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April 17, 2009: First and second, two out

After the debacle of the inaugural game at new Yankee Stadium, today’s game seemed much more fitting as an opener! After all, Derek Jeter hit the key home run and Mariano Rivera got the save, among other things.

It was a gorgeous day in New York, the temperature just kissing 70. I didn’t actually go to the game today, though I wanted to. No, corwin and I went yesterday (photos to come), and then I was up at 4am to take him to a dawn flight out of Kennedy airport. Our route took us right past the new Citi Field, the Mets’ new home, and in the pre-dawn dark it was all lit up in garish color. If the new Yankee Stadium gives the impression of a cathedral, Citi Field looks like a carnival.

I think I like ours better.

I slept a few hours back in the Bronx, and then hit the road back to Massachusetts in the early afternoon, just in time to get in the car for the first pitch of today’s game.

Yesterday there were a lot of firsts, of course. Jorge Posada hit the first home run, for example, but the firsts continued to pile up in the second game. The Yankees scored 5 of their 6 runs on solo home runs, which is weird in and of itself, but they also all went to right-center field. Even the Indians’ Mark DeRosa’s homer went to right-center.

The last of these homers belonged to Derek Jeter, who came to the plate in the 8th with the score tied 5-5, two outs, and the bullpen looking very questionable after yesterday’s meltdown. He sent the ball to Mo, though, by sending one over the fence. Jeter is now the answer to the trivia question Who Got the First Curtain Call in the new Yankee Stadium?* Apparently it just took an extra day for the mojo from Ruth’s bat to take effect (prior to Jeter’s first at bat yesterday they laid a bat across the plate ceremonially–the bat that Ruth hit a homer on Opening Day 1923 with…). Or maybe they should have let the whole bullpen touch Ruth’s glove or something.

Mariano recorded the building’s first save, giving up two singles, but ultimately getting the side before allowing a run.

Hopefully there will be many more games like this one in the new Stadium than like yesterday’s loss. Final score, 6-5 Yanks.

*Edit: I’ve been informed that Posada actually had a curtain call yesterday for his homer into Monument Park. Somehow I missed that, even though I was there. Perhaps the calling for him didn’t reach up into the upper deck where I sit…

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