Yankees Quick Hits: Concerts, fragrance, and Soccer

Could be seeing a few more players posing like this.

A few quick off the field notes...

Had they released it in 2011 it could have been called Bartolo Cologne (Please hold your jeers) but according to ESPN New York, the Yankees plan to release a fragrance. Simply called "New York Yankees" and "New York Yankees for her" the team will introduce the the fragrances on February 21, right around when position players should be reporting to Tampa. In 2006 Derek Jeter released his own scent with Avon, but it would be pretty cool (and interesting) if they had a cologne for each player. Just imagine the fragrance names for guys like Joba and Hiroki Kuroda, it would be fantastic.

Could be seeing this set up a few more times at the stadium.

Last month the Yanks announced that Roger Waters the song writer for Pink Floyd would perform 'the wall' at Yankee Stadium on Friday July 6th, that concert is already sold out. They have since added a second show for the following night (July 7th), tickets go on sale this Saturday and another sold out show is expected. But for fans who are looking to sell tickets for a profit may want to avoid buying the event as tickets on Stubhub are barely above face value months before the concert.

Continuing with the throwback artists, Madonna will also play at Yankee Stadium Thursday September 6th. Fresh off her Super Bowl half time show, tickets for her show will go on sale to the public at 10am Monday. I wonder if the Yanks had to ask Alex Rodriguez, permission before allowing the pop icon to come to his stadium. Rumors earlier swirled of Bruce Springsteen playing at the stadium, but with Madonna that may have killed any chances of that.

With all the concerts taking place this summer at the stadium, soccer could also be on the agenda. In an article by Big Apple Soccer we could be seeing an international soccer game. The game would likely be a big sell as it was last year at Citi Field, but the biggest thing I would worry about is the condition of the field. With all the events held, especially with the soccer match the field will need a ton of maintenance.

Yankee Stadium Parking Update: Owners Plan to Default on Bonds

Cost of parking for the 2011 ALDS

Today in a report from the New York Daily News the owners of the parking garages and lots around Yankee Stadium plan to default on $237 million in bonds. It shouldn't come as a big surprise, since the new stadium opened they have raised from $14 to $35 ($48 if you want valet), and have opened up a brand new metro north station just a block away.

Just 38% of people are parking in the lots when the bombers are home, and just 70 people use the lots during the off season. That's 21 acres of wasted space for the community on parking garages, and even more when you consider that the new Yankee Stadium took away park land too. If the city wanted to do right they would tear down one of the garages/lots and make a park for the public. Some of the other options in the article are low income housing or a hotel.

With tolls and gas going up, the owners of the garages would be smart to lower the prices to get more people to drive again and use the parking lots. I expect in 2012 for them to either raise the price again, or keep it at $35.

Plenty of Yankee season tickets up for grabs

Could see more games when teh attendance is like this.

Compared to past years the Yankees put season plans on sale much earlier this year. Before the holidays you could actually purchase some plans. It was a sign then that even the Yankees realized they are going to be spending alot of time this year pushing tickets.

Right now you can grab seats for almost any type of plan, any place in the stadium. This is a sign unseen for the past few seasons, especially since the new stadium opened. This is great for partial plan holders like myself who were able to upgrade to seats they wanted, but could never get (Moved from 12 game plan to Saturday plan). But for the Yankees it shows a problem that has been brewing the past few seasons. The Yankees have made the playoff each season since the new house has opened but yet they are still losing ticker holders. The easy answer is the prices, sure the Yankees still had the second highest attendance in baseball last year but it won't be the case this year. With the economy still a mess, the bombers chose to raise prices on the cheap seats, thus causing more fans to drop out.

It could be the price of winning, the price of a superstar players, and the price of living in New York but the Steinbrenners and the ticket office have also out priced the market. Last season, tickets for undesirable games could be had for one dollar or even less. What is the point of buying tickets if they can't even be sold for face value back. Of course if you plan to attend the games and like your seat location it makes sense but otherwise its doesn't make sense. The Yankees have built themselves quite a mess, this could be the first season at the new stadium, that the wings of the upper deck may be empty just like at the old place.

Yankee Stadium Expierences: Yankees vs Mets 5-21-2011

View from the top of the Gateway Mall

The night before the Yankees had lost to the Mets 2-1, and were unable to get anything going on offense, yet the pitching was great again. That last line seems to be the story of 2011, the hitters haven't done the job, yet the pitching has held up.

