Invaders In The North
By Travis Mills
Imagine this: You are in a baseball stadium, almost filled to capacity. The building is rumbling, you can literally feel the ground shake. Fans around you screaming "Let’s Go Yankees", the majority screaming, clapping and yelling throughout the chant. A-Rod comes to the plate, the crack of the bat is heard around the stadium, the ball flies through the air and over the wall for a home run to tie the game. The fans are ecstatic, jumping around, waving Yankee flags. Where are you? Alumni Weekend at SkyDome, of course.
That was the scene yesterday, and the 3 days prior, as the Yankees and company invaded SkyDome in Toronto, each day with more re-enforcements then before. It started with a come-from-behind win, and ended in similar fashion.
It was my first real major interaction with Yankee fans, having only been to a handful of Blue Jay-Yankee games previously, and mostly concentrated on the game, not the people around it. Coming after a series with Boston, the Yankee fans are an interesting bunch, to say the least. Unfortunately, as the days since Boston left grew greater, the Boston fans grew less.
It didn't take long for the Yankee fans to make their presence known here in Toronto on a balmy Thursday night. As I settled into my lower-deck seat to see the Jays take on the Evil Ones, an out-of-control little kid charged in front of me, knocking my legs over in his futile attempt to rush the field. Looking around, I saw his Yankee-fan parents and immediately understood. Ignoring their bulldozer son's rudeness, they were more upset that he had failed to score the autograph of some no-name NY pitching coach. Yankee fans: this is where we get the expression "ugly Americans".
As I thought things were going well with a Jays’ four-run lead, the Yankees, once again, came back. That was hard for me to swallow, as it would be for any fan of any team,. However, when you have a bullpen similar to the Blue Jays, you tend to get used to it…Phoenix knows what I am talking about.
The second game of the series was rather exciting at times. Delgado and friends made a late charge, Carlos smacking a 3-run shot in the seventh that got the Toronto faithful in to the game, only down by a run. It was then that not only me, but also the fans around me (Jays and Yankees) realized that Joe Torre was in town, having been graced by his presence only briefly in game 1. A four-some of Toronto fans said it best "Oh, Joe’s in town, he made the trip." I truly believe these 4 guys affected the outcome of the game. Since the wonderful Esteban Loaiza was on the mound, they felt it necessary to remind him of his last name every time he was in the wind-up, which was eventually a chant by the 3rd inning. So loud were they, A-Rod kept looking over and said something to Jeter. They were not Jeter fans either, every time a ball went foul that landed in the playing surface, they asked Jeter where he was on that one, and wanted to see more hustle out of him next time. They also asked the eternal question. "What do you call a slow roller to Jeter’s left?" Answer. "A base hit up the middle."
Game 3, believe or not, Toronto was actually winning at one point. Even though Lilly gave up 7 runs, any chance of salvaging a victory hit the showers with him. It was the worst display of baseball I have ever personally witnessed. It was so bad, after about the third home run in the 9-run 9th, by New York, I rose to my feet and started applauding. Not the Yankees, but the skill of Kerry Ligtenberg to pitch the perfect Home Run Derby pitch in a real game. Frank Menechino’s appearance in to record the final out was rewarded by a half stadium of "ME-NE-CHI-NO" originated by Loaiza’s friends from the previous night. They had now moved from the 3rd baseline to the fifth deck to accompany a gentleman with a drum. They started the first legitimate "Yankees Suck" chant, which was ended quickly by the overwhelming "Let’s Go Yankees". As well they started the first "Jeter Swallows" chant, which was not stopped by Yankee fans, probably because Jeter went 1 for 4. When the bad guys out-number you, and out-chant you, there is not much that can be done. This also marked the third night in a row that during a pitching change, an attempted "wave" by the in-game host, ended up hitting itself. He said to start a wave in the right field corner and go around SkyDome; naturally it would be in the direction that the mascot with the flag was running. This was not the case; it went in one direction around the outfield wall, and in another around the infield. Somewhere around the other side of the stadium it merged, and everyone stopped. Following the game, which begun at 4:05, a large number of Yankee fans decided to hang around Toronto for a Saturday night of fun. I hope they avoided the elderly crack-head homeless man that seemed to be stalking me.
The final game of the four-game set: Toronto and its fans just wishing to salvage one win, since it had been close two of the previous 3 games (they would have been close all 3 games if Maurer and Ligtenberg didn’t pitch like Rick Ankiel). Then there was darkness. Fortunately for me I was on the outside, at approximately 12:06 EST, when there was a problem at the power station, caused either by the heavy thunderstorms, or a raccoon.
Around 10, 000 fans were already inside watching the Yankees batting practice. However, for security reasons, the doors were shut until the power came back on. Fans outside kept an up-beat spirit, Jays fans decided to show up for this one, for the small "Let’s Go Yankee" chants, which I have had enough of; "Yankees Suck!" was the quick reply. At about 1:19 the power was restored and somewhere in the neighbourhood of 30, 000 fans bottlenecked into the few entrances SkyDome has opened, even in games they know will have a big draw. The game was further delayed by the great Tom Cheek, the "voice" of the Blue Jays for 27 years, or 4306 straight games, until the death of his father in June, followed by a brain tumor which was removed. A number of former Blue Jay greats including George Bell, Cecil Fielder and Cito Gaston were present with his colleagues to unveil his name upon the Level of Excellence (Blue Jay version of retiring a number).
This game had the second highest attendance total of the year, 44, 072. Even the bullpen couldn’t mess this game up, to the dismay of many of the people there. I was blessed with sitting in front of 4 of the loudest Yankee fans in the building; they did know something about baseball, as incomprehensible as they sounded. They didn’t seem to want to make friends with Kenny Lofton, taunting him as he was only playing due to Sheffield’s injury. Although they didn’t seem to like Alex Rios either, but I jumped on his case after a dismal effort, pertaining to A-Rod’s home run. Which, he at 6’5, could have caught, or at least knocked down, similar to what Reed Johnson (5’10) did on Saturday. I reminded Rios to stop being lazy and that he was a bum and put more effort in, this reminder was intensified after I witnessed him yawning. These gentlemen did provide me some interesting information on the math department of the educational system however. Upon the appearance of a vendor of memorabilia that came up and down the aisles, they asked how many Yankee flags he sold compared to Blue Jay flags. He replied 80 Yankees and 24 Blue Jays. After the vendor left, one speculated the man made 1$ off every flag sold, another said, and I quote "Yeah, he made $114 today"…. wow.
Overall, it was a series to be remembered, or forgotten, depending on how you look at it. The excess of Yankee fans was to be expected, however the memorabilia being sold was something that did not sit well with me. As I heard in Boston, "Yankees Suck" items were banned from Fenway Park for supposedly supporting the Yankees; no matter how contradictory that may be. Then to come to SkyDome and find a stadium full of Yankee flags and hats, bought at SkyDome! That is absolutely heinous. There is no other word to adequately describe that. Hopefully in one capacity or another that will be fixed. The Yankees only have a 5 1/2 game lead on the Red Sox in the AL East, and Toronto is 5 games behind Baltimore in the race for last. 4 Games, 158,731 people, 1 good result.
