Today’s news is powered by “Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine” (jump to the 1:30 mark):

Richard Cheese on Fox News Channel

• Matt Holliday a Yankee come 2010 (or late-2009)?:

There are certain requirements that come with this job, and one is this: Whenever you’re interviewing a big-name, impending free agent, you must ask him whether he would consider playing in New York.

“Yeah, I would play here,” Matt Holliday told Midweek Insider Tuesday night, before his A’s 5-3 loss to the Yankees. “I’d have no problem playing here.” . . .

When this winter arrives, Holliday will have at least one good adviser, in addition to Boras. Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira is also a Boras client, and the two men became friendly while they were teammates on Team USA in the 2006 World Baseball Classic.

“I consider (Teixeira) a good enough friend to talk about decisions,” Holliday said. “His situation obviously is similar to mine. He’s a year ahead of me in all of the things that have kind of happened. He’s definitely a good resource.”

• If you are “flush” with cash, you can “flush” in private at the Stadium, reports PeteAbe:

How far does the class warfare extend in Yankee Stadium? All the way to the men’s room.

According to the charmingly titled Fack Youk blog, there are dividers between the urinals in the field level bathrooms but not in the bathrooms elsewhere in the stadium.

• Is there NOTHING Nick Swisher can’t do?:

Nick Swisher will ring the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange (Friday) at 9:30 a.m. according to the Yankees.

The market has to go up, right? Either that or Swish will try to talk to every trader, they’ll forget their jobs and the we’ll all be lining up for government cheese in a week.

• The A.P. (as reported in the Boston Herald) has some pretty depressing seating figures from the first homestand:

A count by The Associated Press totaled 1,895 seats in the Legends Suite, of which 146 were in the front row from dugout to dugout, costing $2,500 as season tickets and $2,625 individually.

— On Tuesday night, only 64 of the 146 seats at the top price level were occupied in the bottom of the second inning. The outermost Legends Suite sections, which each contain 90 seats, were entirely empty until two fans finally emerged to sit in them during the late innings.

— On Wednesday, in the third inning, just 37 of the highest-priced, front-row seats were occupied, although it was impossible to know if some fans had taken shelter in stadium restaurants.

Yet another sign of how the best seats have been overpriced is their resale level.

Legends Suite seats in section 27B, row 2, down the left-field line that originally sold for $500 were available for $225 early Wednesday on the online ticket broker StubHub.com. Tickets in section 23, row 7, behind the visitors’ dugout could be had for $263, down from their $850 original price.

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For all the sturm und drang over Chien-Ming Wang’s mechanics and the dimensions and dynamics of the new Yankee Stadium, the Yankees just went 4-2 on their first home stand in their new ballpark. Like the rest of the series, yesterday’s game wasn’t pretty, but it ultimately worked out in the Yankees’ favor.

It was cool and rainy in the Bronx yesterday afternoon, and CC Sabathia wasn’t sharp. He opened the second inning by putting the first two men on base via a walk and a single, then giving up just the fourth Oakland home run of the season to Kurt Suzuki. Suzuki’s shot would have been a wall-scraper had a fan in left field not reached over the wall to snare it. Johnny Damon was there to attempt a catch, but the ball was too high for his reach and would have reached the seats had the fan not been there, as the umpires correctly ruled after reviewing the replay.

The Yankees got two of those runs back against A’s rookie left-hander Brett Anderson in the bottom of the second on solo homers by Hideki Matsui (a no-doubter into the right-field bleachers), and Melky Cabrera (a right-handed poke into the visiting bullpen), but the Yankee defense gave one back in the top of the third. With one out, Damon dropped an easy pop up behind third base allowing Jason Giambi to reach second base. Holliday then singled Giambi to third. Cust followed with a chopper back to Sabathia. CC checked Giambi at third, then threw to second to get Holliday. Because Sabathia checked Giambi, Derek Jeter didn’t have time to relay to first for the double play, but Giambi broke for home after Sabathia threw to second, so Jeter fired home only to realize after he made the throw that Giambi was running because no one was covering the plate. Jorge Posada was backing up first base, Cody Ransom had been holding Giambi at third, and Sabathia had to field the ball off the bat. The ball sailed to the backstop, but Cust held at first and Suzuki flied out to end the inning. Nonetheless, the Yankees were down 4-2.

