NY Yankee Opening Day Part 2

I began my pilgrimage again in 65F dreary skies. The rain was diminishing and blue skies were appearing in the western horizon. ESPN's Michael Kay was on air stating it was still raining in the Bronx and there might be a delay, He must have gotten his information from the idiot Yankee weatherman. As every other real meteorologist in NYC had said the rain would be gone by 6 PM, they were correct the game began on time.

Polling many of the pilgrims on my journey, it appeared only 1 in 3 had been there the day before. Many had acquired their ticket from the original ticket holder, who now could not go.

I myself was warmly attired as cold temperature were predicted to return. It was in fact still in the 60's when the game ended, however by the time I returned home it was in the low 50's.

The team looks solid this year, Wang had some shakiness, nothing new to him in April. He was more careful with the Toronto power hitters, Rios, Wells and Thomas. Possibly it was too much birthday party from the night before.

I missed the opening ceremonies, stuck in a cattle stampede of fans dealing with Yankee security and no parking. Didn't they get the many memos, take mass transit. I missed the Voice of God too, longtime Yankee announcer, Bob Sheppard has some throat ailment and won't return until warmer temps set in. Jim Hall did an admirable job, but he still isn't as good as Mr. Sheppard, I doubt anyone will.

There were the celebrities, America's Mayor, Mr. Giuliani and the current Mrs. G; the Steinbrenners in various seats, King George was even in the house, up in the owner's suite with Billy Crystal.

Halladay was the ace of his fame, only a sloppy Blue Jay defense cost him the game. Their were fewer mistakes by the Bombers and clearly the true star was young Melky Cabrera. Cabrera had two spectacular run saving catches and a home run that account for the Yankees success last night. Respect was shown to the bats of Jorge Posada and Alex Rodriquez as Toronto put them on base rather then chance them taking on some more runs.

Job Chamberlain came in the 8th, a little too pumped but quickly settled and took us to the Sandman who did his job and notched Save # 1.

The dirtiest Yankee Award as usual goes to Derek Jeter. While Derek didn't have the most productive night on offense, his defense gets the Yankees in the game. Runners up were A-Rod and Giambi.

MLB Opening Day

With a new full slate completed, MLB can chalk up the success of completing games to Mother Nature. Only the Yankee Home Opener was delayed, and having lived and breathed at in and in the rainless 6 hours after the game was called; postponing the Yankee game tonight is classified as a big mistake. Hopefully it will be the only mistake the Yankees make this year. Glamourbee and I will return to the Bronx tonight and hopefully not freeze.

For the last 2 years MLB has made the master schedule. This is done so that there are no conflicting big games in prime time MLB revenue slots. There is no consideration for the fans.

The desire for $$$ by Selig and MLB leads to weekend home games being scheduled in odd afternoon times. I guess Bud forgets ballparks sell out on weekend as it becomes a family affair. The traditional after lunch ball game is few and far between, so as not to tick off ESPN, FOX and other networks. Forcing baseball to 4 and 7PM on the weekends for east coast games. Explain that to your your little leaguer.

Baseball on March 31 is crap shoot. Even Vegas won't give odds on getting a better than 50% completion in. Worse yet many games of snow city teams are scheduled in the snow cities, instead of sending the northern climate affected teams to play in warmer or enclosed fields.

This year MLB is off the hook, because Mother Nature sent a warm front through Wisconsin, and Illinois in time to allow those games to be played in Florida evening like conditions, as opposed to freezer like conditions; which will be the case about the 4th inning of tonight's Yankee Home Opener, Part II. And God forbid we schedule a day night doubleheader.

Baseball is going the wayside of a family sport. The sport is under the under influences of the greedy money hungry commissioner's office and the greedy owners. It's time for Selig to go. As for the owners, the should all be ashamed. They will eventually price themselves out of fans; and even the Yankees, the most expensive ticket in baseball have stopped catering to the average Joe.

In the zeal to sell seats in the new digs in the Bronx, ~800 seats are being priced between $500-$2500 dollars, So far 200 seats have sold. In addition fan ticket prices were raised again this year. Contracts should be lower so that ticket prices can come down and all who want to can afford a nice seat. This is forcing many to minor league baseball, part of the overall success of the minor expansion of the last few years. It remains the most affordable professional sporting event for families.

MLB games are rapidly becoming a tax write off for uberpaid executives and businesses; most of whom don't really follow the game. They attend to have status, not to watch and spend more time talking business the the game.

My Yankee tickets are the one extravagance I give myself. I use some myself and give some away for business and family, and the rest sell off to fans what I can't use. However I always make sure the person is a fan of the game; an absolute must.

I am hoping Mother Nature pounds some sense into the owners, before they price themselves out of the game and a fan base.

Its time for some common sense to come to baseball management. You can't always count of Mother Nature being kind and the fans being there.