Day 18: New York (AL)

Today we were able to see another one of the “Old Classic” ballparks, as the New York Yankees hosted the Florida Marlins. The Yankees came out fast, scoring 3 runs in the 1st inning with the help of 3 Florida errors. Then after allowing a run in the 8th, the Yankees brought in closer Mariano Rivera, who entered the field to my favorite song, Sandman by Metallica, to seal the deal. It was Ben’s turn to pick tonight, and one might think he had a sure thing by picking the Yankees (minus 1.5), but the Marlins covered the spread despite losing 6-5. So, I take an 11-3 lead in picking games on the trip.

Yankee Stadium lived up to its reputation, and it was awesome getting to see a game there, even though I generally find myself rooting against the Yankees. The history in the stadium, and especially Monument Park out in center field was great. Our seats were in the 200 level, between home plate and 1st base, and were covered by the upper deck hanging over, which was nice when rain came in the 7th and 8th innings. My roommate at school, and Furman tennis player Ryan Friend joined us for the game tonight, and we had an absolute blast catching up on things and talking about sports.



Speaking of the rain late in the game, at one point Yankee’s pitcher Kyle Farnsworth appeared to slip after throwing a pitch. The grounds crew immediately came out after the umpire had inspected the area around the pitching mound and home plate, and they were dried off within 3 minutes. It was strange because it was not like a rain delay where all of the players leave the field. Instead, everyone stood around while the grounds crew quickly got things back into playing condition.

Sine Day 3 of the trip, Ben had been talking about purchasing some sunglasses. He never got around to it, but after parking our car, deep in the Bronx, we saw a man selling sunglasses at a make-shift hut for $3. That was simply too good of a deal to pass up, so he bought them, this time without having to use any of his street-proven haggling abilities. Hopefully they last for more than a day or two.




Ben and I woke up around 9:30 this morning after a great night’s sleep. We then headed to Islip High School and played tennis for about an hour. I was also able to get some laundry done at Gramme’s house today. To answer some of the questions about us wearing the same clothes: we only wear those old authentic jerseys for the picture in front of each stadium and during the game itself, so its not like we are parading around in them all day long. We each have big duffel bags full of t-shirts and shorts that keep us looking and smelling clean.

Special thanks to Gramme for letting us stay at her house last night and providing several meals, including an excellent trip to Applebee’s on Thursday with Aunt Colleen, Uncle Dave, and David. We had a great time visiting and chatting. Also thanks to Aunt Colleen and Uncle Dave for allowing us to use their computer and internet to post last night’s blog.



We now begin our drive South, and have driven 125 miles from Yankee Stadium to spend the night at a Holiday Inn Express, courtesy of Gramme. Thanks for everything!

Here are the statistical updates:
1-end of day odometer: 22,500
2-miles traveled today: 170
3-miles traveled total: 5,857
4-states traveled in today: New York, New Jersey
bonus stat: when the no. 8 hitter for a team hits a home run, his team is 0-4 on our trip