But not for long. Mark Teixeira and Posada led off the bottom of the third with a single and a double to put runners on the corners. Robinson Cano got Teixeira home on a groundout to second and Swisher singled home Posada to tie the game at four. Sabathia then worked a 1-2-3 top of the fourth and Derek Jeter came through with a two-out solo homer into Monument Park that gave the Yankees their first lead of the game at 5-4.

At that point the Yankees appeared to have taken control of the ballgame. Sabathia retired eight straight from the last out of the third to the first out of the sixth, but then things began to fall apart again. Jack Cust walked, moved to second on a ground out, then scored on a Mark Ellis single up the middle that nearly undressed Sabathia. That tied the game at 5-5, but once again the Yankees answered back.

Melky Cabrera drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the sixth to drive Anderson from the game at 97 pitches, but was then thrown out trying to steal second. Undeterred, the Yankees put together two-out rally ignited by a Cody Ransom double. Jeter again came through with a key two-out hit, doubling home Ransom to again put the Yankees ahead 6-5. Damon and Teixeira then added singles, the latter of which plated Jeter to give the Yankees an insurance run and a 7-5 lead.

Again Sabathia couldn’t hold it. The top of the seventh started with a Bobby Crosby single, a Ryan Sweeney walk, and an Orlando Cabrera sac bunt to move both runners into scoring position for the heart of the order. With Sabathia at 110 pitches, Giambi scored Crosby with a groundout to second, that brought righty Matt Holliday, who had singled and walked in three trips to that point, to the plate with the tying run on third base and two outs. Joe Girardi had Jonathan Albaladejo warming in the bullpen, but after visiting the mound, decided to leave Sabathia in the game. It was one batter too many as Holliday singled Sweeney home to tie the game at 7-7.

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It’s overcast and with the odd drop of drizzle here at Yankee Stadium, but the teams are taking batting practice and baseball is a go.

I’m in the press box today, so I’ll be liveblogging the action. Here are the lineups. Back with more in a bit:

A’s

L – Ryan Sweeney (CF)
R – Orlando Cabrera (SS)
L – Jason Giambi (DH)
R – Matt Holliday (LF)
L – Jack Cust (RF)
R – Kurt Suzuki (C)
R – Mark Ellis (2B)
S – Landon Powell (1B)
R – Bobby Crosby (3B)

LHP – Brett Anderson

Yankees:

R – Derek Jeter (SS)
L – Johnny Damon (LF)
S – Mark Teixeira (1B)
S – Jorge Posada (C)
L – Robinson Cano (2B)
S – Nick Swisher (RF)
L – Hideki Matsui (DH)
S – Melky Cabrera (CF)
R – Cody Ransom (3B)

LHP – CC Sabathia

Melky is making just his second start in center of the season. Robinson Cano stays in the fifth spot despite the opposing lefty on the mound. He’s hit .301/.347/.431 against lefties on the season thus far. With the rainout on Monday and the off-day tomorrow, Posada is starting the day game after the night game. Save for Melky, this is the same lineup Joe Girardi posted last night.

The A’s are sitting lefties Eric Chavez and Travis Buck against Sabathia.

Big Texan Brett Anderson is emerging as the key player the A’s received from the Diamondbacks in the Dan Haren trade. The 21-year-old rookie lefty got hit around a bit by the Mariners in his major league debut, but turned in a great outing against the Red Sox his last time out (7 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 5 K), only to have his bullpen blow the game in the eighth.

