Yanks Get Hughes the Runs He Needs

The Yankees continued their 3-game series against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays of St. Petersburg last night. They needed Phil Hughes to pitch like the Hughes of 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2012, not like the Hughes of 2008, 2011, or his 1st 2 starts this season.

It sure didn't start out that way. The 1st 3 batters he faced were as follows: Desmond Jennings drew a walk, Ryan Roberts doubled, and Ben Zobrist flew out to center to get Jennings home. 1-0 Tampa.

In the top of the 4th, Eduardo Nunez led off and reached 1st base on a "Mickey Owen play": He struck out, but the Rays' catcher, our old pal Jose Molina, couldn't handle a wild pitch from David Price, and Nunez got to 1st safely. With an invitation like that, Robinson Cano and Vernon Wells singled to get Nunez home and tie the game at 1-1.

In the bottom of the 7th, Hughes, who'd pitched beautifully since the 1st 3 batters -- allowing just 1 more run, 2 more hits, and no more walks over the next 6 innings -- began to tire. He walked Matt Joyce to lead off the inning, got Yunel Escobar to fly to center, then allowed singles to James Loney and Molina, to make it 2-1 Tampa. But Ichiro Suzuki relayed Molina's hit back to 3rd base and Loney was out. That gave Hughes a little boost, and he struck out Kelly Johnson to end the threat.

Hughes allowed 2 runs over 7 innings. Good enough to win -- if the Yankees could get him some more runs.

With 1 out in the 8th, Ichiro and Jayson Nix singled, Ichiro going to 3rd on Nix'. Brett Gardner got Ichiro home with a groundout. Tie ballgame. David Robertson pitched a 1-2-3 8th for the Yankees.

Cano led off the top of the 9th with a single. Rays' manager Joe Maddon had seen enough with Price, and brought in the club's closer, Fernando Rodney. Wells struck out, but his swing at an outside pitch enabled Cano to steal 2nd base.  ravis Hafner came up, and Maddon ordered him walked to set up the double play. It was the 1st walk allowed by Tampa pitching all night.

The walk allowed to Lyle Overbay was anything but intentional, and it loaded the bases with 1 out. But Chris Stewart popped up, and now there were 2 outs, and the Yankees needed a hit, not just a fly ball, a deep groundout, an error, a wild pitch or a passed ball to get Cano home with the potential winning run. It was beginning to feel like one of those games...

Enter Ichiro, who singled to center. Robbie and Pronk scored. 4-2 Yankees.

As the saying goes, you gotta go to Mo. Mariano Rivera came in to close it out... and promptly allowed a home run to Evan "Desperate Housewife" Longoria. 4-3 Yankees. Uh-oh...

As they say in Australia, "No worries, mate." Mo got Joyce to ground out, Escobar to fly to right, and Loney to fly to left. Ballgame over, Yankees... You know how that goes.

WP: Robertson (1-0) -- but a good job by Hughes, a very encouraging one. SV: Rivera (6). LP: Price (0-2).

The series concludes tonight, with Andy Pettitte starting against Alex Cobb -- no relation to Ty, but he was born in Boston, so he probably hates the Yankees. He's from Vero Beach, across the State, in Central Florida but closer to Miami than to Tampa, and was 4 when the Marlins played their first game and 10 when the Rays played theirs, so it's more likely that he grew up a Marlins fan than a Rays fan.

He's 25, and has been in the majors less than 2 full years. Is he the proverbial young pitcher the Yankees have never seen before? No: On July 18, 2011, he faced the Yankees at The Trop, and while he pitched reasonably well, he was the losing pitcher in a 5-4 Yankee win. On June 6, 2012, he faced the Yankees at The Stadium, and wasn't as good, getting hit solidly in a 4-1 Yankee win. On September 4, 2012, he faced the Yankees at The Trop, and this time he was the winning pitcher in a 5-2 Rays win.

Elsewhere, the Oakland Athletics beat the Boston Red Sox 13-0 -- in a game shortened to 7 innings by rain. The pesky Toronto Blue Jays last to the Baltimore Orioles 4-3.

The Yankees are still a game and a half behind the Sox, 1 in the loss column. The O's are 1 back, the Rays 4, the Jays 5 1/2.

All that new pitching... The Jays are 8-13, a .381 percentage, a 162-game pace for 60-102. And people thought they were going to win the Division...

The Mets lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers last night, 7-2  They are 9-9, 5 games behind the Atlanta Braves, 4 in the loss column.  hey got off to a good start, but, like water, a lousy team always seeks its level.

Right now, the Braves still have the best record in baseball, 15-5 (.750) -- but we all know the Braves will choke, in October if not in the summer. The worst? The Miami Marlins are 5-16 (.238), and already 10 1/2 games behind the Braves. It's not easy to be over 10 games behind on April 24.

Onebadinningitis

The Yankees began a series in Tampa Bay last night, and I didn't do a 2013 update for "How to Be a Yankee Fan in Tampa Bay."

According to the schedule I've laid out, that entry isn't due until May 19, in anticipation of a series down there that begins on May 24.

I must've taken the directive of Woody Paige, of the Denver Post and ESPN's Around the Horn, to "Look at the sched-u-le!" and read it wrong, thinking this to be a home series.  Sorry.

But when I have one bad inning, it only causes my blog to lose, not the Yankees.

CC Sabathia came down with a case of onebadinningitis against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field last night. In innings 2 through 7, he allowed 1 run on 3 hits. And if that was all you knew -- 6 innings, 1 run, 3 hits, 2 walks, plus 8 strikeouts -- you'd think he'd done a good job.

But in the bottom of the 1st, he allowed a single to Evan Longoria, a triple to Sean Rodriguez, and home runs to Ryan Roberts and Yunel Escobar. (It dropped his record to 3-2.)

It was 4-0 Rays, and aside from a Robinson Cano homer (his 6th of the young season) in the top of the 4th, the Yanks got no runs and just 1 hit off Matt Moore (4-0). Even the introduction of Kerosene Kyle Farnsworth in the 9th didn't lead to Yankee runs, and the Strays beat us, 5-1.

Attendance at the Trop was 15,331. I've been to Nets, Islanders and Red Bulls home games with more people than that. (Not a Liberty home game with more, though.) And I'll bet at least half of that (7,666) was rooting for the Yankees.

Shame on you, Tampa Bay. You don't deserve a team.

You also don't deserve Darrelle Revis. The former Jet cornerback, traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers because the Jets screwed up again, threw out the ceremonial first pitch last night. Rubbing it in, much?

Let's see: Tampa Bay, 2 World Championships (Bucs won 2002-03 Super Bowl, Lightning won 2004 Stanley Cup), 1 other appearance in a Finals (Rays lost 2008 World Series). Hell, the Mets can top that all by themselves.

