Yankees Open Up Home for 2010

Earlier today the Yankees opened up Yankee Stadium for the 2010 season as they defeated the Angels 7-5. It was an enjoyable game, but I don’t know what was the bigger story: the pregame ceremonies or the actual game. Here are some pictures  from today’s event in the House That George Built…

To me the highlight of the day was when trainer Gene Monahan, who has been away from the team battling cancer, received his ring before everyone else got their rings.

Another incredible moment was when Hideki Matsui joined the present-day Yankees on the field and received his ring. Once a Yankee, always a Yankee.

The entire ring ceremony was great, including this handshake Jeter and Yogi have created.

It was also great to see A-Rod finally get his long deserved World Series ring.

I could post pictures all day of all the great moments created today, but since that is unpractical, I’ll just leave you with a picture of the man who put the time and effort, selflessly poured his money into the team, and has been the most dedicated owner in all of sports. Without this man, today would not have happened.

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Preparing For The Home Opener

Tomorrow the Yankees will play their 2010 home opener, only the second home opener of this Yankee Stadium’s history. It promises to be fun to watch with all the ceremonies they plan on doing tomorrow. I can’t wait! Anyway, if you want to talk during the game tomorrow you can just comment here because I will not be able to have a game post. I will have a game recap instead however. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the game tomorrow.

My trip to Yankee Stadium

As you probably know I went to Yankee Stadium this Wednesday to see the final regular season home game of the year. Unfortuantely the Yankees lost 4-3 to the Royals, but it was still fun to go as it always is. The new stadium has really grown on me, and now I really like it, but the old place was amazing. As far as the stadium experience, I can’t say there is much of difference compared to earlier in the year, but everything did seem to go a little smoother in general, and there was less traffic in the walkways in such, but that may have just had to do with the amount of fans in attendance (it was a cold and meaningless game, but still).

If you look closely you can see the entire year's attendance on the scoreboard to the left of the giant one in center, it displays 3,719,358. That is a lower total attendance than the past few years, but what can you expect with this economy and the higher ticket prices.

Yankees lose a winnable game

Last night the Yankees lost to the Rangers by the score of 10-9. I happened to be at Yankee Stadium to witness the loss. For the most part, the game was not that enjoyable to watch, Joba was dreadful, and the Yankees let Kevin Millwood get away after scoring 4 runs against him in the 1st inning. But in the 9th inning, with the Yankees down 10-5, things got interesting. The Yankees brought the game to 10-9 and still had no outs and men on 1st and 2nd, but from there the rally died. Nick Swisher popped out on a questionable bunt attempt (River Avenue Blues has an interesting post about the bunt, and bunting in general), and then Melky hit a line drive to the Rangers’ shortstop and Jerry Hairston Jr. was doubled up at 2nd to end the game.

Quick Stadium Review

• Last night was the first game at the stadium that I have been to since earlier in the season, and from the looks of it, the new Yankee Stadium is really the Yankees home now, instead of just an attractive new ballpark.
• In the 9th inning during the Yankees rally, the stadium much louder than I’ve heard it all season (despite the fact that several fans had left). And I was at the game where Melky Cabrera got a walk off base hit against the Phillies, the stadium got load then, but not as loud as last night.
• I finally got to visit the new Monument Park, and while it was very nice, I still don’t like how it is covered up by the Mohegan Sun sports bar.

The view from my seat.

The Yankees cut ticket prices

Here is Hal Steinbrenner’s statement via the YES Blog,

“A few weeks ago I indicated that in light of the economy we would review the pricing of a small number of our premium locations at Yankee Stadium; specifically, our Suite Seats. I mentioned a small number of locations because in excess of 3.4 million seats, including 37,000 full season equivalents as well as approximately 85% of all our premium locations have already been sold. Yet, there are a few hundred Suite Seats in our premium locations that have not been sold on a full season basis.

As a result, and for many of our fans who have already purchased full season Suite Seats in such premium locations, the Yankees are announcing today a program that adjusts certain prices and benefits affecting such Suite Seats.”

This must have been a tough move for the Yankees but it was the right move to make. Let’s hope that the stadium will look full from now on because it just did not look right with all those empty seats.

Here are the full details of the plan.