2009 World Series Game 1

Posted on October 29, 2009

Actress Kate Hudson watches her boyfriend Alex Rodgriguez in action during Game 1 of the 2009 World Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium in New York City. (Photo by Brad Mangin/MLB Photos)

 

This year’s World Series between the Visiting Philadelphia Phillies and the home standing New York Yankees got off to a pretty dull start at new Yankee Stadium this evening on a cool and damp night that featured off and on light rain and drizzle- just enough to keep me and my cameras and lenses wet for the entire game. With the action not so exciting on the field my attention drifted to Alex Rodriguez’s girl friend Kate Hudson, who was sitting very close to me. Hudson never showed much emotion during the game, but she seemed to enjoy drinking a few beers and playing with an iPhone.

Today marked my 10th World Series in a row as a member of the Major League Baseball Photos team led by Rich Pilling. It is a huge honor photographing the Fall Classic for MLB and there was much anticipation today as we got to the ballpark around six hours before the first pitch to get ready. As is often the case all of the build up was for naught as the Phillies dominated the Yankees behind the stallwort effort by starting pitcher Cliff Lee. Lee toyed with the Yanks in every way possible, even on defense with some of the plays he made on the mound.

This was one of those games where I was just waiting for something great to hppen that would make a fun picture. I kept waiting and waiting and waiting. Unfortunately, after awhile it became apparent that the story of the game was going to be Cliff Lee (complete game victory) and Chase Utley (two home runs). Pictures of guys throwing the ball and swinging the bat are never very exciting, but sometimes that is all you get.

When you get a game like this that quickly deteriorates into garbage time you start looking around for pictures that tell a story of one team winning and one team losing. This is what I was doing when Yankees starter CC Sabathia looked dejected after giving up Utley’s second home run.

As the Phillies added to their lead late in the game I turned my attention to their club in hopes of getting a picture of them looking happy. That finally happened when Jimmy Rollins got to third base and smiled right at me. This is when I knew I had a nice picture to help tell the story of the game.

We finally got a little action late in the game when Shane Victorino was tagged out at home plate by Yankees catcher Jorge Posada, but it was pretty meaningless and had no effect on the outcome of the game.

All in all it was fun to be on the field and have the chance to shoot this game from third base. The game pretty much sucked for pictures, but I still had a great time. Tomorrow night I get to shoot overhead first base, as I will be swapping spots with my teammate Ron Vesely. I love shooting overhead. We will be due for some pictures in Game 2!