After that Friday performance, I was feeling down on the team, and didn't know what to expect when A.J. Burnett faced off against Chris Capuano. I wasn't feeling like listening to Mets fans, celebrate and bash the Yanks like they had just won the world series, so a win for the bombers was desperately seeked.

Once arriving in the area around Yankee Stadium, I was saddened to see that the parking lot that normally charges $20, was not opened (I later read that they were charging $40, which makes no sense) so I tried out the Gateway Mall parking (more on that later in this post). Because I was there so early, my friend and I checked out the mall, which was really confusing to navigate because of how it is set up, either way you get a nice sight line of the Bronx from the top level.

They must sponser everything!

As the gates were ready to be opened, the lines to enter the stadium stretched a long way, most games I go to are midweek games since that is what my ticket plan is full of, but the area around the stadium on this night was very crowded. Their were more vendors outside then normal, and ton of cops just standing around on the street, it had almost a postseason atmosphere to it.

As I entered the stadium, a light rain began to fall, but it let up,  but about an hour before game time, it began to pour and everyone ran for shelter. Luckily the game was not forced to be pushed back. As it rained I stood up near the batters eye cafe to stay dry, I noticed that Mastercard now is the sponsor of that area so the signs in the area has the Mastercard logo and then says "batters eye cafe". Not to whine, but they really have sponsored everything at the new stadium, it gets annoying after a while.

After it poured it was time to head to the seats, which I was able to purchase for face value during the Yankee pre-sale back in March. They were good seats in section 237 of the bleachers, they were row 10, but they felt much lower, really good seats for the value.

View from section 237

As the game began and Burnett struggled I felt like this was going to be another game in which I saw the bad A.J., after all I have a record of 3-5 when Burnett starts and I go to the game. But after the first inning, Burnett settled down and cruised for most of the night.

I have been to Subway Series games at both Yankee Stadium and at the Mets ballparks, and I can say that this was one of the most easy going crowds. Now I'm not saying the crowd was not into it because I would say this was the most into a crowd has been into a game all this season, but their was only friendly banter and good fun ribbing between Mets and Yankee fans. Their were no fights that I saw and only at one point did someone get tossed from the bleachers ( a Mets fan, for those scoring at home).

In the end the Yankees beat up on the Mets, hitting four home runs. All of which except Russell Martins homer would have likely stayed in Citi Field, but that's something the Mets can fix when they face the Yankees at Citi Field in July.

One of the TV's was broken, in section 239.

Although the score was 7-3, most fans stayed around till the end to watch Luis Ayala shut down the Mets. Frank Sinatra played, Yankee fans were sent home happy, and the world didn't end at 6pm cause of the rapture.

Last thing, I mentioned earlier about parking at the Gateway Mall, I would no recommend it. Now of course this was a premium game that had one of the largest crowds of the season, so the parking was packed but getting out of there is a mess. They don't have anyone directing traffic, and only two spots to exit from, causing a huge mess. For the $30 you have to pay, it is more efficient to cough up the extra $5 and pay at one of the garages, closer to the stadium.

Final score:Yankees 7 Mets 3

Army and Rutgers to play third ever football game at Yankee Stadium November 12

It may look nice but Yankee Stadium has awful
sight lines for football.

It seems like Army is trying to set the record for most football games played at the new house, when for the second straight year they play at Yankee Stadium. Last year it was against Notre Dame, in a game that Army would pounded by the Fighting Irish 27-3.  That game sold out, and was the harder draw then the later and much crappier Pinstripe Bowl.

This year Army will face Rutgers, a local team that is sure to draw a lot of local alumni. Last season, the Yankees never had an official pre-sale for the ND-Army game and eventually screwed the fans by selling tickets only through a bundle of buying the ND-Army game, the pinstripe bowl and a field level seat for a Yankee game. Those packages were costing over $500, a bit high if you ask me. Last season I vented my frustrations about that practice here.

I'm not sure who's home game it is, but I'm going to guess Army.

Yankee Stadium Notes: Metallica tickets go on sale and 5K run to be held

Last year during the Jay-Z and Eminem concert

Today tickets went on sale for the "big four" concert at Yankee Stadium in September. The "big four" is considered Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer and Megadeath, all heavy metal bands from the 80's. The prices for this event were almost double the amount they were for the Jay-Z/Eminem concert that they held last year at the stadium around the same time. For the rap concert last year the prices started at $52.50 but this year it will cost $94.50 to get in the door and hear Enter Sandman live.

