James Pine Has A Blog

Saturday, November 14th, 2009...11:43

Thuhuhuhuhuh Yankees Win

Jump to MediaI have been a Yankee fan for almost 25 years; the Yankees failed to make the playoffs during the first 9. In 1995, I got my first taste of the postseason, which ended with a crushing extra-inning game 5 loss to the Seattle Mariners in the American League Division Series. Luckily, the next year, the Yankees came back strong winning both the ALDS and the American League Championship Series and I was able to experience my first World Series. My parents managed to get tickets to games 2 and 6. I was in California at the time, a freshman in college, and flew to New Jersey for the weekend as game 2 was scheduled for Sunday October 20th. Unfortunately, game 1 got rained out, and seeing as I would no longer be able to attend game 2 (and there was no guarantee game 6 would be played), my dad and I went to Yankee Stadium on Sunday hoping to somehow get tickets for the game.

It was still wet and the Braves jumped out to an 8 run lead after 3 innings. We were unable to get tickets; however, perhaps because numerous fans had already left, we were able to hand someone $40 and sneak in through the bleacher entrance. We watched the Yankees lose 12-1. I flew back the following weekend to attend game 6 which the Yankees won 3-2, clinching their first World Series since 1978. The Yankee’s dominance began the year I left for college and ended the year I finished college, wining 4 World Series from 1996 to 2000. I attended a couple of playoff games in Oakland, CA; but was absent from the stands in the rest of the World Series victories.

In 2001, I flew back for 36 hours to attend game 4 of the World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, with my dad, the first World Series game played in November. The game featured Tino Martinez’s bottom of the 9th, 2 out, game tying 2 run home run and Derek Jeter’s walk-off home run in the 10th. Then the unthinkable occurred when Rivera blew a save in game 7.

The next year my wife and I penciled “Yankees World Series” into our calendar. We went to game 4 of the ALDS in Anaheim, only to watch the Yankees lose the series. We planned for the World Series again in 2003 and traveled to New York with tickets for games 6 and 7 in hand, only to watch the Yankees get shutout in game 6 and lose the series. We continued to planing to attend the World Series from 2004-2008 but the Yankees failed to advance that far each year.

This year, Andy Pettitte pitched the American League East Division clinching game against the Boston Red Sox and the ALDS clincher against the Minnesota Twins. When the Yankees lost game 5 of the ALCS, I decided it had been long enough since we attended a Yankee’s playoff game. We had tickets to game 7 if necessary, so I went on StubHub and bought tickets for game 6, cached in 50k frequent flier miles and my wife and I headed to New York on a Friday night red-eye. Game 6 was rained out on Saturday, the New Jersey Transit Railroad had a switching failure in Elizabeth, NJ so we spent almost 4 hours in Penn Station until the decision was made that we’d take the Path train to Newark and get picked up by my dad. Now the Yankees would have to win (yes they would HAVE to win) game 6 on Sunday as we were planning on spending Sunday night in JFK airport, flying out at 7a to go back to work. Andy Pettitte was on the mound again and the Yankees managed to win. With any luck we’d be back in less than two weeks to watch a World Series victory (by the Yankees this time) and a parade. It’s worth noting that none of the terminals at JFK are open 24 hours a day, except the International terminal (#4)…though no services are available until 4a. It was actually hard to find a place to lie down, as most benches were already occupied by other travelers.

As games 6 and 7 of the World Series were scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, we didn’t mess around and planned to be in New York Wednesday-Sunday in case there were any rain delays and to give us a chance at seeing a victory parade. After the Yankees blew a chance at a dramatic, soul crushing (for Phillies fans), comeback to clinch the series in Philadelphia, we had at least one game to attend. Andy Pettitte was the starter again, and after 9 years, attending 2 season ending losses, we watched the Yankees celebrating on the field with their 27th World Series Championship.

mlb.com did a great thing this year, posting video highlights of post-season games synchronized with the radio calls. Since we attended game 6 I had to wait to hear John Sterling’s call of the final out, Matsui’s home run, etc. When I got home, I decided I wanted to listen to the entire radio broadcast. After a bit of fiddling I decided to download the Ask & record toolbar. Once I set my Sounds and Audio Device Properties correctly via the Windows control panel (had to change the sound recording device from Realtek HD Digital Input to Realteck HD Audio Input), I was able to record the entire WCBS broadcast from mlb.com. It was five and a half hours long, including the pre and post game shows…I ended up with a number of files (I guess the recording application was set to split the audio into separate files when it detected a certain amount of silence). After removing most of the ads, the complete game with celebration and trophy presentations comes out to 3 hours and 25 minutes. I’ve posted the complete MP3 file along with a photo and video from the game and some photos from the ensuing victory parade below.

2009 World Series Game 6 WCBS Broadcast