Texas Rangers vs. New York Yankees: My experiences

Well, we all know how the game went. Mendoza looked okay for a couple of innings, had some bad defense behind him then imploded against Giambi. Bradley and the Beast himself Chris Davis put the Rangers back ahead and then Warner Madrigal stepped up to the mound. That's when my memory gets fuzzy. I think my brain blocked the rest out because of the trauma.

Anyways, here are some observations on the trip.

Traveling to the stadium was tricky. I'm a Texas country boy at heart so navigating the harsh urban maze that is the New York City transit system is always fun. On the the subway from Harlem to the Bronx, I was standing next to some guy I am 99% positive was 90% comatose. My suspicions were confirmed when he started drooling onto the floor and then proceeded to pull six pill bottles out of a bag and put them into his oversized pockets.

The plan was to go the stadium and buy tickets at the ticket booth. Military ID is supposed to get you half price tickets in the main box seats along 1st and 3rd base. Unfortunately none of those were available. The guy wanted to give us free tickets but they were like.....1,460 feet in the air. We splurged and paid $100 for home plate tickets. It was worth it.

My friend got interviewed by the local Fox affliate about the closing of Yankee stadium. They only wanted to talk to us because of the hot uniforms. He filled in some bullcrap about the history of the ballpark and all the players that have stepped on the field. The camera turns to me and she asks me the same questions. I just said, "I have no clue how fans here will feel. I'm a Rangers fan."

They moved on after that one.

Yankee Stadium: Not impressed. Maybe it's because I am spoiled and grew up going to see ball played at RBiA. I remember the old Arlington Stadium though. But Yankee Stadium is just like Giants Stadium. The concourses suck, they are WAY too narrow for the amount of people there and for 100 bucks a seat, man were they cramped, small and uncomfortable. My knees kept bumping the guys head in front of me.

The coolest thing about the stadium was how fans used the netting that extended back from home plate. The net goes all the way to the overhang of the second level. Fans up there had a ton of fishing nets they would use to catch foul balls that landed on the net. Neat.

For the most part Yankee fans were pretty cordial. I am sure they might have been meaner if they hadn't won 18-7, but even when the Rangers were winning it wasn't too bad. There were a lot of Ranger fans there at the game, surprisingly, and a couple of time I saw some taunts thrown their way. But for the most part it was fairly tame. No where near the madness I had to put up with at Fenway.

I tried my hardest to get down close to the field to get autographs. The lower seat were all separated into small sections with railings, and there were hundreds of guards there making sure people didnt move from one section to the other. I managed to work my way down to field level near left field, and got some really cool close up pictures. The problem was it was impossible to get close for an autograph. Maybe I'm behind the times but I remember when you used to be able to go down near the dugout and get a bunch of autographs from the players. The closest I got was when CD started to sign autographs just a few rows away. He signed as much as he could before some security guard came and yelled at the kids to back away from the net.

Heartbreaking really. I saw Eddie Guardardo sign some balls and toss them into the crowd. Also saw Hamilton sign a whole bunch of autographs for a tour group after BP.

Here is what was the best about the whole trip. There was a giant crowd gathered around for the Yankees, obviously, but they all stuck around for Rangers BP. Hamilton put on one hell of a show too. Then when he was done, grabbed his glove and headed to the outfield for warmups, a HUGE ovations erupted from the crowd. All Yankee fans, too. A small chant rose up of  "Josh, Josh..." and then he tipped his cap at the crowd and they went nuts.

That was cool.

Here are some of the better pics I took.

View from our seats.

Blue Glove Lonely.

baseballismyboyfriend: This is the best pic of CD I could get. He never turned around.

CJ chatting it up with Rivera.

Hammy giving out some autographs.

I'm the goof on the left.

Home run Swing.