Gone Batty

Well, we're back. Last year Devon only made it through the 5th before melting, this year heat was not exactly an issue. But the ladies put up with the cold and damp and had a great Bat Day.

At the last minute we decided to drive to the game rather than take the subway. I didn't adjust our travel time, so we ended up there before the gates even opened at 10:00. Since the first pitch was at 1:05 we had PLENTY of time to visit the Yankee Museum and do Monument Park.

The Stadium itself is a masterpiece. I didn't see all, or even most of the building, but still- it's as impressive as hell. Wide concourses, great views even from our seats ten rows from the top. We could see every part of the field, the seats were spaced far enough apart so that you're not on top of your neighbor.

The Yankees have down an amazing job of tapping into their rich history. Everywhere you look there are vintage photos of old Yankees and past Championship teams. The Yankee museum has a great tribute to the Negro league teams and players that played in the old Stadium. I hate having to explain why that's necessary to the girls, but I'm glad they can't fathom why anyone would discriminate like that.

The rest of the museum is a more or less chronological presentation of the great Yankee Championship runs. It was great fun for all of us to put our hands over a Babe Ruth palmprint. I expected George Herman to have massive mitts, evidently not. His print wasn't much bigger than mine. I also loved the collection of autographed baseballs. The Yankees are attempting to get a signed ball from every player who wore pinstripes. On my next visit I want to search out Celerino Sanchez who briefly replaced Bobby Murcer as my favorite Yankee in 1972.

They let everyone wander around through Monument Park now; they also let you pose for photos throughout the area. I will admit that it does make for a slightly less reverent vibe, but it's still pretty impressive.

The game itself was a throwback pitcher's duel. Only a couple of hits and no runs through six. Both teams scored two in the Seventh. Johnny Damon homered in the bottom of the Tenth to put the Twinkies away. The girls lasted a full seven, then fell asleep in the car with their new bats safely tucked away.

Stay tuned loyal readers. Today will be the first trip to the (New) Yankee Stadium for the ladies and me. It's also BAT DAY!! Even Debbie is being a good sport and tagging along for the entire show. Megan is insisting on bringing both her T-ball glove and her pink batters helmet- she promises to share both with Devon. We may need a ruling from the Commissioner to settle that one. More details after the game.

First Visit to Shea (Citi)

Made my first visit to the Mets new home last night. Thanks to the Kingman for the ducat. I don't care what they say, I drive on the Triborough and the Interborough and the West Side Highway, not the freakin' RFK Bridge, Jackie Robinson Parkway or Joe DiMaggio Highway. Nothing against Jackie or Joe D (no comment on RFK), but I have become something of a traditionalist in my old age. I see no reason to rename perfectly good bridges and highways. So I am staging my own personal protest against Vikram Pandit and his crew of idiots (I mean bankers).

I'm calling it Shea.

Despite my objections to the name, I was impressed with the place. I like the wide corridors and the Jackie Robinson Pavillion was a nice tribute. I would agree though with Met fans who have complained about the shortage of Mets tributes- there is a hell of a lot of blank wall space that would be perfect for photographs of old Mets, summaries of classic games at Shea, etc. too much grey concrete. They could use some more TV's at the food stands too, but these are all things that can (and probably will) get fixed fairly easily. I think the Mets did a great job with their new home; I might even break down and bring the girls by for a game with their cousins. The wifflle ball cage looks like a blast.

HDTV RULES!!!

Yes, I know it's been a while. I wanted to fill you all in on my repeat trip to Stellwagen Bank, but Mother Nature intervened and we got cancelled. I would have recounted my exploits hauling in stripers (or even flounder) out of City Island, but I couldn't even manage a nibble.

This is worthy of a post.

Our TV crapped out yesterday. I got 19 years out of it. It's the first big ticket item I bought after college- it's the set I was watching when the 'Cuse crushed Kansas for the National Championship.

And I won't miss it at all. I went out tonight, picked up an HD-DVR cable box and a Sharp AQUOS LC-40E67U.

I'm tuned into YES-HD watching the Yanks and the Sox and I can see EVERYTHING. I'm kind of glad David Wells is retired because there are some things I don't want to see in High Definition.

It took me a good hour to figure out how to get the cable box running, and things aren't perfect, but WOW!!