SU made its Yankee Stadium debut last night with long-time subscriber J. Levine. It was a warm, humid night – a good night to lose some weight sweating. As always, SU has some thoughts to share with the intergalactic subscriber base:
- Before the game and in between innings, the Yankees play a series of video highlight clips from the season to fire up the fans. It is interesting that A-Rod is nowhere to be seen on any of these. It’s as if he is not even on the team. Last time I checked, he was a key cog of the offense and had hit a few milestone homeruns. I guess because of the Yankees’ ongoing legal battle over his milestone bonuses, they have decided to delete him from any promotional highlights for the fans. Very odd and very noticeable to SU at least.
- Continuing a proud tradition, no matter what you order at the Stadium to eat, it is $27.50. And that is the barebones price for your burger, fries and a beer. It could be a barbecue sandwich or it could be a couple of Nathan’s hot dogs. SU says it’s always $27.50. A steal.
- As SU subscriber S. Goldman reported over the weekend, the Stadium is largely dead. The attendance was 32,000 and change but aside from the loud goings on in between innings, the fans sit back. No rhythmic clapping with 2 strikes and no batters to get excited about other than A-Rod. What you feel watching on TV is what you feel at the Stadium.
- The bullpen is very good, the starters generally don’t make it out of the 6th inning and the offense is all or nothing. They can score via the homerun but no one steals, no one hits and runs and Stephen Drew is always playing. SU believes they would benefit much more from a younger/lively bat before the trade deadline vs. another starting pitcher. Paging David Justice.
- Final thought on the Yankees: as a fan, you root for the laundry but you also want to be entertained and excited by your team. The Met fans out there will say SU is spoiled but this team continues to be dull. And for me, they are one A-Rod injury away from being unwatchable.
SU has no issue with A-Rod not making the All-Star team. It’s an exhibition game and he can use the rest at 40 years of age. It’s fodder for sports talk radio for a week or so but time to move on.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
Also no problem with A Rod not being an All-Star. This is getting talked about as a PED-related snub but he’s a DH with numbers that are borderline. If he had 5 more HRs and was hitting .300 then leaving hm off would be a snub. He clearly hasn’t won anybody over the past few years to the point where he’s going to get the benefit of the doubt on this type of thing but, while he’s had a good 1st half, it hasn’t been good enough to make this a controversy.
At the game on Sunday I was pretty sure I saw A Rod in one of the promotional clips and was surprised. There was a lot more of CC though.
Ha ha, yes need to promote CC as much as possible. There was one clip of him striking out a right-handed hitter – probably the only time that has occurred all season. CC has become the poster child for bad long-term contracts at a steep price. CC is a competitor and a good guy as well. But they will need to find a new role for him for the next 2 years in the bullpen.