Rogers Centre
Home of the Toronto Blue Jays
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Date of Visit:   September 11, 2007

It got better too - I actually got an employee (Rogers) discount on the tickets, so the seats were pretty F-ing good. And to make things even better, I purchased the tickets when the US Dollar wasn't the equivalent of toilet paper, so by the time I got to Canada, and their dollar was equal to ours, it didn't really hurt me!

It didn't occur to me that the game was taking place on a September 11th, which, especially in a game featuring the New York Yankees, would be sure to draw some sort of overblown memorial of some sort. I'm sorry, yes, the events of September 11th were indeed tragic, and I wasn't in New York when it happened, but I was some place almost as bad - Washington D.C. so no insensitivity training needed here, for I dealt too.

The fact that three out of the four American League parks I attended in the 2007 season all featured the New York Yankees as the away team was purely coincidential, and based on the convenience of schedule. I'm by no means a Yankee fan, but for a fan that wants to see lots of hits, homers, and some reputable pitching, the Yankees are not a bad pick to watch.

Anyway, regardless of the circumstances, this had to be an interesting game - the Yankees and Blue Jays are division rivals, and if the O's and Yankees game was any indication, it should be an entertaining game.

Baseball indoors was a concept that was completely alien to me, and I couldn't quite get used to the fact that we were going to be watching baseball indoors. Otherwise, the Rogers Centre is a vast cavern of a venue, with more seats than the place knows what to do with. The Yankees could sell out places like Safeco and Camden Yards, but in Toronto (which I'd have to assume is closer if not relatively similar in distance from New York as Baltimore is), there were vast sections of empty seats.

Baseball in Canada was also an alien concept to me. Despite the fact that the Jays have two World Series banners in their past, Toronto is just a place that doesn't really care about baseball. And it's not like I can blame them, it's freaking Canada; where hockey reigns supreme. But for well traveled Yankees fans, I was expecting to see more than I did. Candaian fans are so meek and quiet, that I felt like I was at a dead game. No doubt if the home and away teams were reversed, I'm sure Yankee Stadium would be completely packed, loud as hell, and like one gigantic party. Nobody really cheered much, people actually clapped, and the only thing that sounded somewhat reminiscent of any American baseball game is the soft groan of boos from the Canadians when Alex Rodriguez came up to bat.

Despite the divisional game, and all of my expectations, the game got out of hand pretty quickly. The Blue Jays couldn't hit the ground if they tried that night, and the Yankees were slugging the hell out of everything. And in the 7th inning stretch time, the crowd was propogated with September 11th Memorial crap. Needless to say, we didn't stick around much afterwards, and instead left to go get wings and Strongbow.

Noteable performance(s):   Jason Giambi crushes a massive grand slam homer in the 5th inning to essentially put the game well out of reach for the hapless Blue Jays. Jorge Posada also homered on my command to further justify his position as one of the most underrated and overlooked Yankees in their modern history. And the Blue Jays, did really nothing. Five measley hits.

Game Result:   New York annhilates Toronto by a score of 9-2. Had Roy Halladay pitched, it probably would've been a different story, but we got screwed by having the good Doc's start being used up in a rain-makeup game the day prior against the Detroit Tigers. And the poor Doc went 8.2 innings with a three-run lead, before Casey Janssen came in and blew the lead as well as the game, completely unable to generate a single out.

Additional Photos: