But really the monster shot of the night was Carlos Beltran's sixth inning bomb off of T.J. Beam. That was two thirds of the way up in the right center field bleachers. I mean that was a freakin' blast.

By the way, it should be pointed out that Rodriguez not only hit two homers and drove in seven runs, but that the grand slam turned a 4-2 deficit into a 6-4 lead. That's big time stuff.

Overall it was a great comeback win, a huge hit for Rodriguez, strong relief work after Wright failed to make it out of the second, a fantastic (perhaps career) night for Green with a walk, a stolen base and the two-run bomb all in the same inning (!) plus another wak and a pair of great plays (a relay throw to nail a runer at the plate in the Mets' four-run second and a fantastic dive/slide and spin throw deep in the hole behind first later in the game). All of it well worth enduring the hour rain delay (Becky and I huddled up in the rain in the bleachers, I watching the David Cone Yankeeography on the diamondvision over her shoulder, her playing Scrabble on her cell phone over mine) to see the Yankees salvage the tie in the season series.

Alex, I enjoyed the "man on the street" and "fan in the stands" perspectives you included in your S.I. piece on the Rodriguez booing.

I was at the Friday night game of the Marlins series (June 23). It was the first time I "experienced" the A-Rod booing in person. (he wasn't getting booed when I attended games earlier this season)

It was early in the game, his first or second at-bat, and I forget what Rodriguez did to disappoint the fans, but a bunch of people around me started booing.

I looked around, surveying the crowd, and it was only guys doing the razzing, and most of them were smiling, as if collectively enjoying their part in a frat house prank.

I'm not dismissing Nancy Smith's account in your article that the booing has been vicious, (from what I've seen on TV, it gets loud and nasty in more crucial game situations) but I didn't detect any hate in the booing I witnessed.

The boo'ers seemed to be giving it to Rodriguez because it was "the thing to do." They seemed to be half-heartedly enjoying it, like it was another silly Stadium tradition like the YMCA, or Cotton Eyed Joe.

This summer, booing Rodriguez has become Yankee Stadium's twisted version of "the wave," or "the tomahawk chop." Yuck.

Will anything short of a go-ahead home run, or game-winning shot stop this nonsense?

Closing on a positive note: it's been great to see literally hundreds of fans at the Stadium rocking their Cano t-shirts and jerseys.

On top of that, it was a 1-2 count.

He's doing a lot better than Wright. Heck, he's doing a lot better than Randy Johnson. Even if his stamina only allowed him to go 4 or 5 innings, the Yanks might give up fewer runs if Villone pitched a greater share of their innings.

I was also at the game last night, got a Craigslist ticket that day for face value, upper deck, Tier 33, row N. The place where you can see everything but the right fielder right below you, and let me tell you, and AWFUL lot of plays went out to right field. Kind of annoying.

My take on the game:

First of all, I was dog-sitting in Brooklyn at the Bergen stop of the F train. This caused me to have to take FIVE trains to get to Yankee Stadium. 1. F farther out into Brooklyn (no local into Manhattan) 2. F back into Manhattan 3. A to B'Way/Lafayette 4. J to Chambers (no 4 at B'way/Lafayette) 5. 4 running LOCAL to the stadium from lower Manhattan. Ye gods, MTA.

From the Mets fan perspective:

LOTS of excitement and full house. A resounding 1/4 to 1/3rd of the stadium boos A-Rod at introductions. I was actually a little surprised, I sorta thought it had quieted down after that Detroit thing.

1st inning: We seem to be htting Wright hard. A good sign. And an efficient 1st from Soler. I'm optimistic we might get the good Soler today.

2nd inning: Floyd back and hitting. Good news. Valentin hitting him in. Valentin in a TERRIBLE play at the plate. Try sliding, Jose - that didn't work for the other Giambi here, weren't you watching? Lots more hits, Reyes being Reyes, Yankee fans cowed, Wright, my fantasy 3B, going 0-2 in one inning. Me thinking presciently that him not getting a hit with the bases loaded will come back to hurt us. Posada CRUSHING a high fastball, but little other trouble. We're still in good shape.

3rd inning: Mets do nothing, but not really a cause for concern. Then the problems start. Problem #1 - Soler can't throw strikes and walks an .077 hitter. Problem #2 - Soler can't keep Green on first. Problem #3 - Soler still can't throw strikes. Problem #4 - Jeter is Jeter. OK, that's really not a problem we can expect Soler to fix with any sort of effectiveness. Problem #4 revisited - Soler won't cover 1st base, and this is a problem that really screwed us right to the wall. A-Rod would have been walked, and this whole this wouldn't have happened the same way. (and then the whole stadium loves A-Rod, shocker) Then Posada's double and here is the biggest problem yet - #5 - not following Torre's surprising yet utterly accurate assessment of the situation and taking SOLER OUT OF THE GAME. Granted, we're only down 2 runs, but Soler has now given up 6 runs in 2 innings. As much as I hate to side with the Willie-haters, this was a big one. Problem #6 - Soler feeling that somehow Bernie is a threat to steal and problem #6 - NO ONE IN THE INFIELD telling Soler that this is just not the logical thing to be worried about, cut it out, and pitch the damn ball which leads to Problem #7 the throwaway. Phillips flies out and I'm feeling hopeful. Then more magic from Soler, who should be in the shower by now, but we're STILL only down 3 runs. Heath Bell manages to suck as well and we leave the inning a demoralizing 5 runs down. Yankee fans forcing me to high-5 them (I'm wearing my hat) or be labelled a dick despite the fact that I'm quietly scoring the game.

Then Nady made an error I was unable to see and didn't even realize was an error until I got home because NO ONE in our section could see it and that was that. This was a game of blunders (as defined by Rob Neyer) and errors. The Mets could have made it a game, but just really blew it in a number of ways. More drunks yelling at me how it must suck to be a Met fan and I mutter to myself yes, 1st place is terrible, how's 2nd? Communicating with drunks is never worth it, and none of my Yankee friends are actually in attendance with me and I've already seen 3 or 4 Mets fans (some deservedly, some not) get booted for daring to yell back at people.

To continue on this theme, a number of fights broke out in the upper deck as thee game wore on, which was tiresome in the extreme, but a lot of people left, which made things calmer. I stayed until the end and got home from the marathon at 1:30 AM.

The Yankees did indeed crush the hell out of the ball and played better than we did that game. As a National League guy, I will admit I'm a little embarrassed and irritated by the one-sidedness of interleague this year. Very annoying.

And now that I've either bored or entertained or irritated with the opposition perpsective (and granted, I've had a number of fine experiences at the Stadium - this was an exception), can someone tell me what happened on that Nady play?

Great night for Nick Green. (So...does this mean he joins Marcus Thames, Bubba Crosby, Todd Zeile, and Andy Phillips on the list of players who homered in their first ABs as Yankees?)