Redlegs welcome us in New York with a ‘W’

By TheNaturalMevs on June 22, 2008

Overall, just a great day. I got to hang with editor George. I got to see Daryl Thompson’s debut (5 innings, 2 K’s, consistently working out of trouble with the help of a 94-95 mph heater). Yankee Fans honestly aren’t as rough as they’re made out to be. I met several very friendly individuals that told me tales of when they watched Catfish Hunter, Mickey Rivers, and Reggie Jackson in their youth. We talked of Don Mattingly and Goose Gossage. We talked about all the World Series Games that have taken place on the vast battleground that I visited today. They didn’t take offense to me cheering for the Reds even one time. Then again, I didn’t venture out to the right field bleachers where the abuse is known to most often take place.

When the dust settled, the Reds had won the game handily. For 6 innings and then some, Dan Giese held the Reds down in his first career start. By the end of the game, the Bronx faithful were becoming restless.

Lots of talk today about the All-Star Game being held at Yankee Stadium, and I think it’s great. What better way to send off the place. I’m told that unless you ‘know’ someone, you can expect to pay in the area of $2000 just to get into the Home Run Derby and All-Star Workout day festivities.

Jay Bruce’s day was not a good one. The average is down to .302 now. He flew out to medium center, the warning track in left center, and then bounced out twice. I admit, I’m getting a little worried about him. Dusty Baker needs hung for putting him in the leadoff spot. It’s a real travesty. Yankees fans generally knew who Bruce was and a few remarked that he had a nice future ahead of him. There was also a faint cheer of ‘Brrrruuuuuuucccceeee’ trailing off in the distance for his plate appearances.

I had a Hebrew National hot dog for lunch. It was not unlike any other hot dog I’ve ever had, but I am guessing it was made by jewish hands. There are a lot of ethnic looking people in the Bronx. The goods are all pricier in New York than in the Midwest where I hail from. The hot dog was good.

A great shot that defines Yankee Stadium. The blue wall, the white….. stuff surrounding the top of the building. It’s an image that signifies class and really must get your blood flowing as a fan of the Yankees franchise.

Yankee stadium isn’t the greatest park around, but you can’t argue with the image and icon that it has when you are inside it. It is a monster in terms of facilities.

As I looked into the right field stands at Yankee Stadium in batting practice I thought of the greats that had gone before me on that very landscape. That is where Roger Maris hit his 61st home run. That is where the Mick loved to park balls to forever die. Thats the same area that Babe Ruth wore out in the process of building the greatest baseball legend we’ve ever seen. Those are very famous seats right there folks. Sometimes, baseball geeks like me just have to stop and take it all in like that, and yet it’s still way too deep to fathom. Do you know what I mean?

There it is, beautiful new Yankee Stadium. The seats today were out of control price-wise. For what the value was of the seats we sat in, we could have gotten Diamond Seats at Great American Ball Park and still had $50 left over to play with. Our seats clearly weren’t the experience of Diamond Seats; but as I told a Yankees fan, that is why the Yankees can afford to do what they do each year (buying anything they want in a player). They command a coin.

I got to go to Harlem today. That is where our train stopped. First time ever going to Harlem for me. It was a very neat, depressed area. Did you know the Fordham Rams play in the oldest gym in America? Yeah, they do. I’m glad I had the experience of going to Harlem for a minute.