Journal Entry: Day 15. Back Home At The Ballpark.

The Boss... No, not George Steinbrenner, me! Just kidding.

Well folks, baseball is back, and what better way then to spend your sunny Sunday afternoon than freezing your buns off in 15 mph winds, hearing tons of profanity, and watching opposing fans get the boot from the game in The House That George Steinbrenner Built? The answer: There is no other way. Baseball is back, and that's the best feeling in the world.

So to state the obvious, I was in attendance today with my baseball partner-in-crime, my father, for the Yanks' 10-7 loss to the Detroit Tigers in the final game of the opening weekend series, my first 2011 game of the season. The Yankees, who could have swept the series had Phil Hughes and Bartolo Colon not completely blown it today, now stand at 2-1, second place in the AL East. Despite it being freezing cold and the wind whipping, today's game, even though it was a big fat L, was a blast, and by a blast I mean literally. A total of seven homers were hit today, four by the Yankees (Robinson Cano, Mark Teixeira - who now has three in as many games - and two jacks by Jorge Posada) and three by the Tigers (Brennan Boesch had one and Miguel Cabrera had two). I felt like I was at a home run derby rather than a regular season game. The Yanks now have nine home runs in their first three games, a new franchise record.

One thing that really caught my eye was the severity of how hard Cabrera clobbered those home runs. Both of them, which happened to be two-run homers, were lasers to left field, and there was no doubt about it when the ball left the bat that they were gone. I don't think I've ever seen a baseball leave the stadium that quickly. But that's why Miguel Cabrera finished second in the AL MVP voting last season and is regarded is one of the best right-handed hitters in the game.

We had great seats: Section 105, row 11, just two rows behind the right field wall. That being the case, we got there early to watch batting practice and try to score some autographs but were unsuccessful. So after striking out on trying to get autographs, we tried to see if we could get into Monument Park. You all know that I love the Yankees and I've been a fan my whole life, but I must confess: never in my life have I ever been to Monument Park. It's been something I've wanted to do since I first stepped foot in the original House That Ruth Built which is now known as the dust-bowl next door. Sadly, the line was ridiculously long (seriously, it went up two stair cases) so we weren't able to get in.



We returned back to our seats by game time, just in time to watch the Yankees take their laps in the outfield. Shortly, the sun came out, it warmed up, and it was game time.

"Swishalicious," to quote John Sterling.

Perhaps the highlight of my day was none other than the man playing right field whom I sat right behind: Nick Swisher. Talk about a ball player who likes to have some fun. Every time a fan called out his name, gave him praise, or said his wife, actress Joanna Garcia, was "hot," Swish would turn around and give a wave and a smile, or a thumbs up. It was great to see that at least one athlete is human. Swish is just a fun loving guy who loves playing in New York, and I really hope that the Yanks pick up his option at the end of this year and that he's here for a very long time. My favorite line of the day was from the fan behind me, who brought up Swish's twitter account (@NickSwisher), asking "Hey Swish, can I get a re-tweet?" to which Swisher replied by turning around, laughing, and slapping his glove. You gotta love a guy who shows that he's having a blast playing the game.

Then there were the unruly fans behind us who heckled poor Tigers' outfielder Don Kelly. Today was not a good day to be that guy. The right field fans, who tend to be rowdy, wouldn't leave Kelly alone. Screams of "You suck Kelly!" "Hey there Pat Kelly!" "Nice strikeout Kelly! Really helping your team!" and many more which I can't list here because this is a school project (sigh), were echoed through the caverns of the outfield. All Kelly could do was do his best to ignore them and try to concentrate on the game. It got me thinking though, seeing as Swisher responded to anyone who talked to him from the stands, that ballplayers really do hear everything that the fans say. I could only imagine what was going through poor Don Kelly's head as Yankee fans ripped him apart.

Yeah, see Phil, we can't have this all year.

Another thing I noticed today was how low Phil Hughes' velocity was. The Yankees' young pitcher, who reportedly had low velocity during spring training as well, was incredibly ineffective. I'm pretty sure his hardest pitch was a 91 mph fastball in the first inning. Other than that, he was 80-89 with every other pitch and only lasted four innings, giving up five runs, two of them home run by Cabrera. I don't think I stand for myself when I say that I hope Hughes figures it out, because with the uncertainty of the Yankees' rotation this year, he can't afford to be ineffective. It's not like his counterpart, Max Scherzer of the Tigers, was any better. He went five innings and gave up six runs, four of them home runs. Bartolo Colon, who made his first major league appearance since 2009 out of the Yankees' bullpen, couldn't stop the bleeding. After having an incredible spring, he gave up four runs in four innings. Today was just not a day for the pitchers.

Even though I witnessed a great game, saw the joyful Nick Swisher, and almost caught a ball, the best part of my day was spending it with my father. We don't usually get to spend a lot of time alone together, seeing as he's usually busy, and we always bond over baseball. We literally watch every game every night together.

Ever since I was a kid, I can remember watching baseball with my Dad. He introduced me to the game I love and taught me everything about it. Soon enough, I surpassed his knowledge of the game and became a sabermetrics freak (don't ask, just google it), and now I have to explain stats and other things to him. So yeah, he's the reason I am the baseball freak that I am today. I give him a lot of kudos for braving it out in the cold today (he wore a winter jacket and three shirts, just for your information) and waking up early to get on the train to go watch batting practice, even when the night before he stated that he really didn't want to get to the stadium that early to "sit in the freezing cold and freeze my ass off." But he knew that I really wanted to get there early to watch BP, so he caved. You gotta love him. We used to go to games together all the time when my Dad was a season ticket holder up until the 2007 season, but then of course tickets spiked in price and we weren't able to keep them, so now it's a once in a while trip to the place we call home for the summer. I love going to game with him and I cherish every minute of it.

Anyway, let's end this post on that note. Today was a great day and I'm looking forward to tons of more games this season.

As always, until next time.

(Pictures on the left are of Joba Chamberlain and Ivan Nova. We were able to snap those photos from our seats. Pretty good seats eh? The other pictures are from Google.)