Yankees Rule the World (series?)!!!!

So...if you want all the stats, play by plays and video highlights of last night's Yankee's game - click here.

This blog is about the game - but not for die hard sports fans who need the nuts and bolts.

We took off from work, me and Chewbacca, at noon. We reasoned that driving to the Bronx on a good day takes about an hour, so with traffic, construction and rush hour (which is a total misnomer because NO ONE moves on the highways at that time of day) we'd never get there unless we went early.

We got to the bronx at 1:30 and went to see the Chihuly exhibit at the Botanical Gardens. Now, I love Chihuly - hes my favorite sculptor (along with Henry Moore and Michelangelo) and his website is at http://www.chihuly.com - so I was anticipating an AWESOME exhibit. He is a glass sculptor and they place his pieces in with the plants and flowers to dramatic effect - at least, in the other 2 exhibits I saw they did (One in Jerusalem in 2000 and one in Atlanta Botanical Gardens in 2004). But this was a HUGE disappointment. I mean, really. There were maybe one or two nice pieces, the placement was no big thing, and the gardens were not especially beautiful. Maybe it's because of the season and I'm not being fair to the flowers who probably already blossomed and died this summer, but still. I was really disappointed. I took a roll of film, so hopefully it wasn't a total loss. I felt kind of silly too after talking it up to Chewy this whole time, and it being really lame. Oh well.

We then drove to my old stomping grounds in the Bronx. It is interesting how time changes things in your mind. I remember my 'hood being larger, cleaner and more vibrant. But driving around yesterday for the first time in 6 years was a real shock and changed my memory. The buildings and streets looked so old, dilapidated, small, crowded, dirty. The stores looked run-down and tired. And the life, vibrancy and teeming masses of busy people were gone. Ok, it was a random Wedensday evening, but it was still a shock to me. Though I was impressed how easily I navigated the highways and streets as if some dormant part of my sense of direction woke up and shook off the cobwebs and directed me around my old 'hood. It was kind of sad, and a huge moving on moment. Dinner was yummy though. I was happy that of all the things that had changed, or been changed in my memories, the chinese place I used to love *still* has the best spare ribs in the Eastern half of the US.

Then, and only then, did we make our way to the shrine of the bombers, the house that Ruth built, the stadium where the ghosts of DiMaggio, Mantle, the Babe and the unforgettable presence of Yogi live on in modern greats like Jeter, Giambi, Bernie Williams, Paul O'Neill (he will always be a Yankee to me).

We had excellent seats. I didnt realize how close we were to the field until we passed a gate on the way to our seats and I glanced in, only to stop short in amazement, my mouth hanging open. We were right by home plate, where the Orioles were having batting practice, and we were really close. Chewy had to pull me over to our seats, which were in the Loge Box section, to the right of the press boxes and a little to the right of first base. I've never been to that side of hte stadium before. It-was-so-cool.

The game was unbelievable. One hit after another, one home run after another, Posada came out of nowhere to smash it out of the park and the crowd had a 4 times around wave going on. It was the most electric, supercharged, pumped up experience I have ever had at a ballgame.

Chewy and I were wearing matching Bernie Williams shirts, and I had a Yankee cap on, too. We jumped up and down, yelled, hit high fives and went crazy - it was majorly cool, majorly fun and a super night!