Update: There’s a steady drizzle now, but the groundskeepers are tending the field as if it was 70 degrees and sunny. Look below the jump for further updates.

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Off we go . . .

• Xavier Nady has been formally diagnosed with a partially torn elbow ligament:

The Yankees feared originally Nady could be lost for the season with a completely torn ligament, but a review of multiple X-rays revealed that the ligament is only partially torn. He will likely need to rehab the injury for a period of weeks, perhaps a month.

• Chien-Ming Wang will be putting himself back together down in Tampa:

Chien-Ming Wang will pitch an extended spring training game Thursday in Tampa, a move the Yankees hope will finally give them some answers as to what is troubling their former ace.

Wang, who will remain on the Yankees active roster, is scheduled to throw 100 pitches in front of Yankees Tampa-based officials Mark Newman and Nardi Contreras.

This way, Joe Girardi explained, Wang can attempt to figure out what’s wrong pitching in game conditions as opposed to more bullpen sessions. Part of the problem has been that Wang has looked good in the bullpen between starts and before games, but has struggled in games.

• Ken Belson of the Times has an article on the troubles the metro NY teams are having selling their premium seats:

. . . the Mets and the Yankees face a public relations nightmare and possibly millions of dollars in lost revenue after failing to sell about 5,000 tickets — including some of the priciest seats — to each of their first few games after last week’s openers.

The empty seats are a fresh sign that the teams might have miscalculated how much fans and corporations were willing to spend, particularly during a deep recession. Whatever the reason, the teams are scrambling to comb over their $295- to $2,625-a-seat bald spots.

“I’m sure they’re thinking, ‘It’s just April,’ ” Jon Greenberg, executive editor of the Team Marketing Report, said of the lack of sellouts. “But it’s lost revenue they anticipated getting. This is the worst possible time to debut a stadium.”

But the slow start in New York is striking considering how much the teams here spent to build and promote their parks. Like airlines that break even on economy tickets and rely on first-class travelers to turn a profit, the teams need to sell their most exclusive seats to help repay the hundreds of millions of dollars of tax-free bonds they issued to finance their new parks.

The unfilled seats in New York are even more glaring compared with how robust sales have been for previous stadium openings. The Baltimore Orioles sold out 67 of their 80 home dates in 1992, when Camden Yards opened. The Cleveland Indians sold out 36 games in the strike-shortened season in 1994, and were filled to capacity 455 consecutive games from 1995 to 2001.

[My take: Actually, this is just the right time to open a new stadium, as those who might not spend disposable income on a ballgame will want to see the new facility . . . unless your average ticket price is $72 . . . and you have a huge restaurant in center field that blocks the view of more than 1,000 fans . . . and your Stadium rules and regulations feel like they were written by the Gestapo.]

• Baseball America has an update on prospect Andrew Brackman:

After a rough start against Rome on Opening Day—which included six runs on five hits in five innings—Brackman’s peripherals have all been trending in the right direction. His walks have dipped from three to two to zero, while his strikeouts have climbed from five on April 9 to eight last night in a strong start at Savannah.

“Last night he had big-time command of the breaking ball,” (Brackman’s manager Torre) Tyson said. “When you have that 60 breaking ball (on the 20-80 scouting scale) to go along with 95 (mph velocity), it’s almost unhittable because you have to cheat to get to the fastball.

Brackman has made strides in repeating his delivery, Tyson said, but it will continue to be an issue because of his immense size. “He’s always trying to tinker a little bit with his delivery, week in and week out.”

Tyson reported that the righthander’s stuff was crisp, with his velocities ranging form 92-95 on the fastball, 74-78 on the curve and 84-88 on the changeup—much as they did last fall in the HWB. The skipper noted something else, too. Brackman found success in cutting the ball, giving him a quality hard pitch with running action that complements his tailing two-seamer.

