>38,867

>No that’s not some number that the exaggerating Howie Rose imagines is at Shea tonight.

Michael Kay just said that’s how many people (38, 867) are at the Yankee game in Pittsburgh. What’s amazing is that it’s the third largest crowd in stadium history.

Wow. So people showed up for the first two games ever at the stadium and then stopped going? That’s awful.

No pics available yet….and over at Shea the Mets never release any photo that shows the empty green and orange.

Interestingly, as of the latest episode of Battlestar Galactica, the survivor count is 39,665 or as Howie Rose would put it “about 40,000 in the fleet.”

>Meanwhile In The Yankee Game: Retire #21?

>Sorry it’s ten-zip on SNY, I’m channel surfing.

Who is Justin Christian and why is he playing left field for the Yankees and how did he get a real number (#17 not something in the sixties).

They showed Hawkins warming up and it reminded me that he got booed into not wearing Paul O’Neill’s #21.

That begs the question – are they going to retire Paulie O’s number? He was a leader, won a lot of rings, and in my mind a Hall of Famer. Some day they will retire 2 and 6 and twenty years from now probably even #13. At some point it gets silly.

Retire 21 or give it out? I’ll vote give it out. But I’d also unretire #44 and #1. Retired numbers should be even rarer than the Hall.

>It's Ten Nothing

>Why are we saving the bench? Get Easley in there to relieve Reyes for a few innings. If someone gets hurt – eh forfeit and go home. Or see if Pedro wants to play left for an inning. Who cares, it’s 10 zip.

As for losing two in a row, lets give Jerry some more rope before we panic.

As for you Delgado haters – who do you want to play first?

>Welcome Back Veterans Caps

>

Free shot for the Wilpons to attack me since I bitch about the black hats….and the mantra of the blog is “blue & orange” but these don’t bother me. Feel encouraged to give me a hard time. ($35? Good luck.)

For games throughout the July 4 weekend and on Sept. 11, all MLB clubs will wear “Stars & Stripes” caps that are available for sale to the public, with a portion of the proceeds going to Welcome Back Veterans. These official New Era caps can be purchased at the MLB.com Shop, a way to help others.

I’m not sure Native Americans will agree…

>All-Star Shaft For Shea

>As I mentioned in a previous post, I am fully supportive of the All-Star Game being played at Yankee Stadium this year. No other ballpark (or at least site of a ballpark) has had as much history as that building in the Bronx. It deserves it this year.

That said however, how come MLB has completely ignored Shea Stadium over the years? Look, I know Shea has never been the shining star of baseball, but neither have a lot of other places where MLB has hosted the mid-summer classic.

Shea hosted the All-Star Game in the first year of the ballpark, 1964. Since then, 38 ballparks have been used for the game – including six of them TWICE! The list of stadiums selected more than once by MLB is:

Yankee Stadium – 1977 for the reopening and this year. No argument
Anaheim Stadium – 1967 & 1989 – What makes it worse is that the game is going back here for a THIRD time in 2010
The Astrodome – 1968 & 1986 – Twice? Here? I can understand 68 for the opening, but why 86? This place made Shea look like a palace. If anyone can explain to me why this happened I would be very interested to hear.
Riverfront (1970 & 1988)
Three Rivers (1974 & 1994)
Veterans (1976 & 1996) – So three of the four cookie cutters each got in twice. OK, Three Rivers was nice, but the Vet? And the second time was in 1996!

The Mets have often been called the step-child of NY baseball. From MLB’s perspective it would almost seem as if they were baseball’s step-child.