OK, so my unofficial scientific research shows that half of baseball fans are rooting for some particular team in this postseason and the other half are rooting for someone to beat the Yankees. I was thinking about that as I walked out of Yankee Stadium today. I suppose much of it is simply envy. It just doesn’t stop. Consider this. I was leaving to find a McDonald’s, and at that point a guy comes running by in his workout gear after doing miles around The House That Ruth Built, and then I see that it’s Brian Cashman and he just smiles as he completes his run. Even their general manager is in great shape and makes you kind of envious. It’s just that way here.

Here are more images from my Canon Powershot at:

As you can see, it was 2:21 and the Bombers were winding up their workout. Donnie Baseball is second from the left, and it’s good to see him in this series. We played against each other in high school in Evansville, Indiana. He played for Memorial and I played for Central. Once I caught two of his flies to center on his turf. Once he struck me out several times. I think he is still wearing the same glove in this picture…it was one of the oldest-looking gloves I’ve ever seen — awesome. He is still a forever crowd favorite here and perhaps he finally will get his ring.

Joe Torre is blessed with one of the scariest lineups in history. After his appearance here, Jim Leyland followed soon thereafter and deadpanned about the Yankees’ lineup-making decisions, "I am sure that Joe Torre is a little bit more relaxed than I am."

I like Chien-Ming Wang. He was standing at the back of the room while Torre was talking, and then Torre got up to exit. On his way out he could tell that his Game 1 starter, the tall 19-game winner from Taiwan, was uneasy approaching his trip to meet the press. "You’re not comfortable — they’re all your friends!" Then a reporter asked Wang as he sat here below, "Nervous?" The reply: "On the field, no. In here? Yes." He said a lot of friends are coming from Taiwan to watch his start. Quite a change from last March, when he was pitching for Chinese-Taipei in the World Baseball Classic.

And here’s my fellow MLBlogger, the master of the Rally Chew, the creator of Gum Time…"Original Nate" Robertson. I created his GuestMap for him and he has just a few people around the world sticking pins in it if you go to his blog. Now he was right here in front of me and telling everyone that he knew things were better today when teammates were "ragging on each other" on the bus. It was fun again today. It was not fun being swept by KC. He’s the Game 1 starter. And he also is blogging the whole distance, along with a multitude of new player MLBlogs.

I looked up as I walked down the tunnel leading from the Yankees’ clubhouse to their dugout, and saw what every single Yankee sees every day here…

I don’t know about you, but I have never seen anyone violate this sign that hangs right out front near the players/press main entrance. Especially in the right field bleachers.  😉

Another Babe-walked-here corridor shot in the bowels of Yankee Stadium…

Please leave comments with your own thoughts on the series and on this ALDS blog, and what you want to see. Will be trying to push the envelope here and take you way inside. And thanks to the airlines today for helping me change that flight from New York to Minneapolis…wasn’t expecting to have to change that one but you never know with baseball. It’s Tigers at Yankees. In the postseason. For the first time. Ever. Babe and Ty could never have imagined it.