Rays v. Yankees

Wednesday night, Eric and I went up to Yankee stadium to cheer on the Tampa Bay Rays. We bought tickets to this game through someone in Eric's office months ago, so we have really been looking forward to it! Unfortunately, a two-hour rain delay thwarted our plans a bit, but we did have a good time while we could.

Probably the highlight of the night was the water taxi, something I've been wanting to do all summer. Delta has been sponsoring free water taxis to all home Yankees and Mets games this year, and I thought this sounded delightful. So, I convinced Eric that it really was worthwhile to take the subway down to Wall Street to catch this taxi for the 45-minute boat ride to Yankee Stadium instead of just hopping on the Express train by Eric's office and only going 4 or 5 stops directly to the stadium. I mean, I've ridden the subway before. It's not that exciting. But a water taxi - wow! It's a taxi, but on water!

Our water taxi!

And it did not disappoint. Eric and I met at Pier 11 at about 5:15 pm and boarded the free water taxi. It was really a fun atmosphere: lots of young people, everyone in good spirits, unbeatable scenery, a bar to purchase a beer for the ride, etc. Good times. Of course, we were the only Rays fans on the boat and the crew was quick to joke that SOMEBODY would be going overboard on our trip - Eric, of course, for his Rays jersey! Ha!

On the water taxi, with the Brooklyn Bridge and lower Manhattan behind us

Passing the Brooklyn Bridge

The guy they wanted to throw overboard

Passing the famous Pepsi-Cola sign in Queens

Passing the big History Channel sign

Enjoying my boat ride!

The best part of the taxi, though, was the sunset. We really departed from Pier 11 at the perfect time to get some breathtaking views of the setting sun over lower Manhattan. It was just gorgeous, and Eric  got some really great pictures. What a beautiful, beautiful city.

 Gorgeous sunset over lower Manhattan

Midtown at sunset (Empire State Building and Chrysler Building)

Beautiful.

We arrived at Yankee Stadium in under an hour and made our way in, passing the remains of the old stadium on our way.

The new Yankee Stadium in the distance, and construction where the old stadium used to be in the foreground

Making our way to Yankee Stadium

We found our seats in the bleachers and settled in for the start of the game. They began by honoring Alex Rodriguez for 600 career home runs and 300 stolen bases, then the game got underway. The Rays quickly took the lead in the first inning, so yay for a good start!

The field

Eric in our seats with the scoreboard behind him

Go Rays!

We stayed in our seats until the bottom of the second inning, when we decided to go find some food. We spent some time debating about what to eat, and then got in line for garlic fries and cheesesteaks by the top of the third. We watched Carl Crawford steal a base via TVs over the concession stands while we waited. When we were just about to place our orders, suddenly the muggy air got very cool and we heard the crowd start to make noise. We looked back at the field and it was a DOWNPOUR. I mean, it was really crazy - sideways rain, wind, lightning, thunder, the works. The grounds crew was all over it, and the tarp went out FAST. Also moving fast? All the fans rushing up out of the rain. Holy crowds, batman.

Rushing to get the tarp over the field

We had planned to take our garlic fries and cheesesteak back up to our seats, picking up a hot dog and drink on the way, but with the crazy crowded stands once the rain started, that was just not going to happen. So, we found a sheltered stairwell and ate our cheesesteak and fries there while we waited out the weather.

Mmm, garlic fries

I should mention one other thing about this game: there were virtually NO RAYS FANS there. I mean, sure you expect there to be a ton of Yankees fans, this is New York after all. Duh. But usually you get at least a few of the opposing team, no? I mean, there were Rays fans in Cleveland. But in Yankee Stadium, we counted a total of three other people wearing Rays gear. THREE. Madness! We stopped and spoke to two of them while we waited out the rain. I will say, at least most of the Yankees fans weren't obnoxious about Eric in his Rays jersey. There were one or two occasional "F*** the Rays!" outbursts (wow, class AND wit!), but it really was not as bad as I expected. So that's good, I guess?

So, we were waiting for the rain. And waiting. And waiting. I finally checked the radar on my Blackberry (thanks, Weather Channel app!) and when the entire screen was filled with green/yellow blobby mess, we decided to just call it a night. We figured it would be some time before they were able to resume play, and we just didn't want to be there that late. So, we made our way home. It was still raining when we got home, so we felt we made a good choice. We even were treated to some incredible zig-zaggy lighting over the skyline as we watched from our living room!

I wish I could take credit for this gorgeous photo, but Twitter user isardasorensen took it during Wednesday night's storm. Isn't it amazing?

The Rays did end up winning 7-2, after over a two-hour delay. We wish we could have seen it, but what can you do? We had fun nonetheless! Go Rays!

P.S. I'll be putting a few more pictures from the game (including more gorgeous sunset pics) on my photo share site today, if you're interested!