Bleacher Creature Feature

#4: Opening Day 2002

5 April 2002

Today was Opening Day at Yankee Stadium.

Our first day as official Bleacher Creatures.

We froze our asses off.

And we had a fantastic time.

Some random comments on the day, which concluded with the Yankees handing the Tampa Bay Deviled Eggs their first loss of the season, 4-0:

---The Bleacher Creatures are known for their colorful chants, and we were happy to participate in them. One thing I was unaware of until today was the verbal sparring between the Creatures and the folks in the right-field box seats. The box-seat bimbos (or yuppies, depending on who was doing the chanting) labor under the delusion that they're superior because they paid more for their seats, their seats have backs, and they can drink beer. (If one can refer to Bud and Miller as "beer," anyhow -- why it's considered a privilege to be able to drink watered-down crap is beyond this microbrew connoisseur....)

Today, however, they were royally trumped by the fact that David Cone sat with us.

Yes, that's right, David Cone. He announced earlier in the week his intention to sit with the Creatures on Opening Day, and we welcomed him with open arms and requests for autographs, many of which were fulfilled -- including ours. A local paper was handing out free copies of their Yankee edition, and Cone signed the front page with the nifty photo montage, which is already at our local framing store to hang up next to the framed front page of the Daily News from shortly after the end of the 2000 World Series.

Let 'em have their lousy beer, say I. I'll take Coney.

---Cone also led the roll call chant. For those not in the know, at the beginning of each home game, the Creatures chant the names of each of the position players (not the pitcher and catcher -- they're busy) until they acknowledge with a wave. All three newbies on the field -- Rondell White, Jason Giambi, and Robin Ventura -- hit their cues like old pros, and we were happy.

---People kept coming up during the game wearing IDs and glancing around trying to see Cone. The guy sitting in front of us bought him a Coke.

---The vendors in the bleachers are fun, too. The Coke guy walked around yelling, "Beer here!" He also announced the price as, "One for $4, two for $8," emphasizing the second as if it were a deal. When I got my Coke from him, I said, "I always had trouble with math," to which he replied, "Yeah, well, I went to Harvard..."

---Phil Rizzuto, Yogi Berra, and Rudy Giuliani (all of whom have time on their hands these days...) combined to raise the 2001 AL Pennant flag and the Yankees 100th season flag. To no one's surprise, the second one was bigger.

---I would like to state for the record that I am the first person to want to pay tribute and honor to those who suffered and died on 11 September, and I am also sick and tired of hearing "God Bless America" during the seventh inning stretch. To their credit, the Yanks are following that up by having organist Eddie Layton return to the traditional playing of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," which is, dadgummit, what should be played during the seventh inning.

In other musical notes, Robert Merrill sang "America the Beautiful" before the game (I suspect that the elderly opera singer can no longer hit the high notes on the national anthem), while "The Star Spangled Banner" was belted magnificently by a twelve-year-old girl from Tampa (friend of the owner, maybe?).

And right after "Take Me Out..." during the stretch, we got the more recent tradition: "Cotton-Eyed Joe." When I was in Seattle last week, I was at a dance that was heavily populated by Goths (skinny pale folks who dress in black, smoke, and suffer a lot), and the DJ played "CEJ" -- and the Goths were dancing to this two-stepping honky-tonk song. I was scarred for life.

---Oh yeah, the game. I was unable to keep score because a) there was tremendous chaos due to Cone's presence, b) there was tremendous chaos due to it being Opening Day, and c) it was 40 degrees and it's really hard to keep score when you're wearing leather gloves.

Andy Pettitte was completely in charge. It must've been quite a shock to the poor Deviled Eggs, flush from three straight victories to start the year, only to be reminded that there's a big difference between beating the Tigers and beating, y'know, a major-league team. Pettitte threw six innings of three-hit-no-walk-six-strikeout work, his pitches were all spot-on, and it was a joy to watch. Out of concern for his elbow (not to mention the cold), Torre took him out after six innings and 98 pitches (69 of which were strikes), letting Steve Karsay and Randy Choate continue to gut the fish.

---This is good, as the 4-0 score notwithstanding, the Yankees blew several opportunities. Jason Giambi struck out twice and left four people on base, Rondell White didn't take extra bases on two occasions when he should've, Jorge Posada got thrown out at third base trying to take an extra base after stumbling, Robin Ventura (hero of the Baltimore series) left eight people on base, and the Yankees all told left 11 people on base. Joe Kennedy was much less friendly with the strike zone than Pettitte (four walks and a hit batter in five innings), and this game should've been much more of a laugher than it was.

---How You Know It's A New Year: Alfonso Soriano in his confusing new role as leadoff hitter (he of the .304 OBP last year), lead off the game with a walk. His second walk of the season, he's already surpassed his April total from last year. After watching him swing at everything that came by him a year ago, it's refreshing to see his newfound patience. (Soriano was quoted in the New York Times thusly: "Leading off, I'm taking more pitches, trying to be on base, score. I feel better this way, waiting for my pitch, being more patient. I don't want to swing at balls any more. I want to be selective.")

---How You Know It's A New Year Part 2: The Yanks' offensive attack was led by Rondell White (3-4 with a run scored) and Nick Johnson (1-2, 2 HBP, 1 RBI).

---The New York crowd, showing its usual patience with new players, booed Giambi as he left folks on base. They even booed him for not catching a terrible throw from Ventura (for which Ventura got a deserved throwing error), on the fuzzy logic that Tino Martinez would've caught it.

Of course, by Memorial Day, the boos will most likely be forgotten when Giambi's tearing up the league.....

---We've also got tickets for Sunday's game, which is Roger Clemens's shot at redemption after Monday. The hilarious part is that it'll make my fourth straight regular-season game where I've watched the Yankees play Tampa Bay. (We also went to Game 2 of the ALDS against the A's.) I'm really looking forward to the 21st when we play Toronto, a real team....

---Finally, last time, I posted what I'd make the starting lineup be. Modifying it for the players and positions actually used, it was:

Posada C
Jeter SS
Williams CF
Giambi 1B/DH
White RF
Spencer LF
Ventura 3B
Johnson DH/1B
Soriano 2B

The actual lineup for each of the first four games has been:

Soriano 2B
Jeter SS
Giambi 1B/DH
Williams CF
White LF/Ventura 3B
Posada C
Ventura 3B/White LF
Spencer RF
Johnson DH/1B

I would've put Spencer in left because a) he's used to "death valley," having played there on and off for several years and b) his throwing arm sucks rocks. (Do recall that it was Spencer's bloody awful throw that necessitated Derek Jeter's miracle play in Game 3 of the LDS last year; Spencer also made a crap throw today that should've nailed a Ray trying to take an extra base.) I'm willing to give the new improved Soriano a shot at leadoff, but I still think Jorge's a better choice.

But that's a BCF for another day...

NEXT: Almost Perfect

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