Maybe I outsmarted myself after all with the whole getting StubHub tickets for half price thing. I was thinking it would be okay if Monday’s game were rained out, as I’d have a decent seat for a future Yankees-Red Sox game this summer.
So much for that clever thinking. Unfortunately, the game wasn’t rained out – it just started 2 hours and 15 minutes late. And the weather was miserable. I had on my heavy winter Yankee coat, and I was still freezing and wet for most of the evening.
I ran into Freddy the Fan during the rain delay, and told him that bloggers were concerned that he wasn’t getting regular game access. He said everything’s been settled, and he doesn’t have to worry about how he’s getting into the stadium any more. Thank goodness!
And so much for the new stadium being more hospitable during rain delays. The open area on the side of the upper deck concourse means that the rain and wind whips in. The new stadium concourses get very crowded during weather delays, especially by the food lines.
At least there were not one but two Disco Stu greatest hit video montages on the big screen. The screen showed lots and lots of wet fans dancing. Me, I was too cold to do much of anything!
I’m still unimpressed with the way the interior looks. I told Baseball Honeymoon co-hosts Lisa Winston and Wayne Wilentz that I felt like I was late for class when I walking up the ramps, and I still feel that way.
As for the food, it was a mixed experience. I was only planning on having a shrimp tempura roll, which was actually pretty tasty. But it was a long evening, so I got hungry later on. I had a terrible hot dog, which I ended up throwing out most of. Later on, when I was freezing, I got a hot Italian sausage sandwich, which wasn’t good, either.
Other than seeing Joe Girardi quickly thrown out, we didn’t know any of the intrigue about sign-stealing or Jorge Posada getting hurt. Fans seemed to get a kick over the ball being buzzed by Dustin Pedroia, though. Incidentally, he has the absolute worst big screen picture of any Red Sox. It makes driver’s license shots look like they were done by Avedon.
And thumbs down on the new Red Sox road uniforms. They look like the Yankee away uniforms – very bland and boring.
The game seemed to turn around after Girardi got tossed – I don’t know if it inspired the team or what, but Johnny Damon hit a homer right after, and then Mark Teixeira did. And later on in the game, Mark sent another “Tex message,” as John Sterling called it.
The hour was getting late – the game went on past one a.m. – but I didn’t want to leave, even though at this time of night, the Staten Island Ferry only runs once an hour. I was hoping the Yanks would pull out a victory for the ages.
So in the ninth inning, when the Yanks got to Jonathan Papelbon, I really expected the Yanks to rally and win. I could just picture seeing Mark Teixeira hitting his third homer of the game and having his so-called “True Yankee” moment. When that didn’t happen, I still expected the Yanks to win, to make the evening’s misery worthwhile. Unfortunately, even though they loaded the bases, the rally fizzled, the rain drizzled, and I didn’t get home until 3:15 a.m. Not exactly a game for the memory books!
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