Making sense of the Stadium's debut

The first series at the new Yankee Stadium is in the books, and it was nothing if not eventful. To put it another way, it was kind of weird. A quick overview:

There was the pomp and circumstance of the home opener, followed by another troubling meltdown by the soft under belly of the Yankee bullpen. After Derek Jeter's late homer evened the series 24 hours later, that game happened, a 22-4 pukefest that has Yankee Universe legitimately concerned that the Wanger has gone Section 8 on us.

Things continued to get stranger. Like, Twilight Zone-marathon-on-WPIX stranger. Enter Carl Pavano, who was paid $39.95 million to win nine games for the Yankees. He made the start for Cleveland in the finale and was (of course) excellent, allowing just one run over six innings. A controversial two-run pinch-hit homer by Jorge Posada saved us this time and ... oh yes, about those home runs.

What in the BALLS is going on here? Seriously. I'm trying not to get too wrapped up in this whole situation, because the media has gone into absolute overdrive on this idea of the new Stadium being Coors Field East and frankly it's way too soon to know either way. As Pete Abe pointed out yesterday, the 20 homers in four games is certainly, well, a lot, but it's not unprecedented.

... There were 20 home runs hit at the old Stadium from July 31-Aug. 3, 2007. You can also find four-game, 20-HR stretches during the 2000, 2003 and 2004 seasons.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, there were eight four-games spans of 20 or more homers at the old Stadium, some of them overlapping.

If there is indeed a problem with a "jet stream" the new Stadium, it needs to be fixed as soon as possible, even if as soon as possible means 2010. A team of engineers visited the Stadium on Tuesday, so clearly the organization is concerned. It will be very interesting how this all plays out.