New Yankees Stadium

Yankees Stadium

1 East 161st Street

Bronx, NY 10451

July 23, 2009: We came up with the brilliant idea to save time and money by taking public transportation to the game instead of driving. We also thought that after the game, we'd be going for drinks in the city with one of our friends and we didn't want to worry about designated driving. Apparently, money and time were two things we did not save by taking the train to the game. First, we missed the train we wanted to take out of Hicksville to Penn Station. Then we rushed to catch the 2:22 pm train and nearly missed that train because we couldn't find parking. In our rush, Serena lost her hair tie. But we bucked up because we got onto the train and made it to Penn without any further incidents. At Penn, we stopped in KMART to buy new hair ties and headed for the 1 train's platform. Thanks to Tech Support Sean, we were armed with explicit directions on how to take the train to the stadium. Unfortunately, he did not think that we needed detailed instructions on how to find the mysterious Uptown 1 Train platform. It took us 40 minutes to find the secret portal to the 1 Uptown. We found the Downtown platform easily, but the Uptown continued to evade us. Running around, dripping with sweat, we finally had to settle for the handicapped elevator to the platform. From the 1, we snagged the D train at 59th Street to Yankees Stadium. On the D, a creep guy mumbled a lot and wandered the car bumming for change (we think...we really couldn't understand him, so we're not really sure what he was asking for).

By the time we got to the Yankees Stadium stop, we had finally cooled off. We were relieved to have survived the trip.

Of course, when we surfaced, we stepped directly into the monsoon. We wanted to take a picture in front of the stadium, but it was raining so heavily, we just wanted to get inside, so we settled for a picture outside Gate 6. You can see us (sort of) standing below the T and E. Where's Waldo? Once inside, we immediately bought our traditional souvenirs: a Yankees hat for Serena and a mini Yankees bear for Lisa (you will meet him later in this blog). We thought it was really cool that in the field level section on the first base side, the Yankees had a team store for women. Inside, photos of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League decorated the walls. While we thought that it was about time we were acknowledged as fans, the problem with the female attire was still prevalent. Yes, they had a few cute navy blue t-shirts, tanks, pajamas, hats, and jerseys for us. However, the store was predominantly tacky pink, sparkly, and rhinestone covered clothing. Yes, the store sells Alyssa Milano merchandise (barf). We don't see dudes walking around in sparkly jerseys. It's very frustrating, but at least there is a step forward here in that there was a store geared towards our needs.
When we saw the field for the first time, we got a feeling of deja vu. It was covered with a tarp to protect it from the persistent rain. Can we say Chicago all over again? We were nervous that this game would be postponed again (the original date had been April 20) and that we'd have to come back, making this weekend a very expensive one. Other than the high-tech scoreboard, the field and stands felt the same as the old stadium. The difference lay in the concourses. There was so much room to manuever that despite the number of fans hiding from the weather, we were still able to walk around comfortably. Though with the open atmosphere came the exposure to the wind. Brrrr.

We were happy to see that some of the things we remembered from the old stadium made it to the new...such as our navy blue Yankees friend.

Despite the rain, our BFF Brad Ziegler braved the elements to sign autographs and pose for pictures. Lisa outsmarted security so that we could get down there. Apparently even in a rain delay, security is still tight. Reunion successful! That makes this photo #3! Do we have the staying power to get another picture next season when we're on the road? Angels/A's series anyone?

After meeting up with Brad, we were starving so we hit up the Premio sausage stand in the Main Level section 217. It was just as we remembered it from the old stadium. Heaven, we're in heaven...some may have believed that our breath stunk after that, but Serena came prepared with gum. We also made a new friend. The man who took our picture decided to try to get other people to take pictures with us eating sausages. We were like the new tourist attraction. The man looked like Professor Clump from the Nutty Professor. We must say at this time that the staff at Yankees Stadium was above and beyond helpful and friendly. Even the security guards who tried to keep us from our reunion with Brad were polite and cheerful. We should mention here that Professor Clump is an employee.

