blask22
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itsmefotiThe New Yankee Stadium = Coors Field East
Posted by blask22 on April 20, 2009
Yankee Stadium opened its 1.5 billion dollar doors this week to great crowds and a few records that already seem impossible to break (14 runs in 1 inning, really?). The stadium is nice and it provides a lot of amenities, but the main issue is still the field of play. I think the Yankees forgot about this part. To paraphrase an old saying, championships have always been built on pitching and defense. At the new Yankee Stadium, it looks like both of those are going to take a backseat to the home run numbers.
The old Yankee Stadium was more of a pitchers park in comparison. The ball has just been flying out of the new stadium so far. 28 home runs have been hit in the first 6 games at new Yankee Stadium (including the exhibition games against the Cubs). By my count, at least three of the home runs hit in the 22-4 Indians beat-down on Saturday were pop-ups at most other ballparks. And that’s in the colder April weather. Once it heats up this summer, forget it, you might as well just have a home run derby.
The Yankees knew how to prevent the new stadium from becoming a “smallpark,” they just didn’t apply those ideas to the design. Like Philadelphia, the area behind home plate is open which helps shoot the ball out and creates more home runs. The only way this “wind tunnel” is going to be fixed is if something is done to close off that area. Otherwise, the balls are going to keep flying out of the yard in record numbers.
And while we’re on the topic of home runs at Yankee Stadium…how do the umpires keep letting fans reach over the wall and not calling interference? Apparently, the policy at Yankee Stadium (new and old) is if a Yankee player hits the ball close to the wall, it’s an automatic home run. It’s called the Jeffrey Maier Rule, and it happened again this past weekend. Combine that with the number of actual home runs being knocked out of that stadium, and we could be looking at some Little League scores come July. Don’t be surprised if you see the Yanks inking local legend and lights out pitcher (even though he was playing Little League baseball at about age 26) Danny Almonte to a deal in the near future.
genevosey said
The ball does fly out to right field like it is going out of style. I think it will settle down though.
http://www.genevosey.com http://www.betweenthepoles.wordpress.com
blask22 said
you would hope so but when it warms up the ball tends fly off even more.
scooter22 said
yea its unreal how fast these balls are getting out..imagine whats gonna happen when a-rod gets back. has anyone seen that the bronx is burning series is airing on msg now (http://www.msg.com/summerof77/)…pretty sweet since you get post-show commentary from legends like reggie jackson, sparky lyle, even fat joe lol. nice to see how they appreciate the history of the yanks and get their take on that summer of 77′. imagine how many homeruns reggie jackson would have if he played in this stadium lol
blask22 said
Scooter22
Great point about Reggie, he may have hit 600 homeruns. That series first premiered on ESPN in 2007 but MSG has taken it to the next level with the commentary it is excellent.
jerrydmico said
As a Yankee hater they finally have done something wrong. The stadium seems to have wind issues. Good luck trying to win when your pitchers give up homeruns left and right.
scottykimberly said
Coors Field East set a Major League record yesterday.
New Yankee Stadium now holds the record for the most home runs in a stadium’s inaugural year through it’s first six games. It has combined for 26 home runs through its first six games (yikes).
Chicks dig the long ball.
sk.
itsmefoti said
Seriously though – when did they start keeping stats for HRs at a new stadium? Does that go back to the beginning of MLB?
elpiero said
They started keeping stats like that when the indians scored 14 runs in an inning in the stadium’s opening week.
itsmefoti said
Interesting
scottykimberly said
Nah, the previous record was held by Kansas City’s Municipal Stadium in 1955.
I doubt the stat was held back then, but the Elias Sports Bureau has done some work to calculate some of the most intriguing (albeit worthless) stats ever.
sk.
uncleralphy08 said
You know, I’ve noticed something that’s pretty funny in all of this talk with the new Yankee Stadium being labeled as the “Coors Field of the East”- Yankee fans arent worried, but everyone else is. I think Mets fans should worry about their rotation and not our new stadium.