Yankees Quick Hits

Just a few notes that are not worthy of each having their own post :

• The Yanks plan to honor Ralph Houk who recently passed away by wearing a black armband. Not to make light of the situation but with the Stienbrenner and Sheppard already having patches, if the Yanks make the World Series they may run out of room with all the patches.
• The new song that Derek Jeter comes up to bat is "Blow the Whistle" by Too $hort. To say the least I am not a fan, I liked when he came up to Biggie Smalls.
• The Yankees unveiled a painted mural of George Steinbrenner in right field behind the bleacher creatures. They had previously had a list of all 27 championships in that area.
• Friday night Derek Jeter hit his second career inside the park home run, his first since August 2nd 1996.
• To top only Jeter's homer was Alex Rodriguez who hit career HR 599. Ticket prices are sure to rise on Stubhub,so if you plan to go buy quick. I personally would like him to hit it Saturday against Kyle Davies, the same pitcher whom he hit career #500 against.
• The Yanks have the best record in the majors and were the first team to 60 wins following Friday nights victory.

2010 Old Timers Day

It was that special time of the summer, when all the Yankees greats gathered in the Bronx to hear their names called one more time. Old Timers Day 2010 (For the remainder of the post it will be referred to as OTD) was more somber than most, with the passing off George Steinbrenner and Bob Sheppard this past week. OTD is still a special event that only the Yankees could pull off with all the legendary players that have wore the pinstripes, outside of Opening Day,OTD might be my favorite game.

I had purchased the tickets to the game earlier in the week as a present for my father,following the deaths of two Yankee icons I knew it would be a special day. The draw back was I made the purchase on stubhub so I got stuck with crappy print out tickets.

Once I had arrived around the stadium, the crowd was larger than for most games, even arriving 30 minutes prior to the start of the OTD ceremonys. I got to my seats in section 417 and noticed that the Yanks now have a new Budweiser ad out in left field (Yes something only a Yankee nerd would notice) and that the outfield grass that had been torn up and looking dry from the boxing match back in early June, looked alot better.

The great part about sitting in the grandstand is that after row 5 you are covered from the elements, and if you are sitting near the top of the section you get a nice breeze. The breeze and being covered from the sun was a must for today with how hot it was. Prior to the start of the OTD ceremony, I spotted a gentleman wearing a "Costanza" 00 Yankees Jersey, making what I assume is a reference to Seinfeld. Since Seinfeld is one of my favorite shows, this had made my day.

As always the OTD festivities were well done, they honored the 1950 championship team and had moments of silence for the Boss and Sheppard, along with a video tribute for Bob. On a sad note Yogi Berra was unable to attend since he fell in his home yesterday. Berra was sore, but was fine other wise. I was surprised this year, it seemed like a lot of recent old timers were not there ( Strawberry, David Wells, Willie Randolph, Paul O'neill,Al Leiter, Dave Winfield, and that is just to name a few).

In what was a very classy move the Yanks introduced Bob Sheppard's wife last and all the old timers, many of whom had their names announced by Sheppard, crowded around her. The game its self is always fun to watch, possibly for the wrong reasons. I find it hysterical watching the old players out there trying to play like they did back in the day. Mickey Rivers hit a ball all the way to the warning track in right center field, which impressed me. With how hot it was out, I was surprised to see many of the old timers taking part in the game.

Between the OTD game and the current Yankees game I went to get food and get away from the annoying lady sitting next to me. I felt like I was at the old stadium up in the grandstand/terrace level it was so packed. The lines for food and the bathroom were long where ever you went, but I was able to find a sausage stand that wasn't too bad. The sausage its self wasn't anything special for eight bucks, but I was glad with the sausage to bun ratio. While we are mentioning concession stands, I feel the need to mention that if you order a drink from rolling cart stand, it comes in a bottle, unlike at the regular concession stand that only have cups and never have tops.

The real game was about to begin and I headed back to my seat in row 13. A.J Burnett gave up a run in the first inning already putting the Yanks in a bit of a hole. Burnett just didn't have it again today and gave up four runs over two innings, and was taken out of the game early because of a cut to his pitching hand.

After A.J departed to boo's from the capacity crowd, Dustin Moseley came in and pitched alright for his first two innings of work even though he threw a lot of balls. Finally in his third inning of work, Moseley fell apart and gave Tampa Bay a 8-2 lead and with the six run advantage many fans headed to the exits.

I stayed to the final out of the Rays 10-5 beating of the Yanks, and here are a few notes about the Yanks.