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The massive center field scoreboard area that dominates the visual attention at the new Yankee Stadium comes to life at night. While it can never be truly ignored, even during the afternoon, it is a living, breathing presence at night.

Showtime.

As Yankee fans gather at their new cathedral and take in the experience, walking along the wide concourses, cramming into the Stadium store–which has been packed each time I’ve gone through–there is some sense of carry-over from the old place. Roll call from the bleacher creatures. They are more a part of show than ever because the creatures’ roll call was originally a spontaneous act of their own imagination and collective spirit.  It was not drawn up in a board room. 

The tradition is alive and well in the new place. And the players seem to love it. When Johnny Damon was called he made an elaborate gesture, a comic, rock star pose, pointing to the bleachers. Nick Swisher, spun around and did a nifty move, designed to work the fans up, as well.

The creatures had gone through the outfielders when the A’s lead-off hitter reached first. They chanted Mark Teixeria’s name, and the first baseman, holding the runner on, interrupted his concentration to wave. All part of the show.

* * * *

Earlier, when I walked into the stadium, I saw a group of kids in their early twenties, decked in Yankee gear. “Who’s pitchin?” said one of them. “Yo, we’ve got to cheer for Giambi tonight, man,” said another, smoking a Newport. They nodded their heads.  “Yeah, let’s root for Giambi.”

Giambi was accorded a gracious, though not overly effusive hand when he came to bat in the first inning (those are reserved for players who’ve won titles).  He cracked a line drive to straight away center field. The sound of the ball hitting the bat rang out, that lovely sound that never grows old. Brett Gardner sprinted after the ball–and perhaps because it was right over him he took a funny-looking route–and after eleven steps, he jumped up and snagged it. I thought he had a bead on it, at the last moment I expected him to make the play. Still, it was an impressive catch, and soup to nuts, from Giambi to Gardner, it was one of those moments that bring you to the game, and reminds you that no matter how many bells and whistles, no matter how many distractions, the game is the real show.

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Oakland Athletics

2008 Record: 75-86 (.466)
2008 Pythagorean Record: 76-85 (.472)

Manager: Billy Beane
General Manager: Bob Geren

Home Ballpark (multi-year Park Factors): Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (93/93)

Who’s Replaced Whom:

• Jason Giambi replaces Daric Barton (minors)
• Matt Holliday replaces Emil Brown and Frank Thomas
• Orlando Cabrera replaces Jack Hannahan (minors)
• Eric Chavez replaces as much of Bobby Crosby as his body will allow
• Travis Buck inherits Carlos Gonzalez’s playing time
• Nomar Garciaparra replaces Donnie Murphy, Cliff Pennington (minors), and Eric Patterson (minors)
• Landon Powell replaces Rob Bowen
• Trevor Cahill replaces Joe Blanton and Rich Harden
• Brett Anderson replaces Greg Smith
• Dallas Braden inherits the starts of Sean Gallagher (bullpen) and Gio Gonzalez (minors)
• Josh Outman is filling in for Justin Duchscherer (DL)
• Russ Springer replaces Huston Street
• Michael Wuertz replaces Chad Gaudin
• Drew Bailey replaces Jerry Blevins (minors) and Andrew Brown
• Sean Gallagher replaces Keith Foulke and Dan Meyer
• Dan Giese is filling in for Joey Devine (DL)

25-man Roster:
1B – Jason Giambi (L)
2B – Mark Elllis (R)
SS – Orlando Cabrera (R)
3B – Eric Chavez (L)
C – Kurt Suzuki (R)
RF – Travis Buck (L)
CF – Ryan Sweeney (L)
LF – Matt Holliday (R)
DH – Jack Cust (L)

Bench:

R – Nomar Garciaparra (IF)
R – Bobby Crosby (IF)
R – Rajai Davis (OF)
S – Landon Powell (C)

Rotation:

L – Dallas Braden
L – Dana Eveland
L – Brett Anderson
L – Josh Outman
R – Trevor Cahill

