It was not as sunny as forecasted, but no immediate precipitation was said to be on the horizon. Linda had been the grateful recipient of tickets offered from WB Mason, which supplies her office. On Thursday, she asked me if I had any interest in going to see the Yankees on Saturday, and I, of course, agreed. Our usual tennis games in Armonk are always scheduled early and by 10:40 am we were finished and we were off to Tarrytown for quick showers.
Once dressed, and prepared with sustenance, we headed to the Tarrytown RR Station of the Metro North Hudson Line, parked at a meter for $4, instead of paying the extortionist $10 the village is collecting at their lots for Yankee games, and caught the 11:55 am train for 153rd Street and the Yankee Stadium. It was a pleasant and uneventful ride, the cost was $4 round trip for a senior, Linda had her monthly pass, and we were at the Stadium at 12:40 pm. Every game this season, the Yankees, without regards for their opponent, draw close to capacity, (48,158 were in the park) which is around 50,000. It is a short walk, about ten minutes to the new stadium, and we entered the main concourse with our sandwiches, yogurt, peanuts and water. Yankee Stadium is by far the world’s largest cash register, and I refuse to indulge in $9 beers, $6 hot dogs, $5 water and equally expensive pop corn. One can buy a bottle of water at CVS for 21 cents or outside the ball park for $1. But, many others love to contribute to the wealth and happiness of the Steinbrenner fortune. On top of that, because of an aberration in the tax laws, courtesy of George Bush II and the late GOP dominated Congress, all inheritance taxes were suspended in calendar year 2010. Therefore the richest sport’s franchise on the earth was able to pass on to the heirs of the late George Steinbrenner III, his complete and intact estate. Such are the vagaries of life and the short sightedness of greed.
Meanwhile, back to the stadium , we entered, had our bags checked, took the escalator up to the top level and found our way to section 407B, row 3, seats one and two. I must say the view was quite clear, and the seats are decently comfortable. They are much wider than the seats were in the original Yankee Stadium, which was re-built in 1973. The stadium designers have thoughtfully taken into consideration that the waist size of the average American has expanded dramatically. The seats were pretty far away, but I am not complaining, beggars cannot be choosers.
As it was with the game on Friday, the Yankee starting pitching was remarkably bad. Javier Vazquez, an overpaid and inconsistent re-tread, pitched as poorly as AJ Burnett the day before. After giving up four quick runs he was soon picking up splinters on the Yankee bench. But, unlike, yesterday, the Bronx Bomber bats boomed and with some timely hitting by their veterans; Captain Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano and Jorge Posada. The game also featured the first major league hit by Eduardo Nunez who was replacing the overpaid and overrated, now injured again Alex Rodriguez. (After Sunday’s 10-0 victory, the Yankees are now 12-0 without ARodless.) The highlight of the game was that the light-hitting and infrequently scoring Mariners scored their 400th run of the season. The Bombers had scored their 400th run almost two months earlier. Strangely, with the score 7-4, Manager Girardi brought in the Great Mariano in the 8th inning for his only 4 out save of the season. The Yanks scored 2 insurance runs in the bottom of the 8th, and walked away with a 9-5 victory.
We left with thousands of happy fans, and made our way to the Metro North Railroad station and caught the 4:11 pm to Tarrytown. We had to hurry because we were due at our friends for dinner at 6:00 pm. Well we made it!