A Long Day's Journey Into Night

I started this during the 6th inning of last night's Yankees-Indians game. The two teams had only been playing an hour and 15 minutes. I still felt like I was at Sunday's game against the Royals. That was an obnoxious two-hour and thirty seven minute rain delay. But it least it cooled things off.

On another day I might not have waited out the delay, but this was my brother's 1st trip to the new Stadium and first game in the Bronx in 7 or 8 years.

We started out in section 409, 3rd row, seats 7 and 8. It was hot as all hell. We started the day out with the Lobel's Steak Sandwich. $15 is pricey to say the least, but that is some good food. Served on a hamburger bun, the sandwich is thick with meat. No skimping. And very juicy. When you consider how expensive the hot dogs are, it is actually a very good buy.

The thing about going to any sporting event, concert, etc., is you never know who is going to sit near you. The leather lung guy, the constant texter, the sleeper, and of course worst of all, the drunk. Let me add another to the category, "The Narrator".

The narrator doesn't give you a moment's peace. The Narrator not only says what's going on in the game, but what's going on all around him too. The most amazing thing about the narrator? His audience is a 2-yr old. True story.

"Look, that's Phil Hughes. He's the pitcher. He throws the ball to the catcher. And the hitter will try to hit the ball. Here's the pitch. Oh, there it goes. Aww, the centerfield caught it on now throws it back to the infield. Almost. How about eating some of your sandwich. Is that good? Chew it good."

One look tells you all you need to know. The 2-yr old is 2 years old! He doesn't care about the game. He wants to go home very quickly. He's staring everywhere but the field. He's more interested in his fruit snacks than whether A-Rod hits his 600th. Thankfully, 2-yr old wets himself and Dad disappears for a while. Then the weather turns and the family goes home early.

Phil Hughes was decent on the day. Not as good as he was early in the season, but not as bad as some of his more recent starts.

Hughes allowed a pair of home runs, one of which was to singles hitter Scott Podsednik. The Royals speedster had come into the game with three home runs. And then hit another one off of Joba Chamberlain.

Speaking of Joba, another poor outing, and more rough treatment from the fans. Constantly booing the guy is ridiculous and obnoxious. He didn't tell any of you to hero worship him, so you shouldn't completely turn on the guy either. As I've said before Joba's biggest problem is the comparison to the Joba of '07-'08. And booing him after he gets an out is just plain stupid.

Moving on...Rick Ankiel hit a huge home run into the 2nd deck in right...completely crushed.

But importantly Curtis Granderson hit two, Robinson Cano picked up his 1,000th RBI, and A-Rod was not seriously injured when Blake Wood hit him in the arm in his final at-bat in the 8th inning.

BTW, Cano became the third fastest home grown Yankee to reach 1,000 RBI. Only Derek Jeter and Don Mattingly reached the mark in less games.

So anyway, with one out in the 6th the place got biblical. The dark clouds were already moving in, but then the wind blew like a monster and the rains came for 40 days and 40 nights. Okay, it only felt that way after the seemingly endless delay.

We saw Ron Blomberg, the AL's first DH, tour the Baseball Hall of Fame and various other memorable and non-memorable videos. I thought cartoons would start at any moment. One of the best things about the new Stadium is there room to roam and move around during a rain delay. The old Stadium had you packed in like sardines during a delay.

Just before things started a lighten a bit, I noticed the security by a 200 level section was not paying attention. We quickly zipped down to seats in section 215, just before 1st base, about 4 rows from the top of the section. Great seats. It was from there we would watch the rest of the game, which at that point almost had a little league or high school level feeling.

Shortly before 7 p.m. or just when a night game would start, Chan Ho Park finally got the last out. He certainly tried his hardest not too.

An hour ride home completed a nine hour day! But the Yankees won.