I wasn't born till the 90's and metal isn't really my style of music so, I will say I have never heard of any of those bands other then Metallica. But close to $100 to get in seems very steep, Metallica has a reputation for being money hungry, and so do the Yankees so that's always a bad combo.


On to some cheaper news that will benefit a good cause, Yankee Stadium will be hosting the Damon Ruyon walk/run for cancer research again this summer. So save the date of August 7th for chance to check out the stadium, and even get a chance to run on the warning track along the field. I have never done it but it seems like a really cool experience. It does cost $40 to register and you must raise $60 to participate, but remember its going to a good cause. Michael LaPayower, winner of the 2010 YES Network fan of the year has set up a team called "BigYankeeFan" and is attempting to raise money to run for the cause, so help him out!

Yankee Stadium Slideshow

Sorry for the lack of content lately, I have been very busy since school will be finishing up in the next two weeks. Anyway enjoy this Yankee Stadium slideshow I made, from pictures I have taken at games.

Yankee Stadium Experiences: 2011 Yankees Opening Day

Rain had been in the forecast for the Yanks opener, but not even the weather cold hold back the excitement of opening day. The area around Yankee Stadium was packed with fans wearing Yankee jerseys, caps and jackets.

Instead of taking mass transit, my father and I choose to drive into the Bronx. Around 155th street, the police had sectioned off the street, and were no longer allowing cars to head towards the stadium. We were forced to park in the old parking garage that use to located next to the old Yankee Stadium. It had been talked about during the winter, but I can now confirm that parking is indeed $35 bucks. I had noticed that with the price increase it did seem like the lots, I saw were really empty.

It was about 45 minutes prior to the first pitch, but outside the stadium was packed. From fans holding up signs and yelling about Cliff Lee, to the long lines to get into the stadium. Luckily the lines moved quickly, and I was back into the stadium for the first time in five months.

I headed to the upper deck, where my seats were, but I noticed that with the cold rainy conditions not many fans were sitting in their seats, but rather were in the bars outside the stadium or in the different clubs that Yankee Stadium had to offer.

Not much has changed with the stadium for 2011, although I noticed that just like in the main level the Yanks have added pictures to the beams in the upper deck.

The stadium was empty while the Tigers were announced, and unlike past years their was no big roar from the crowd as any special Yankees were announced other then the usuals like Jeter, Mariano, A-Rod and Cano.

Even though, most of the fans were still just making their way to their seats, the park had an electric feel to it as a large American flag was held in center field and they had a jet fly over the stadium.

The game was as text book as could be, with CC Sabathia giving the Yankees a strong outing, and Mark Teixeria bashing a three run shot.

With the cold weather, many fans choose to abandon their cold plastic seats for the warmth of indoor areas or the concourse. Although up on the grandstand level the concourse was like a giant wind tunnel, and much worse then the seated area.

As the Yankees blew the small lead they had gained on the Tigers, the game began to drag a bit, but Curtis Granderson, who had already made a few nice catches smashed a home run into the second deck in right, and just like that the Yanks had a lead they could hand over to the bullpen.

Rafael Soriano made his bombers debut and impressed, and then Mariano came in to close the door on a 6-3 Yankees victory.

It was a quick exit out of the stadium, due in part since the stadium had been clearing out for innings prior, on the way back to the car some "Boston Sucks" chants could be heard in the distance on River Ave.

After the game I sat in 2 1/2 hours worth of traffic, but the feeling that baseball was back at Yankee Stadium made for it all worth it.




Some of the views from Yankees 2011 Opening Day vs the Tigers:

Fans packed into the Tommy Bahama bar at Yankee Stadium



\



Yanks parking mess: City deafults on parking bonds & a hotel in the Bronx?

So it looks like the city of NY is going to default on the bonds for the parking garages around Yankee Stadium according to this report.

Its upsetting but when you have too much parking, high prices and mass transit option that are cheaper and more convenient, why would anyone want to drive? This season (if they don't close garages) it will be easy to get in and out of the parking since not many individuals are going to want to pay $35 to park.