The series continues tonight. Phil Hughes, probably our least effective starter at the moment, takes the hill against David Price, who should be the most effective starter they have left, although he's off to a start every bit as bad as Hughes'.

*

Hours until the Devils play again: 9, tonight, home to the Montreal Canadiens. Not that it matters to us, but the Habs are still playing for Playoff position.

Days until the Red Bulls play again: 4, this Saturday night, away to the imaginatively-named Toronto FC. This past Saturday, they played the New England Revolution in a show-of-solidarity game, and won, 4-1.

Days until the Devils play another local rival: 4, this coming Saturday, April 27, against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. This past Sunday, The Scum beat us, eliminating us from the Playoff race on our own home ice. Theoretically, we can do the same to them.  nd, besides, it took us 18 years to cancel out Stephane Matteau, let's see how long it takes them to cancel out Adam Henrique.

Days until Arsenal play another competitive match: 5, this Sunday, home to Manchester United. The Fergiebastards beat Aston Villa of Birmingham last night, 3-0. All 3 goals were offside, and they damn well know it. All 3 goals were scored by Robin van Persie, the clubhouse cancer who didn't seem to grasp that it would be a lot easier for Arsenal to win trophies if he had stayed. Instead, he punked out, and instead of going for the money at Manchester City, he went to ManUre, where the manager lets his players do whatever the hell they want, legal or otherwise, on the field or off, so long as they obey him and win. The thought of the Arsenal players giving the Fergies a "guard of honour" as they come onto the pitch is sickening. Why give a guard of honour to the most dishonourable sports team on the planet?

Days until the Red Bulls next play a "derby," against either the New England Revolution, the Philadelphia Union or D.C. United: 18, on Saturday night, May 11, away to New England.

Days until the U.S. National Soccer Team plays again: 36, on Wednesday, May 29, in a friendly against Belgium, featuring Arsenal captain Thomas Vermaelen. That game will be played at FirstEnergy Stadium, formerly Cleveland Browns Stadium. It, and the subsequent Sunday afternoon game against Germany at RFK Stadium in Washington, will be warmups for our next game in the last, "Hexagonal" round of CONCACAF World Cup Qualifiers, for the region that encompasses North America, Central America, and the Caribbean nations.

Days until the next Yankees-Red Sox series begins: 38, on Friday, May 31, at home. A little over 5 weeks. The first Yanks-Sox series of the year at Fenway Park won't begin until Friday, July 19. Then another series begins at Fenway on Friday, August 16. Then another in The Bronx on Thursday, September 5, and another at Fenway on Friday, September 13. Oh yeah, if you're a Red Sox fan, that's a day you want to play the Yankees: Friday the 13th!

Days until the next North London Derby: Unknown, since next season's schedule won't be released until mid-June. The season will most likely open on the 3rd Saturday in August, in this case August 17, but it's been a long time since Arsenal vs. Tottenham was an early game (possibly 1988-89). But even if it is that early, that's 118 days.

Days until Rutgers plays football again: 128, on Thursday night, August 29, away to Fresno State University in California. A little over 4 months. The first home game of the 2013 season will be on Saturday, September 7, vs. Norfolk State. The schedule is now complete, with all opponents and locations set in this, Rutgers' last season in the Big East, before starting Big Ten play in 2014. The only thing that hasn't been set is the kickoff times, with TV in mind.

Days until East Brunswick High School plays football again: Uncertain, since the 2013 schedule has not been released.  But if the usual pattern holds, it will be on the 2nd Friday in September... which, next year, just so happens to be a Friday the 13th. Oy vey. Anyway, if that's the way it works out, then it's 143 days.  Under 5 months. And when it does happen, it will be the first game they play without Marcus Borden as head coach since Thanksgiving Day 1982 (a loss to Colonia High of Woodbridge), as he has left the program. (Did he jump, or was he pushed? I don't know.) A new coach has been named: Bob Molarz, who turned nearby Carteret High School, which couldn't buy a win while I was at EBHS, into a team that made the Playoffs 9 seasons in a row and won 3 Central Jersey Group II Championships. He comes to us from the head job at one of our rivals, St. Joseph's of Metuchen, where he coached their first 2 seasons of varsity ball. A great hire.

Days until the next East Brunswick-Old Bridge Thanksgiving clash: 219. About 8 months.

Days until Super Bowl XLVIII at the Meadowlands: 285 (February 2, 2014). A little over 9 months.  Of course, we have no idea who the opposing teams will be. The possibility exists that either the Giants or the Jets could be in it -- or both. To this day, no team has ever played a Super Bowl in its own stadium -- in spite of multiple hostings by Miami, New Orleans and various California teams. Only 2 have done so in their home metro area: The 1979-80 Los Angeles Rams, whose home field was then the L.A. Coliseum, and they lost to Pittsburgh at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena; and the 1984-85 San Francisco 49ers, whose home field, then as now, was Candlestick Park, and they beat Miami at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto, which had a much larger capacity than Candlestick.

Days until the next Winter Olympics, in Sochi, Russia: 290 (February 7, 2014).

Days until the next World Cup, in Brazil: 415 (June 12, 2014). Under 14 months.

Days until the next Summer Olympics, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: 1,200 (August 5, 2016). Under 3 1/2 years.

All's Well That Ends Wells

The Yankees went into Toronto for the weekend, and, let's be honest, those pesky Blue Jays didn't look like obvious choices to win the AL East.

On Friday night, the Yankees struck like people vote in Chicago: Early and often. A double by Robinson Cano, Kevin Youkilis getting hit by a pitch (but not whining like he did when he was in Boston, guess he got de-bitch-ified), Travis Hafner doubling and Vernon Wells grounding out scored 2 runs before the Jays ever got to bat. Hafner homered in the 3rd (his 5th of the season), followed by a Wells single, an Ichiro Suzuki double and an Eduardo Nunez sacrifice fly.

In the 6th, Lyle Overbay homered (his 2nd), Francisco Cervelli doubled, Brett Gardner tripled, and Cano got another run home on a groundout. In the 7th, Wells tormented his former team again with his 4th homer of the season.

Andy Pettitte had some shaky moments, but pitched into the 8th, allowing 3 runs on 6 hits and a walk (3-0). Shaun Kelly went the rest of the way (not a save situation). Brandon Morrow took the loss for the Jays (0-2). Yankees 9, Blue Jays 4.

*

Saturday afternoon's game had, "Uh-oh, here we go again" written all over it. Hiroki Kuroda took a 2-hit shutout into the bottom of the 8th, while Wells hit his 5th homer in the top of the 2nd, and the 5th included a Jayson Nixon single, a Gardner double, an intentional walk by Mark Buehrle to Cano, and a Youkilis single. Wells should have had another RBI right after that, but Cano wasn't able to score on his single.

