Posted By Jeff Fletcher on October 27, 2009 8:28 pm

Today was the big pre-World Series workout day, which as you know by now is really just a media day with some batting practice. I got my first look at the new $1.5 billion Yankee Stadium, including a statue of George Steinbrenner. Yes, a statue of George. I didn’t get a chance to take a picture, but I hope to get one Wednesday.

Anyway, it was rainy and miserable most of the day, which is why I opted against going for a jog around the neighborhood and instead did a couple miles on the treadmill at the hotel gym.

When I was ready to go to the ballpark, I was going to take a cab, because it was raining and I didn’t want to walk the nine blocks to the subway. The guy at the hotel desk convinced me that a cab driver was going to charge me $30 or $40 for the ride to Yankee Stadium, which is kind of a ripoff. So, the guy gave me an umbrella. How bout that New York service?

The walk to the subway took about 12 minutes, and then I got on the subway and made it to the ballpark without incident. Of course, I had to walk a full lap around the ballpark before I figured out where to go in.

And now, some pictures from the workout day. The first is my view from the press box of the Phillies workout. Sadly, I will probably not be in the main press box for the game on Wednesday. FanHouse has one seat in the main box and one in the aux box, which is way way way up high in the right field corner. I’ll have quite an adventure to report tomorrow from my experience up there (unless I freeze to death).

Here is the excellent buffet they have in the press dining room. It was pretty impressive, especially all these desserts. No mere cookies and brownies here. Of course, this will also be gone when the Series starts, replaced by standard box lunches. (They were assembling the box lunches today, so they’ll be nice and fresh tomorrow. Mmmm.)

The player availability portion of the day was a little different than during the first two rounds of the playoffs, and different from other World Series, I understand. Instead of just having everyone plow into the clubhouse to talk to the four or five players who might be in there at any one time, they brought all the players out to the “Great Hall” and put each one at a table for about 45 minutes. They first did all the Yankees, then all the Phillies. Reporters packed in tight around Derek Jeter and Jimmy Rollins and Alex Rodriguez, and then let poor Damaso Marte sit all by himself. Here is one of the stories I got out of this.

Afterward I took the subway back to the West Side to meet a friend and her husband for dinner.

Tomorrow I’m going to try to see a little of New York in the morning (unless it’s raining too much). I am thinking of going to Rockefeller Center and maybe doing the NBC tour. When I get to the ballpark, I’m going to try to check out some more of the amenities. There’s not much else to do before the game because you can’t go in the clubhouse. I’ll see if I can get some pictures.