The other thing in this, is will a hotel in the Bronx really work? Sure if this was 2007, I might agree. At that time hordes of tourists were coming to the Bronx to see the old Yankee Stadium one last time, and that lasted for much of 2008 and 2009. But as the "new" Yankee Stadium's newness wears off then what? Why would anyone want to visit and stay in a hotel in the south Bronx when you have all the luxury hotel a train ride away in Manhattan?

What they should do is either lower the price of the garages, knock the garages down, or build parks on the top level of each garage. That way they still have the parking, and can give back to the community.

Kevin "the clown" Millwood turns down minor league deal

Millwood looking hefty, with him
CC and Colon the Yankees
could hold a biggest loser contest.

Kevin Millwood was 4-16 last season, had an ERA of over 5 and yet turned down the Yankees minor league deal. The deal similar to the one Freddy Garcia signed, that would include up to $3 million in bonuses.

Why in the world Millwood would turn down this type of deal, I have no clue. Every teams pitchers and catchers have reported, yet Millwood still is holding out for a guarranteed deal. Sure Millwood is an innings eater, and earlier this spring I was hoping the Yanks would give he a shot, but not in a guarranteed way. Millwood over the last few seasons has had an ERA over 5 in four of the past five seasons,and in the past two seasons he had given up 56 homers, a number that wouldnt be going down at Yankee Stadium

Millwood should have just taken the minor league deal, with the state of the Yankees pitching he could have easily won the spot over fat boy Bartolo, Sergio Mitre and Freddy Garcia.

$55 to park at Yankee Stadium???

Empty stadiums and soon
empty parking lots.

With the Yankees down in Tampa preparing for a new season, its nice to think that soon games will be played at Yankee Stadium. But where will you park if you wanna drive to the stadium, or better yet will you be able to afford to drive? Last year news broke that NYC not the Yankees would raise parking from $23 in 2010 to $35 in 2011. But wait, it gets worse, according to a story last year in the NY Daily News, the city may raise prices to $55 if they default on the bonds.

I'll never understand the purpose of raising the prices that much. Why in the world would anyone pay $55 to park when their are 3 subway lines, a bus route, water ferry and the metro north all cheaper options. Either way raising the prices wont bring more fans to the parking garages or the stadiums, it would be smarter to lower the price or stick with last years price.

For ticket sellers it could be a wet April

The Yankees open the season at home to take on the Detroit Tigers on March 31st; those tickets are already going for steep prices, but for the 19 April home games the same can’t be said, with tickets starting for as low as $4. 

The ticket prices don't have anything to do with weather just yet, but it is startling to see the secondary market so low this early. In past seasons you would occasionally see the low resale of tickets in early April, mostly due to poor weather, but that wouldn’t happen till closer to the date of the actual game. Here are some reasons for the April swoon.

• Not the strongest group of opponents: The Orioles have improved but nobody will ever get them confused with the 1983 Orioles that won the World Series. The Twins and White Sox are OK teams, but not teams worth freezing outside for.
• Rain, rain go away: We all know the term “April showers bring May flowers". So does anyone want to buy tickets to these games in advance with the chance that the games could be rained out of delayed?
• Gots to get an Edukation: Yes before you correct me I realize that is wrong. But in April school is still in session for everyone. College students begin to prepare for finals and high school students and younger must wake up early the next day for school during the week.
• Why pay more? Why pay more from the Yankees or season ticket holders when secondary sources are already guaranteeing cheaper prices. Aside from Stubhub, the newest ticket site is ScoreBig.com, a site guaranteeing that you can buy tickets from them for less than face value.
• Sleepy Bombers: In 2004 the Yankees were 11-10 in April, 10-14 in 2005, 13-10 in 2006, 9-14 in 2007, 14-15 in 2008 and 12-10 in 2009. So the Yankees are not a team that gets off to an impressive start. Unless you’re a Mets or Red Sox fan that’s venturing into Yankee Stadium to see the home team lose, it’s not very intriguing to the Yankee faithful to see the team lose, while suffering through a rainy, cold night.

So far on average the lowest ticket price for the 19 April games come out to $6.79, which includes weekend dates. As April gets closer and closer the ticket prices will likely continue to drop on the secondary market, but that trend should end once the weather and the team heat up.

65th annual Old Timers Day date likely June 26th

Old timers day 2010

Although the Yankees have not yet released a promotional schedule, the best bet for the annual old timers day is June 26 against the Colorado Rockies. The game is currently slated to begin at 2:05, the same time it started in 2009 when the Yanks opened the new house with old timers day on a Sunday.