We headed to Monument Park after stuffing our faces. For more pictures of the Park, check out the blog on the tour of Yankees Stadium. You can find it by clicking on the link under "The Traveling Baseball Babes On the Road." We did not take any pictures yesterday because of the amount of people meandering around the Park. The tour group was much smaller, therefore the pictures and monuments aren't crowded with as many people. The rain delay carried on, so we continued to check out the sites. We found a statue of liberty... ...and saw the Great Hall. Finally, we could not avoid the scintilating smell of Garlic Fries any longer. The stand located in Field Level section 107 was calling.
We plopped into some nice, comfy cushioned seats in the section to eat these delicious, crispy, fragrant, garlicy goodness. If we didn't stink before with the sausage sandwiches, we certainly smelled now. But it was so worth it. Since the rain was still coming down and the tarps didn't seem to be budging any time soon, we decided to go to the Museum, which is located on the Main level near Gate 6. Again, check out the tour of the Stadium blog for more pictures. Because of the rain, the line to get inside was super long. We probably waited 20 minutes before being able to get inside. While on line, the televisions finally flashed the announcement, "Rain Delay." Bring it On said it best when Courtney said, "Let's not put the duh in dumb." Once inside, Serena got her picture taken with her man, Bernie's autograph. If you can't have the real thing, the autograph is the next best thing. We took a picture of Thurman's autograph for Linda: And also got our picture taken with Yogi Berra. Lisa took over in the ump's role and Serena batted. The guy who took our picture laughed and said, "Classic." It's always nice to be appreciated for our sense of humor. To quote our secret friend, "we all are fun." It brings us great joy to make strangers laugh. Because the Mets are doing so poorly, Lisa wanted to feel like a champion, so she posed with the 2000 World Series trophy and pretended to be #1, holding up her trophy with pride. Eventually, we decided to check out the weather situation and find our seats, which were in the upperdeck. It was still raining and the tarp still covered the field. Despite the soggy despair we felt, we took our traditional picture with the field behind us. The big screen mocked us with its Rain Delay message. Finally...at 9:00, the tarps were removed to cheers and whistles. The fans in our section chanted, "We want baseball!" The scoreboard announced that the first pitch would take place at 9:40, making it a 2 hour, 43 minute rain delay. Since we had arrived for batting practice at 4:45, by the first pitch, we would've already been at the game for close to 5 hours. Lisa bought a cup of hot chocolate and we climbed the stairs to section 420a, where our seats were located. This is the view from our seats:

The starting pitchers were CC Sabathia and Vin Mazzaro (guido pump, anyone?). We were disappointed that the rain chased away so many people. By the time Sabathia took the mound, the stands were pretty empty.

The first inning passed quickly. Both pitchers retired the side 1, 2, 3. The top of the second was rocky for Sabathia. He gave up 2 runs. We were pissed. He looked sloppy and we had waited for so long for baseball, that we wanted a quality game. We didn't wait for an eternity just to watch the Yankees get blown out. Fortunately, in the bottom of the 4th, the Yankees struck back. Tex hit a 2-run homer to right field, making the score 3-2 in favor of Oakland. Posada hit an RBI double, scoring AROD, tying the score. Jorge had made the turn at second, as if contemplating advancing to third, but Serena screamed at him that he is slow and he seemed to listen because he stayed put (thankfully). Before Mazzaro could get out of the inning, Eric Hinske also hit a double, scoring Jorge and giving the Yankees the 4-3 lead. The scoring for the Yankees would not end there. In the bottom of the 5th, Tex hit an RBI double, scoring Jeter and making the score 5-3. Matsui walked, loading the bases. Jorge singled, scoring Damon. Mazzaro was lifted for Craig Breslow. We hoped that Brad would make a relief appearance. Despite the advancing hour, we didn't want to leave without seeing him jog from the bull pen. We got our wish at the bottom of the 8th. In full Yankees gear, we cheered loudly for Brad's entrance. We think he heard us. The remaining Yankees fans in our sections were totally confused. Brad retired the Yankees 1, 2, 3 and jogged off the field. Satisfied and exhausted, we decided to leave and make the trip home. We had to cancel our plans for drinks with our friend so that we could try and grab the last train to Long Island. Before walking to the subway station, we took one last picture of the Stadium at night. The subway rides and transfers were much easier heading back Downtown than going to the Stadium. Probably because we were now familiar with the trip. Before driving home from the Hicksville train station, we introduced our new buddy to the gang. Our family's getting pretty big, huh?
We leave you with Annie Lennox serenading you with, "Here comes the rain again, raining on our heads like a tragedy, tearing us apart like an old ball park. So Yankees/Athletics play your game....like ball players do..."