Bullpen:

R – Brad Ziegler
R – Russ Springer
R – Santiago Casilla
R – Michael Wuertz
R – Drew Bailey
R – Sean Gallagher
R – Dan Giese

15-day DL: RHP – Justin Duchscherer (elbow surgery); OF – Ben Copeland (shoulder sprain)
60-day DL: RHP – Joey Devine (elbow)

Typical Lineup:

L – Ryan Sweeney (CF)
R – Orlando Cabrera (SS)
L – Jason Giambi (1B)
R – Matt Holliday (LF)
L – Jack Cust (DH)
L – Eric Chavez (3B)
R – Kurt Suzuki (C)
L – Travis Buck (RF)
R – Mark Ellis (2B)

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The Original:

Flipped:

I just caught up with Howard Bryant’s recent ESPN story on Jackie Robinson Day, and this grabbed my attention:

Only one major league player — New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter — reinforces his words of praise for Robinson with the financial support the foundation seeks.

The foundation asks for real money — to sponsor a four-year scholarship for a select number of students at $15,000 per year, or $60,000 total — to reach its goal of creating leaders for today and tomorrow instead of reflecting only on the accomplishments of yesterday.

Jeter doesn’t just sponsor a Robinson scholar. He endows a scholarship in his name, in perpetuity, at the $250,000 level. Every four years, when steroids and police rap sheets overwhelm sports, Jeter, silently, has put another kid through college.

Silent hero, eh?

The ‘Stache formely known as the Giambino, speaks.

Meanwhile, over at It’s About the Money, Stupid, Jason Rosenberg has more unpleasantness about the new stadium:

A few weeks back, we went to a friends’ house for an afternoon. While watching the Masters with my friend (a Wall Streeter), we were discussing this and he made an interesting point. He said to me: “Jason, even if I had those great seats that cost $2500 a ticket, I can’t take a client there. It’s not worth the risk.” I asked him about what risk he was talking about and his answer surprised me as I hadn’t thought of that: “If someone recognizes me sitting behind the dugout and it comes out that I used my Firm’s resources for those seats, and we’ve taken TARP money from the government, I don’t want that sort of publicity or getting calls from The Post.” He’s not a famous guy at all, but there’s a fear that someone might see him and he’ll get “outted” for using Firm money to attend a game. He also told me that he’s not alone with this fear.

• Given the gloomy weather of late, today’s news is powered by some impromptu rain delay entertainment:

• Is the new Yankee Stadium the old Coors Field?:

Twenty (homers) were hit in the first four games alone as New York and Cleveland split the opening series that ended Sunday. That’s easily the high for the first four games at a major league park, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, topping the 18 when Cincinnati started the 2003 season at Great American Ball Park.

“There are a couple ballparks out there that the ball just travels well. This might be one of them,” New York’s Mark Teixeira, who hit two of those home runs, said after Monday night’s game against Oakland was rained out.

Fourteen of the home runs have been hit to right field, raising concern that there might be a wind tunnel in the $1.5 billion ballpark, which has wide, open concourses, as opposed to the narrow hallways in the original Yankee Stadium on the south side of 161st Street, which remains standing.

• In a similar vein, our man Alex Belth points us to this analysis:

Although the field dimensions of the new stadium are exactly that of the old stadium, the shell of the new stadium is shaped differently.

AccuWeather.com meteorologists also estimate that the angle of the seating in the new stadium could have an effect on wind speed across the field.

. . . The new Yankee stadium’s tiers are less stacked, making a less sharp slope from the top of the stadium to the field. This shape could enable winds to blow across the field with less restriction. In addition, the slope of the seating would also lead to a “downslope” effect in the field which, depending on wind direction, would tend to cause air to lift up in the right field. Fly balls going into right field during a gusty west wind would be given more of a lift thus carrying the ball farther out into right field.

