From The Old Stadium

At least I'm hitting King George where it hurts

2009-04-26T19:22:00.000-07:00

I’m gone, but I’m not forgotten.

BRONX, NY (AP) -- The Yankees say they'll pay New York City $67,574 in back rent on their old stadium.

Under its rental agreement, the baseball team can deduct some maintenance costs from its rent.

An audit being released Wednesday by Comptroller William Thompson found improper deductions, including some payroll, security and stadium repair costs.

The team and the city are still haggling over another $63,888 in rental credits from last year.

ZOMG first walk off win EVER at new Stadium

2009-04-26T19:20:00.000-07:00

Firsts, firsts, firsts, firsts

The first homestand at the new Yankee Stadium ended, predictably, on yet another home run to right field.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the 26 home runs in Yankee Stadium's (groan) first six games surpassed the total hit at Kansas City's Municipal Stadium in 1955 for the most hit in the first six games at a new big league venue.

Finally, a normal win in OMG first night game EVER

2009-04-25T19:19:00.000-07:00

Plus some history:

Rivera and Pettitte tied an all-time record for win-save combinations (57) as the Yankees defeated the A's, 5-3

Damon padded the lead with his second home run of the year in the sixth inning, a ho-hum right field second-decker solo shot off of reliever Andrew Bailey. The blast was the 21st hit in five regular-season games at the new building.

"At the other stadium, I hit it so well that it definitely would have been in the upper deck," Damon said implying, correctly, that everything was better across the street. Duh.

Crotch joke!

2009-04-24T19:24:00.000-07:00

This blog writes itself

Right by the massive gates of the new $1.5 billion ballpark in the Bronx sits eight million pounds of Deer Isle granite that, according to The Associated Press, was quarried by die-hard Red Sox fans.

The granite came from the Crotch Island quarry, Maine's last major island quarrying operation. On that island works foreman Danny Hypes and his three-man crew -- all big Red Sox fans -- and together they produce 55,000 to 75,000 cubic feet of granite per year, the AP said.

Rainout.

2009-04-20T19:19:00.000-07:00

OMG first-EVER rainout at the NEW stadium. HISTORY!

Might just be the next best thing but not quite meeeee

2009-04-19T07:15:00.000-07:00

I like how they thought the new place would be just like me just because it’s similarly shaped and oriented towards the sun in relatively the same way

From Yankees.com (!!!)

The numbers are staggering. Through only four games, the Yankees and Indians combined for 20 home runs at the new Yankee Stadium, 14 of them to right field. The ball seems to shoot out there, where it is 314 feet down the line -- same as the old park. And though the Yankees explained it away after hitting a few no-doubters in their Spring Training games here earlier this month, they find themselves increasingly unable to do so

Fortunately, the brilliant manager has some thoughts. "It seems to really carry to right-center and right field so far," Girardi said.

Ya THINK?

More from Yankees.com

The distances to home plate from the foul poles, from dead center field and from the gaps are identical to those at the old stadium. Perhaps the fence is shorter at points in between those markers, but that doesn't explain the way the ball is screaming over the wall. "My guess is you would have to bring in a group of engineers to figure out why it carries," Girardi said

Genius.

The team’s mouthpiece site continues:

Ideally, they'd like to see Yankee Stadium begin playing like a pitcher's park on Monday, when the Yankees take on the Athletics for the first of three games.

As if you could just will it. Now…if you had never moved in the first place, we wouldn’t be having this problem now would we?

Course you wouldn’t have sushi, champagne and $3,000 seats either I suppose.

New stadium already in MLB record books!!!

2009-04-18T11:12:00.000-07:00

A 14-run second inning by the Indians turned into a record-setting 22-4 loss for the Yankees today.

Accuweather.com meteorologists "estimate that the angle of the seating in the new stadium could have an effect on wind speed across the field," in an interpretive news release issued by the Web site Monday afternoon:

First win at the new place

2009-04-17T19:10:00.000-07:00

Five Bombers dropped homers into the copycat right-field porch, including a game-winning shot by -- who else? -- Jeter, and Mariano locked down the save for a 6-5 win, the new stadium’s first.

Congrats.

Am I jealous? Hell no. The Yanks won 4,133 ball games inside my walls. You gotta ways to go, new guy.

Jeter was asked if the sensation of cracking a decisive hit in the late innings have translated authentically across 161st Street.

"Pretty much," Jeter said, which obviously means “not at all.” He added, "yeah it's the same dimensions -- it's the same field. It's a little different with the stands, but it felt about the same."

But not the same. I bet you can’t shake the notion that something’s missing.

There's a reason he's captain

2009-04-16T07:07:00.000-07:00

Jeter of course saying the right thing.

"When you move into a new house, it takes a little while for it to feel like home. It's going to be the same thing here," Jeter said. "It's going to take a little while to get used to it, but it's still the same fans, still the same atmosphere and it's still going to be special. The fans are what makes the place feel so special."

But you can hear it in his voice. He misses me.