Game 17- Getaway Day

To say this entry will be shorter is an understatement. Fortunately I covered everything BESIDES the second game of the weekend in my first two entries I wrote about this trip.

Since we did the boat tour, we left considerably later for the second game. We didn't pull into the subway station until almost noon.

Today, I wore the only piece of Yankees related apparel I had. Well, I call it Yankees related, at least.

A few years ago at an autograph show, I saw a jersey shirt that didn't quite make sense. I picked it up because it had "JETER" on the back. Derek was the only one I had heard of at that point. After conversing with the people I was with, we determined it was the jersey from the Yankee's Triple-A affiliate, the Columbus Clippers. The number on the back was 13, which is my lucky number. This was so rare and odd, I just had to buy it. It's so rare that I couldn't find a good enough image on Google to post. Plus, it only cost me $10.

It was a gloomy day, to say the least. I really didn't care too much if it rained a little. I just didn't want to get soaked and be wet for the entire afternoon. A rain delay during the game would have been the worst case scenario. As the title of this entry suggests, Dad and I had a flight to catch, and would be pressed for time later in the afternoon.

Gloom and doom over Gate 6.

There were thousands of people inside the park by now, something I definitely wasn't used to. You can see the crowds in these pictures of the "foyer"; the appropriate name I gave this concourse the day before:

Is it just me, or does anyone else think this is what heaven looks like?

Then we passed this giant hat:

(There was no other reason to include it other than it made me laugh.)

According to the plan Dad and Carl organized without me before the first game, we started walking to get in line for the (brand new this season) Yankees Museum. That meant that about 7.5 million New Yorkers hadn't seen it yet. The line was much too long to wait in, even if it moved quickly.

Since we skipped the museum and had extra time, we took just one more ramp up to get to the highest concourse in the stadium.

The layout up there was very similar to Busch Stadium's. The concourse is the cross aisle, then you take a flight of stairs to the top sections. Are a lot ballparks build in the 2000's like this? Well, now I have to see every ballpark's for myself and compare them, won't I?

When I first looked down at the field for the first time, I panicked. But only until I saw the grounds crew rolling up the tarp, even though it was still drizzling a little bit.

Being up here for a few minutes finally made up my mind. I like the upper level SO MUCH MORE than sitting anywhere else, especially at a new stadium. The point of going to a new place is to enjoy the park, not to actually watch the game (most of the time.) When I'm up here, I feel like I'm in an airplane observing everything while the game is going on. I focus more on the scoreboards, the seats, the fans, and maybe some things I can see beyond the confines of the back walls. That's what being at a new ballpark is all about.

Moving on...

Our seats for this game were father down the right field line, well out of the Delta Club where we were yesterday:

The tickets today were print at home ones, which was fine. I had my souvenirs from the last game already. These were still $80 before fees. How can regular people afford this? The top seats a few pictures ago (the top TOP part - like the same section as the last row) would probably be at least $30 after the fees.

The lineups were presented on the scoreboard, and they were mostly the same as yesterday. The pitching match-up today was Hisashi Iwakuma vs. Freddy Garcia. Yawn.

Once we sat down, there was nothing to do for a good 40 minutes.

One other thing I really liked was how the second deck, the one we were on, wrapped all the way around the foul pole. Overall, I enjoy rounded parks much more than straight edge, old-time looking places. For as exclusive as this place is sometimes, the necessities, like the seats and field itself, are very basic. Just the way I like it.

Since I liked it so much, I walked over there.

If I had to pick an outfield seat at a random park, it would be in a section around this area. I don't know why, but this game made me realize which seating areas I really liked in new stadiums.

I ventured out into the bleachers, where the "real" fans sit. These only cost $15 a ticket. If you put up with obstructed view, it's $5 on the day of the game.

Here's their view:

Not too bad considering how jacked up everything else is here. You may be a little uncomfortable on the metal benches, but it's really a steal. A small applause to the Yanks for this one.

Now, I wasn't adventuring out to here for nothing. See those TVs mounted on the wall from two pictures ago? I snagged a spot next to that pole above the middle TV.

Yes, I did mean to take it of the bullpen bench. Why was it so important? Balls, of course.

Before every game, Yankees bullpen coach Mike Harkey takes 4 or 5 balls and launches them into the crowd. These sort of guys are always great targets. All you have to do is scream your head off and be seen, no subtlety about it. This was my last, and really, only chance for a ball today. The best part about this was that he usually spotted the Ballhawks in the exact spot I was standing in. I was extremely confident he would at least spot me, and was nearly positive I would get some sort of chance if he did.

While I was waiting, I had lots of time for pictures.

Just some fans chilling out in the obstructed view seats.

The view from my standing spot. Pretty sweet, right?

People weren't kidding when they say CC is huge in person.

My favorite letters.

The big wrap around on the left field side.

Ominous skies and the famous white fences.

He may have been a jerk, but the Yankees as a whole wouldn't have ended up the same without him. 

Freddy Garcia warming up with Chris Stewart.

The Mainer's pitcher...whose name is irrelevant if it's not 'Felix Hernandez'.

The Bombers warming up.

