Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
May 23, 2007
That's Why They Wear Cups

Seth Mnookin harshly criticizes A-Rod for breaking up a double play last night. I saw the play, and my initial thought was the ump would call interference. Unlike Seth, I was watching the NESN broadcast, and Remy noted that since A-Rod had the bag, that probably saved him. (Remy, by the way, defended the famous Rodriguez slap, saying he would do the same thing.) I disagree. It's one thing to slide into someone, it's another to come up after you're out and throw an elbow.

The other thing I noticed in the late innings last night was how alone the Yankees were as they attempted a comeback. Once the lead went to 7-2, the fans started leaving. The box seats were pretty empty in the eighth and ninth. The Yankees threatened in both innings, and 50,000 screaming fans might have helped. Fans leaving early, especially against the Red Sox, is a sign the fan base gave up on the team. Maybe it won't be that difficult to get Yankees tickets the rest of the year.


Posted by David Pinto at 11:09 AM | Players | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Cue "outraged" Red Sox fans in 3...2...1...

Posted by: Ben K. at May 23, 2007 11:47 AM

Not-so-outraged Sox fan here. Earlier in the game, I watched someone slide into second and miss the bag by at least 5 feet. I'm pretty sure it was Pedroia. Would love to see a picture of that one, it was utterly ridiculous. He would have had to do a complete barrel roll in order to reach his arm out and get the bag.

Posted by: Mike at May 23, 2007 11:57 AM

Schilling saw it. Tonight. Third Pitch.

Posted by: cj at May 23, 2007 12:12 PM

David,

I have been noticing fans leaving games earlier and earlier this year as well at Yankee games, and because it has been happening all season long, not just in the past couple of weeks, I think its safe to attribute this phenomenon to the growing headaches coming and leaving the stadium.

Because of the construction for the "New" Yankee Stadium, the traffic around the current stadium is a complete disaster. The same thing is happening at Shea this year. The 8th and 9th innings are completely empty there as well.

I have a personal rule against leaving games early, but I have broken it twice this year to beat the utterly horrendous traffic jams.

Or maybe I just don't want to admit that our fans are already giving up....

Posted by: Teddy at May 23, 2007 12:46 PM

It was Pedroia. He should consider it either 1) payback for his own stuff, or 2) that's baseball & trying to break up the DP.

Posted by: rbj at May 23, 2007 12:52 PM

Was it out of line? Absolutely; takeout slides are "that's baseball", throwing an elbow ain't.

Is it worth getting exercised about? Absolutely not.

Sure, he should have been called for interference, and he'll probably get dusted for it at some point. But in the grand scheme of things, his team lost by 5 runs and is 10 games out of first place. Under those circumstances, a little frustration is understandable. Even Pedroia blew it off as not a big deal.

Posted by: cwp at May 23, 2007 01:24 PM

If the Yanks play it smart, Pettitte will throw at someone in the top of the first and both teams will be warned. Then Schilling will be handcuffed. (Uh, not literally!)

(My own sentiments are similar to cwp's.)

Posted by: James at May 23, 2007 01:33 PM

Ditto what Teddy said. It's traffic caused - same reason why so few are there in the 1st inning.

Posted by: Steve Lombardi at May 23, 2007 02:28 PM

I haven't had the same experience w/ the traffic and I park in the lot right across the street from the new stadium. I've driven a couple of times this year and haven't noticed any discernable difference in the flow due to new stadium construction.

As for people leaving last night, I'm guessing the explanation is much simpler. The Yanks hang around only to see Moose turn a 4-2 game into a 7-2 game in the 7th. I'm pretty tired of watching the guy NOT come up big myself.

Where's my car?

Posted by: crg at May 23, 2007 02:42 PM

I think you also get a different fan-base at the Yankee/Red Sox games now. I've noticed that there aren't as many diehards as there used to be. We get more casual/corporate fans that go because it's the cool place to be and they can afford to pay for overpriced tickets on StubHub. And I find that those people tend to leave early.

Posted by: Jen at May 23, 2007 03:02 PM

This is completely anicdotal, but I've been to Shea eight times this year and haven't noticed more empty seats this year than last year, during the 8th and 9th innings.

Granted, maybe it's because the Mets aren't 10.5 out.

;)

As for A-Rod, I didn't think it was any worse of a slide than Pedroia's. Also, Eckstein does it all the time, but I guess cause he's little and "scrappy" he gets away with it.

I wonder, if Schilling hits A-Rod tonight, will Alex put red marker on his uniform and pretend it's blood? Hmmm...

Posted by: jc at May 23, 2007 03:56 PM

If everybody is leaving in the 7th inning to avoid the traffic jam, the traffic jam will start in the 7th inning, in which case they might as well stay and see the whole game.

Posted by: Tor at May 23, 2007 09:22 PM

If you really want to list "take-out" sliders, go back to Roger Maris, Don Baylor, Frank Robinson, and Hank Bauer. Baylor ruined the career of one 2B. For the ultimate "dirty slide", go back to NYY Johnny Lindell's football slide into Cards 3B Whitey Kurowski in 1943 WS.

Posted by: Bob S at May 24, 2007 11:07 PM
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