And that ended up making a difference. It was 3-0 Yankees in the bottom of the 8th, when, with 1 out, Colby Rasmus singled off Overbay's glove. It was then that Joe Girardi consulted not his eyes, which should have told him to leave Kuroda in, but his binder, which said take him out. He brought in David Robertson, who struck out Maicer Izturis, but then walked Adam Lind, who was then replaced by pinch-runner Emilio Bonifacio, and gave up a single to Rajai Davis to make it 3-1.

Up stepped Melky Cabrera, our old friend from 2009, outed as a steroid user last year with the San Francisco Giants, and thereafter they won the World Series without his help. Apparently, the Jays don't care about a guy's past -- but then, you could also say that about the Yankees. The Melkman singled home Bonifacio and Davis. Tie game.

Then Robertson walked Jose Bautista. Winning run on 2nd. All because Girardi trusted his damn binder instead of his eyes. The next batter was Edwin Encarnacion, who is off to a lousy start this season but hit 42 homers with 110 RBIs last year.

The season thus far has been good to the Yankees and bad for the Jays, in each case confounding predictions. This next batter could have turned around both seasons.

Roberts dug deep into his character, and struck him out swinging.

Unfortunately, the Yankees went down 1-2-3 in the 9th, and Girardi dug deep into his binder, and brought in Boone Logan to pitch. Joe Girardi hates me.

Incredibly, Logan got the Jays out 1-2-3 to send the game to extra innings. Additional frames. Extended play. Free baseball. Bonus cantos.

The Yankees went down 1-2-3 in the 10th. But Logan remembered that he sucks, and allowed a leadoff single to Izturis, and allowed Bonifacio to bunt Izturis over to 2nd. Winning run on 2nd, only 1 out.

Girardi's binder must've told him the same thing my eyes told me, and he yanked Logan for Kelley. Kelly induced Davis to pop up and Melky to ground out, ending the threat.

Who do you think started the winning rally in the top o fthe 11th? In the words of the immortal Jim Varney, "Hey, Vern!" Wells led off with a single, Cervelli hit the same, and then Ichiro bunted. Aaron Loup, now pitching for the Jays, did what every fielder is taught to do: Get the lead runner. Which made sense, since he was a lefthanded pitcher throwing to 3rd base, the easier throw. But it was anything but easy, and he threw it away. Wells and Cervelli both scored, and that was all Mariano Rivera should have needed to close it out in the bottom of the 11th.

(The play reminded me of the thrown-away bunt that gave the Yankees an extra-inning win against the Texas Rangers in Game 2 of the 1996 ALCS, which was a huge moment in making Title 23 possible, as the Ranges had won Game 1 and looked most of the way like they were going to win Game 2 as well, in New York, but because of that throw, they didn't win another game until April 1997.)

But Mo allowed a leadoff double to Bautista, and Encarnacion hit a liner to right. or a moment, the game was back in serious doubt. But Ichiro managed to catch it. Mo then struck out J.P. Arencibia and Brett Lawrie to nail it down.

Yankees 5, Jays 3. WP: Kelley (1-0, his first win as a Yankee after 10 previous, all with the Seattle Mariners). SV: Rivera (5 -- Who's an old man?). LP: Loup (1-1).

*

Yesterday's game wasn't so good. Ivan Nova started for us, and allowed 4 runs on 7 hits and 4 walks over the 1st 5 innings. In the end, though, he wasn't the losing pitcher.

Chris Stewart, Nova's personal catcher (again, nobody who isn't at least as good as Steve Carlton should have a personal catcher, and Carlton was the best lefty pitcher I've ever seen) homered in the 3rd (his 1st of the season), and the Yankees picked up 2 more runs in the 5th and another in the 6th. That made it 4-2 Yankees, and that should have given Nova a boost to at least get through the 6th.

It wasn't. He started the inning by walking Lind, then allowed a double to Arencibia. Enter Logan. Exit any chance the Yankees had of winning. Logan allowed a soft liner in front of Wells, no chance of catching it. Lind scored.

Since Logan couldn't get out the one man he is actually paid to get out -- the guy named Lefty Hitter -- Girardi pulled him for David Phelps. Unfortunately, as they would have said on Mission: Impossible, Mr. Phelps self-destructed in five seconds. He allowed an RBI double to Lawrence to tie it up. He got 2 outs, but then Melky singled home a run.

It was only 6-4 Toronto. As John Sterling taught us, a 2-run deficit can be erased with a bloop and a blast. Unfortunately, in the 7th, the Jays added a walk and a wallop, with Phelps walking Lind and giving up a gopher ball to Arencibia.

Jays 8, Yankees 4. WP: Brett Cecil (1-0). No save. LP: Logan (0-1).

There was one highlight for the Yankees in this game, aside from Stewart's homer, and it came in the other half of the 3rd. Bautista led off with a single, and Encarnacion hit a long drive to left, but Wells snagged it, and followed this great catch with a peg to Cano, who threw to Overbay, and Bautista was out on a double play.

The Toronto fans, who treat going from the Blue Jays to the Yankees (never mind that Wells stopped in Anaheim in between) the way they'd treat someone going from the Maple Leafs to the Montreal Canadiens, booed Wells lustily. He turned to the fans in the left-field seats and tipped his cap.

The Jays should never have let him go. But how smart does Brian Cashman look for picking him up? And Youkilis? And Hafner? And Overbay?

*

So here's how things stand in the American League Eastern Division, after 3 weeks of the 26-week season:

The Boston Red Sox are in 1st place, 12-6. The Yankees are 10-7, a game and a half back, 1 in the loss column, with a game in hand. The Baltimore Orioles are 10-8, 2 back. The Tampa Bay Rays are 8-10, 4 back. And the Jays are 8-11, 4 1/2 back.

Not exactly what everyone expected when the Jays got those 3 starting pitchers, is it? After 4 starts, R.A. Dickey is 2-2, ERA 4.30, WHIP 1.35; Morrow is 0-2, 5.57, 1.71; Buehrle is 1-0, but 6.26 and 1.16; and Josh Johnson is 0-1, 6.86, 1.88. After 3 starts, J.A. Happ is 2-1 with a 1.19 WHIP, but his ERA is a high 5.06.

For decades, we've heard the old saying: "Pitching is 75 percent of baseball." That's why so many people thought the Jays would win the East. It's also why they won't. As usual, the Yanks and Sox lead the way, and there is no longer any reason to believe that it won't be those two down to the wire as usual.

The Yankees head down to Tampa to play the Rays. Tonight, CC Sabathia against Matt Moore; tomorrow night, Phil Hughes against David Price; Wednesday night, Pettitte against Alex Cobb.

Breaking News, Breaking Streaks, Breaking Bones

The Yankees started this season 1-4, and every Yankee Fan's greatest fear -- and every Yankee Hater's wet dream -- seemed to be coming true: This is going to be the year the Yankees finally fall apart.

