Wall-Scraping Dramatics

Beck and I *tried* to watch the ALCS Game 2 conclusion last night, only to be thwarted by extra innings and, especially, an 11th inning blast from his kiss-the-mirror-ness. Upon seeing his opposite field line drive blast scrape the top of the wall over Abreu's glove, I had memories of an AP article I read toward the beginning of the season about the new Yankee Stadium field dimensions. I can't find the original, but here's Rob Neyer's account, and here are the relevant lines:

"The wall structure is slightly different than the old park," AccuWeather said. "The main difference involves curvature. The gentle curve from right field to center field seen in original Yankee Stadium has largely been eliminated at the new stadium. This is due in large part to the presence of a manual scoreboard embedded within the wall. Losing this curvature has resulted in a right field that is shorter by four-to-five feet on average, but up to nine feet in spots.

"Not only is the famed short porch even shorter in the new stadium, but the walls themselves are not as tall. In the old ballpark, the walls in right field stood at a height of approximately 10 feet. At this height, it was difficult for outfielders to scale the wall and attempt to rob a home run over the fence. Fast forward to 2009, and the outfielders have been scaling the wall without any trouble. The result? The new outfield fences only rise to a height of eight feet, adding to the ease hitting a home run to right."

So when kids aren't reaching over the fence to haul in playoff HRs, the fences themselves are moving to facilitate Yankee victories. Ugh. I mean, props to A-Rod - I'm a little sick of the steroid flak he's gotten, and I'm *really* sick of the stupid not-clutch-player accusations* - but in the regular field**, that would have just been a double off the wall or a spectacular catch by Abreu. Boo-urns.

* - This is probably entirely residual from having him on my fantasy team "Ryno-Blasty!," but I find myself rooting for A-Rod lately, even while vehemently rooting against the Yankees. Oh the dissonance!

** - Oh, and btw, last time I checked, 2009 is after 1928. Why are they allowed to build a field with 314 foot walls anyways? Will no one enforce the sacred rules?***

*** - Speaking of sacred rules - dios mio, if that phantom 2nd base force safe-call had cost the Angels the game, I think the baseball universe would have collapsed on itself. What the hey is that umpire thinking? Oh, now that it's the playoffs, we're going to call things strictly by the rulebook? How about enforcing 8.04 a little more strictly so I can watch a game in less than 5 hours and maybe, just maybe go to Mojo AFTER the game instead of in the middle of extra innings? SHEESH.