Sources: Men Arrested Trying To Repaint Bedford Bike Lane
Video: Sad Subway Rant
Call to Ban Carriage Horses, Close Stable
VIDEO: Cycling Activists Repainting Bedford Ave. Bike Lane
Oh D'Oh They Didn't! TSA Posts Airport Screening Manual On Web
The dimensions of the new Yankee Stadium may not appear as they seem. A new report on what a hitter's park they've landed in is suggesting that the abundance of homers might simply come down to closer fences and lower walls.
With over a third of their home games in the books, the early prognosis of the new stadium as a homer haven has certainly remained true. Monday night's game marked already the tenth time this season (out of 29 played there) that five or more home runs were hit. If the current pace keeps up, the team is looking at 293 balls leaving the yard this season—just ten shy of the record in Colorado's Coors Field in 1999. It's also an 83 percent increase from last year's total of 160.
Accuweather is abandoning their previous suggestion that the high home run tally was due primarily to weather or a wind tunnel being created because of the new shape of the field. Now they're backing the early assessment of Greg Rybarczyk of Hit Tracker Online that the new shape of right field has caused 19 percent of the homers hit thus far this season.
The report says that the dimensions of the new stadium appear to be the same since the posted distances at the corners are identical to the old House That Ruth Built. But those don't account for a wall that used to be ten feet high and now only checks in at eight. And more importantly, in between those "identical" distance markings, Accuweather says:
"The gentle curve from right field to center field seen in the original Yankee Stadium has largely been eliminated at the new stadium. This is due in large part to the presence of a manual scoreboard, which requires that the wall be straight. Losing this curvature has resulted in a right field that is shorter by 4 to 5 feet on average, but up to 9 feet in spots."The AP says that sixty-three of the 105 homers have gone to right or right-center in that newfound sweet spot. Johnny Damon, who had a total of 17 homers last year already has 12, 9 of those coming at home.
And in case all of these numbers are making your head hurt, the Daily News is trying its best to keep things fun and focus on finding a homer-themed nickname to christen the new stadium with. Among the fan-suggested possibilities are The Bronx Bomb Shelter and Jack in the Bronx.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Maybe the fence can't be curved but it certainly can be raised a couple of feet. That is, unless Damon and the others protest.
If they don't fix the wall, the Yankees will have a difficult time signing top notch pitchers.
Not likely...there are only three or four teams bidding on the top flight players, and no pitcher is going to tell the Yankees not to overbid for him.
They need to fix it...too many of the HRs are too cheap, which the graphic clearly shows...agree with Ace on the problems they'll have signing pitching, except that at the end of the day, they can still spend more than nearly anyone else to get someone if they really want him, and that surely plays a role for most players...
Who needs steroids? Just move the fences in!
Imagine what will happen in a subway series with Santana pitching...
Why is there such a fuss about this? The Yankees and their opponents have to hit the ball over the same wall.
That is the worst graphic ever. Then again, it came from accuweather.
What kind of ridiculous sport has no set dimensions to the field of play?