Then the Yankees won 7 of their next 8. Oh well, normal service has been resumed. And all without Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Curtis Granderson, and ol' what's is name, Alex Rodriguez.

Except now we hear that Jeter's ankle has sustained a second break in his training to return. Like Teix and Grandy, we thought he would be back in May. Now, like A-Rod, he's probably going to be out until at least the All-Star Break.

*

On Wednesday night, the Yankees played the 2nd game of their 3-game home series with the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Snakes got 2 in the 1st inning off CC Sabathia, and we all got worried. But CC settled down and pitched pretty well after that.

It was 3-0 D-backs going into the bottom of the 7th.  With 1 out, Ben Francisco singled to left. After the 2nd out, Brennan Boesch dropped a looper into left, getting to 2nd while Francisco scooted over to 3rd. Eduardo Nunez walked to load the bases -- not intentionally. And Jayson Nix worked a walk to send home Francisco with the 1st run. After a pitching change, Brett Gardner singled home Boesch and Nunez. Tie ballgame.

In the 8th, Travis Hafner pinch-hit for Francisco. Now, what could Joe Girardi's Binder possibly have said to tell him, "Pinch-hit for the guy who started the rally that tied the game"? Well, it must have said something that told him that "Pronk" could hit against new Arizona pitcher David Hernandez. It worked: Hafner homered to right-center. That produced the final score.

Yankees 4, Diamondbacks 3. WP: Sabathia (3-1). SV: Mariano Rivera (4). LP: Hernandez (0-1).

*

Then came last night. Phil Hughes was on the mound for the Yankees, and he pitched well enough to win: 7 innintgs, 2 runs, 6 hits, no walks, 6 strikeouts. But we didn't hit for him, scoring only 1 run over the first 8 1/3 innings: A home run by Robinson Cano, his 5th of the season. Cano got off to a horrid start, but he's been smoking the ball lately.

In the bottom of the 9th, the Diamondbacks brought in some Putz to close it out.  Former Seattle Mariners closer and Mets setup man J.J. Putz. He got Boesch to fly out, but then Francisco Cervelli hit one out to tie it up.  fter Ichiro Suzuki grounded out, Nunez singled, and the winning run was on 1st. But Lyle Overbay grounded out.

This game was like the end of last season, when, except for home runs, we would go 9, or even 12, innings scoring nothing except home runs. Epic RISPfail.

Between them, Boone Logan, Joba Chamberlain (yes, those two), and David Robertson pitched 3 innings, allowing 3 hits, no walks, no runs. Nice job. But the Yankees went down 1-2-3 in the 10th, and wasted 2 singles in the 11th.

Then came the top of the 12th. David Phelps had gotten out of a jam in the 11th, but in the 12th, well, as they might say on Mission: Impossible, Mr. Phelps self-destructed in five seconds.

Double to Gerardo Parra. Flyout by Martin Prado, getting Parra to 3rd. Then, just as Cervelli giveth, Cervelli taketh away, being called for catcher's interference, allowing Paul Goldschmidt to reach. Then Phelps hit Miguel Montero with a pitch to load the bases with only 1 out and the potential winning run on 3rd. Then a single to Cody Ross, scoring Parra. Then a double by... a guy the Yankees let get away, Eric Chavez. Bases cleared. 6-2 Diamondbacks. The Yankees went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 12th. WP: Heath Bell (1-0). No save. LP: Phelps (0-1).

Don't blame Phelps: The game never should have gotten that far. In 12 innings, home runs aside, the Yankees got no runs on only 5 hits in 12 innings.

Off to Toronto. They better paste those new pitching acquisitions the pesky Blue Jays got.

*

The Devils, on the other hand, ended their 10-game losing streak, beating the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-0. Goals by Ryan Carter, Matt D'Agostini and Adam Henrique.

The Mulberry Street Marauders are still very unlikely to make the Playoffs, but at least that streak won't be hanging over them until the start of the next season.

Have you seen 121 live NHL games? Martin Brodeur has 121 shutouts.

Henrik Lundvist, the goalie for the Rangers, just turned 31, and has 1 shutout and a GAA (goals-against average) of 2.06. Martin Brodeur is about to turn 41, and has 2 shutouts and a GAA of 2.16. Oh yeah, Brodeur has 3 Stanley Cup rings and has been to the Finals 5 times. Lundqvist has never been to the Finals. "King"? Bullshit.

*

What's been happening in Boston and the surrounding area keeps getting sadder and stranger. After Wednesday's reporting debacle on CNN, which bills itself as "The Most Trusted Name in News," I don't know what to believe anymore.

The best thing anyone can do right now is stay out of law enforcement's way, and let them do their job.

How to Be a Yankee Fan in Toronto -- 2013 Edition

The Yankees are about to play 3 Interleague games against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Maybe the Snakes can bring more fans into their home games if they call themselves "The Los Angeles Diamondbacks of Phoenix."

Then it's on the road again, to Toronto, to face those pesky Blue Jays, and their 3 great new pitchers who've suddenly discovered that pitching in the American League is hard. (Mark Buehrle previously pitched very well for the Chicago White Sox, but National League East retreads R.A. Dickey and Josh Johnson have gotten clobbered in their early starts for the Peskies.)

Let me begin by saying that it was the Blue Jays, then a 2-year-old expansion team, that the Yankees faced in the first Major League Baseball game I ever saw live, on May 27, 1978. The Yankees, defending World Champions, took a 1-1 tie into the 9th, but Ed Figueroa ran out of gas and lost, 4-1. (Why Billy Martin didn't put in Sparky Lyle, I don't know. I do know he didn't trust the new reliever, Goose Gossage, though Bob Lemon did and that helped save the season.)

It took 4 games, over a span of 15 years, before I finally saw the Yankees beat the Blue Jays with me in the stadium. I used to keep records of this sort of thing, and I could probably rebuild it if I had the time, but think my record against the Jays is 2-5 -- and that includes 2 games in Toronto. Which is a long way to go to not come away with a win.

Being in a foreign country has its particular challenges -- and, yes, for all its similarities to America, Canada is still a foreign country.  But, with 5.1 million people, Toronto is a bigger city than any other in North America except for New York -- unless, as part of "North America," you count Mexico City, which tops New York and all others.

Before You Go. Make sure you call your bank and tell them you’re going. After all, Canada may be an English-speaking country, and a democracy (if a parliamentary one), and a country with a Major League Baseball team, but it is still a foreign country. If your bank gets a record of your ATM card making a withdrawal from any country other than the U.S., it may freeze the card, and any other accounts you may have with them. So be sure to let them know that you will, in fact, be in Canada for a little while.

And, since June 1, 2009, you need a passport to cross the border in either direction. Even if you have a valid driver’s license (or other State-issued ID) and your birth certificate, they ain’t lettin’ you across into the True North Strong and Free. Not even if you’re a Blue Jays season-ticket holder living in Buffalo or if you sing hosannas of praise to Wayne Gretzky. You don’t have a passport? Get one. You do have one? Make sure it’s valid and up to date. This is not something you want to mess with. Canadian Customs officials do not fuck around: They care about their national security, too.

