It's hard to put a direct cause on the Yankee blues. However I tend to still stand by my bad karma theory. State of the art new surroundings have not helped, only hindered. I think the big problem may be a lack of fans.
Throughout the Torre years a steady growth of fans in seats came with each each successive year of ticket sales and Yankee success. The construction of the new stadium resulted in luxury seating. Most of the seating, even though prices have been halved, remains empty.
The Yankees in their most dismal displays of talent could feed off the crowd. Crowds in the past typically numbered between 50,000 to 56,000+, depending on the opponent. Yes there have been an average of 46,000 at the home games, the the seating capacity of the new stadium is 52,325, which means roughly 6000 unsold seats. The vast majority of those seats as one sees on TV are closest to players. The rest of the fans are there, quarantined in the more baseball priced seats, rows back from the field between 1st and 3rd base.
I think the emptiness has gotten to the Bronx Bombers.
There is lot to be said for the effect of fans on player performance. Players can feed on fan energy; the Yankees have done that often. But even with large crowds what effect does that block of near empty rows of seat alter the player's energy?
The players could not have been blind to the controversy over the luxury seating. Coverage extended over national and international media. Who knows what feedback they have gotten of the Yankee management's refusal to eliminate the luxury seats. Could that be part of the player blues?
Guilt trips can have serious negative impacts. Although the players are not responsible for ticket prices directly, high salaries resulted in high concession and ticket prices. Seeing those empty seats at field level cannot help. Has the guilt of their owners' greed altered the psychological mindset of the players.
Look at the losses in Detroit. Granted Yankee pitching was so-so, but Comerica, despite having baseball's premier draw in house, the New York Yankees, could only help fill an average of 27,000 seats of 67% of the capacity.) Past years, despite Tiger performance would see a 90-95% of the seats filled, mostly with patrons wearing Yankee shirts.
The economy has certainly hit sports, as one can see from the empty seats at home and away Yankee games. Even still if you watch other teams on TV in other markets, people are going. Baseball which was not impacted in the post 1929 depression has now hit the wall. The current economic situation along with enhanced TV coverage is keeping fans home. the question remains what will baseball do to turn it around.
Among the many Yankee ills is the economy. Add to the lackluster multimillion dollar pitching, erratic offense, and injuries. Player talent can be fixed, but how do you fix the player psyche? Well for one thing, I would start upgrading people who come to the games. If those sweet comfortable seats are unsold, move fans down. Think of it as good PR. And if the Bombers play better, well that may be the road to a cure.
In regards to the Yankee Stadium personnel who misinformed fans to leave last night, I hope they are identified and fired. In regards to the woman who was arrested for assault on a police officer. You were wrong. I assume the woman was highly intoxicated, another issue associated with extended rain delays at Yankee games. However the police were doing there job and you certainly weren't acting like a civilized person or a lady. Assault on an officer deserves lockup, even if the reason for you protest was to to a miscommunication by Yankee employees and enforcement of the no re-entry policy.
In last night's rain delay melee there were wrongs on all sides, baseball, the fans who left and the Stadium employees who told them the game was postponed. It causes me to believe that weeknight rain delays should be limited to 90-120 minutes. If the games cannot be started after that time, it should be rescheduled. No consideration is given on these weeknight games that most fans have been up all day and then have to go home, catch some sleep and go to work the next day.
