The House That A-Rod Built?

On April 16th, the New York Yankees open up their brand new home against the Cleveland Indians for the 2009 Regular Season.

Back on April 18th of 1923, Babe Ruth hit the very first home run in the old Yankee Stadium against the Boston Red Sox. Yankee Stadium then became known to us all as, "The House That Ruth Built".

With the Cleveland Indians batting first, the likes of Grady Sizemore and Ben Fransisco will get the first crack with Sizemore likely being the first batter ever.

When the Yankees come up to bat in the bottom half of the first, Alex Rodriguez will have to watch a few people bat before he gets a shot and will need some help to reach the plate since he is likely to be batting cleanup.

Johnny Damon will be one of the players who gets an early shot at this feat, as he should be batting leadoff for the Yankees. With the same dimensions around the park as the old stadium, we all know that the left-handed Damon can snap one over the right field wall in a hurry.

A fan favorite and one of the best Yankees of all-time, shortstop Derek Jeter will also most likely get a shot at it in the bottom half of the first.

I am not going to be the one to say that it’s not on all of these players minds to hit the first regular season home run ever at the stadium, but that could very well be the case.

It should be interesting to see if they are hacking at the ball, trying to blast it out and causing a lot of ugly swing and misses which could turn into a pitchers duel and low scoring game depending on who is on the mound.

Regardless, A-Rod parking the first home run over the wall is not going to solve his or the Yankees concerns for the 2009 season.

First thing is to stay healthy, followed by winning the AL East and cruising into the playoffs.  With the ultimate goal of course being the 27th Championship in franchise history. 

Alex Rodriguez, and the rest of the New York Yankees, want to hush critics and go out there and win the whole thing. They will have a brand new home to do it in.

Anything less than a ring will be a failure to the ball club.