So I’ve been looking for a Red Sox Adrian Gonzalez #28 jersey or t-shirt since I arrived in NYC on Saturday, no luck whatsoever; I had to get a Red Sox cap, a huge selection at Lids. With some Sox gear on, I’m on my way.
Took the C Subway line across the street at Penn Station and right from the getgo had some fun interactions with Yankee fans; nothing rough, just lots of fun. After 4 stops I transfer to the D line which, about 15 minutes later drops me off right at Yankee Stadium.
While I’m not a Bronk Bomber fan I’m a big fan of baseball history so being at this stadium is just a wet dream for me. Say what you want, but this stadium is fucking amazing; just from outside seeing the YANKEE STADIUM sign right behind home plate is a awesome.
I walked around the outside a couple of minutes and then made my way inside, quick pat down and I’m in. To say I had chills upon entering is an understatement; just FYI watching a Red Sox vs Yankees at the Bronx is now something I can cross off the bucket list.
Just as I enter I find the Yankees Pro Shop, go in and find a HUGE amount of cool team memorabilia; they have these cool “lockers” for each player where you can find all sorts of merchandise for that specific player. Seriously, no one like American sports teams can come up with so much crap to sell. Got a shot glass for dad and a magnet for mom.
I keep walking along the concourse and find this store kind of what the Mets have at Citi Field; a ton of historic memorabilia. Signed balls, game used bas and bases, parts of old Yankee Stadium, jerseys and other cool stuff. Just great stuff you have seen in famous pictures -like that “thank God you are a Yankee” sign signed by the man who said this himseld Joe DiMaggio. It’s awesome to see so many pieces of historic baseball stuff; I may sound like a Yankee fan, no I’m not, just a fan of baseball history and this IS history.
Keep walking along and taking tons of pics, which you can see here. At Center Field you can go into Monument Park, another wet dream for any baseball fan. Needless to say I’m just in awe at everything there is to see in the area; again tons of pics.
By this time its about 615 so it’s time to start making my way up, up, up to my seat. While my seat was at the highest lever, I was in the first row and right behind home plate which is so much better than the left field seats from Citi Field. Got this awesome hot sausage dog with a ice cold Stella Artois, all for the low price (as sarastic as can be) of 17 bucks.
At my seat my neighbors are a tipical New York guy with his Asian girlfriend who is just an asshole (her, him not so much). She keeps bitching and moaning about everything going on, from the sun, the heat, the noise, the seats, the fart David Ortiz just took in the clubhouse, and any other thing going on. When the game started John Lester hit a couple of Yankee hitters, shenkeep bitching he should be thrown out; and kept going and going. So you have to runners on and you on purpose hit someone? What kind of dumb, ignorant person are you? If you don’t know about something, shut up and learn.
There are a couple of Sox fans around me so I don’t feel like my life is in danger for the next 3 to 4 hours. So, it’s game time and right off the bat we get a Jacoby Ellsbury HR to lead off the game which makes us Sox fans pop big and you hear a couple if boo birds by yankee fans. Next Pedroia get a walk and A-Gon hits a triple to right-center to give Boston a 2-0 lead before they make an out. Youkilis follows with a sacrifice fly for a 3 run lead after 1 out. Yankees get the bases load but only 1 run across, so after 1 inning it’s 3-1 Boston; also Mark Teixeira got hit right on the knee and had to come out of the game. Another Sox run to start the second and that’s it for Yankees started Feddy Garcia.
We are 4-1 into the 5th were Adrian Gonzalez gets a walk and two hitters later Big Papi David Ortiz crushes a ball to the right field seats to give the Boston a 6-1 lead. By now the boo birds are out on full force; we (sox fans’) are having a blast. NY gets both runs back in the bottom of the 5th for a 6-3 defficit.
After the 6th inning my neighbors leave which is good news for me. Boston started Lester didn’t have his best stuff but battled and gave his team 6 runs of 3 run ball which was pretty good. 3 relievers work the 7th and 8th (Bobby Jenks came out after only 3 pitches, we’ll see the extent of his injury).
Pappelbon comes in to pitch the ninth and get the save. It was not without drama as NY was able to get one more run on a single by Jorge Posada (who came in to play 1B for Teixeira). So with 2 outs, the tying run comes to the plate in the form of Akex Rodriguez, I’m nervous and the people left in the stands are really excited. It all ends in 5 pitches with a strikeout to seal the win for the Boston Red Sox by a score of 6-4.
All in all it was an awesome experience. Only a rivalry like this can get a sellout on a Tuesday night, last more than 3 and a half hours and have a playoff feel right at the beggining of June. Only a Red Sox- Yankees.
Got a chance to see 2 Jeter hits as he now only needs 12 for 3000. Had a couple of assholes beside me, but its part of the whole experience. I was surprised how quickly the crowd goes dead after just one or two pitches.
The subway ride back was so fun. Got to talk with some pretty cool yankee fans also with a girl from austin who was going to be in he city for only 22 hours so she had gone, lierally, everywere and not slept at all. As I was getting off the subway I passed a bar near the hotel where they had on the Mavs-Heat game so I went in, had a beer and watched the final 3 minutes of the game; a nice way to end a damn near perfect day.
For Wednesday I have nothing scheduled for after the conference, could this mean another trip to Yankee Stadium? Or dinner somewhere nice to catch hs game? We’ll see. The current plan is to go out to learn as much as possible and make some contacts that will help out in the neat future, but for now…
Mr Khakbaz out!!!
The Playpen 