Finally, a night where we don't have to walk away in disgust. It all came together...young pitching, hitting...everything! Will it carry over and become infectious? Only time will tell.Seeing Phil Hughes pitch so well was thrilling to watch. So was that 10-run inning! Loved seeing the look on Jose Molina's face after his grand slam - talk about looking happy to be there!
Finally, Phil of the Future ended up being Phil of the Present. And Mark Melancon looked pretty nifty as well. Oh, and A-Rod is getting closer to returning to the field. This is all great news for the Yankees, after a lousy week.
One question, though - what happened to Hughes' glasses? There was a whole to-do that he needed glasses last season. Is he wearing contacts now?
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I was thinking some more about the Yankees lowering ticket prices. I have to say that I find it delicious to see the front office humiliated into doing this. Does that make me a bad person?
Here's the thing - Randy Levine and Lonn Trost had such hubris. They somehow thought that they could get away with charging literally thousands of dollars more for their top tickets than any other team. This, during the worst economic times since the Great Depression. Talk about out of touch.
Today's New York Times talks about why the prices were lowered:
“It was starting to hurt the overall brand,” said Donny Deutsch, chairman of Deutsch Inc., an advertising agency, when asked about the original pricing strategy. “People start asking whether you care about the fans.”Yep. Why is it that most baseball teams, including top draws like the Red Sox, Dodgers, and Cubs, noticed the economic climate six months ago, and instituted price freezes? Some teams, like the Giants, even lowered some of their prices this year.
Yet the Yanks kept on pushing their ridiculous ticket prices, acting like they were such great businessmen. They're not. It's not exactly surprising that the same front office who had between $300 and 500 million in cost overruns on the new stadium also butchered the ticket pricing. How is it that these folks get to keep their jobs?
While the ticket prices really should be lowered so that the average person can afford more of their seats, I do enjoy seeing Trost and Levine with egg on their faces. Heh.
What do you think? Leave us a comment!
Lisa,
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely 100% correct on your stance vis a vis the Yankee ticket pricing policy! The "key" Yankee decision makers for ticket pricing obviously have either lost touch with reality or never had it to begin with. It is not just other teams that have held the line on price increases, but many businesses in other segments of the economy have come to the realization that they had better take very positive measures to stimulate their incomes or face economic ruination. So the Yankees are at long last doing something about it! WOW! It had better be more than just a token reduction of prices. A comprehensive rescheduling of ticket prices in general is needed!
I really feel a lot better now that Yankee managment has "addressed" the premium ticket problem.
ReplyDeleteHow about working on replacing the beautiful city park (Macombs Dam Park) with a place with real grass and trees for the people in the community to enjoy before they are too old to remember there was a Macombs Dam Park in the neighborhood.
That would be the right thing to do.
However, as we've seen from the Yankee "braintrust" (an oxymoron if there ever was one) and their pricing strategy in the midst of the worst recession in American history,that is too much for them to do. Losers.
Phil Hughes was absolutely brilliant last night! We needed very badly to see this kind of performance out of that kid.
ReplyDeleteI think in light of everything we have seen so far from our pitching staff, especially with Wang being on the DL and Joba with his pitch limit, I feel that Joba is probably more suitable for a set-up role and to be groomed for Mariano's successor.
Think about it, people: Mo is going to be 40 years old next season, and his contract will also be up. While he's still amazing at what he can do to close out a game (except against Boston, especially up in Fenway), when he finally hangs up his spikes, exactly who in the world do we have that can adequately replace him in the closer role? Coke? Ramirez? Bruney? I don't think so. Joba is proably the only viable option to eventually fill that role.
I think Hughes should be here to stay if he can continue to pitch like he did last night. What a breath of fresh air that was to see him back in his dominant form, huh? If this can come to fruition, he can be more effective than Joba as a starter, and Joba can go back to setting up Mo.
One worry I have is that as a member of the bullpen and as a set up man, hitters on opposing teams didn't get to see him too often, so there was still that element of surprise combined with increased velocity on Joba's pitches because he only had to pitch an inning or two. As a starter, his arsenal of pitches are going to be more exposed to opposing hitters over time, and if he goes back to the pen after being a starter for too long, hitters will know what to expect and perhaps he may no longer be as effective.
As for the Yanks lowering ticket prices, it's just a discount for the rich. There's no way in hell a working guy like me is going to be able to afford $1,250.00 for a ticket, or even $600.00. When they drop down to "normal" prices again, like $100.00 and $70.00, I'll buy a ticket once in a while. Otherwise, it's the grandstand section for me.
Just a thought. I know people know what Mo is going to throw and still can't hit him, but most other pitchers are not Mo.
I don't know how anyone affords to tickets to major ballparks. I feel for all the fans. It is cheaper to purchase a large screen t.v. and stay home. My parents thought nothing of dragging the six of us to Fenway. Now, a kid is lucky to go once a year, if at all.
ReplyDeleteBefore you know it everything will be so unimaginably expensive that we won't even be able to afford to live in America anymore. The average working joe will have to move to a different country because we'll be priced out of this one.
ReplyDelete