Whitey Ford and Yogi Berra
are always around on OTD.

Since the new stadium has opened the Yanks have put old timers day on a Saturday and on a Sunday. The event was always held on Saturdays at the old stadium, but once they moved to the new stadium there was some discussion it would be rotated back and forth from Saturdays and Sundays to accommodate weekend plan holders who use to have the plan in there ticket package.

Old timers day is annually held each season between late June and early August, the Yankees introduce their old players and then have the old timers play a quick two inning game for the fans, before the start of the regularly scheduled contest.

If you are interested in taking the risk on buying tickets for the annual game, ticket prices are fairly reasonable at the moment on Stubhub, but once the date is officially announced those prices are sure to go up.

Pictures from the first football game at the new Yankee Stadium

On Saturday November 20th Notre Dame took on Army, in what was the first football game ever at the new Yankee Stadium. Notre Dame beat Army 27-3 in front of a sold out crowd of 54,251. Here are some photos that I found from assorted websites, to make you feel as if you were apart of the action.

Seats in the bleachers.

FG Post behind what would be home plate.

 


Left Field Bleachers.



View from the Grandstand

Yankee Stadium Experience : Yanks vs Rangers ALCS Game 3

I had gotten these tickets in the partial plan holders pre-sale, at the time it would have been game one of the series, but once the Yankees lost the AL East it became game three. Andy Pettitte would be facing Cliff Lee in a classic pitching, the starters lived up to expectations but the bullpen let it all slip away. More on that in a bit.

But lets start out by saying that earlier in the week I had been looking on google for shortcuts to get to the 161st street garage. I finally though I found a short cut, and it may have been but we passed the exit and took a quick tour of the Bronx. After that we finally made it to the parking garage, practically three hours early and it was already crowded, even with the parking cost $40.

It was my first playoff game since the 2003 ALCS game two, but unlike back then when they were very strict with security they hardly looked in my bag prior to game three. It was strange to see the teams taking batting practice in the dark, but the stadium look beautiful and there was a buzz around the park.

I wandered out to the bleachers and realized that the TBS crew were doing the pre-game show from the bleachers (section 239 to be exact). At one point Dennis Eckersley was standing five feet away and nobody approached him. That cant be said of David Wells who was getting cheers from the fans that began to surround the small make shift studio.

The temperature was really starting to drop, and the October feel became stronger as game time was becoming closer. Once the Rangers finished up there portion of batting practice, I headed towards the upper deck to my seats, but I could see that on field level the Lobel's line stretched for at least three or four sections, totally insane.

The crowd wasn't even in its seats, when player introductions began. Of course Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte got the largest ovations, but Robinson Cano also got a large ovation from the crowd. The introductions never get old, but my favorite intros would have to be for Opening Day and the World Series. Tino Martinez threw out the first pitch to another loud ovation and just like that baseball was set to be under way.

The Yankees did hold a nice moment of silence for Freddy Sez, and showed him on the video screen. The crowd began to chant "Freddy ! Freddy !"

Prior to the game I predicted that the Yankees would win the game 3-2, I was correct about the Rangers having two for most of the night, but the final score was no where near my prediction. Andy Pettitte looked locked in the first inning, until he gave up a hit to Michael Young. The next batter was Josh Hamiltion, and he took a pitch and hit a Yankee Stadium home run, right over the right field fence. Just like that the air was sucked out of the crowd and the Yankees were down 2-0.

Cliff Lee came out and shut down the Yankees the entire night, I like that the Yankees were making him throw some pitches and fouled off a lot of tough pitches but the result was always the same, Lee was just too unhittable. The Yankees didn't have a hit for the longest time, and had only one chance all night to score. That was when Brett Gardner got a hit with no outs, stole second and was left stranded at third.

Much has been made about the crowd at the new Yankee Stadium, not being as loud. But on this night the fans had nothing to get excited about. The few times that the fans were into the game Cliff Lee sat them down, along with the Yankees. The worst part was that when the Yankees went down in the bottom of the eighth, and with the score at 2-0 some fans began to leave. Maybe those fans had the right idea since the Yankees would give up six more runs to turn the game into a laughter.

Auxilary Press Box in sections 406 and 407.

