New York Mets vs. New York Yankees - Box Score - June 12, 2009 - ESPN

Mets pull a Buckner

The Yankees had lost it. Two outs in the ninth, Yanks down by one, and K-Rod gets A-Rod to pop up feebly with two men on. Game over.

Not.

The Mets' Luis Castillo casually grabs the pop-up with one hand ... and drops it! Both runners score. Yanks win!

During the course of the game, the Yanks poled four more homers at home, clearly establishing that Yankee Stadium is the new Coors! The Yanks and their opponents have combined for 72 homers on the road this year, but 110 at home in one less game. That's 2.3 homers per game on the road, 3.7 at home. The record for most homers in one ballpark in one season is 303 at Coors. The Yanks and their opponents are currently on pace for 297.

That's really good news for the Yankees' individual batting stats. Most of the homers are flying out to right field, so the only Yankees not to get a major benefit would be right-handed hitters, and they only have two, Jeter and A-Rod. Everybody else is a lefty or a switch-hitter. Expect opponents to start throwing as many left-handed pitchers in there as possible to keep the switch-hitters batting right handed and the left-handers at a platoon disadvantage.

The stadium should give the Yankees' line-up some 60+ additional homers, as compared to playing in a neutral park. (They are on pace to hit 165 at home, 99 on the road.) That's seven homers per line-up spot, and that will not be evenly distributed. Mark Teixeira, for example, should receive a much larger benefit than the average, and should end up very pleased with his decision to hang his hat in the Bronx. He's on pace for 53 homers - 35 at home, 18 on the road.

The situation is not good news for the Yankees' own right-handed pitchers. The lefties, Sabathia and Pettitte, should be fine, but the right-handers may face some very rough sledding on the ERA slopes this year (and not just Chien-Ming Wang).