 Today I went to see the New York Yankees play against the Baltimore Orioles at New Yankee Stadium. I went with my cousin Anna, who lives in Brooklyn. Not only was this her first Yankees game (in either the old or the new stadium), this was her time time seeing a live baseball game in her life. In the morning and afternoon I explored Manhattan. About three hours before the first pitch, Anna and I met in the subway at Union Station, and we took the train to the Bronx. There were many Yankee fans going to the game as well. We got to the stadium at around 5:45PM, about an hour and twenty minutes before the scheduled first pitch. I was hoping to go down to the field seats to photograph the stadium from there (during batting practice), but I was informed that they didn't allow fans to get closer to the field after 5:30PM. Oh well. Just before the game got underway, I moved from my seat to photograph the first pitch. The image seen in today's entry is a high dynamic range image, and it was captured seconds before the first pitch. The starting pitcher for the Yankees was the veteran Andy Pettitte (you can see he is on the mound, holding the baseball, ready for the game to begin). The game was a sellout, with announced attendance of well over 46,000. The game was a low scoring affair, with a 1 to 1 tie going into the ninth inning (the only runs in the game were by solo home runs: Nick Markakis of the Orioles in the top of the first inning and and Eric Hinske hitting one out to deep right in the bottom of the second inning). Both starting pitchers had a great game, though they both factored in a no-decision. David Hernández of the Orioles pitched 6.0 innings, giving up the one earned run, three walks, while striking out four. Andy Pettitte pitched a solid 7 1/3 innings (109 pitches throw, 76 for strikes), giving up the one earned run to Markakis, two walks, while logging eight strikeouts. Andy received a standing ovation from the crowd when manager Joe Girardi replaced him in the seventh inning. With the score 1-1 going into the ninth inning, reliever Alfredo Aceves of the Yankees Alfredo escaped a jam (two runners on base) in the ninth when Nolan Reimold hit an inning-ending flyout. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Alex Rodriguez was the first batter; he grounded out, and I thought that this game was headed to extra innings. However, on the next at-bat, Hideki Matsui blasted a deep ball off reliever Jim Johnson to the right field stands. It was a monster walk-off home run! The crowd went absolutely wild, as the Yankees defeated the Baltimore Orioles with a final score of 2-1. As Matsui rounded the bases, his teammates beckoned him to slam his helmet on the ground, and so he did just that. Said Matsui: 'I was just going to step on home plate, just normally...but they told me to throw my helmet. So I threw my helmet.' You can see the video of Matsui's walk-off home run and the ensuing celebration here and here. Trivia: with their 2-1 victory, the New York Yankees won three consecutive games with that score (2-1) for the first time in franchise history. This was such a great game, not least because baseball games which end in walk-off home runs are relatively infrequent. New Yankee Stadium was the tenth MLB stadium which I've visited in my lifetime. It's one of my life goals to visit all thirty MLB ballparks. Other MLB stadiums I have photographed which are featured on Erudite Expressions are:
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