But I had a good year, as I imagine most people with season ticket plans did one the dust from relocation finally cleared up.

It all got off on shaky ground, with the relocation process taking months longer than the Yankees initially said it would. Many people were upset with what they wound up being assigned but I was pretty pleased in the end after a few heart attacks. I even bought a plan from a friend who originally had a Saturday plan but was assigned a midweek plan that he couldn’t use, so in a way I benefited from the mess.

I wound up sitting in almost every level of Yankee Stadium III this year. Legends, Main, Terrace, Grandstand and Bleachers. Next year I’ll have to give the Field section a shot to see how it compares to the rest.

(If you’re wondering where my favorite place is—I love my Friday night Grandstand plan because it’s really hard to sit near people as awesome as the guys around me. So while other places might have a better view I’ll take the upper deck with people I feel comfortable around.)

Since I wound up with tickets to twelve extra games than I had originally planned (not accounting for on a whim excursions), I got to see a lot of awesome stuff this year. And a fair bit of not so awesome, of course, but mostly awesome. Some of the highlights:

• May 1st – Down 5 runs going into the bottom of the 8th inning, the Yankees come back to beat the Angels in the bottom of the 9th innning. The stadium is empty going into the late innings when the team was beginning their comeback. It’s so desolate that I move over to the section where some friends of mine sit and am able to recline across three seats.
• May 15th – Brett Gardner hits an inside the park homerun after the ball takes a weird bounce off the wall in shallow left field and the Yankees win in the bottom of the 9th against Minnesota.
• August 7th – 14 and a half innings of scoreless baseball between the Yankees and the Red Sox. While many people enjoy shootouts, a true pitcher’s duel like this one is, in my opinion, much more exciting (and nerve-wracking). AJ Burnett and Josh Beckett matched zeroes and made batters look silly, and then the bullpens for each came out and continued to match zeroes (though there was much less of the whole batters looking silly stuff going on).In the 14th with men on base, Eric Hinske hit a screaming line drive to right field which JD Drew somehow caught. Which was very irritating.

  Then finally in the bottom of the 15th inning, Derek Jeter got on base. Johnny Damon tried to bunt but popped up. Which was more irritating than JD Drew catching Hinske’s line drive. The crowd, delirious and trying to remember what their families looked like at that point was instantly deflated. Big Teix came up and struck out and I started to wonder if the game would ever end.

  And then it happened. A-Rod sent a pitch from Junichi Tazawa out of play into center field. Almost seven hours after entering Yankee Stadium, I was finally on my way home.

• ALCS Game 2 -  It’s rainy, it’s cold and I’m sitting in the bleachers with my mom. AJ has a small meltdown but it’s nothing compared to the true Bad AJ who shows up.

  It seemed like it was all over in the 11th inning when the Angels score but they foolishly decided to pitch to A-Rod who deposited a Brian Fuentes fastball into the right field seats. And so everyone who was in the process of packing up their stuff dropped it and screamed very loudly.

  Finally, five hours after the game started, we were released from weather Hell as Macier Izturis and Chone Figgins screwed up a routine play and Jerry Hairston Jr scored on the error. The night ended with people hugging people they don’t know—always a sign that you have seen a good game.

I was there for seven of the regular season walkoff victories in total, which was more than I had been to in the rest of my baseball life combined. More blowout victories instead of heart attacks next year, please.

And again, I was there for some stinkers. I saw Mariano Rivera give up back-to-back homeruns for the first time ever, which was probably the lowlight of the year. I also sat through some total clunkers by AJ Burnett but that’s what happens when you see AJ Burnett start a bunch of times over the course of a season.

I’m really sad that I won’t be at any World Series games unless a miracle occurs, but I’ve seen my share of great and important baseball this year in person. And watching at home does have the added bonus of no conduct guidelines so I don’t have to worry about being inappropriate.

You know you're in trouble when the scoreboard rolls over.

There aren’t many 15 inning games over the course of a season, never mind 15 inning games that last almost six hours and involve both the Yankees and the Red Sox. But there was one Friday night, and like every Friday night game the Yankees have had for the last few years I was there.

I walked into the Stadium on Friday about 6:30, expecting to get home at about 11-11:30 like I normally do (yes, even though Yankees/Red Sox games are notoriously long I was optimistic). Instead I got home at 1:30 after sitting through the equivalent of one and a half games.

