1) There are good things and bad things to the New Yankee Stadium but I think (or maybe hope) the park will be a work in progress for the first few seasons. There are some things that need to be worked out (get into that more a bit in the cleanup spot). Here's some funny things from the Late Show. How about for some good things?
2) Well LoHud did a great interactive view of the New Yankee Stadium (though the most expensive seats are definitely not $375...not sure where that number came from).
3) According to Baseball Prospectus (via ESPN Insider), right field may be even friendlier than the short porch in the old Yankee Stadium. I think that we can already see that by the balls flying out of the ballpark in the first few games. The Yankee starting lineup has Matsui, Damon, and Cano as lefties who all drive the ball out to right. Tex, Posada and Swisher and switch hitters who will benefit from this as well. And even Jeter and A-Rod consistently drive the ball to the opposite field. If the Yankees starting five can get more ground balls than fly balls, this park will definitely play to the Yankees advantage.
4) And now on to some not nice things. I love the New Yankee Stadium (NYS) and the Yanks, but I want to try to be at least a little objective. The Mets Police has some interesting things on their website including some links to the obstructions and other alarming things. They also review NYS and say it's like "The Phantom Menace" (that is not praise), though they do link to our review as well and call that the balanced look. So hopefully I've found my way into the middle. There are a few other bones to pick, though...
5) I took a Robert Reich class in college titled "Wealth and Poverty". The big theme was the gap between the rich and the poor. How about this gap as pointed out by the New York Times: between $5 and $2,625. And the problem is that the price of the average ticket has gone up 76%. So average Joe's such as myself are being priced out more and more which sucks. I hate feeling like this is a playground for the rich. Hopefully next year they correct some of this.
6) I don't know who Tara is, but she has to go. Who ever has gone to a game so far in NYS has heard her voice. She does the contests in the stands and has a voice akin to the Nanny. It's awful. And it sounds even worse over the PA system. Especially since she's way too peppy in the wrong way. Twitter has been abuzz about her and the Wall Street Journal mentions her a few times in their blog about opening day. I'm pretty sure she's what caused the audio to stop working the second exhibition game.
7) Some interesting things can be gleaned from the Yankee Stadiums comparison on the Yankees website. One is that there are wider seats and more legroom (and more cupholders). Another is that the concourses are tremendously bigger which is a huge improvement. But one that actually effects the play on the field caught my eye. there is supposedly 20 less feet from home plate to backstop. While I surmised (I think correctly) that there is more foul room down the lines, this should actually balance that fact out.
8) Two Joel Sherman blog points caught my eye. One is that Brian Bruney is like the relief version of AJ Burnett. Couldn't agree more. Both need to stay healthy and throw strikes because both have GREAT stuff. The other is that there were times when the old Stadium shook and I wonder if that will happen again in this new one. It would be a shame if it didn't because the October atmosphere is going to be one of my fondest memories about the old park and Don Mattingly's shot in 1995 and Tino Martinez's shot in 1998 (Game 1 of the World Series) were two moments I thought the place was going to collapse.
9) Today was a big win for the Yankees. They need to be able to play from behind and win. They need consistent bullpen work so that every time something goes wrong, we don't hear about how Joba has to go there. And they needed to get that first win in NYS off their back. Now they can just go about the business of just winning ballgames.
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