Do yourself another big favor: Change your money before you go. There are plenty of currency exchanges in New York City, including one on 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenue.

Leave yourself $50 in U.S. cash, especially if you’re going other than by plane, so you’ll have cash on your side of the border. At last check, on the morning of April 12, 2013, US$1.00 = C$1.01 – or, C$1.00 = US 99 cents. And, since the currency exchanges need to make a profit, the current rate favors Canada, though this is usually not the case.  (I was actually in Canada on the day when it most favored the U.S.: January 18, 2002, 1.60 to 1.00 in our favor.)

The multi-colored bill were confusing on my first visit, although we have those now, too. The $5 is blue, and features Wilfrid Laurier (Prime Minister 1896-1911). The $10 is purple, and features John A. Macdonald (the 1st Prime Minister, 1867-1873 and again 1878-1891, essentially he’s their George Washington without having fought a war for independence). The $20 is green, and features the nation’s head of state, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II. The $50 is red, and features William Lyon Mackenzie King (the longest-serving Prime Minister, 1921-1926, 1926-1930, 1935-1948, including World War II). And the $100 is yellow, and features Robert Borden (Prime Minister 1911-1920, including World War I).

The tricky part is going to be the coins – and you’ll thank me for telling you this, but keep your U.S. coins and your Canadian coins separate, for the simple reason that their penny, nickel, dime and quarter are all the same colors and just about the same size as our respective coins. (To make matters more confusing, as we recently did with our States, they had a Provincial quarter series.)

All coins have Queen Elizabeth’s portrait on the front, but she’s been Queen since 1952, and depending on how old the coin is, you might get a young woman, or her current 87-year-old self, or anything in between. You might even get a penny or a nickel old enough to feature her father, King George VI. Such a coin is still legal tender, however.

They have a $1 coin, copper-colored, bigger than a quarter, and 11-sided, with a bird on the back. This bird is a loon – not to be confused with the people lunatic enough to buy Maple Leafs season tickets. The coin is thus called the “loonie,” although they don’t say “ten loonies”: They use “buck” for “dollar” the way we would.  In fact, the term is connected to Canada: Their first English settlers were the Hudson’s Bay Company, and they set the value of a dollar to the price of the pelt of a male beaver, the male of the species being called, as are those of a deer and a rabbit, a buck. (And the female, a doe.) The nation’s French-speakers (Francophones) use the French word for loon, and call it a “huard,” but since the Montreal Expos are gone, you probably won’t hear that term unless you’re a hockey fan and go to see the Rangers, Devils or Islanders in Montreal – or maybe Ottawa, which is on the Ontario-Quebec border and has a lot of French-first-speakers.

Then there’s the $2 coin, or “toonie.” It’s not just two dollars, it’s two-toned, and even two-piece. It’s got a copper center, with the Queen on the front and a polar bear on the back, and a nickel ring around it. This coin is about the size of the Eisenhower silver dollars we used to have. This is the coin that drives me bonkers when I’m up there.

My suggestion is that, when you first get your money changed before you begin your trip, ask for $1 coins but no $2 coins. It’s just simpler. I like Canada a lot, but their money, yikes, eh?

This is Canada, the Great White North, so if you're going in April, it may still feel like winter, especially if the wind is blasting off Lake Ontario. In which case the Rogers Centre roof will be likely to be closed. So you should pack a winter jacket. If you're going from May onward, even in late September, it will probably be warm enough to not bring any jacket, but bring a light one just in case.

According to the Toronto Star website, there's going to be rain on Friday.  Saturday and Sunday should be clear, but the temperature may top out at 45 (7 Celsius), so expect the dome to be closed anyway.

Getting There. The best way is by plane. Air Canada runs flights out of Newark Liberty, John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia International Airport, and the flight takes about an hour and a half.  Book on Air Canada today, and you can get a round-trip flight for around US $565.  On an American carrier (including, but not necessarily, American Airlines), it will be closer to 4 times that.

Greyhound runs 9 buses a day from Port Authority Bus Terminal to the Toronto Coach Terminal, at 610 Bay Street. (Countries in the British Commonwealth, including Canada, call a local bus a bus and an inter-city bus a “coach.”) The ride averages about 11 hours, and is $130 round-trip -- although an advance purchase can drop it to $94.  The TCT is big and clean, although a little confusing, as it seems to be two separate buildings. You shouldn’t have any difficulties with it. It's one block down Bay to Dundas Street, and turn left to get to the Dundas subway station.

Amtrak, however, runs just one train, the Maple Leaf, in each direction each day between New York and Toronto, in cooperation with Canada’s equivalent, VIA Rail. This train leaves Pennsylvania Station at 7:15 AM and arrives at Union Station at 7:42 PM, a trip of 12 hours and 22 minutes – 9:22 of it in America, 0:20 of it at Customs (4:37 to 4:57 PM) and 2:45 of it in Canada. The return trip leaves Toronto at 8:20 AM, reaches the border at 10:22, and gets back to Penn Station at 9:45 PM. So if, for example (one that fits this upcoming series), you leave New York on a Friday morning for a weekend Yanks-Jays series, you’ll only get in the Saturday game.

So, while Toronto’s Union Station, at 65 Front Street West, is one of the world’s great rail terminals, and is the heart of the city (it's the centerpoint of the city's subway system, so it's not just in the heart of the city), taking Amtrak/VIA to Toronto is not particularly convenient. Especially since the Maple Leaf is one of Amtrak’s most popular routes, and it could sell out. If you still want to try it, it’s US$253 round-trip, and you can add Business Class accommodations for just US$1 extra (each way).

If you’re driving, it’s 500 miles – well, 492 miles from Times Square to downtown Toronto. Get into New Jersey to Interstate 80, and take it all the way across the State. Shortly after crossing the Delaware River and entering Pennsylvania, take I-380, following the signs for Scranton, until reaching I-81. (If you’ve driven to a game of the Yankees’ Triple-A farm team, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, you already know this part.) Take I-81 north into New York State. (If you’ve driven to a game of the Mets’ Double-A farm team, the Binghamton Mets, you already know this part.) Continue on I-81 past Binghamton and to Syracuse, where you’ll get on the New York State Thruway, which, at this point, is I-90. Continue on the Thruway west, past Rochester, to Buffalo.

What happens next depends on where you cross the border. But first, let’s discuss what you should do when you're actually at the border.  Because you need to take this seriously.  Because Canadian Customs will.

You'll be asked your citizenship, and you'll have to show your passport and your photo ID. You'll be asked why you're visiting Canada. Seeing a Yankees vs. Blue Jays game probably won't (but might) get you a smart-aleck remark about how the Jays are going to win, but they won't keep you out of their country based on that alone.

