My Trip to Yankee Stadium on August 10, 2013

This past Saturday, my Yankee baseball buddy, Art, and I travelled to Yankee Stadium to see the matinee game against the Detroit Tigers.  We began our journey on the Metro North train from New Haven at 9:22 am. The train goes directly to Yankee Stadium and arrived at 11:30. We arrived at our seats at 12 PM one hour before game-time. Our seats were located off the right field foul line behind first base on the second level. The view from these seats was spectacular and the only area that was obscured was in front of the right field foul pole. The day was perfect for a baseball game with a temperature of 81 degrees.  However, the first disappointment of what was several disappointments was the absence of A-ROD from the lineup.

The two starting pitchers were Phil Hughes (ERA 4.99) for the Yanks and Anibal Sanchez (ERA 2.58) for the Tigers. The leadoff batter was Austin Jackson, the ex- Yankee prospect, who greeted Hughes by clubbing a triple over the head of Gardner in center. The fan right behind me shouted sarcastically, “Way to go Phil.” This phrase was repeated several times before Hughes left the game in the 5^th inning. At the end of the first inning, the score was 1-0 Tigers. The score stayed 1-0 until the top of the third. Enter Miguel Cabrera, the best hitter in baseball today. On a 0-1 count, he ripped an inside 95 mph fastball into the left field seats. As described by a former player, an average major leaguer would either miss or foul off the pitch and a very good player might hit a weak drive to the outfield. It would take a future HOF player to pull his hands back and hit a line-drive home run on that pitch. Unfortunately for Phil, Miguel is a future HOF player. Unfairly, the fan behind me repeated his phrase. This year Cabrera had his 10^th consecutive year with 100 RBIs. Only five other players have accomplished this feat. They are Lou Gehrig, Al Simmons, Jimmie Foxx, Alex Rodriguez, and Albert Pujols. By the beginning of the fifth inning, Phil was already approaching his 100^th pitch. Hughes always has a high pitch count because he has trouble finishing a batter off after getting two strikes. He lacks a strike-out pitch. This act is nothing new for Phil. It’s time for Joe Girardi to understand that Hughes is not a starter. Please Joe put him back in the bullpen where he previously excelled. Pitch count does not matter when you pitch only one inning.  In the top of the fifth inning the game basically ended for Phil and for the Yankees when the Tigers scored four runs. Lyle Overbay gave the Yankee fans there only reason for cheering when he hit a two-run home run. Beginning the sixth inning the score was 6-2 Tigers. The final score of the game was 9-3. If I was at home I would have changed the channel after the seventh inning. Art and I left the game in the eighth inning.

Besides the fan behind me, the other annoyance was caused by the vendors. From the cold beer vendor to the peanut vendor to the hot dog vendor, it seemed they were always walking down the aisle shouting what they had to offer. They constantly blocked my view especially when a fan ordered from them. The vendor threw the food to the fan and the fan passed the money hand-by-hand down the row. My feeling is there is plenty of dead-time in a ballgame which would allow someone to walk out and grab a bite at the many food booths close to the seats. In fact Art and I got our food when the Yankees changed pitchers. The other alternative is for a fan to get the food before the game starts.  Would you tolerate this at the movie theatre? I don’t think so. The game was awful to watch but at least I got to see Cabrera hit.

Heading back to the train station, we passed the grounds of the original Yankee Stadium and saw youngsters playing on it. We boarded the train at 4:45 and arrived back in New Haven at 7:00.

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