Reds at Yankees: Eyewitness Report

Back from Steinbrenner.  The highlights:

• Steinbrenner Field was an interesting place.  It had the feel of a big-league ballpark there, unless Ed Smith and even Bright House.  And that's not necessarily a positive thing.
• There were tons of people there.  Tons.  Traffic getting to the stadium was a mess, it took forever to actually get in, and trying to get out was worse then Bengals traffic.  And this is for SPRING TRAINING games.
• The fans there were... interesting.  I had a seat in the front row of the upper deck, so I got to see a lot of people walk by.  The Steinbrenner Field clientele can be summed up by the fact that most of them belong on this website.
• The ratio of attractive females at Steinbrenner to Ed Smith was about 10:1.
• The fans there made me glad to be a Reds fan.  BubbaFan, how do you deal with those people going to Yankee games?  There was a guy that walked by (and I mentioned this in the twitter, if you were following...) that said "Jeter is better than any Reds player ever".  Ever, he says.  And he wasn't the only one.  When Berroa made a bad play at SS, another guy yelled "Jeter, you suck!" before his drunken buddy corrected him, and the only A-Rod talk I heard the entire day was another guy who kept on yelling at "A-Rod" at 3rd (I guess he got the numbers mixed up, 12 and 13 are pretty close together).
• Oh yeah, there was a baseball game too.  Dickerson looked good at the plate, and Hanigan is hitting the cover off the ball right now.  Those two had 4 of the 6 Reds hits.
• The answer to the million dollar question: Alex Gonzalez should be the Opening Day shortstop, barring any other setbacks.  His range was noticeably better than Keppinger's yesterday, and he made a great sliding stop to start a double play. 
  
• Edwin looked fine too, on D.  Made a great diving stop, and although he didn't have enough time to throw the guy out, he saved a double from happening with that stop.
• Nix keeps hitting the ball hard, but right at guys.
• As far as OF defense goes, Bruce had a great throw to get a guy at 2nd trying to stretch a double, and Jacque Jones almost robbed Duncan's HR.  He jumped, and it looked like the ball bounced right off his glove over the wall.
• Masset didn't look great.  When I saw Owings, I noticed how well he was pitching, and I didn't get that feeling with Masset.  Kind of like when Matt Belisle pitched.  It's a crime that this guy is still getting a shot at the rotation, but I guess that'll change with Volquez and Cueto coming back.
• Fultz and Weathers both turned in pretty normal innings.
• Jordan Smith just looked overmatched.  I don't think it's anything to worry about, because he should be in minor-league camp anyway, but he's not there yet.
  

As always, pics after the jump...

The opposition.

Name that dugout line!

Masset warming up.

Such a sigh of relief to be able to see this picture.

Dickerson after hitting a triple.

Bruuuuuuuuuuce.

I can't remember who this was.  Either BP or Edwin, I think.

Aaron Fultz.

Jordan Smith warming up before his inning of suckitude.

Carlos Fisher standing tall.

Boooooo.