The Yankees loose! Thhhhee Yankees loose!

Yesterday was as good of a day as I could have had, as the day involved two of the things I love more than ducks- baseball and Amanda. (I also love my family, traveling, my profession, and especially my goddaughter, Lily.)

The day started out with a nice hour and a half warm-up walk in the morning to easy the fitness nazi's mind. After that we came back to our dorm room to grab our baseball gear, some maps, and the camera and we headed off to the dreaded Mall of America.

After a quick drive by the outside of the Mall of America, we parked and hopped onto the light rail which took us down to the warehouse district and the Metrodome. We got downtown a few hours early so we had ample time to explore. We cruised by the Target Center, where the Timberwolves play and just walked around the city a bit. Our first stop was a candy store (the second one we had been to that day). Not a place I would usually stop, but the fitness nazi has quite the sweet tooth. So we found her some carmel popcorn to sooth the tooth ache and went on our way.

On our walk we noticed a crowd of people standing out in front of the Radisson so we went to get a closer look. As we got closer we realized that everyone was waiting for Steinbrenner's mercenaries to come out and board the team bus. We missed the first bus with Johnny Damon (who is actually one of two Yankees I have ever liked-Don Mattingley is the other) but we saw Giambi, Johnson, Chacon, Williams, and Matsui. None of which bothered to take the time to sign any autographs except Giambi. I guess he is still trying to do a little PR work to fix that image. Jeter and A-Rod - apparently they snuck out the back, which is too bad as I was really looking forward to heckling them both.

After realizing Johnny D had already left, I decided I was hungry so off we went to find a quick bite to eat, and as always, we hit up an Irish Pub. The Irish pub has become our favorite spot to hang out and grab a bit to eat. Then it ws off to the Metrodome to watch a good old fashion Yankee butt kicking.

The old dome. What a piece of crap. It reminds me of the days when dad took us boys down to the old Riverfront stadium for Reds games. It is the typical multipurpose stadium that was popular in the 70's. Nothing close to the eye appealing stadiums of today. We could not complain though, as we scored seats in shallow left field, in the third row! On top of that, it was th best baseball game I have ever gone to. The Twinkies came out hot, then the Yanks caught up and took the lead. But a game winning single by the Twins off Rivera won it in the bottom of the ninth. The game also featured a signature Torii Hunter home run saving catch over the center filed saran wrap.

An excellent day overall, topped of with a little bit of Easter anxiety for Brian Cashman. It doesn't get any better than that.

Anyway, have a look at Minneapolis.

Dancin' in the Dome,

Tom