Maybe Major League Baseball should test the new Yankee Stadium for steroids, because baseballs are flying out of the ballpark at an alarming rate.
Twenty home runs were hit in the Yankees' first four regular-season home games this year, with another six clubbed during a pair of preseason exhibitions.
Why?
Steroids? No, no needles here.
No one really seems to have a definitive answer, actually, but it’s apparently the work of the ballpark’s new jet stream in right field. In addition to the short porch in right, the stadium’s expansive concourses and “open air” design have generated a wind tunnel down the line. The new stadium has the exact same dimensions on the field. Just like "The House that Ruth Built," the new Yankee Stadium is 314 feet down the right field line.
Unfortunately, the Bombers’ opponents have taken more advantage of it through the first four games. The Yankees and Indians combined for 20 homers from Thursday through Sunday. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the 20 long balls hit over the first four games at Yankee Stadium are the most for any stadium within its first four games, surpassing the previous mark of 18 set by Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park in 2003.
New York split the four-game series with Cleveland. The Indians out-homered the Yanks, 11-9, taking the home opener from the Bombers Thursday and handing them a 22-4 thrashing Saturday.
"It was great weather the last four games, it was perfect," Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira said. "The wind was blowing out a little bit and I'm not a meteorologist, so I don't know what's going to happen the rest of the year."
To be continued…
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