Tropicana Field's catwalks have Yankees imploding

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Dallas Cowboys officially put Texas Stadium out of its misery Sunday, imploding it with 2,715 pounds of explosives.

Some Yankees sounded as if they'd like to see Tropicana Field meet the same fate.

"It's not a baseball stadium," Jorge Posada said. "You can't have balls going all over the place. Really, it's sad."

With the Yankees leading 4-2, two outs and a runner on first in the sixth, Evan Longoria skied a pop-up that hit one of the three catwalks hovering over the field. It landed in fair territory for a hit, per the ground rules that state a ball hitting a catwalk in fair territory is in play. The Yanks contended the ball hit the catwalk in foul territory and should have been dead, per the stadium rules.

After walking Carlos Peña on four pitches to load the bases, A.J. Burnett escaped by getting B.J. Upton to pop to first on the first pitch, but the players were not amused.

"Any time you're talking about hitting catwalks, it's laughable," Mark Teixeira said. "It's not baseball."

"When Longoria hits that ball, you think you're out of the inning," Joe Girardi said. "And then you have to turn it back on again and he ends up walking Peña, but then he did a good job on Upton."

Girardi was more diplomatic than Teixeira about Tropicana Field. "They have some interesting ground rules here," he said. "You're indoors and you have catwalks and you have speakers and it's something both teams have to deal with. I'm glad it didn't hurt us."

Return of Godzilla

With the Angels and former Yankee Hideki Matsui coming to the Bronx tomorrow, Girardi said he hadn't decided what he'll do in late-inning situations if Matsui bats in a close game.

Derek Jeter used to joke in the dugout about what a mistake it was when opposing teams would bring in lefthanders to face Matsui. He is a career .292 hitter against righties and is at .295 against lefties.

"I'll look at the matchups and I'll make my decision," Girardi said. If he does bring in a lefty, he said, "I know the shortstop's going to yell at me."

Matsui is 2-for-9 against lefty Damaso Marte, 0-for-7 against righty Chan Ho Park and 1-for-4 against righty Sergio Mitre.

Girardi hopes World Series MVP Matsui will be on the field for the ring ceremony. "It would be kind of neat," he said.

Said Posada: "I hope everyone stands up and gives him a standing ovation. He's done a lot for this organization and he deserves it."