If the stadium seating tier shape is indeed the issue, games will only be affected during times with the winds are from a westerly direction and above 10 mph. This typically occurs during the spring and the middle to late fall. The calmer weather during the summer should lead to a smaller number of home runs. In the meantime, the home run derby may continue.

[My take: The “calmer” weather in the summer is also when the temperatures increase, which seems to correlate with longer distances on flyballs.  So, there might NOT be a respite from the launching pad effect.]

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In the comments to Alex’s post on Chien-Ming Wang below, reader “cult of baseball” brought my attention to this outstanding video analysis by the MLB Network’s Dan Plesac.

According to Plesac, Wang’s balance is all off. When he lifts his left leg to deliver the ball, he’s not lifting the leg nearly as high as he had a year ago, he’s bent at the waist, whereas last year he was standing straight up, and his hands are both lower and farther away from his body. There’s been a lot of talk about Wang not getting on top of his pitches, particularly his signature sinker, thus leaving them up in the zone. Plesac’s analysis shows why that might be the case.

Plesac then takes that a step further and suggests that because Wang is putting all of his weight on the right foot he broke last June when he lifts his left leg, his poor posture in that position could be a sign that the foot isn’t fully healed. I’m not sure I’d go that far, but it could be a bad habit he picked up during his rehab process borne out of a fear of placing too much stress on the foot. If that’s the case, the root of the mechanical flaw is mental, which is another theory that’s been bandied about of late.

Whatever the problem is, the Yankees need to fix it, either by fixing Wang or removing him from the rotation. The Yanks are 7-3 in games Wang hasn’t started, which is a great start, particularly given the injuries to Alex Rodriguez and Xavier Nady (and to a far lesser degree Mark Teixeira), poor performance from Hideki Matsui and Cody Ransom, and the erratic performances of the middle relievers.

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Most of us have stories about how we lost a prized autographed ball or how our mother threw away our baseball card collection. When I was nine, a family friend who worked at NBC gave me an official 1980  World Series ball signed by Bryant Gumbel, who was working sports at the time. A few years later, my brother, exacting revenge for something that undoubtedly deserved it, played with the ball in the mud, and it was forever spoiled.

Rich Lederer managed to ruin a ball signed on the sweet spot by both Ted Williams and Mickey Mantle.  Here’s how he did it.

From the good people at SNY.

According to the Yankee’s site, tonight’s game has been postponed.

The Coen brothers wrote the role of Walter Sobchack in The Big Lebowski with John Goodman in mind.  In fact, they would have filmed Lebowski before Fargo, but Goodman’s schedule was already booked.  Before he arrived on the Lebowski set, I asked a veteran crew member what he was like.

“Do you remember the part he played in Barton Fink?  That’s pretty much him.”

A million laughs one moment, dark and brooding the next.  The few times I saw him work, Goodman was very hard on himself. He was not a particularly gracious man, at least not to a young guy like myself (though he was charming around women).  Which doesn’t explain anything about him, of course. That’s not so unique.  But I was disappointed in his performance, thought it was uneven, especially because it was written for him, and because he’s often so good.

Goodman was the subject of a good article in yesterday’s Times. He is currently playing the part of Pozzo in a revival of Waiting for Godot.

Mr. Goodman will forever be associated with Dan Conner, the working stiff he played so memorably on “Roseanne,” giving the part not just size and humor but also an edge of melancholy. Mr. Goodman now looks back fondly on the “Roseanne” years, but for a while, he said, he felt trapped in the show.

“I resented it at the time,” he said. “It’s one of those arrogant things that happen to you when you don’t realize the breaks you’re catching.” He added: “I don’t feel this way anymore, but for a couple of years I put myself above the material. I hate saying it, but it’s true, and I’m ashamed of it.”

A friend of mine who knows his Beckett told me last week that Goodman was the stand-out in this production. This article made me root for him.

