

Some thoughts from Yankee Stadium
The good, the meh and the stuff that should be burned
You couldn’t have had a better day for a ballgame at Yankee Stadium.
The weather was gorgeous — temperature in the upper 70s, a slight breeze and bright sunshine.
As for the game, the Yankees won 6–3. Jacoby Ellsbury had a big day, driving in four runs, including a three-run homer. Greg Bird had a nice return from injury, with a hit and two walks.
And Sonny Gray pitched well, going seven innings and giving up one run. “Pickles” also had a cool postgame tweet.
Pitch like that, Sonny, and you can have all the pickles you want!
Here are some other thoughts from the game.



1. Yankees fans were into the young kids, but seemingly not much else.
The biggest cheers during introductions were for Bird (who also got the “Welcome Back, Kotter” them for his hit … good work on the music choice), Gary Sanchez and Aaron Judge.
We Yankees fans would love for the three of them to anchor the lineup for the next 10 years or so, although maybe something should be done about Judge “missing his pitches” since the All-Star Game. This isn’t a slump; it’s a Thing. We’re all rooting for the big guy to get it figured out.
But beyond that, and Ellsbury’s homer, the crowd seemed just kind of … there. It didn’t seem like anyone got overly excited about too much of anything.
I know there’s the school of thought that the new Yankee Stadium is so antiseptic and prices are so expensive that it sucks the life out of the fans, but I’m wondering if there isn’t something else to it.
In the last few weeks, have fans grown to expect bad things to happen?
The Yankees get a couple men on … ahhhh, they’ll find a way to not score. (Look up #RISPfail on Twitter and you’ll see what I mean.)
Ellsbury drives in a run, and Gray turns around and gives up a homer to ninth-place batter, .202-hitting Carlos Ruiz. Seen something like that before!
Take a 6–1 lead into the eighth, only to see Chasen Shreve and Tommy Kahnle give up a couple runs? Hopefully Betances has his control today, and they won’t use Chapman today, right? (He did, and they didn’t.)
2. The “Players Weekend” uniforms aren’t that hideous. Now burn them.
Even though I think players putting nicknames on the back of their jerseys (and the Yankees putting any names on theirs) is stupid, the Yankees’ uniforms actually looked halfway decent.
However, I don’t want to see them ever again after this weekend. The pinstripes are perfect.
So yeah, I wasn’t too thrilled with Manfred’s comments, but I actually have a bigger question about Players Weekend.
What happens when it’s over?
If the point of letting players put nicknames on their jerseys and wear special cleats in order to “express themselves” — although I’m sure excess pimping of home runs, or if the pitcher is Michael Fulmer, hitting them, could still earn one a baseball in the ribs or backside — is to attract the young fans, what happens when they tune in on Monday?
Gray won’t be “Pickles,” Sanchez “Kraken” and Judge “All Rise.” They’ll just be Nos. 55, 24 and 99 for the Yankees.
Boring!
3. Sing along with Kahnle.
I get that not everyone is a professional wrestling fan, but if this song sounds at all familiar, it’s because Kahnle warms up to it. Listen to the crowd as Shinsuke Nakamura makes his entrance.
Imagine a big game, 40,000-plus fans singing along … how much fun would that be? (Hand gestures are optional.)
One kid behind me got it yesterday, but one of the adults suggested that someone should use Jinder Mahal’s theme. No. Sure, he has a cool entrance, but he wishes he could be as terrible as Judge’s or Chapman’s second half.
Now that the wrestling interlude is over, back to baseball.
4. Booing Robinson Cano is silly.
The crowd woke up long enough to boo Robinson Cano when he came up to pinch-hit.
Yes, it stinks that he left, but the Yankees made an offer, the Mariners made a better one, and so he took it.
I get that the “respect” comments were dumb, but … whatever. Booing a guy for leaving is silly, and for fans of any team that would sign big free agents, hypocritical.

