Pretzels

It was a cold, damp night at the stadium last night... one of those games when your first beer gives you the shivers but your fourth makes everything feel alright. I saw people eating dippin-dots, and that just blew my mind. It was a relatively short game (2:57) and I was amongst friends, so all was good in my world. (Notice the two Mariner fans in the picture... two great friends of mine who just happen to like to root for the wrong team. I shot this one early in the game, while they were smiling and before the depression had a chance to set in.)

First of all, I would like to officially thank Joe Girardi for benching Cano last night. I was getting angry at just seeing out there and I am glad the Yankees recognized that his simply needs some time out of the game. Wang pitched a decent game last night and is now 6-and-0, the first pitcher to tout this kind of start in the American League. He gave us a little scare last night when the medical staff was called to the mound but it turns out it was just a cramp in his hand. Of course, I have seen him at time when he was more on his game but a win is a win and that's all that really matters.

The Yankees offense looked slightly better last night. The 4 Seattle errors certainly helped us out in that regard. Melky Cabrera's double base, double RBI in the second inning was probably my favorite play of the game. We are really very fortunate to have Cabrera, and I hope that the Yankees finally realize that.

Bobby Murcer got a standing ovation last night when his video feed came on the big screen to the tune of "Welcome Back". He also had the honors of pulling the switch after the fifth inning to change the home game countdown number from 69 to 68. God bless you Bobby, I hope you are with us for a long, long time.

The Yankees received some information yesterday indicting that Posada will not need to have shoulder surgery this season but will likely not be able to pick up a baseball for the next two weeks. I am hoping that we see in back behind the plate in June. Posada did mention that it did not hurt him to hit, only to throw, but I doubt that the Yankees are going to take many chance with him. Posada will explore off-season surgery at the end of the year.

So, overall a good win for the Yankees last night, taking the first game of the Seattle series with a final score of 5-1. My seats acquired from StubHub were decent and the I enjoyed the company of my Seattle seatmates. My one complaint... and this is more of a general gripe about Yankee Stadium and not specifically last night's game... is that it is way too difficult to get a damn pretzel in the house that Ruth built. I mean, unless you get one in the first inning, you are screwed. The geniuses working at the pretzel carts seem to think it is good idea to put only 10 pretzels on the fire at one time (even if they have a line for 30 people) and then will tell you that it takes 10-to-15 minutes for the them to heat up. I am told that in the new Yankee Stadium, this will all be different. I am told that this will be a place where every fan will be able to get a hot, fresh pretzel. Where bathroom paper towel dispensers will be checked and refilled regularly and the employees might actually thank you for handing them a twenty for 2 cups of beer. This is my dream.