That Only Took 17 Years

I hate interleague play.  I hate it so much that I came up with a plan for expansion and realignment to solve the problem of having interleague play every day (even if you like interleague play, having it every day is ridiculous).  However, I know it's not going away.  So if you're going to have interleague play, you want some compelling match ups.  I know you're going to have to deal with Mariners-Marlins from time to time, but there are some interleague match ups that are interesting.  You know, like the most common World Series match up ever.  The Dodgers and Yankees have played in the World Series 11 times (the next most common match up is Yankees-Giants at 7).  Four years ago, both teams were playing in their League Championship Series.  If they had both gotten to the World Series, I was planning on going to Game 6.  I had Game 6 in mind for two reasons.  First, it would be cheaper than Game 7.  I had an amount of money that I was willing to pay.  It was less than I was willing to pay to see Notre Dame in the National Championship Game, where I probably would have been willing to pay up to 20% of my annual salary (for a ticket, flights, and accommodations), but still substantial.  It easily would have been the most expensive baseball tickets I ever bought, but I think I could have done it.  And second, unlike Games 1 and 2, somebody would have a chance to win the World Series if the series got that far.  Of course, the Phillies beat the Dodgers and my dream World Series match up didn't happen.

For some reason known only to Major League Baseball scheduling guys, the Dodgers were the only National League team that didn't visit either Yankee Stadium in the first 16 years of interleague play.  The Dodgers and Yankees played in Los Angeles in 2004 and 2010.  So I really wanted to go to the first Dodger-Yankee game at Yankee Stadium since October 1981.  The first game was scheduled for last night.  I bought tickets for last night, not thinking about the fact that the NBA Finals is always Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday.  If the Heat had beaten the Pacers in a short series, last night might have been Game 7 of the Finals.  I was willing to miss Game 6, but I probably would have skipped the baseball game if it had been Game 7.

The forecast didn't look good, but it also didn't look like it was going to rain all night.  It never stopped raining.  My dad and I had just gotten close to Yankee Stadium when the game was cancelled.  Fortunately, we hadn't parked yet, so it was easier than it could have been to get out of the Bronx and go home.  The good news was that we got to watch Game 6 (hopefully more on that to come tomorrow).

I took this picture right after we found out Tuesday night's game was rained out.  You can see the top of the stadium in the background.

The game was rescheduled for 1:05 this afternoon.  The forecast was 75 degrees and sunny, much better than sitting in the rain the night before would have been (although our seats would have been covered by the facade).  Thanks to a half day at school, I was able to go.  I figured traffic wouldn't be bad in the middle of the day.  I was wrong.  Traffic was bad, but we only missed the top of the first.

This is where the old stadium was.

I won't go through all the details of the game, but here are some highlights:
Small crowd, but lots of Dodger fans and people of Asian descent in the building with Ryu and Kuroda pitching.
Some guy named Thomas Neal was DHing and hitting fifth for the Yankees.
Hanley Ramirez had a home run and three other hits.
Yasiel Puig lowered his batting average by going 2 for 5, including this double (I had never seen anything like that before).
Ronald Belisario made two errors on one play (I had seen a team make two errors on the same play, but I'm pretty sure I've never seen a pitcher make two errors on the same play).
Mariano Rivera.

Our view of the game.

This Dodger team has been really frustrating.  Opening Day was amazing.  Clayton Kershaw continues to be great.  Adrian Gonzalez has been solid.  Hyun-Jin Ryu has been pretty good in his first season in the US.  And after game 2 of the split doubleheader (I went to the wrong game), Yasiel Puig is currently hitting .474 in 57 at bats.  Obviously it's a small sample size and he'll come back to earth at some point, but it's not that small of a sample size.  I can't really say anything else positive about the Dodgers.  Ronald Belisario has become my least favorite player (taking over for Juan Uribe, actually we can add Uribe going from horrendous to decent this season to the list of positives).  It was fitting that Belisario made two errors on one play to give the momentum right back to the Yankees after the Dodgers cut the lead to one run.  But there's still time to turn it around.  As George Will (or somebody) once said, everybody is going to win 60 games, everybody is going to lose 60 games, it's the other 42 games that will decide what happens.

While the result wasn't what I hoped for, it was a good day.  Afternoon baseball with dad, great weather, Dodgers at Yankee Stadium for the first time in 32 years.  When I bought the tickets, I was hoping the Dodgers would win by several runs and Mariano Rivera would pitch just to get some work in.  That wasn't going to happen with another game to play latter in the day.  Rivera was only pitching in a save situation or if it was some kind of crazy extra innings game.  As I have said before, Mariano Rivera is the best baseball player I've ever seen.  He came in for the ninth and mowed the Dodgers down.  I don't know if I'm going to another Yankee game this season.  And even if I do, Rivera might not pitch.  So if the Dodgers were going to lose, at least I got to see Mariano Rivera in person one last time.  He is a legend.  Goodbye, Mariano.

Rivera waits to get the ball back after a strikeout.