If you're bringing a computer with you (counting a laptop, but probably not counting a smartphone), you don't have to mention it, but you probably should. Chances are, you won't be carrying a large amount of food or plants; if you were, depending on how much, you might have to declare them.

Chances are, you won't be bringing alcohol into the country, but you can bring in ONE of the following items duty-free, and anything above or in addition to this must have duty paid on it: 1.5 litres (53 ounces) of wine, or 8.5 litres (300 ounces or 9.375 quarts) of beer or ale, or 1.14 litres (40 ounces) of hard liquor.  If you have the slightest suspicion that I'm getting any of these numbers wrong, check the Canada Customs website.  Better yet, don't bring booze in. Or out.

As for tobacco, well, you shouldn't use it. But, either way over the border, you can bring up to 200 cigarettes, 50 cigars, and 200 grams (7 ounces) of manufactured tobacco. What you cannot bring from Canada back into the U.S. is Cuban-made cigars. They are still illegal to even possess in the U.S.  So you need to note that President Obama hasn't had that law changed, or dropped the embargo against Cuba; if he is a Communist or a Socialist, that's yet another reason why he's not very good at it.

If you've got anything in your car (or, if going by bus or train) that could be considered a weapon, even if it's a disposable razor or nail clippers, tell them. And while Canada does have laws that allow you to bring in firearms if you're a licensed hunter (you'd have to apply for a license to the Province where you plan to hunt), the country has the proper attitude concerning guns: They hate them. They go absolutely batshit insane if you try to bring a firearm into their country. Which, if you're sane, is actually the sane way to treat the issue.

You think I'm being ridiculous? How about this: Seven of the 44 U.S. Presidents -- 9 counting the Roosevelts, Theodore after he was President and Franklin right before -- have faced assassins with guns, 6 got hit and 4 died; but none of the 22 people (including 1 woman) to serve as Prime Minister of Canada has ever faced an assassination attempt. John Lennon recorded "Give Peace a Chance" in Montreal and gave his first "solo concert" in Toronto, but he got shot and killed in New York. In fact, the next time I visit, I half-expect to see a bumper sticker that says, "GUNS DON'T KILL PEOPLE, AMERICANS WITH GUNS KILL PEOPLE."

(Another note about weapons: I’m a fan of the TV show NCIS, which airs in Canada on Global Network TV. If you are also a fan of this show, and you usually observe Gibbs Rule Number 9, "Never go anywhere without a knife," this time, forget it, and leave it at home.  If you really think you're going to need it -- as a tool -- mention the knife to the border guard, and show it to him, and tell him you have it to use as a tool in case of emergency, and that you do not plan to use it as a weapon. Do not mention the words "Rule Number 9" or quote said rule, or else he'll observe his Rule Number 1: Do not let this jackass into your country, eh? And another thing: Border guards, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, most likely will observe a variation on Gibbs Rule Number 23: "Never mess with a Mountie's Tim Hortons coffee if you want to live.")

And if you can speak French, don't try to impress the Customs officials with it. Or the locals, for that matter.  You're going into Ontario, not Quebec. (And even if you were going into Quebec, they're not going to be impressed by your ability to speak their first language.) A, People of French descent are a minority west of Quebec (although singers Alanis Morrissette and Avril Lavigne are both Franco-Ontarians); and, B, They can probably speak English, let alone French, and possibly another language or two, better than you can. If you try to speak French in Toronto, you won't sound like you're from Montreal, and you certainly won't sound like you're from Paris. You'll sound like a smartass.  That's if you speak French well. If you don't, you'll sound like a damn fool.

When crossing back into the U.S., in addition to what you would have to declare on the way in (if you still have any of it), you would have to declare items you purchased and are carrying with you upon return, items you bought in duty-free shops or (if you flew) on the plane, and items you intend to sell or use in your business, including business merchandise that you took out of the United States on your trip. There are other things, but, since you're just going for baseball, they probably won't apply to you. Just in case, check the Canadian Customs website I linked to above.

Precisely where will you be crossing the border? It could be at the Peace Bridge, built to commemorate the U.S. and Canada having “the world’s longest undefended border,” from Buffalo into the Ontario city of Fort Erie.

After going through Customs, this would take you right onto the Queen Elizabeth Way (the QEW). After the Pennsylvania Turnpike, this was North America’s second superhighway, and was named not for the current Queen but for her mother, the wife of King George VI, the woman most people now under the age of 65 called the Queen Mother or the Queen Mum. (You know: Helena Bonham-Carter in The King's Speech.) This road will hug Lake Ontario and go through the Ontario cities of Niagara Falls, St. Catharines and Hamilton before turning north and then east toward Toronto. Toronto’s CN Tower is so tall that you may actually see it, across the lake, before you get to Hamilton.

The most common route from Buffalo to Toronto, however, is to go north on I-190, the Thruway’s Niagara Extension, to Niagara Falls. After you go through Customs, the road will become Ontario Provincial Highway 405, which eventually flows into the Queen Elizabeth Way.

At the edge of the "megacity" of Toronto (Montreal is also now a "megacity"), the QEW becomes the Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway.  ("Big Daddy" Gardiner was a major Toronto politician, and was responsible for getting it built.) The Gardiner does not have numbers on its exits.  If you're going for only one game, and are leaving Toronto right afterward (I don't recommend this this: Spend a day in the city), you'll take the Spadina Avenue exit to get to Rogers Centre.

If you make 3 rest stops – I would recommend at or near Scranton and Syracuse, and count Customs, where they will have a restroom and vending machines – and if you don’t do anything stupid at Customs, such as fail to produce your passport, or flash a weapon, or say you watch South Park (a show with a vendetta against Canada for some reason), or call Sidney Crosby a cheating, diving pansy (even though he is one) – the trip should take about 11 hours.

Though that could become 12, because Toronto traffic is every bit as bad as traffic in New York, Boston and Washington. As Canada native (Regina, Saskatchewan) Leslie Nielsen would say, I am serious, and don’t call me Shirley: Toronto traffic is awful.

Once In the City.  Founded as York in 1793, it became the City of Toronto in 1834, the name coming from Taronto, a Native American name for a channel of water between Lake Simcoe and Lake Couchiching.  There are 2.6 million people in the city, and 5.6 million in the metro area; in each case, making it larger than any in North America except New York, Los Angeles and Chicago -- unless you count Mexico to be part of "North America" instead of "Central America," in which case add Mexico City to those that are larger.

Since Canada is in the British Commonwealth, there are certain subtle differences.  Every measurement will be in the metric system.  Dates are written not as Month/Day/Year, as we do it, but as Day/Month/Year as in Britain and in Europe.  So the series begins for us on "April 19, 2013" but for them on "19 April 2013." Not on 4/19, but on 19/4.  They also follow British custom in writing time: A game starting at 7:07 PM would be listed as 1907.  (Those of you who have served in the military, you will recognize this as, in the words of M*A*S*H's Lt. Col. Henry Blake, "all that hundred-hours stuff.")

