The first playoff game I ever went to was Game 3 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals in the NHL Playoffs. A big Ranger fan at the time, I was pumped up to head to New Jersey and the Continental Airlines Arena to see the swing game in the series. My dad and I were pumped to go into enemy territory and see if the Rangers could steal one from their budding interstate rivals. The game was tied 2-2 at the end of regulation, it was tied 2-2 at the end of one overtime. And then, in the second overtime, Stephane Matteau ended it with a game winning, double-overtime goal. Many hockey fans will look at that and be confused, saying, "you must mean game 7."
Game 3 was the forgotten game of that series. It was one of 3 to end in double overtime (Game 1 went to the Devils). But as the Rangers did so often that playoff run, they found a way to win that night in New Jersey. As my dad and I headed back through the Meadowlands tunnel to our car, we were surrounded by dejected Devils fans and Rangers fans who, at the top of their lungs chanted "Let's go Rangers, clap, clap, clapclapclap". Over and over and over again. They banged the sides of the tunnel, they high-fived each other. And my dad and I joined in on the action.
The second playoff game I went to was the next year. My dad and I waited on line (and I put a space in there on purpose because in the pre-internet days, they used to line up people wrapped around the stadium to get playoff tickets) to get tickets to the American League Division Series to see the first-ever-wild-card-winning Yankees take on the Seattle Mariners in Game 2 of the ALDS. We had some of the worst seats in the house but we felt the stadium literally shake as Don Mattingly hit a majestic shot into the October night. It was the Yankee captain's first taste of October as well as mine. I loved every second of it. Jim Leyritz would end that game in extra innings on a walk-off home run.
Let's fast forward to Friday night. I'll post some of the pictures from that night here but I'll make some of the others available as well.
I went with my dad, which, as I've said before and I've told about earlier in this post, just feels natural for a game like this. Like our first baseball playoff game together, we had some of the worst seats in the house, but we were just happy to be there. There was a buzz in the air on Friday night that I hadn't felt before in the New Yankee Stadium. Every time Burnett had two strikes, people cheered. Every time he had two strikes and two outs, everyone rose and cheered.The crowd also recognized how ridiculous it was that we couldn't get any hits off of Nick Blackburn. This is a guy who led the league in hits given up. And we couldn't touch him through four for as many as one hit. Jorge Posada's biggest fear had come true: the whole line-up was hitting like Jose Molina, especially Mark Teixiera whose jersey I was wearing.
The Yankees caught a break early on that made me feel like it may be their night. A.J. Burnett had one of his wild streaks, hitting two batters, and then gave up a base hit to right. The Yankees looked like they were about to fall behind, but got lucky when Carlos Gomez overran second, Nick Swisher alertly threw behind him, and the Yankees got the out without the run scoring. This was a play that I think got lost in the postgame analysis.
The two worst thing to happen to the Yankees in this game? Two outs and Matt Tolbert's olblique strain. The Yankees allowed a TON of baserunners with two outs to the point that my dad called two outs "poisonous" for us. And Matt Tolbert's olbique strain meant that Brendan Harris entered the game and had two big hits (including a triple that should have been caught but Damon plays the outfield field like Henry Rowengartner at the beginning of Rookie of the Year") and a huge defensive play at third. The first of his two hits put the Twins on the board and quieted the Yankee crowd for a bit.
But then A-Rod continued his hot October with a two-out RBI single which produced my tweets of "I think A-Rod should share Kate Hudson with Tex...he needs her if she's this much of a playoff slumpbuster" and "Maybe Kate Hudson should have gotten the Nobel Peace Prize because she brings A-Rod--and therefore Yankees fans--peace" and "A-Rod really needs to play the Twins every playoffs."
Side Note: I wrote these tweets from my Blackberry during breaks in the game. My dad asked me who was e-mailing me. I just told him "no one". I didn't know how to explain that I was tweeting at the game...and I really didn't know how to explain Twitter to him, either.
The Twins would break the tie off the Yankees previously infallible pair of Hughes and Rivera. And then came the 9th. The crowd was waiting for something--anything--to cheer about. All we needed was a baserunner and we knew the Yankees were in business because they had the middle of their lineup up. We also knew that Joe Nathan had blown a game back in May in Yankee Stadium and despite being one of the top 3 closers in the American League, he could be prone to the yips every once in a while.
