When the Yankees released their schedule for 2009, many people likely circled Memorial Day weekend as one of the season's most anticipated series. The World Champion Phillies were coming to town, which is reason enough to get up to the Bronx for a game or two. Assuming you dig the long ball, the three-game set became even more appealing once the season started.
The frequency that balls leave the new Yankee Stadium has been well documented, and the 3.75 homers per game remain the highest in the entire league. That number could spike even higher with the sluggers from the City of Brotherly Love in town. The Phillies lead the National League in homers, and they boast three of the NL's top 10 home run hitters to this point in the season. Their pitching staff has also given up the most homers in the National League, which means that the Bronx Bombers should be living up to their name as well.
Some of that has to do with Citizens Bank Park, the NL's friendliest home run park, but heading to the Bronx appears to be the same as jumping from the frying pan to the fire for Philly's hurlers. If things hold to form, Monday should bring a fresh spate of articles about the arcade-like conditions at the new Stadium and further scrutiny about the reasons why balls don't want to stay in play.
Maybe someone will come up with a definitive answer, but chances are that theories will continue to abound. Jayson Stark of ESPN is one of the latest to weigh in with thoughts on why the park is so beneficial to the long ball, which is interesting but ultimately unable to come up with an answer. Meterologists at Accuweather.com have also been following the story, and they predict that more home runs will be hit as the weather gets warmer and more humid.
If it turns out that the Stadium is a home run park, is that such a bad thing? To Peter Gammons, it is. The longtime ESPN talking head went on the radio with "Mike and Mike" this morning to call the new stadium "one of the bigger jokes in baseball." That strikes as a massive overstatement 20 games into its first season, but people keep talking about it.
Sure, the Yankees spent a ton of money on pitching this offseason, but don't wins trump ERA when it comes to determining how well that money was spent? There won't be many Yankee fans complaining about a pennant even if CC Sabathia gives up a few more runs than expected.
Nor will many baseball fans complain if they get to spend the weekend watching Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Ryan Howard and Chase Utley strutting their stuff.
Sports
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com.