And every word we would end with -or, they will end wit -our; and some (but not all) words that we would end with -er, they end with -re, as in "Rogers Centre." Another thing to keep in mind: Don't ask anyone where the "bathroom" is -- ask for the "washroom." This difference was a particular pet peeve of mine the first time I arrived at the Toronto Coach Terminal, although it wasn't a problem in Montreal's Gare Centrale as I knew the signs would be in French.

Every measurement will be in the metric system: Temperatures will be in Celsius, not Fahrenheit; distances will be in "kilometres" (including speed limits), and gas prices will be per "litre," not per gallon.

When you arrive, I would recommend buying the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail. The former newspaper is local, the latter is national, and both are liberal enough to suit my sensibilities (or, should I say, sensible enough to suit my liberalism). And The Star has a very good sports section, and should do a good job covering the Jays, although, being a hockey city in a hockey Province in a hockey country, you’ll see a lot of stuff about the Maple Leafs and nearby minor-league, collegiate and “junior” hockey teams no matter what time of year it is.

I would advise against buying the Toronto Sun, because it’s a right-wing, sensationalist tabloid and every bit the journalistically sloppy rag that the New York Post is. (It also has conservative “sister papers” called the Sun in Ottawa, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Calgary, although the Vancouver Sun is not connected.) The National Post, while also politically conservative (and thus a national competitor for The Globe and Mail), is a broadsheet and thus conservative in the sense that it is calmer and more sensible with its journalism.

If you can get to Union Station after leaving your hotel, you may also be able to get out-of-town papers, including the New York ones, as well as Canadian papers such as the Montreal Gazette and the Ottawa Citizen.

Union Station is at the intersection of Bay & Front Streets.  Bay runs north-south, and divides Toronto's east and west sides, and the street numberings thereof; the lake serves as the "zero point" for streets running north and south, and thus there's no North and South on street names.  Bay Street is also "Canada's Wall Street," the center of Toronto's financial district, and is not particularly well-liked by, well, anybody who isn't conservative in Canada.

Toronto has a subway, Canada’s oldest, opened in 1954 and known as “the Rocket.” (I’ll bet Montrealers hated that, since it was the nickname of their beloved hockey star Maurice Richard, well before baseball’s Roger Clemens was even born.) Along with Philadelphia, it's one of the last 2 subway systems in North America that still uses tokens rather than a farecard system such as New York's MetroCard. The fare is C$3.00, about US$2.96, so it's more expensive that most U.S. systems. But it's fast, frequent, and clean. A Daypass is C$10.75, or US$10.60.

Getting to Rogers Centre, formerly known as SkyDome (under both names, they hate it when you use the definite article "the" in its name), is not going to be fun. The subway doesn’t go to the dome. The closest stop is the one for Union Station. And the city’s famed streetcars are no help, either. It’s a great city for public transportation, unless you’re going to Rogers Centre or the CN Tower, which are only the 2 biggest tourist attractions in the city, and right next-door to each other.  (When SkyDome opened in 1989, somebody called them a sperm-and-egg pairing.) I’d say they’re the 2 biggest tourist attractions in the Province of Ontario, or even the entire country, but, as I said, you’ll have to pass Niagara Falls.

The stadium is, theoretically, just 3 blocks away from Union Station, down Front Street West: York, Simcoe, John. But it’s going to seem like a long walk. (Trust me, I’ve done it.) And Front Street West is perhaps the most touristy street in the entire country, much as Broadway in Midtown Manhattan is.

Tickets. It used to be that getting tickets to any Blue Jays home game, not just Yankee games, was hard, because they were selling the SkyDome out, 50,000 per night. It peaked in their 2nd straight World Championship season of 1993, 50,098. (Officially, seating capacity is currently 49,282 for baseball, and 52,230 for the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts.)

But the strike of 1994, and the decline of the team (the World Championship roster had already begun to be broken up to save money), was the beginning of the end. They fell to 20,209 in 2002, had an uptick back to 29,626 in 2008, but in 2010 they averaged 20,068, 5th-worst in baseball, 3rd in the AL and dead last in the AL East – and that counts games against the well-traveling, not-that-far-away Yankees and Red Sox, not to mention their closest opponents, the Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers.

The move of the Montreal Expos to Washington, making them Canada's only Major League Baseball team, doesn’t seem to have affected attendance much: The increases in home attendance in 2005, ’06, ’07 and ’08 were mainly due to the Jays getting a little better (in 2006 they finished 2nd to the Yankees, the closest they’ve come to postseason play since ’93), and they lost 6,500 fans per game in 2009 and lost another 3,000 in 2010.  A strong start brought them an average of 22,446 in 2011, and in 2012 they were back up to 25,921.

Even with that increase, you should have no trouble getting tickets, and going to one of the many scalpers on and around the stadium grounds will be totally unnecessary – this is the Jays, not the Leafs, who haven’t played to an unsold seat since World War II. (Note that all prices I’m mentioning here are in Canadian dollars, which means they’re slightly less in U.S. dollars.)

Games against the Yankees are classified as "Premium Games," so they are a bit more expensive than usual. You can get Field Level Bases and 200 Level Bases for $52, 100 Level Outfield for $38, 200 Level Outfield for $35, and the entire upper deck, the 500 Level, is just $17. The 500 Level is really high up, but no worse than the upper decks at the old Yankee Stadium and Shea, and the first few rows shouldn’t be all that bad.

Going In. Originally known as the SkyDome, for its retractable roof, and opening in June 1989, the building was renamed the Rogers Centre in 2005, for the new corporate owner of the Jays, Rogers Communications, founded by the late Ted Rogers and featuring several cable-TV networks, most notably Rogers Sportsnet (although TSN, The Sports Network, ESPN's Canada version, is the more popular).

Most likely, you’ll be walking from Union Station along Front Street, or the Skywalk that connects the station to the CN Tower. Unfortunately, despite the physical size of the stadium's structure, there are only two points of entry for fans, rather than for players, team personnel, or the media: Gate 7 at its southeast corner and Gate 9 at its southwest corner.

There are, as yet, no statues outside the stadium dedicated to Blue Jays or Argonauts greats. But they do have some exterior sculptures depicting fans, which is nice.

The hallways are carpeted.  This makes the stadium feel more like a movie theater (or "theatre," as Canada would spell it) than a sports stadium, especially if the roof is closed.  But the carpet that serves as the field is awful, about as bad as the one at Tropicana Field in Tampa Bay.

