The House that Ruth Built

So today is the day. The immortal Yankee Stadium will host it's last game tonight. With no playoffs this year, it's the end.

Tom Verducci wrote an interesting piece in SI with the stadium in the first person. Quite a few tidbits I did not know.

And all the NY papers have been covering it in-depth. So I won't talk history here.

Now it's time to say goodbye. My earliest memories of the stadium? I was born in The Bronx, but my father's family came from upper Manhattan (via Ireland) and were mostly Dodgers or Giants fans. The Yankees were more for people of means, while the National League teams were for the working class. So when time came, I picked the Mets as my team. But I had some cousins who lived within site distance of YS, and I can remember it off in the distance when we would visit.

I had a lot of friends who root for the Yanks, so over the years I would get there time to time.

I remember spending quite a bit of time at Stan's whenever we went.

In 1996, it snowed on opening day, so the Yankees offered everyone a ticket to another game, either a Thursday against the Jays or a Tuesday against the Mariners. A friend had about 10 tickets to opening day so he took 10 for the Mariners on May 14. Since it was a weeknight, a lot of people didn't want to go. I went, happy to see Dwight "Doc" Gooden pitching. And the rest is history. Dr. K pitched a no-hitter that night, probably the first (and only) time I rooted for the Yankees in my life.

This year I took my two sons to the stadium so they could always say they were there. Cliff Lee and the Indians beat the Yanks 3-0 that night. Nice.

After a dozen or so years, the Bronx Bombers won't be in the playoffs. A little odd after a run like that. The stadium will be gone, replaced by the palace across the street. A palace that many will not be able to afford to get into. Somebody's got to foot the bill for all-stars everywhere I suppose.

So enjoy the show on ESPN tonight. The AL East has a new Ray of hope.

The Back and Forth of Baseball

So after a tumultuous week - the NY Mets have regained first in the NL East after a big win last night in Atlanta and a Philles loss to Florida. Coupled with another Brewers loss - the Mets and Phillies are both looking to make the playoffs, with one tagged as the Wild Card.
Unlike years past I am uncharacteristically calm about this playoff race. Don't know why. Maybe after watching the first month and a half the Mets played in a very lackluster manner, I see any "meaningful September games" as a big bonus.

So with a week and a day to go - could be a wild ride.

Check out ESPN's Outside the Lines tomorrow for a story on Lymon Bostock and his murder during the 1978 baseball season.

And after 6 weeks of no youth baseball, I began my informal baseball clinic today for boys who want to play and get better (we're in a kind of football town). Fun session, kids had a great time. Showed them this training tool and they loved it! Best of all, my son was ripping the ball in hitting practice. So says the proud father!

Fw:

Nice short sweet name for a post. And it all has to do with the folks who Fw: every e-mail they find cute/informative/important/witty. Trouble is, I rarely find it so. And these same folks never actually come up with anything on their own, so they are rarely cute/informative/important/witty, just annoying.

I do not need these e-mails folks. I do not care what snopes.com says, since I can pretty much figure out a hoax with my bulls*** detector (mine's built-in). And just so you know - the delete key is the only action I take when I get these banal deliveries.

Fw: yourself a life and a clue. Think hard and send me an e-mail with an original thought.

I sound like the Angry Blog Guy today!

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What, What, What?

As in happened.

I guess the baseball gods have decided to make me crazy. After a pretty nice cushion, the NY Mets blow the lead and are now 1/2 game out of first to the red-hot Phillies, and 1/2 game up on the (strange) Brewers, who fired their manager after a winning season of baseball with two weeks left. Who wants that job?

So we go another 11 and see where we get. I still believe that this isn't 2007 and we can right the ship.

Mets play the Nats 1x, the Braves 3x, the Cubbies 4x and the Fish 3x.

Phils play Atlanta 4x, Nats 3x and the Fish 3x with one off-day.

Brewers play Cubs 4x, Reds 3x and Pittsburgh 3x with one off-day.

Nationals or Marlins could be big spoilers here for either team. Cubs will be a tough one folks.

I need to get my Rally Cap going.

The Loss Column

So today, Friday 9/12, the NY Mets are up four games in the loss column versus the Philadelphia Phillies. This weekend is HUGE folks.

Mets play home against the woeful Braves. Santana against Hampton tonight, Pedro vs. JoJo Reyes on Saturday, and Ollie P. takes on some guy names Jorge on Sunday. Gotta win 2 of 3 here.

Phils got the Brew Crew- and they took the first game last night. Brewers better step it up folks. The Wild Card is at stake for them.

No predictions, cause I don't want to be called a jinx. Let's go Mets. Take care of business.

Anyway, I'm off to Dallas on Sunday for business. Gonna try to get to a Ranger game on Tuesday night. Catch you on the flipside of Ike.

Seven Years Ago

Just a short post -

Keep those who perished in New York City, Arlington and Shanksville seven years ago in your prayers today.

Never Forget.

God Bless America.

It's good to be King

Watched a fascinating documentary last night called The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. It's about Donkey Kong, you know the big monkey, damsel in distress, a plumber named Mario and many barrels and elevators.

Now, I'm not really the gaming type. I do like Tetris and puzzles, but today's video games leave me cold. I do remember the days of classics like Galaga, Centipede and the mighty DK though. I had heard about this film awhile back and thought it fairly interesting.

In the far corner, you have the recognized champ (since 1982!), a very unlikable (my opinion) guy named Billy Mitchell. In the other, the good-guy, Johnny-come-lately, Steve Weibe. And in between, the oddest assortment of video game followers and geeks you will ever see. Nearly everybody looks like something out of a Will Ferrell movie. Yikes.

Anyway, check out the movie if you wanted to see the nasty underbelly of the classic videogame world (which actually exists). Like I said, fascinating. You won't believe this stuff actually goes on.