The move not to bring Mariano Rivera in the ninth, befuddled me. It was just a 2-0 game and  Cliff Lee was up to 118 pitches, so the Rangers would be going to closer Neftali Feliz. The Yankees had impressive at bats against Feliz in game two and had come back against him earlier in the season. But instead of using Mo, Girardi went to Boone Logan and David Robertson who got hit hard. The night ended with Sergio Mitre on the mound, never a good sign. Once the inning was over it was 8-0 Texas and many fans had departed.

The Yanks will have to hope from a good start from AJ Burnett tonight, or else they put themselves in a tough spot. I still have alot of faith in Burnett, but the Rangers have out played the Yankees in every one of these games, except for one inning and that was in game one when the Yankees came from behind.

Since last week I was unable to buy tickets to any of the World Series games, this looks to be my final trip to Yankee Stadium in 2010. Thank you for reading about my Yankee Stadium experiences, this season but make sure to keep reading about other Yankee related posts. Until 2011, as Michael Kay would say "see ya!"

Who will be left standing up 2-1 after game three ?

It will be Andy Pettitte vs Cliff Lee in game three at Yankee Stadium, Monday night. After Phil Hughes, got rocked in game two this has become a huge game, especially if A.J Burnett is going to be on the mound game four.  During the game I was receiving texts from friends who were saying that after the game two loss the series was over, and the Yankees were doomed. The negativity didn't end from friends, on Twitter  you would have though the Yankees had just been eliminated. But don't join in the negativity party ! Here are some reasons to feel good about the Yankees and games three and four.

• Andy Pettitte will be on the mound at Yankee Stadium. Pettitte has the most Postseason victories in MLB history, and has always showed up for the big game. The last time that Pettitte lost a game in the Postseason was in 2005 with the Astros. The last time he lost a game as a Yankee was 2003, during the World Series, when he lost game 6 against Josh Beckett.
• Cliff Lee has had his way with the Yankees this season, along with the 2009 World Series, but he is human. The Yankees hit him well in game 5 of last years World Series, and earlier this year they got to him in Texas and handed him a loss.
• Brett Gardner and Curtis Granderson, both lefty batters have hit Lee well in the past. Gardner in limited at bats has hit .375, while Granderson has hit .286 with a home run in 42 at bats.
• Derek Jeter is hitting .385 against Lee, and Nick Swisher has also had success hitting .286 with two home runs.

• The Yankees will be playing at home were they had swept the Rangers this season. In September when the Yankees were battling to win the east, rumors were floating that the Rangers had no interest in playing in Yankee Stadium. Sure Yankee Stadium is not the same as it was during the old days, but to a young inexperienced team playing in front of a large crowd it could be unnerving.
• Similar to the last Point, Tommy Hunter is set to start game four. In the ALDS he struggled against the Rays. Against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium, on national TV could be an issue for the young pitcher.
• The Yankees have been saying that Burnett will get the start for game four, and although some fans and media have been against the idea, it could work in the Yanks favor. Burnett this season against Texas in three starts had an ERA of 2.50, while striking out 17 batters and holding the team to a .232 average. Burnett can be wild but the Rangers are free swingers, and Burnett pitched well in last years postseason at home. Plus it would be only one start in the series for Burnett. The other option is CC Sabathia, who has an ERA close to five over his last five starts. If they used CC that would mean moving up Hughes start, it would be the first time he would have ever thrown on three days rest, along with Pettitte who is still coming off an injury and is 38 years old.

World Series Ticket Pre-sale = Epic Fail

Earlier today the Yankees announced that season ticket plan holders had a pre-sale to buy World Series tickets. The problem was not many holders were able to get tickets.

From reading around on different Yankees message boards not many fans had success today finding tickets. I know personally that I went on at 1pm and tried for Grandstand in game 5, and got nothing. At the same time I was on another computer and tried game 3, best available, and got nothing. This was a similar trend for many others who logged on right away and came away empty handed.

The very few fans who were able to score tickets to games 3-5 at Yankee Stadium, got either very expensive field level seats, or seats in the wings of the grandstand. Some didn't even bother searching for pairs or tickets and went straight for single seats.

Of course they're are all different reasons why less fans got seats. One is that Fox and MLB take many tickets away for personal use, add that in with a smaller stadium, and your going to get less supply. The Yankees also guarantee seats for all fans who have full season and 41 game plans for every game throughout the postseason. The Yankees also have tons of fans (and scalpers) who have partial plans, so if 15,000 fans are all trying for a limited supply of tickets, its going to be tough. It also doesn't help that since the American League lost the all star game, there will be one less home game.

