This Week in Baseball thought they could get a whole segment out of following us around today. We went to both Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium, watching the day game in the Bronx, and cutting accross town to see the Mets at night. With the entire trip almost completed, and Josh about to set this 'unofficial' record, TWIB wanted to tag along and see how we/he did it.

Basically, TWIB followed us around during our day in NYC, interviewing Josh, Eric, and me. They even took the car ride with us over to Shea. However, thanks to TWIB and James Potocki, our baseball experience wasn't typical. He got us press passes for both stadiums, allowing us pre-game field access. Walking on the Yankee Stadium dirt, well, it felt just like any other dirt until I turned around and got my first look at the stands from the playing field side. Unfortunately batting practice wasn't happening today, presumably because it was a day game, but Jeter was taking groundballs and Reggie Jackson was hanging out near the empty batting cage. For my Yankee fan buddies, I'm sure this was a much bigger experience than it was for me. Josh couldn't quite put into words how amazed he was that he was there, even sitting in the visitor's dugout. (This wasn't our first dugout experience though, during the first Pipedream in 1998 we snuck into old Candlestick Park, and relaxed in the Giants dugout while the grounds crew was setting up goalposts for the 49ers). Having the camera crew also allowed us to cut through the massive lines at Monument Park.

The Yankees eventually won the game in walk-off fashion. Immediately following the game it began to rain, and rain hard. We started the usual talk about what we'd do if we got a rainout, and we all (including camera crew) crowded into the Pontiac for the eight mile drive to Shea. By the time we got to the parking lot, the storm had basically blown over already.

Then, like Yankee Stadium, walking onto the Shea Stadium turf was a surreal experience for us. It was hard to believe we were actually there, and unsure of how we were supposed to act. The only shame is that both of these stadiums that we've now somewhat been a part of, won't be around after this season. Shea Stadium had a beautiful green grass that simply blew away the pale blades at Yankee Stadium.

Josh, the TWIB crew, and Eric on the field at Shea(right)

We settled into our upperdeck seats at Shea, Mike "Boomer" Berman joined us for a few innings, and TWIB recorded our ramblings as we watched the Mets shutout the Giants. The game got hit by a second massive storm and delayed the game for a while.

Post-game we drove into Manhattan, dropped Eric off at Grand Central Station, drove through Times Square, through the Lincoln Tunnel, and towards Philadelphia.....

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(this blog post was back-dated to reflect the date the events took place)

posted by Sven (http://www.60ft6in.com , http://metsthing.blogspot.com)