game with Oogie:

New scoring

I got a seat in the 200s right behind first base. The view was excellent, and the seats not as claustrophobic as the real Yankee Stadium. A group of the most vapid women in the world were seated right behind me, but it turns out they were sitting there because two groups of people had the same tickets. In a slight smile from the powers that be, they were escorted away when the rightful owners of their seats showed up, and it turned out they had counterfeit tickets.


The Game:

First pitch, Orioles vs. Yankees

The term "brutal beating" gets bandied about so much these days, that it has lost its impact.

While the game ended up a casual slaughter the likes of which you'd expect from someone with "Khan" somewhere in their name, it was a close-fought thing for the first half.

The Yankees jumped out to an early lead, with Jeter scoring in the top of the first, but with the Yankees leaving two in scoring position at the end of the inning. Sabathia got sloppy in the second, giving up two runs and then eventually stopping the bleeding there. The Yankees managed to strand two more on base in the third before the O's jumped ahead with a run in the top of the fourth.

Then the tide turned. The Yankees plated two in the bottom of the fourth to tie it, but A-Rod looked at strike three with the bases loaded to end the inning. He was apparently so upset that he continued arguing about the call in the bottom of next inning, and got tossed, along with Girardi who went as insane as I've ever seen him get. The Yankees scored two in the bottom of the sixth, but again ended the inning with the bases loaded, adding a shadow of missed opportunities to the game.

That shadow was completely dispelled in he bottom of the eigth, where the Yankees got eight runs on eight hits, and blew through three pitchers (including one with the uneviable pitching line of nill innings pitched [no outs recorded], with four earned runs on four hit and a walk.)


The Scorecard:

Orioles vs. Yankees, 09/13/09. Yankees win, 13-3.

The scorecard is only part of the $10(!) program, making it the most expensive scorecard in the majors. The card itself is the same one-pager the Yankees have been using for at least the last several years. The entire page is devoted to the scorecard, Yankees lineups, and the list of AL umpires.

While the scorecard is sufficient for most AL games, its limits are stressed by games with a lot of changes, as was the case today. Also, the ink used in the printing is easily smudged by erasing or sweat.

There were a couple of events of note, including Jeter scoring his 100th run of the season and the aforementioned A-Rod and Girardi ejections. The most interesting scoring note was the two-base sacrifice fly in the third. The Oriole center fielder field out to deep left, and the runner on second advanced on the throw. Yankee's left fielder Johnny Damon forgot how many out there were and airmailed in a throw to the infield that allowed the run to score from second. Oops.

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2009 Stand-Alone Trip