Liveblog 17: Hello, New Yankee Stadium

I have to say I'm satisfied with the Yankees' performance so far. They're only 5-4, but playing all of the games on the road, missing their best hitter and after having stunk in April for years, you take what you can get. Chien-Ming Wang, a couple bullpen pitchers, and center field and third base production have stunk, but CC Sabathia looked great in his second start after really struggling in the first, and AJ Burnett and Nick Swisher have both performed awesomely with their new team, the latter quickly becoming my favorite player on the squad. He's hit unbelievably, and besides that he seems like a really fun guy, evidenced by his scoreless inning of relief in support of a depleted bullpen during a blowout against the Rays.

Today's the first game in the new Yankee Stadium, and it will be interesting to see if it continues to play like a hitter's park as it did in the two exhibitions they played right before the season started. The old stadium was a pitcher's park, but while the new one has the same dimensions in specific places, the outfield walls are a bit closer in between and there's less foul territory, which suggests it won't be as ERA-friendly even if the ball doesn't fly out like it did against the Cubs. Sabathia will make his third start after they take care of the opening ceremonies, and I'll liveblog some of it although I have to leave a bit later to do some stuff. I look forward to whatever happens.

Pre-Game - Not much happening yet, a marching band is playing. Ken Singleton's talking about the seating and says he doesn't think there's a bad one in the house. I guess he missed the controversy with the obstructed outfield seats blocked by the restaurant in center. Ceremonies should begin soon. John Fogerty's really the best musician they could get for this? Seems like he's not really playing his gimmick baseball bat guitar but actually singing. Song's kinda familiar, I'm sure I'd know the name if I was twenty years older. Hey, Bernie Williams with the guitar. He was my favorite player through my youth when the team was winning World Series. He's playing a nice little acoustic piece. And now they're trotting out former Yankees. Fame not a particular requirement. Does this mean they don't have to take an hour announcing them on Old Timers' Day? Are they still going to do that? They're the only team that does anymore. Might work better as an every-five-years thing. This is actually a better turnout of memorable names than there usually is.

Introducing the Indians as the crowd boos. I picked them for that muddled division but they're off to a terrible start. Even worse than the Red Sox! Big boos for Carl Pavano, but that's the only big reaction. Watch Cliff Lee shut down the Yanks today after sucking in his first two starts. I've never heard of the Yankees' first base coach before. Xavier Nady's still with the team, even though he's about to hit the DL, maybe for the rest of the season. Big cheers for Burnett already. As I thought, bigger cheers for Swisher than Mark Teixeira. Crowd overall seems somewhat subdued. Maybe it's the reduced number of seats. Kelly Clarkson sings the national anthem with flags and jets flying over and shit. Now let's play some baseball! I have a little over an hour before I have to leave.

Top 1 - CC starts Grady Sizemore off with a couple balls. A couple strikes later he gets him to ground out to first. Is Mark DeRosa supposed to be good? I don't know. He works a full count before grounding out to second. Victor Martinez is the first hitter to see a first pitch strike. A few more pitches and CC strikes him out with a high heater.

Bottom 1 - Little thing before Derek Jeter leads off, placing Babe Ruth's bat from the first home run at the old stadium on home plate. On the first pitch, Jeter pops it up to center. Johnny Damon gets the first hit in the stadium, a single off Lee, who has had a strange couple years. He was so bad in 2007 that he was sent back to the minors, but bounced back amazingly last year and won the Cy Young. We've yet to really see what he'll do this year. He dings Teixeira with a pitch, runners on first and second for Swisher. He works the count a while before lining out to Sizemore. Jorge Posada gets a chance to drive in the first run. Unfortunately he ends the threat by grounding to first.

Top 2 - Jhonny "my parents can't spell" Peralta lines out to left. The TV glitched out for a bit, but all I missed was two balls to Shin-Soo Choo. CC's command doesn't look great today. On the eighth pitch of the at bat Choo grounds out to second. Ben Francisco doubles to left field. Kelly Shoppach walks, and CC's definitely not looking like he did against Kansas City. I just remembered that the camera placements weren't ideal in the exhibition games, but they seem back to normal now. At least the standard view of pitches looks right. CC Ks Tony Graffanino to end the inning. He seems effective if not dominant.

Bottom 2 - Little tribute to Bobby Murcer as Robinson Cano leads off. Unlike previous years, he's looked pretty strong coming out of the gate. He smacks a single through the infielders to right. Hideki Matsui grounds out weakly to first, but moves Cano to second at least. Cody Ransom, who has filled in less than adequately for Alex Rodriguez at third base, draws a full count before fanning on a bad pitch. Brett "people think I'm gritty because I can't hit very well" Gardner pops out to short left for the third out.

Top 3 - I've never heard of Trevor Crowe, who hits yet another ground ball out to first. Sabathia facing his former team for the first time in the first game at his team's new ballpark is a mildly interesting storyline, don't you think? Sizemore takes a walk. CC's strike to ball ratio is dangerously close to even. Another walk to DeRosa. Jeez. Some of those calls looks pretty sketchy on Gameday, too. The runners are off with the pitch, but Martinez pops out into a double play. A bit lucky on that one.

Bottom 3 - Last inning before I have to leave. Let me see the first run at the Stadium please. Technical problems as Bob Lorenz' microphone isn't working and we actually lose stadium noise for a few seconds, which is kind of eerie. Jeter's first hit at the stadium is a swinging bunt to third. Damon grounds into a force out but there's no chance for a double play thanks to a bobble. Teixeira's swinging first pitch and flies out to center. Swisher doubles to left, runners on second and third with two outs for Posada. Unfortunately he shatters his bat on a weak grounder to second. Oh well. Back later to summarize the rest.

Wrap-Up - Kind of glad I stopped blogging when I did because after CC labored through another two and two thirds innings, the bullpen exploded with Damaso Marte in the center as they managed to give up nine runs in the seventh inning. Sabathia ended up only giving up one run, but it took him 122 pitches to record 17 outs, and the Yankees left runners on base all day long, losing 10-2. Kind of a really bad way to open the new park, but at least the first home run at the stadium was hit by Posada, who otherwise managed to strand six runners. Tomorrow's another day.