The public sale for World Series tickets will be Monday, don't expect much, but its always worth a shot to try.

Do the Yankees really want to face the Twins this year?

Ah so the other day on Twitter, I saw that someone I followed was taking a poll on who as Yankee fans, they would like to see the Yanks face in the first round. Majority were fine with losing the division and facing the Minnesota Twins in round one, instead of having home field advantage against the Texas Rangers.

So many fans may remember the Twins as the team that the Yankees have beat up on every season since 2003, both during the regular season and during the postseason. In fact this year the Yankees have played better against the Twins (4-2) then they did against the Rangers (4-4). The Yankees faced the Twins twice early in the season when the bombers were playing much better then now, however against the Rangers they would be 1-4 outside of a three game sweep of the Rangers in early April when Texas was still struggling.

What many forget is that even last year when the Yankees swept the Twins in the first round that it was much closer then it seemed. The Twins had used up much of their pitching just to get into the postseason and were forced to start Brian Duensing in game one. Of course that was no match for CC Sabathia who dominated the Twins and gave the Yankees their first postseason victory since 2007.

Game two was not as easy for the bombers, but there were helped out by Carlos Gomez who over ran second base before Delmon Young could score. Nick Blackburn shut down the Yankees bats, even though AJ Burnett was doing the same. Eventually the Twins took a 3-1 lead, scoring two runs off Phil Hughes in the top of the eight. This was when Alex Rodriguez and his magical 2009 season came into play in the bottom of the ninth, when he hit a two run homer off Joe Nathan. To many Nathan was considered to be the best closer outside of Mariano Rivera until this season when he had season ending elbow surgery. The Yanks and Twins went to extra innings, in the top of the 11th inning of play the Twins had the bases loaded with no outs, but the Yankees managed to overcome a miracle and get out of the jam. The bottom of the 11th Mark Teixeira hit a line drive down the left field line and just like that the Yankees had a 2-0 series lead. This was a game the Twins could have easily had, but blew so many opportunity's.

In game three the Twins had old pal Carl Pavano on the mound against Andy Pettitte. From the start the Yankee hitters could hit Carl Pavano who earlier that season had quieted the Yankee bats. Pettitte was doing the same thing but the Twins drew first blood against Andy in the bottom of the sixth to give them a 1-0 lead. The Yanks had struggled against Pavano all night, but once again A-Rod came up and homered to tie the score, and moments later Jorge Posada also hit a solo shot,this time to give the Yankees the lead. Pavano struck out nine Yankees that night, and gave the Twins every chance to win. But the Twins pen gave up two more runs and the Yanks pen gave up none.

The Yankees of course won, but many forget that it wasn't as easy at it seemed. It helped in game two that the bombers had home field advantage (along with a effective Burnett), but this time they wouldn't.

The Twins this season have already won the division and are just waiting on who the opponent will be. All the talk is about the Rangers pitching since it has the big name Cliff Lee, but the Twins may have a better staff overall. They have Pavano again who is having a revival season (17-11 3.83), Francisco Liriano (14-9 3.48) and Scott Baker. The Twins also have a stacked bullpen and have three relievers that have been closers on other teams in Jon Rauch, Brian Fuentes and Matt Capps.

The Twins may not have the same offense that the Texas Rangers have, and suffered a blow when Justin Morneau went down (Morneau has begun to work out with the team, although it is unlikely he will see any game action). Jim Thome has stepped it up in Morneau's absence, Michael Cuddyer and Justin Kubel have been having great seasons as well. Joe Mauer has only hit nine home runs this season and is day to day with inflammation in his left knee. But when the playoffs come around that shouldn't stop him from at least being the DH.

The Yanks would be at Target Field for ALDS games 1,2 &5

The only thing that I do like about the possible match up is that the Twins don't steal bases. In fact they only have one player (Denard Span) that has double diget steals (26). Posada will be behind the plate, most of the postseason and it has been noted that his defensive skills have declined with age.

With the way the Yankees have played in September (12-15 record), a lot of negativity and questioning surrounds the club. The Rays also have struggled in September, practically giving the Yanks a shot at the division title over these past few days. It seems as if neither team wants the crown, but along with the division comes home field advantage and a chance to avoid a first round match up in Minnesota.

