This Week in Baseball 4/13 - 4/19

[Master Thrasher]

Brad Lidge blew his first save as Philly. Things will get better hopefully.

 

[alkeiper]

Lidge threw 32 pitches Friday, and he was up over 25 when he gave up that three run home run. He was gassed.

One thing I've noticed about New Yankee Stadium is that the luxury seating has completely taken the rabid fans out of reach of the action. Not just in the lower deck. Like almost every new stadium, the upper deck is further away from the field than its predecessor. The intimidation factor that Yankee Stadium used to hold is gone.

 

[alkeiper]

What would be more embarassing for the Yankees? Giving up 22 runs yesterday, or losing to Carl Pavano today?

 

[zio]

I chose to go to the Phillies game last night at the last minute. It was a great back and forth game, but damned if I wasn't a little miffed we didn't give Lidge a standing ovation after he blew the save. Only a few people in my section did it, including myself. What's going on with my sports teams damn it.

 

[Next USC #55]

It certainly requires the Yankees to adjust how to build their team in the future.

 

[Czech]

Lidge threw 32 pitches Friday, and he was up over 25 when he gave up that three run home run. He was gassed.

One thing I've noticed about New Yankee Stadium is that the luxury seating has completely taken the rabid fans out of reach of the action. Not just in the lower deck. Like almost every new stadium, the upper deck is further away from the field than its predecessor. The intimidation factor that Yankee Stadium used to hold is gone.

This whole New Yankee Stadium thing is just captivating. That picture of the wall up against the chairs might've been more significant than we thought. Now we find out that the billion-dollar ballpark also has no intimidation factor, bleachers that are obscured by a restaurant, and they can't keep the damn balls in the yard.

"Well, here we are, kids. The zoo."
"That's great. You were supposed to take us to the newspaper."

 

[wnyxmcneal]

It just looks weird watching a game. It doesn't feel right

 

[treble]

I don't like how they try and say that it looks just like the pre-renovataion old Stadium. Aside from the frieze, they look nothing alike.

 

[Detox]

The Rangers have the worst bullpen I have seen, it is a real task to watch a starting pitcher go six or seven innings for the bullpen to fuck it up.

 

[naiwf]

What would be more embarassing for the Yankees? Giving up 22 runs yesterday, or losing to Carl Pavano today?

The way the ball carries to right field I'm predicting we'll be seeing a lot of 10+ run efforts there, but losing to Pavano would be shameful.

 

[treble]

http://paulkatcher.com/archives/001191.shtml

The expensive seats remind me of the seats behind the benches at the Air Canada Centre during Leafs games, which are always empty for the first 5 minutes or so of every period.

 

[jimmy no nose]

Already another 2 homers out of Yankee Stadium. This is getting ridiculous. Pavano's got a 3-0 lead early.

 

[naiwf]

It's time for the Yankees to invest in a humidor.

 

[wnyxmcneal]

Michael Kay just jinxed the game Pavano's having. Don't call him on it, or else he'll talk about slavery and the Holocaust

 

[jimmy no nose]

That second homer broke the record for most in the first 4 games at a new stadium that was set in Cincinnati. If this keeps up that announcer the Yankees have might have to work on a new call rather than just constantly going with "SEE YA!"

 

[wnyxmcneal]

Damn you Kay for jinxing that

 

[Bored]

We'll truly find out if the new Yankee Stadium is a home run haven in the next three days when the A's come to town. They've hit a total of three home runs as a team (two of them by Jack Cust) through eleven and a half games. If they manage to even hit two home runs in the series then it's officially band box.

 

[Psycho Penguin]

Um, if the place was such a home run paradise, wouldn't the Yankees be hitting more too?

 

[naiwf]

Um, if the place was such a home run paradise, wouldn't the Yankees be hitting more too?

They did hit 5 the other day. Going into today it was 9-8 in favor of Cleveland, so it's now 11-8 in about 3 1/2 games.

 

[Bored]

A's lose 1-0. And to think people thought their starting pitching would be the problem! I'd get the panic button if the A.L. West wasn't was so terrible.

 

[Psycho Penguin]

Um, if the place was such a home run paradise, wouldn't the Yankees be hitting more too?

They did hit 5 the other day. Going into today it was 9-8 in favor of Cleveland, so it's now 11-8 in about 3 1/2 games.

Ah okay. Wow. That is a bit unusual.

 

[Smues]

While I'd find it pretty amusing if the new stadium truly is Coors Field part duex, it's only been one weekend. It could be the air or the weather, I don't know. See how it plays out over the season.

If this does continue though, I would guess they'd attempt to fix it this off-season. I'm sure the tax payers in New York (most of whom probably can't afford to go see the team in their shiny new stadium) are just loving every penny they spent on this thing.

 

[wnyxmcneal]

The stadium was paid for by the Yankees, with the city chipping in for miscellaneous items, and helping them out with bonding

 

[Bored]

Fan interference or not since the ball didn't ever actually go over the wall, how the hell is that a home run?

 

[JHawk]

Fan interference or not since the ball didn't ever actually go over the wall, how the hell is that a home run?

Because it's Yankee Stadium and heaven forbid the media darlings of MLB not get their fucking way.

I demand an umpire explanation as well as every single fucking replay they looked at.

 

[Smues]

From reading those posts I'm guessing it's a good thing I'm not watching that game.

 

[JHawk]

A long fly ball, a fan reached over the guardrail and bumped into Crowe's glove. It was borderline whether it would have even cleared the wall, but was definitely fan interference. After about eight minutes of discussing and "reviewing" and the primary TV replay clearly showing that there was no way in hell that it was a home run, they still got the call wrong and essentially handed the Yankees the lead.

Apparently it's legal to interfere with a ball in the field of play at the new Yankee Stadium as well.

And of course, Eric Wedge can't protest because despite the replay being obvious, he'd have been ejected automatically for arguing the call.

It's safe to say the replay experiment is a failure.

 

[Czech]

I thought the point of instant replay was to get the call right. Why has everything involving replay revolved around the Yankees and Mets?

 

[naiwf]

A long fly ball, a fan reached over the guardrail and bumped into Crowe's glove. It was borderline whether it would have even cleared the wall, but was definitely fan interference. After about eight minutes of discussing and "reviewing" and the primary TV replay clearly showing that there was no way in hell that it was a home run, they still got the call wrong and essentially handed the Yankees the lead.

Apparently it's legal to interfere with a ball in the field of play at the new Yankee Stadium as well.

And of course, Eric Wedge can't protest because despite the replay being obvious, he'd have been ejected automatically for arguing the call.

It's safe to say the replay experiment is a failure.

I didn't see it, but I was wondering what you guys were talking about when the yahoo gamechannel had Posada homering to "deep right".

 

[Smues]

So will this fan get the key to the city too, or does that only happen when you steal playoff games?