•  Jeter dropped his season average to .269 and left six base runner stranded.
• Robinson Cano ripped a ball to left field for a double and his only hit. Cano has such great power the other way, makes sense why he hits so well at Fenway Park.
• Burnett's record is now below .500 at 7-8
• During the 7th inning stretch, to honor Bob Sheppard they had a recording of him singing "Let me call you sweetheart"

When Jorge Posada grounded out to the pitcher in the bottom of the 9th it marked the end of a long day of baseball. It takes a true hardcore baseball fan to be able to endure a long day of baseball, even though the Yanks lost it was well worth it.

This one was for the boss

For the first game back from the all star break, there was a lot of buzz around Yankee Stadium. As mentioned in my previous post, ticket prices were sky high and hard to come by following George Steinbrenner's death. The buzz around the house that George built would quickly turn to somber feelings before the game when the Yanks held a moment of silence for Sheppard and Steinbrenner. Their was also a video tribute to the boss, Jeter gave a quick speech and Mariano Rivera put flowers on home plate during the ceremony.

Once the game began, the crowd was in a quiet hush, still mourning the loss of two iconic figures in Yankees history. What has been over shadowed this entire time is that the bombers were facing the Tampa Bay Rays who are only two games back.

The game may soon become a Yankees Classic following the out come. The Yanks were down in the 8th inning when Nick Swisher blasted a solo shot to tie up the game. With the game still tied in the bottom of the 9th, and with two runners on Derek Jeter stepped to the plate. Earlier in the week Jeter had called Steinbrenner more then a owner, but a friend. With a base hit Jeter could win the game, add to his legacy and include a story book ending all with one swing. Jeter wasn't able to get the job done and passed on the opportunity to be the hero to Nick Swisher. Swisher,who was born in Ohio, just like Steinbrenner, came through with a base hit to right field to score Curtis Granderson from second.

The Yanks won in dramatic fashion and allowed for a player not named Marcus Thames to get pie this season. Not only was it a big win, cause they won it in walk off fashion for the boss. But the Bombers also picked up a game on the second place Rays.

A few quick hits before I go

•  Nobody was in the public announcer booth in honor of Sheppard. Throughout the night their were no announcements over the P.A
• Saturday is Old Timers Day, the plan was to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the 1950 World Series team. With the death of Sheppard and Steinbrenner expect it to be a bit over shadowed.
• The Yanks wore patches on there jerseys honoring Sheppard and the boss. They will continue to wear them throughout the season, Sheppard's patch is on the sleeve while Stienbrenner's is above the interlocking NY on the home jerseys and above "york" on away jerseys.

This weekends ticket prices are insane !

A few weeks ago I planned to buy tickets to Saturdays Old Timers Day for my fathers birthday. At the time the prices were pretty high and i passed but i was looking at the Friday and Sunday games also against the Rays. The prices weren't too bad considering the Rays and Yanks are playing great baseball and are only separated in the standing by a few games.

Following the death of George Steinbrenner and Bob Sheppard, the prices for the Friday and Saturday game went through the roof ! As i write this their are only 1,495 tickets available for Friday, the cheapest pair is $50 and its all the way out in the outfield grandstand. Many are expecting a tribute for the boss and Sheppard on Friday, but with old timers day the following day it may not happen. Of course the Yankees could honor both on both days.

Old Timers day is always special and a unique event, possibly because the Yankees are the only team to do it. Although I am going to the game and would enjoy seeing a special tribute to Sheppard and Steinbrenner, their is a part of me that wouldn't like to see that happen on Saturday. Old Timers day is suppose to be about the old players and to honor them. To have an extravagant tribute and such for George and Sheppard would take away from the other events. On the flip side it would be nice of them to honor them in front of the current and former Yankees that will be in attendance.

For OTD the tickets are still very expensive but obstructed view bleachers and foul pole seating in the grandstand can be had for $40. Other section are much more expensive, but prices may drop since their are more tickets,3678 to be exact at this time.

If you are looking to go to one of the games this weekend, the cheapest is Sunday which can be had at face value or below. But if you are looking for Friday or Saturday keep checking stub hub as the games get closer since most sellers will get nervous and want to rid them selves of the tickets. The Yankees do still have tickets available if you can afford tickets priced at $250 and up.

R.I.P Bob Sheepard

It seems as if long time Yankees announcer and "the voice of god" as Reggie Jackson said, has passed away today at the age of 99. It's amazing how Sheppard was able to announce from Joe Dimaggio till Derek Jeter along with many other greats. Here is a great video from 2000 when it was Bob Sheppard day at the old Yankee Stadium, its ashame he never was able to announce in the new one. R.I.P