Yankee Stadium Experience : Yankees vs Red Sox 9-24-2010

It had been a few weeks since I was at Yankee Stadium.Class has started back up, along with working I have been pretty busy, but a Yanks vs Sox match up could not keep me away. I had bought tickets for this game all the way back in March, when tickets went on sale to the general public so I wasn't sitting in my usual seats, but instead in 434B a.k.a the last section in the left field upper deck.

While driving down River Ave I took a picture of what was once a parking lot, that has been turned into a park. The parking lot use to be right across from the old stadium, but now it would be considered a longer walk. Some may remember this lot because it was very small (possibly a private lot) and along the back wall was a mural that included Mantle,Ruth, Munson and many other Yankee greats.

What once was a parking lot is now a playground.

After my friend and I parked we walked around River Ave a bit looking at the shops, I had been looking for a Paul O'Neill shirt. After looking at a poorly done knock off, I choose to buy a shirt from bleacher creature Bald Vinny.

It was almost 5pm and the gates to the stadium were soon going to be opening, the lines to get in were absolutely ridiculous, so long you have thought the playoffs had began already. But before we went in we went into the McDonald's across the street. I had never been inside, but it is one of , if not the cleanest McDonald's I had ever been in.

Eventually we went into the stadium, the entire season I have brought in a small drawstring backpack with water and a few snacks and security never even checked the bag. This time the guard went all out searching, maybe cause the Red Sox were in town.

As I wandered around to gate 2, I noticed they got rid of the clearance stand and the kiddie cart and speed pitch were back. My friend Jerry did the speed pitch and hit 62 MPH (while throwing his arm out, but in his defense I have hit against him before and I believe he could throw a bit harder). Apparently if you hit a certain MPH they give you a prize and he won a 2009 World Series lanyard and a poster that was out dated mentioning 26 rings. It should be noted that gate 2, was an absolute ghost town, even the employees looked really bored.

Before we hiked to our seats we walked around each level. After visiting the stadium so many times you see things and hear about them but never actually try/ visit them. In this case it was the team store on the main level. I never bother to go into the team stores cause they are often over crowded and over priced. The coolest thing was that I had never realized that the store looked above the entrance to gate 4.

All the walking around worked up an appetite, so I purchased nachos from Wholly Guacamole for $8.50 (how warped am I that I consider that reasonable ?). The seats weren't that bad even though we were very far away from the action. Seemed like the crowd was going to be sparse since 10 minutes before game time, there were plenty of empty seats but when the game began they filled up.



Annoying Red Sox fan

Just from walking around it didn't seem like many Red Sox fans were around, maybe because they realize that their team stinks ? That their season is over ? Or Mets fans realized that this season they couldn't turn into Red Sox fans. But of course where I was sitting I had to deal with two of the most Red Sox creatures alive (they don't deserve to be called people). One was an annoying woman behind me that screamed over everything that happened, and the other was a guy who was wearing a Ortiz jersey and had a red mohawk. More on them in a bit.



I had been excited to see Andy Pettitte face Josh Beckett but soon that excitement turned to anger once the Red Sox started to tee off on Andy, while the Yankees struggled to hit Beckett early. The Yankees were down, but after back to back homers by Tex and A-Rod the crowd began to get back into the game. Swisher would also add a two run shot to close the gap to 10-5. The worst part was that the fans attempted to do the wave at one point.

Once A-Rod hit his second homer of the night to pass Sammy Sosa on the all time list, it began to get a bit crazy in my section. The entire night the Red Sox fan with the mohawk had been obnoxious and yelling, some fans were yelling back at him but it never got too bad. Eventually one female Yankees fan had enough of him and decided to throw a soda in his face, the Sox fan threw his right back at her. She was kicked out, he got to stay. It should be known that security did have to call him over at least five times during the game to tell him to stop. He was eventually tossed in the ninth inning, but the annoying lady behind me was still around.



Mohawk Red Sox fan getting tossed



The Yankees rally fell short in the ninth even with Tex hitting a solo shot to make it 10-8 and Cano coming up as the tying run.



Just a few quick things, Tex now comes up to "Good Vibration" by Marky Mark. I liked it better when he came up to "I wanna rock". Another thing is why in the world do they still have Nick Johnson in the match game and in the videos they play on the scoreboard. They show Rocky getting pumped and then Nick Johnson ? Talk about complete opposites.

The next time I will be at the stadium will be for the ALDS. Thanks for reading.