Report: Yanks will be on road to finish 2008 season
Les K
Report: Yanks will be on road to finish 2008 season
By MARK FEINSAND and BILL MADDEN
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITERS
Wednesday, September 19th 2007, 4:00 AM
The House That Ruth Built will close at the end of the 2008 season, but the schedule that MLB built doesn't seem to realize that.
Next season will serve as a six-month homage to Yankee Stadium, as baseball's cathedral will celebrate its 86th and final year. But when the regular season concludes, the Yankees won't be there. They'll be in Boston, playing the Red Sox at Fenway Park on Sept. 28.
Preliminary copies of the 2008 schedule have been distributed to all 30 major league teams, giving clubs an opportunity to request changes.
According to sources, the Yankees had assumed that they would finish the season at home, and they had planned a host of festivities around the event. Yankee officials declined to comment on the schedule, citing the fact that the official schedule had not yet been released.
Katy Feeney, MLB's senior vice president of scheduling and club relations, said that, to her knowledge, the Yankees had yet to file a complaint with the league. But one source said the Yankees are believed to be lobbying for a change in the schedule.
Some Yankee players were surprised to hear of the schedule, saying that the most fitting ending to the season would be a huge going-away party in the Bronx. "I definitely think that would be the best," Mariano Rivera said. "To give the opportunity to the fans to see the team finish the season here for the last game at the Stadium. It would be nice."
Said Derek Jeter: "It would be nice to have the first day here and the last day here."
The Yankees are tentatively scheduled to host a three-game series against the Red Sox in August, so a swap of those two series would allow the Bombers to finish the season at home. "We haven't released the schedule yet," said Feeney. "We are looking into different scenarios."
The Yankees are slated to spend the final week of the season on the road, making Sept. 21 the final regular-season date at the House That Ruth Built. The Mets are scheduled to play their season finale at Shea Stadium, which will also close its doors after the 2008 campaign.
According to Feeney, the decision to have the Mets end the year at home instead of the Yankees came down to little more than standard scheduling procedures. "We have two stadiums closing at the end of the 2008 season in New York," Feeney said. "It's difficult to put them both at home to finish the season. They're still going to have a final game at Yankee Stadium."
Feeney said the league tries to schedule most teams for a week at home followed by a week on the road for most of the season. Some teams have scheduling quirks, either as a result of sharing their stadium with an NFL team (like the Twins and Vikings) or due to other events.
For instance, the Mets must be away from Flushing during a majority of the U.S. Open, while the Yankees will have to play on the road before the All-Star Game, as MLB will be prepping the Stadium for the July15 Midsummer Classic.
Feeney said scheduling both New York teams to end the season at home is "not impossible, but it's difficult," adding, "there are a lot of issues when both teams are home."
Among those issues is the need for police presence at both ballparks, as well as gameday staff, many of which work at both parks during the season. "That's pretty interesting," Joe Torre said. "The last game here is the last game here; it doesn't necessarily have to be the last game of the year. When you know it's the last game here - whenever that takes place - you know it will be significant."
Les
Yankees in 2007! A-Rod for MVP!