THE BRONX — Erica and I took her parents to their first game at Yankee Stadium. It was my fourth and final visit, the first being 20 years ago. Like that day, the Yankees played the Kansas City Royals, but this time they won. It took 13 innings and heroics of CF Brett Gardner to win it after an exciting and frustrating day of Yankees baseball. Thankfully, it was a beautiful late summer day and we were sitting in shade, so the nearly five hour long game just flew by.

The Bronx Bombers stranded about ten runners, including leaving the bases loaded at least twice. Were it not for several Kansas City errors, the Yanks might have been shutout. The day also featured the awkward experience of cheering for a pitcher that lacked the character to even play for Peter Angelo$. To his credit, Sidney Ponson pitched a pretty good game.

We were not able to get in the Monument Park line before the game, so I still have not been there :(. I will have to settle for the new Monument Park across the street someday.

I will have several posts about our trip over the next few days.

[flickr : Final visit to Yankee Stadium/slideshow]