Mr. Goodman said: “Right now I’d rather be here than anywhere. I’d rather be here, trying to find the goddamn part, and I hope I never do find it, because I don’t want to slide into complacency. What would I do then? Start cockfights in my dressing room?”

Yo, here’s another cool late-night, low-lights, vibey record.  From the Hurdy Gurdy Man himself, Donovan. 

Dig it:

Out of options?

Over at the New York Times, Tyler Kepner examines what the Yankees can do about Chien-Ming Wang.

Today’s news is powered by “The Bangin’ Pots Man (Freddy Sez)” at the old Yankee Stadium:

• Chien-Ming Wang isn’t sure what’s wrong with his pitches:

The soft-spoken 29-year-old from Taiwan said he has compared video of his performances from this season to last year, when was 8-2 with a 4.07 ERA in 15 starts before injuring his right foot June 15, and doesn’t see a difference.

“Everything is the same as last season,” Wang said. “Nothing’s wrong. Just keep working.”

But Girardi also watched video with his staff and thinks there are several things Wang can work on.

“We looked at his hands, height of his leg kick, where his head is — if it’s out of line — the angle of his arm. We looked at everything.” Girardi said. “We had some healthy stuff that we saw. We understand that we need to make some adjustments.”

[My take: Since the Yanks don’t have a “long man”, would they want to (could they afford to) move Wang into that slot for a little while, rather than sending him to Triple-A?]

• Not-so-fun fact: Chien-Ming Wang is only the second starting pitcher since 1954 to give up seven or more earned runs in each of his first three starts in a season.
• From our friends over at Was Watching (with an assist from the Hit Tracker website), it appears the new Stadium is  more conducive to homers:

I created this by using actual prints from the new stadium, and by using high resolution satellite photos for the old stadium. You may have heard that the dimensions at the new park are the same as the old park, but that is not strictly true. In certain spots the distances are the same or similar, but there are significant differences in the fence line. As you can see in the diagram, most of right field is shorter in the new park, by as much as 9 feet, but more typically by 4-5 feet (the blue dotted lines in the corners are scale markings that are 4 feet apart.) In center field, the new park is actually a bit deeper, and in left field, the parks are very similar. From some analysis I’ve done on home runs, these differences would tend to increase home runs overall, and particularly in middle-to-lower power hitters.

The fence distances are not the only difference: in a few places, the fence is shorter (particularly the right field corner). A typical conversion factor for fence height to distance is that lowering a fence by 1 foot is roughly equal to moving it 0.84 feet closer to home plate. So, with the right field fence being a couple feet shorter in the new park, this is like moving it in a foot and a half or so. Minor, but I thought I’d mention it.

• Buster Olney has noticed the homer-happy wind patterns at the Stadium:

“With the way the wind has been the last couple of days, right field is a joke,” one official said. “I would say at least three or four home runs in this series would be routine outs in nearly every park.” . . .

The new Yankee Stadium is just across the street from the old park, but it’s not aligned quite the same way as the old Yankee Stadium. In the late-afternoon shadows in the old park, the sun was in the eyes of the left fielder. Now the sun sets into the eyes of the center field and right fielder. Whether or not that’s a factor is not known, and it’s also possible that the number of home runs hit is directly related to the poor pitching of the likes of Chien-Ming Wang.

But already there have been a number of fly balls that seemed to be routine outs, before almost leaping out of the park. Mark Teixeira lifted a pop to right field off the end of his bat in the first inning Saturday, and players on both teams appeared to be completely surprised when it carried over the wall.

Even if the Yankees wanted to make an adjustment, there is nothing they could do structurally to alter the park this season. They would have to petition for a change going into the next offseason, before doing any reconstruction.

[My take: Coors Field humidor perhaps?]

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Sometimes, in my more wistful moments, I feel kind of bad for Carl Pavano. Who knows how different the public view of him would be if the Yankees had attributed his 2006 spring training injury to, say, a strained lower back, instead of the infamous “bruised buttocks”? His old teammates openly mocked him and his ex-girlfriend is calling him a headcase in press conferences (albeit a competitive one). Pavano just grinned when he was booed during Cleveland’s introduction on Thursday, but what else could he really do?