There’s no need to go into a detailed game summary here, but I do want to say that A.J. Burnett was fantastic as was Josh Beckett and the bullpens for both teams did an excellent job. It was all about hanging on and completely wearing out the other team. And the Yankees were able to get to a pitcher they could truly hit before the Red Sox.

Tazawa, as a starter, could probably have pitched 6-7 innings and after Damon’s botched bunt attempts (seriously terrible), me and the people around me had moved onto trying to figure out who would pitch next. Sergio Mitre? Who’s throw day is it? I had zoomed into the bullpen with my camera to check it out and found it was at that point completely devoid of pitchers.

But then Alex Rodriguez with one swing of his bat tied Harmon Killebrew on the all time home runs list and sent us home. Which made us happy and grateful, though the man who sits next to me on Fridays was worried about how angry his wife would be at his late arrival.

There was a lot that happened between then (like runners not reaching third base and JD Drew making catches he really should not be able to!), but by the time you get to the 12th inning dementia (for fans at least, I can’t speak to how the commentator teams or players were doing).  Some people left early and those people got booed as badly as David Ortiz. Hopefully they got home and saw the game still going and felt badly.

Finally, for those who are wondering here is a summary of the general mental states of the Stadium during the game by inning:

1. Bottom of the 9th – How exciting, this game might go into extra innings and now the Yankees can only win on a walk off.
2. Bottom of the 10th – Still excited! The Yankees are putting runners on…and now Derek Jeter is 0-5 and there is no God.
3. Bottom of the 11th – Nooooo Teix don’t hit it to dead center.
4. Bottom of the 12th – Pop-ups are not pleasing. Oh no I think that’s Bruney warming up. Please be good Bruney.
5. Bottom of the 13th – Jeter and Damon are now both 0-6, that’s bordering on Corey Patterson-esque and this game will never end. I miss my family and I’m hungry.
6. Bottom of the 14th – Ramiro Pena pinch running is the most exciting thing in the universe!!! What the…JD DREW SHOULD NOT BE ABLE TO MAKE THAT CATCH.
7. Bottom of the 15th – Those sure were some terrible bunt attempts, Johnny. Oh well, who’s available to pitch next—A-ROD!

1. April 22nd vs Oakland (won on a Melky Cabrera homerun)
2. May 1st vs Anaheim (Brian Fuentes explosion, Posada hit a single with the bases loaded)
3. May 15th vs Minnesota (Joe Nathan was called on for the fourth day in a row, exploded)
4. May 16th vs Minnesota (Alex Rodriguez homerun off Craig Breslow in the 11th)
5. May 17th vs Minnesota (Johnny Damon homerun off Jesse Crain in the 10th)
6. May 23rd vs Philadelphia (Brad Lidge Explosion, homerun to tie it followed by two singles to win)
7. June 12nd vs Fake New York (Luis Castillo drops the ball)
8. July 4th vs Toronto (The day Robinson Cano could do nothing right and Brett Tomko pitched a scoreless inning)
9. July 20th vs Baltimore (Hideki Matsui homerun off Jim Johnson in the bottom of the 9th)

That’s a lot of walkoffs over the course of a full season, nevermind 3/4 of one. Last year, I think the Yankees had four all year. I was at two of them, both against the Orioles and both ended by Robinson Cano doing something right. This year, I’ve been at four. That’s a lot.

There are a few kinds of walkoff victories:

1. A game that is tied for a very long time. Usually the result of pitchers duels, but also sometimes caused by offensive ineptitude.
2. The bullpen blows the lead (or the starting pitcher hits a bad skid).
3. The come back. You finally get to the bullpen and the offense wakes up!

I prefer the comeback style victory, though it’s also very painful when the team comes up just short of making it. Still, sometimes by hanging around the Stadium or keeping on the TV when everyone else has left or flipped the channel you get to see things you never believed could happen like this:

Bottom 8th: NY Yankees
- H. Matsui grounded out to pitcher
- R. Cano doubled to deep left center
- J. Posada walked
- J. Arredondo relieved R. Rodriguez
- B. Gardner singled to left, R. Cano to third, J. Posada to second
- M. Cabrera singled to left, R. Cano scored, J. Posada to third, B. Gardner to second
- R. Pena singled to right center, J. Posada and B. Gardner scored, M. Cabrera to third
- D. Jeter grounded out to shortstop, M. Cabrera scored, R. Pena to second
- J. Damon struck out looking

