Sizemore Steals Away First Day at the House that Steinbrenner Built

The Opening of Yankee Stadium

A 1-1 game for seven innings and then the Bronx explodes: with nine runs in a single inning- but for the wrong team. The Cleveland Indians and Grady Sizemore steal the day, one that will be etched into New York history forever. The Bronx Bombers bombed at the opening of their new park. This is not the way it played out in 1923 when The House that Ruth Built was greeted by Babe Ruth with its first homer. Of that, legends are made. Instead, for the next fifty years, Yankee fans will now want to forget its first regular season game. I guess they will focus on the game that they won last week against the Cubs in an exhibition contest.

Don't even attempt to say the first game at a new stadium does not matter. For twenty years, it was a trivia question about the first home run ever hit at the Houston Astrodome. Why? Because it was hit by New York Yankee Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle.

And if you are a Dodgers fan as I have been, you have been listening to Vince Scully say for 45 years how Wally Post of the Cincinnati Reds spoiled the debut of the Los Angeles Dodgers in their first game ever at Chavez Ravine by homering them out of the game in the seventh inning with a 6-2 victory.

And while David Wright homered for the Mets at Citi Field in their debut, it was Jody Gerut who hit the third pitch of the game into the right field stands for the first hit and first homer in their new ballpark. And Met fans did not want that to be the trivia answer to the question of who scored the first hits and runs ever in their new yard. But at least the Yanks had the smarts to go with a Cy Young winner in the debut game. How the Mets did not start Johan Santana for that game is beyond my comprehension. I mean 20 years from now Johan Santana will be a Hall of Famer who could have forever been remembered as the man who opened the new world for the Mets. 20 years from now no one will even remember Mike Pelfrey's name.

Oh well, it is what it is. Anyway, I have been swamped and not had a lot of time to blog lately, but as a followup to the story I did a day or two ago on the battle between Jon Papelbon and Howie Kendrick, with twelve consecutive foul balls, in a game ending showdown, how about last nite- with Chris Sampson of the Astros battling Freddy Sanchez for fifteen foul balls before a fly out?

As for the piece about guys on the DL, sorry to see young Alex Gordon wind up there. He was to blossom, not burst this year. He was a cornerstone. And I was even more surprised to see one of my break out candidates, Jed Lowrie go down. The Sox are hurt by this. But I had to laugh at my AL online National Fantasy Championship team. It is a cheap $125 winner take all league for just AL owners, with 15 teams, so most owners are playing with minor leaguers in their active rosters. Can't even tell you how much bad luck I had this week. It is hard to believe that on the same team I have Dice K, Jed Lowrie, and Alex Gordon, all of whom went down in one week. And I already, in the early March draft, had selected Joe Mauer in the draft. So our squad has been relabeled Kent's Disabled Americans.