Mark Teixeira started it off with a single which was big for him because he had been hitless in the playoffs and seemed like he was pressing with 3 very high pop-ups to start off the game. Then A-Rod came up against Nathan. He hit a long fly ball to right. The whole stadium held it's breath as it soared and soared. I grabbed my dad's arm. He wasn't so sure it was out. And then...IT WAS GONE!
The place erupted, the stands shook, and A-Rod got a curtain call. I high-fived the people sitting next to me, the twins sitting in front of me, the couple next to me, the guy behind me who yelled out "TURTLE!" every time Jason Kubel came to the plate (the resemblance is really uncanny, but I didn't need that yelled out every time), everyone. We went nuts. The whole crowd, maybe anticipating a tough loss, was shocked. We never should have been considering this team has been coming back all year. But A-Rod? In the playoffs? In a huge spot? Wow.
"A-Rod needs to play the Twins every playoff series," I tweeted. It's true. He was great against the Twins in 2004 and hadn't hit well in the playoffs again until he played the Twins again. Amazing.
In the bottom of the 10th, I looked up at the scoreboard and saw the Twins had Mauer, Kubel and Cuddyer coming up and the Yankees had Damaso Marte warming up in the bullpen. I felt like they needed to score there or else they may lose this one after a dramatic comeback. Jorge Posada started it off with a broken bat single. Brett Gardner replaced him to pinch run and stole second. An errant throw by Nathan put him on third. Jeter walked and there was runners on 1st and 3rd with one out and Johnny Damon coming to the plate. A deep fly ball wins it. And what does Damon do? Line one that is caught and then thrown to third to double off Gardner. "Fuck," I said to my dad, "that was not good." The crowd went silent.
Side Note: Some people call Garnder's running on the play a "blunder". It wasn't. You HAVE to send Garnder on contact there. He saw contact and ran. If that ball is a ground ball, he needs to be able to score. If it's a line drive, that's what happens. It happens. It wasn't a "blunder".
Marte would allow his two hitters to single and then Robertson came on. He gave up another single which loaded the bases. No outs. The crowd is dead. There isn't a peep. Infield is in. First batter: line out. One away. Cano and Jeets go back to double play depth. Next pitch is a chopper to the infield, they come home to get the force. Two away. The crowd is getting excited now. Next batter hits a fly ball to center. As Gardner catches the ball, the crowd goes wild. We got out of it. Tex, A-Rod, Matsui coming up. "It's pie time," I declare to the section.
Side note: The seats I had were good enough to see the whole field...except for the foul ground down the left field line. So I didn't see Mauer's ball/the blown call. Here's the one thing I have to say, though. Mauer still got on base. The Twins still loaded the bases. They left 17 men on base in the game. That's not the umpire's fault. Let's give some more credit to the Yankees for winning and less to the umpires for "blowing it"
The rest is a blur. I saw Teixeira hit the ball down the line. I thought it was a double. I saw it hit off the wall and I thought it would carom back onto the field. Except it didn't. I saw Teixiera raise his hand to the sky. I saw the Yankees celebrating. So I celebrated as well. Unlike A-Rod's home run, we didn't have the anticipation of that one up in the air. According to Tyler Kepner, the ball went out of the park in 2.88 seconds at a speed of 110 miles per hour. It was over in an instant.
But we celebrated. And celebrated. We all sang "New York, New York" at the top of our lungs. We waited for and cheered the pie. We all didn't want to leave.
I will remember this photo of Teixeira who seemed to look around to try to soak up the entire experience.
I will remember A.J. Burnett, as was his custom, to come up with a pie for Teixiera and deliver it on cue.
I will remember this scoreboard, the enormous scoreboard, that I cared only for what it said at the very bottom: Yankees 4 - Twins 3.
But, mostly, I'll remember that it was my dad and I who had yet another chance to say "I was there" together. It took forever to leave because everyone stuck around to cheer. When the line stopped moving, I suggested we walk by the field. I told my dad I wanted one more picture to remember this by. So we asked the security guard to snap one and got this shot of our elated faces.
And then we left like we left the Meadowlands 15 years earlier: to the sound of fellow fans chanting in the walkway. The video below was only a short part of a long "Let's Go Yankees" chant that carried us out of the stadium:Like my first playoff game in the Old Yankee Stadium, my first playoff game in the New Yankee Stadium ended with a walk-off home run. I lost my voice on Friday night but I didn't care. This was certainly one of those nights I'll always remember being there. One which, when people talk about this game 15 years from now, I can say "I was there".
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