Yankeeology.com

By Jose “Pepitone” Reyes

Javy Vazquez stated the game in fine fashion and seemed to be unhittable for the first few innings. It was a very hot day, 95 with the humidity, 90 without. Either way it was steaming hot and even breathing had become somewhat of a task. No matter how much water we drank, we would not refresh ourselves. As for drinking beer, not a good idea, unless you were in an air conditioned room.  So it would be understandable that both pitchers Vazquez and/or Pineiro would overheat and become uneasy at some point in the game. Pineiro was first, the Yankee offense took advantage of the circumstances and proceeded to bombard him with an array of singles, doubles and homers. By the end of the 4th the Yankees were up 6-0. Amazingly, the Angels left Pineiro on the mound, I guess they knew that Vazquez would have one of his total breakdowns and they were right.

The Angels proceeded to bombard Vazquez and before you knew it, the score was 6-5 and men on base with Robertson on the mound. Somehow Robertson was able to slide out of the inning and the score stayed the same. The Yanks were not able to do anything in the bottom of the 6th as Pineiro was resurrected and had a one-two-three inning. But the Angels were unsuccessful also in the top half of the 7th as Logan came in to record two outs, along with a shaky Joba who ended the inning on a ground ball.

DH Juan Miranda hits a solo shot and increased the Yankee lead to 7-5, one out in the bottom of the 7th. Granderson singled to left and Cervelli reached on an infield hit. Man on first and third, Gardner is up. This is when something I personally never seen before happened. With an 0-2 count, Gardner frustrated by the home plate umpire, Paul Emmel, call strike, turned around and said something to the him as he stepped out of the batting box. Gardner then turned around to step back in and said something again to the Emmel and this was it! Emmel stood up straight, turned his head, pointed to Gardner and then at the Yankee dugout and proceeded to throw him out of the game, goodbye, wow! Very rare and Girardi had to immediately choose a replacement for Garner. He did so and the rookie Colin Curtis stepped in with an 0-2 pitch, very difficult circumstance, I must say. Well somehow, Curtis was able to take three straight pitches and make the count to his favor, 3 and 2. And this is what happened next. Unbelievable!! And I was there, yeah!! The score was 10-5 now going into the 8th inning. The Angels scored one run and Joba was able to squeeze out without allowing any more runs. The 8th inning ended with the Yanks not scoring any more runs.

Here comes Mariano and Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” plying in the background. Another One-Two-Three inning, game over Yanks win!  Box Score and Highlights.

When I entered the Stadium grounds, it was very evident to me by it’s majestic exterior, that it was a brand new building. But when I walked into the stadium and took a look at the field and the outfield walls, it felt like Déjà Vu all over again. I thought as I stood and looked around, that I was in the old original stadium! Then I sat down on the cushioned seat and I realize I was not. Great job in replicating the old Yankee Stadium.

Note: All the following pictures were taken by me at the stadium, you can download them if you need them:

Did you know what Don Mattingly did on 20th of July in 1987:

Final score was 10-6 although both teams managed the same amount of hits: