Yankee Stadium Scouting Report
Access was pretty easy. I was originallly going to take the train from Tarrytown, in case the weather or the game was bad, but it turned out that parking there was a bitch, so I took the train from White Plains instead. That went well, even though this was the first day of Metro North service, so nobody actually knew how things worked.
One unfortunate side effect of building the new stadium is that Stan's, one of my favorite watering holes, is now relatively far from the stadium, being across the street from the old building, which is still up. This is undoubtably more unfortunate for Stan than it is for me.
For the most part, the stadium is just Yankee Stadium with better frills, unlike Citi Field, which is radically different from Shea Stadium. There are a few things the Yankees need to work on - mostly, the ease of hitting home runs, but also, the limited visibility of Monument Park - but mostly, its business as usual - except, of couse, for the prices.
I was a bit surprised at the amount of Phillies fans at the game, but in retrospect, I shouldn't have been, given that it was the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, and the Phils won't probably be back in the Bronx for five or six years. Unlike the Eagles fans I periodically saw in my Jets season ticket holding days, they were relatively un-drunk and un-violent, so that's a plus.
The Phillies have a fiesty and resilient team, but their pitching isn't very good. And if Brad Lidge is going to implode as he did today (giving up a game-tying two-run homer to A-Ro(i)d and a game winning hit to Melky Cabrera), the door is going to stay open for the Mets, despite their own flaws.
One unfortunate side effect of building the new stadium is that Stan's, one of my favorite watering holes, is now relatively far from the stadium, being across the street from the old building, which is still up. This is undoubtably more unfortunate for Stan than it is for me.
For the most part, the stadium is just Yankee Stadium with better frills, unlike Citi Field, which is radically different from Shea Stadium. There are a few things the Yankees need to work on - mostly, the ease of hitting home runs, but also, the limited visibility of Monument Park - but mostly, its business as usual - except, of couse, for the prices.
I was a bit surprised at the amount of Phillies fans at the game, but in retrospect, I shouldn't have been, given that it was the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, and the Phils won't probably be back in the Bronx for five or six years. Unlike the Eagles fans I periodically saw in my Jets season ticket holding days, they were relatively un-drunk and un-violent, so that's a plus.
The Phillies have a fiesty and resilient team, but their pitching isn't very good. And if Brad Lidge is going to implode as he did today (giving up a game-tying two-run homer to A-Ro(i)d and a game winning hit to Melky Cabrera), the door is going to stay open for the Mets, despite their own flaws.