Still – you don’t get the sense that he actually feels too much regret over taking $40 million from New York, and giving back a 9-8 record with a 5.0 ERA. Maybe that’s because he gave it his all and was just the helpless victim of cruel circumstance… or, maybe it’s because he’s a complete jackass. The mystery endures.

Anyway, Pavano pretty much dominated the Yankees for six-plus innings today, in what could have been a completely excruciating, soul-sucking loss, had things gone a bit differently. A.J. Burnett did not have his good control, walking six, hitting a batter, and letting fly a couple wild pitches, but he kept things from getting out of hand – and when the mighty Pavano left the game, the Yanks were able to rally, thanks to a key home run from Jorge Posada in the seventh. (I imagine that Jorge Posada, of all people, was not going to deal particularly well with losing to Carl Pavano).

At the end of the day it was a 7-3 win for New York.  I suppose the outcome is all that matters, but it’s still too bad the Yankees couldn’t take their revenge on Pavano – and this was probably the last chance they’ll get, since one can only assume the guy will be back on the DL by the end of May.

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AJ Burnett and the Yankee offense look to take Carl Pavano and the Tribe on a good, old-fashioned tour of the Bronx today, Popeye-Doyle style  (though this was shot in Brooklyn).

Buckle up, Bucko.

And, Let’s Go Yan-Kees!

The subway platform at Grand Central was filled with Yankee fans as an uptown 4 train pulled into the station.  The doors opened, and people pushed to step inside.  They halted when a voice came from inside the train, playing the part of traffic cop.  “Let them out, please let them out first.”  He was calm an authoratative.  “Let them out.  Two more coming, two more.” 

I got into the car with a crowd of Yankee fans and the voice continued, “Watch the closing door.  Bing-Bong.  I’m just trying to put a smile on your face.”  The voice came from a short, thin man, whose impression of the closing-door sound was eerily accurate. 

The man moved to the middle of the car and saw a young, suburban couple standing a few feet away.   “Oh my god, look at this lucky man,” he said approaching them.  “Look at this!”  The young man, no older than his mid-twenties, wore a green Yankee cap, decorated with shamrocks, backwards.  He had the plain, doughy face of Judge Reinhold.  

“You are a lucky man to be with a beautiful white woman like this.”

The young woman was tall.  Not exactly pretty, but not at all unattractive.   Athletic, she towered over her new admirer. 

“I am lucky,” said the boyfriend.

“Yes you are,” said the short man.

She blushed and looked down.  Her boyfriend smiled weekly.  They both looked unsettled.

“I love white women,” the short man continued.  “I do.  Love white women.  I’m looking to hook up with a beautiful white woman now.  I want to make me a little Obama.  Now is the time.”

The man talked more about how much he loved white women.  Then he imitated two versions of the door-closing sound, both remarkable.  But now, nobody was laughing.  The car was filled with out-of-towners wearing Yankee jerseys and hats.  The man rattled a cup and sharply announced that his wife died four years ago this weekend.  He said that he has a daughter.  “If you have food or money, keep your money, I’ll take the food,” he said in a clipped baritone voice, almost as if he were barking.

He got off the train at the next stop, but the young girl kept looking down at the ground.  She and her boyfriend barely said a word to each other for the rest of the ride up to the Bronx.

When the train came out of the darkness, it rolled past the old Yankee Stadium.  You could still see inside the place, for a brief moment.  The stands were still intact, but there was no more grass on the field, just dirt.  The image of the deserted Stadium flashed by in an instant and I heard different voices say: “wow,” “weird,” “whoa,” “so empty.” 

It was like passing by a ghost town.  The car remained hushed and then…”Hey, there’s the new stadium.”

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