4 runs, 4 hits, 0 errors
LA Angels 9, NY Yankees 8

Bottom 9th: NY Yankees
- B. Fuentes relieved J. Arredondo
- M. Teixeira walked
- H. Matsui singled to left, M. Teixeira to second
- R. Cano singled to center, M. Teixeira to third, H. Matsui to second
- A. Berroa ran for H. Matsui
- J. Posada singled to left center, A. Berroa and M. Teixeira scored, R. Cano to second

2 runs, 3 hits, 0 errors
LA Angels 9, NY Yankees 10

It was pretty awesome, it will never happen again. I saved my ticket stub so I can remember this game forever. It’s my favorite game that I’ve been to this season. It was nice to be sent home by a Hideki homerun, for example, but it doesn’t top a game where the Yankees did all of the following:

• Scored 5 runs in two innings;
• Beat the Angels;
• Had beaten the Angels the night before.

Two wins in a row against the Angels! Another reason to hold onto that ticket stub of mine.

I brought my camera as I always do, but forgot to put the memory card back in it after transferring some files off. Luckily, I had my camera phone and my DSi to take bad quality pictures with. So if you’ve ever wondered what the stadium looks like from the inside during a long rain delay, here you go.

Not pictured: people playing cards in the Grandstand to waste time, everyone running around when the wind started whipping the rain into a flurry.

There’s a lot so here’s a preview picture and make sure to follow afterward:

The crowd who stayed behind hiding from the weather.

So, they hit more homeruns at home and more doubles on the road. This probably has to do with the not as advertised fence distances. Overall, the offense has a slight advantage at home because of that, but it still comes out mostly even. Which I love because it’s a great counter to the “New Yankee Stadium is a joke” crowd. There’s a difference, yes, but there’s always a difference. The Yankees are still scoring an average of about 5.5 runs on the road and that’s a nice number.

Even without the WIND TUNNEL to rely on to boost those slugging numbers, the Yankees hit more than a homer a game on the road so when they score lots of runs you expect to find some of them came via the long ball. Carlos Gomez, being a jerk, was having none of that though which gave the Yankees an opportunity to out-Twins the Twins.

Luckily, it didn’t involve any bunting or hit and runs or productive outs (well, except that one Sac Fly thanks to Carlos Gomez’s leap) and grit heart scrappy gamer grinding. Just a whole lot of singles. 13 of them, to be exact. The other hits of the night were two doubles and a triple.

How do you score 10 runs off 16 hits spread over the night with no homeruns? Well, this part isn’t very Twins but is very Yankees: You take free bases when they’re offered. Minnesota pitchers issued 7 walks last night–including one with the bases loaded to Nick Swisher.

It’s nice to have a game like this where hit after hit falls in once in a while, but I still like the Bronx Bombers more.

The crowd on Tuesday (at least in my section) was hands down one of the most annoying I have dealt with, ever, at a Yankee game. Now I admit that I am a fairly grouchy person, but as long as I can see what is going on in the game I am excellent at just bitching about it and continuing to watch the game. This was made very hard at times on Tuesday as there was a very large block of very drunk people (they didn’t appear to all be together, which made it even more frightening) who just stood up constantly no matter what was going on.

Yankees have a runner on base? STAND UP
Orioles have a runner on base? STAND UP
Pitcher is about to throw a pitch? STAND UP

In Old Yankee Stadium, this wasn’t really that annoying as you could see anyway because of the steep incline. In New Yankee Stadium, it can sometimes be hard to see if there is a big guy four rows in front of you sitting down.

This got too long but if I think too hard about it, I get annoyed all over again. In short: If you are at a game, please be considerate of the people around you. Don’t stand up and block the view during the action, and if you do, don’t be surprised when people yell at you to sit down because you are…blocking the view.

These annoyances were all washed away by the performance of the Yankees pitchers and hitters. CC Sabathia is really looking like the guy we thought he was, and Phil Hughes put together a very solid 5 innings (could have pitched 6, but I don’t disagree with the decision to pull him out on a high note). Many baseballs left the park, including Nick Swisher’s first at home. Good times all around.

The back-to-back-to-back homeruns from Swisher-Robinson Cano-Melky Cabrera was just ridiculous. The first two of that trio, not a big deal. But Melky joining in on the action? It will never happen again. Ever. Especially bizarre because Melky’s was a monster that ended up in the Main level of the stadium.

And as usual, some pictures.

May 19th

May 20th