Anehiem is loaded w/ Yankees fans :lol: I went to a game there once but Seattle was in town back when they had Ricky Henderson. It was quite possibly the most Quiet stadium I have ever been to.
If I was going to steal during that at bat, I would've done it earlier in the count, not on that pitch for several reasons. Bad at bat by Rivera. He was chasing pitches out of the zone. Willits might've been out anyway, but he completely screwed the pooch. I don't know how to describe what he did, but he didn't get a clean break. It looked like he stumbled. Gardner > Willits in the end, and that's what decided the game. Kay describing Willits as the Angels' Gardner is lunacy, because very few guys can compare to Gardner as a weapon on the basepath.
Interestingly enough, Rickey played for both teams. In 2000, Seattle had him for part of the season after the Mets released him, so I guess that's when you're referring to.
Well I grew up dreading West Coast trips to Anaheim, when the Sox weren't even worth the dirt off my boot. Definately hate the Angels more than those Massholes.
Anaheim is kind of the warm weather version of Buffalo. It's more of a big town than a city, which is why they have to leech of "LA". Very small population, but they do have a very loyal fan base. I used to live not too far away from there, and would just go to any random game because good seats and good food were so cheap, it was hard to pass up on it. I'm sure any Yankee fans living in the region were probably thinking the same.
I can't believe you people kept awake so late watching that game. Hell, I didn't even watch it start. Anyway, nice to see the Yankees win in Anaheim. It's a rare occurrence. Nice to lock up a playoff spot (though the playoffs themselves were never in doubt.) One last time going back to the HFA debate. I want to make it clear that I wasn't hinging any chance of success on home field. I was simply trying to say that it is important, especially when you're going to face either a team you have a hard team beating at their house, or a rowdy shitbox full of Massholes. It's not a make-or-break thing, but there is importance to home field. If there weren't, the Yankees would be fielding AAA players at every position right now.
Well the question is how much importance. I say not very much. I would say there is more value having the choice of series more than there is in having one additional game at home and one fewer on the road in a series. Of course, if they get the choice of series, they get HFA.
I just noticed that the Yankees have hit 125 HRs at home and 106 on the road..hopefully will never have to hear about how the new stadium is a haven for HRs ever again. Not to mention that they have hit more HRs per game at Skydome, Fenway, Angels Stadium, Safeco, Tropicana and Camden Yards then they have at home but I am sure you will still hear about the stadium playing like Texas.
I put more value on HFA than you do. *shrug* It's not like either of us can claim to be "right" about the level of importance though. Eh. Depends on how you look at it. Most of that difference comes from Swisher's bat alone. I do think the whole argument was overblown, which played out over the course of the year, but there were a lot of homers in the new Stadium that probably wouldn't have gone out in the old park. Who cares though? It's not like the Yankees get an advantage other teams don't. It's just a silly argument, and has been since day 1. If I were a professional athlete, I would want to be represented by one of these names: Boras, Rosenhaus. No one else. As a fan, I'd like both to retire immediately. As an owner, I'd probably take out a contract with John Jr. I don't know. I have a feeling it's going to be the Angels appearing in the ALCS from that series. And if we have home field, I'd rather play LA. Actually, home field or not I'd probably rather play LA. While they're the harder (in my mind) team to beat, the Red Sox always drain us with marathon games. I'd like to have some fuel left in the tank for the World Series.
Not only that, the short distance turns line drive doubles to singles, so the park effects are close to neutral. We'll see what the adjustments are this season, I'm willing to bet NYS is no worse than Fenway Park.
Well, we could at least look at how often the team with HFA wins the series. That ought to tell you something. ETA: Actually, that might not. Because the team with HFA would, by default, have the team that performed better during the season... so you might just be seeing an artifact of that talent difference. Probably have to adjust for the unbalanced schedule a bit, too. Maybe just the deviation from the season's winning percentage.
The park dimensions are very similar to the old stadium. That's not where the increase in home runs comes from. It is playing out that way, though. The home run effect's impact on runs per game is being neutralized by less doubles and triples than other parks. Triples are rare, so you're more likely to see skewed statistics there, but Yankee Stadium this season is only .496 in triples. That's dead last in baseball, and well behind Cleveland for 29th.
Actually, the dimensions are where the increase comes from. Link The ball has carried less in Yankee Stadium than the average stadium this year.