And just one last one that needs some explaining:

The players in the yellow circles are Yankees. (I'm pretty sure it was Jeter and Cano, but don't hold me to that.) They were warming up their arms while standing at least 250 feet from each other, right down the line. When I took this, they were in the process of moving closer to each other. I don't ever remember seeing infielders do that before a game, especially so close to the seats. I wish I was closer to them over there to see the flight of the ball.

Harkey finally came out and stepped onto the bench. I think I was the only one around that knew what was going to happen before he threw the first one. I still had my spot secured, with virtually nobody that could directly get in my way.

He started by lobbing one way out towards the right field foul pole. Then he faced forward, and gave one to the last row. The last one went to someone a few rows higher up that the one I was above, and 15 seats in. Then he stepped back down.

Wait....what?! Did I just spend half an hour waiting for absolutely nothing? Yep, that seems to be the case. I was sort of frustrated, but I shrugged it off. I obviously wasn't vocal enough, which is my one downfall when it comes to Ballhawking.

On my way back to my seat, I stopped to listen to the National Anthem:

I got back just in time to see the first pitch.

I completely forgot about something I wanted to include from the first game. (I know, I can't believe there was anything else to share either.)

What on Earth could Derek Jeter be waving at?

My favorite Yankee Stadium tradition was the 'Roll Call' performed by the Bleacher Creatures. The leader of the chant is a season ticket holder and New York fireman that goes by the name of Bald Vinny. The Creatures start chanting right after the first pitch, and go around the entire field. They don't stop chanting a player's name until they get acknowledgement from him.

Have a look:

It's sort of chilling to hear it in person, even when I knew it was coming for the second day in a row.

I also couldn't get over the fact that I was seeing Derek Jeter again. There's no reason he shouldn't be on the list of the players I grew up watching that I'll always have respect for.

Unlike the first game I was at, this one was a scoring explosion! (Only slight sarcasm here, because it WAS a decent amount more.) Thanks to some small ball singles by both teams, the Yanks led 2-1 at the end of the 2nd.

Just a little while into the 4th, it was adventure and lunch time. Carl and Dad really wanted the steak sandwich from the butcher's shop, so we stopped over there first. This was my view as they ate:

I, on the other hand, wanted something more original to New York. This could be my last meal, after all. I picked the foot-long Nathan's Famous Hot Dog. These are the same dogs that Kobayashi and Joey Chesnut choke down every 4th of July at Coney Island (but of course, not foot-longs.) I had been surviving on mostly cheap food for three days, but somehow, it still managed to taste great.

For a minute, we stood and watched the game up close:

By now it was the end of the 4th, and the Yankees were ahead 3-1.

Trying to squeeze everything in, we hustled up to the Yankees Museum, where the line was much more manageable than earlier.

It was awesome inside. Most teams have a bunch of cool stuff in their museums. As you could have guessed, the Yankees had 10 times the amount of exponentially cooler stuff.

The most famous players had some wall space:

 World Series rings from every year they won were displayed:

You could see plenty of World Series trophies:

And the coolest part, a signed ball from every player to ever play for the Yankees; over 1800 balls:

This wall of balls was the centerpiece to the whole room. They incorporated another display within this one, too. Here's 4 photos so you get the whole scene:

The most incredible feat in a World Series game, probably ever.

I also liked the scale model of the park and another tribute to "The Boss".

After we were done here, we finally got back to our assigned seats.

By now, the Yankees were up 6-2, which ended up being the final score. (If you want the whole story, here's the box score with a play-by-play towards the bottom.)

As much as I didn't want to think about it, this was the beginning of the end. It was almost 3:40, and our flight was in 5 hours. It came up too quick today; I had only been paying attention to the game for less than an hour! We set the time to leave a little after 4 PM, long before the game would end.

I focused on the action and looked around, enjoying what would be my last live look at the stadium for a very, very long time. (I would rather see the other 29 before doubling back.)

We made it until the end of the 7th. Right before we got to the gate, Dad bought me an official on-field hat so I had tangible birthday gift to go along with this trip.

I sort of hung my head as we walked across the street to the 4 train. I didn't want it to end; there was still so much more to do and see here.

As we waited for the train, I took one last look from the platform.

The baseball part of our trip ended as soon as I stepped on the train. I was pretty bummed. That's all I can say.

We showered and packed our bags back at the apartment. We watched some Sunday evening news after getting the call our flight was pushed back from 8:40 to 9:15. We hopped in a cab and got to LaGuraduia in plenty of time. This was the very last picture I took in the cab while riding to the airport:

As soon as we checked the departure board, we saw the plane was pushed back to 9:50. This delay would have been enough time to see the end of the game. Then a few minutes after the first check, it turned to 10:40. There were some nasty thunderstorm we could see out the window, which was probably the cause of the mess.

We watched some Olympic track and field at a restaurant for a little while, then finally got on our flight home. I tried to relax and get back to normal life, but that was pretty difficult.

We landed close to 1 AM, and were back at home in Schaumburg at 1:45 in the morning. When the house was quiet and I was the only one up, I plopped down on my couch and tweeted:

Today, I was at Yankee Stadium. Now, I'm sitting on my couch
 in Schaumburg. I love traveling.

*Check*

Only 24 more to go.