Yankees vs. Boston - Round 1

The Yankees have started their first series against the Red Sox of the 2008 season in Boston. As I write this, the Yanks are winning 3-1 in the bottom of the 8th. Chien-Ming Wang has been absolutely stellar thus far... throwing a 1-hitter through 7. As for the offense, the team has put together 8 hits -- 2 hits apiece for Rodriguez, Molina, and Matsui. Giambi added a run himself with a home run in the 7th off of Red Sox reliever Mike Timlin. If the Yanks can hold off the Red Sox for the next two innings, this will be a good start to what will be yet another season of this incredible rivalry. Let the taunting begin! As my friends in the bleachers at Yankee Stadium would say, "Red Sox Suck!"

Tough Start to the Season

With the 2008 season a week old, the Yankees find themselves in quite a hole. After starting the first 7 games of the season at home, the Yankees ended the homestand with a 4-3 record. Personally, I am a little disappointed with the start. They had 3 games versus the Blue Jays and 4 against the Rays (which in my mind should be 4 wins), before they play 10 of the next 12 straight games (without a day off) on the road. Then, on top of that, they remain on the road for another 7 games. Of the 19 games being played in April, only 11 of them are played at the stadium.

Yankees fans may have to endure a tough April. I don't know who is responsible for putting together the MLB schedule, but it seems as though the schedule has gotten more difficult every year for the Yankees since interleague play began in 1997. The Yankees have many veterans on the team who I hope will lead the team to a +.500 record come the end of April. Let's just hope they don't start off as slow as they did last year.

Bleacher Creatures - The Real Yankee Fans

The Bleacher Creatures... as defined on Wikipedia (and is true from experience):

"The Bleacher Creatures are a notorious group of fans loyal to the New York Yankees, who occupy sections 39 and 37 of Yankee Stadium's right-field bleachers. They are known for their rowdiness, their strict allegiance to their team, and their often verbally merciless nature towards fans of opposing teams."

I had the privilege once again, on Thursday, April 3, to sit in Section 37 at the Blue Jays/Yankees game at Yankee Stadium. In the stadiums final season, the fans that populate the bleacher seats in right field were once again rowdy and rambunctious as usual. For a cold April evening, I have never felt such electricity amongst a group of fans, as I did on this particular night. It was a close game, with the Yankees edging the Blue Jays 3-2 for their second win of the season. In only the third game of the season, there were a lot of awesome memories from the night...

- Roll Call
- Drunk, Obnoxious fans (obnoxious in a good way)
- Typical bleacher chants (Red Sox suck, Mets sucks, box beats suck... etc.)
- ...and the ever pleasant subway ride back into the city on the 4 train.

Of all those memories, one stands out the most, and that was when one of the fans, who shall remain nameless, razzed a fan in the box seats to the point where loose change was thrown our way, and the fan then being escorted out of the stadium. This is a very typical scene from the bleachers.

With 2008 being the last season in the current stadium, I am sure to be going to many more games and say goodbye to one of the greatest sports venue I have EVER been to.