The field points north, but that doesn't make a difference, since you can't see outside the place anyway, unless you sit on the 3rd base side and the roof is open, in which case you can see the CN Tower.  The field is symmetrical: Outfield distances are 328 to the poles (exactly 100 "metres"), 375 to the alleys and 400 to "centre." While with the Red Sox in 2001, Manny Ramirez hit the dome's longest home run, 491 feet.

Food. You know the economy is bad when a McDonald’s closes. And there was a McDonald’s in the SkyDome, the first in any stadium in the world, but it closed during the 2008-10 recession. The Hard Rock Café, the first in any stadium in the world, is also gone. They’ve both been replaced by Sightlines Restaurant, with windows facing the field.

The stadium has standard baseball food, and although none of it is great, most of it upsets Canadian stomachs far less than do the Jays’ relief pitchers.  There are several "HogTown Grill" stands -- Hogtown being an old nickname for Toronto, the rusticity of it belying its image as Canada's biggest city.  Before the Indian (or, as they would say in Canada, instead of "Native American," "First Nations") name of Toronto was given to the city, the English called it "York" (not to be confused with New York), and "Muddy York Market" (presumably a fresh fruit stand) is behind 106, 110 and 514.  

12 Bar, presumably named in honor of Roberto Alomar, is behind Section 215.  Touch 'Em All Joe Bar, obviously named for Joe Carter and his 1993 walkoff, is at 232.  

Although Toronto is not as known for Jewish culture and food as much as Montreal is, a Kosher stand called Olde Spadina Avenue is at 132, and Shopsy's Deli is at 124.

In spite of Canada being in the opposite direction, Rogers Centre nods toward Mexico and the Caribbean with the Big Smoke Jerk Chicken Nacho: Crisp corn tortilla chips topped with  cheddar cheese sauce, smoked jerk chicken, pico de gallo, scallions, country slaw and jerk infused sour cream.  (Jerk-infused? Another tribute to Alomar, a.k.a. Ol' Spithead?)  This item is also available as a sandwich.

There is an ice cream shop at 137.  And what would a Canadian gathering place be without a Tim Hortons, or two? Rogers Centre has 'em at 114 and 128.

The "Great Canadian" -- not to be confused with Wayne "The Great One" Gretzky, whose restaurant is across the street from Rogers Centre -- is a hot dog topped with maple baked beans, crumbled Canadian back bacon, caramelized sweet red onions and Canadian cheddar cheese.  I would advise against trying it.  If you do, you'll be glad Canada has socialized medicine.

The Jays also serve poutine, the French fries, gravy and curd concoction that almost single-handedly undoes all the good that Quebec culture has done for the world.   Their take on it includes chicken wings on the bottom, loaded not just with everything else that comes with poutine, but pretty much anything you've ever seen put on a baked potato.  Apparently, the Blue Jays' motto is, "If you can't beat 'em, kill 'em by clogging their arteries."

There is also something called "Bread Bottoms" behind 109.  I have no idea what this refers to; on my 2005 and '06 visits, I did not notice it, so it may have been added since.  Hopefully, it's nothing worse than a bakery stand.

Team History Displays. The Jays have championship banners in straightaway center field. (Or “centre field,” as it would be "spelt" there.) They have separate banners for the World Series wins, Pennants and American League Eastern Division Championships of 1992 and 1993. This might seem laughable, except lots of sports teams (not the Yankees, or the Mets for that matter) do it, including the New Jersey Devils, my 2nd-favorite pro team behind the Yankees. The Jays also have banners for their AL East titles of 1985, 1989 and 1991, and for the 1991 All-Star Game which the SkyDome hosted.

The Jays retired a uniform number for the first time in 2011, when they had their first player elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame: Roberto Alomar -- Number 12, 2nd base, 1991-95.  Their main display of player honors is a “Level of Excellence” on the Rogers Centre’s 400 Level (club seats).

In addition to Alomar, it honors the following: Paul Beeston, executive, 1976-present and chief operating officer 1989-present; Pat Gillick, general manager, 1977-95; Tom Cheek, broadcaster, 1977-2005, his “number” being the number of consecutive games he broadcast until illness ended his streak at 4,306, soon ending his life as well; Dave Stieb, Number 37, pitcher, 1979-92 with a brief comeback in 1998; George Bell, Number 11, left field, 1981-90; Tony Fernandez, Number 1, shortstop, 1983-90, 1993, 1998-99 and 2001; Cito Gaston, Number 43, manager, 1989-97 and 2008-10; and Joe Carter, Number 29, 1st base-right field, 1991-97.  And, of course, Jackie Robinson, whose Number 42 is retired for all of baseball, including the Jays, so no Toronto ballplayer will ever wear it again.

The Jays have announced that Carlos Delgado, Number 25, 1st base 1993-2004, will be inducted this coming July.  He is their all-time leader in most offensive categories, including home runs (336 of his 473 dingers as a Blue Jay), and always seemed to hit well against the Yankees, before closing his career with those soul-crushing Met teams of 2006-09.  He never played in a World Series, reaching the Jays as a late-season callup in 1993 and not appearing on the postseason roster, although they did give him a World Series ring.  He played for Puerto Rico in this year's World Baseball Classic.

The Level of Excellence also features the All-Time Team of the Canadian Football League’s most successful franchise, the 16-time and current Grey Cup holders, the Toronto Argonauts, including their 4 retired numbers: Joe Krol, Number 55, quarterback, 1945-52 and ’55; Dick Shatto, Number 22, running back, 1954-65; Danny Nykoluk, Number 60, offensive tackle, 1955-71; and Michael “Pinball” Clemons, Number 31, running back 1989-2000, since 2001 a team administrator, and, by a weird twist, comes from Dunedin, Florida, the only spring-training home the Blue Jays have ever had.

There is no mention at Rogers Centre of the 10 Pennants won by the Jays’ minor-league predecessor, the Toronto Maple Leafs, for whom the legendary hockey team was named: 1887 (in the original Eastern League, the rest in the International League), 1902, 1912, 1917, 1918, 1926, 1934, 1960, 1965 and 1966.  Those last 3 came as a farm club of the Boston Red Sox, with the 1960 Pennant featuring Carl Yastrzemski, and the last 2 being managed by Dick Williams, who was promoted to the big club and took some of his Leafs with him and, with Yaz and Jim Lonborg and a few others, those ex-Leafs forged the “Impossible Dream” Pennant of 1967. However, 1967 was also the last year of the franchise, as they were moved by the Sox. It would be 1991 before Toronto got full revenge on the Red Sox for taking their old team away, edging them for the AL East title in the first race where both of them went down to the wire.

Stuff. The usual memorabilia is sold, including jerseys with the names of current Jays players on them. For those ofmer Jays stars, such as those on the Level of Excellence, sorry, but you’ll have to go to Mitchell & Ness in Philadelphia (or their website) to get them.

There aren't many good books about the Jays.  Nate LeBoutillier (ironically, a French-Canadian) wrote the recently-published, but unimaginatively-titled, The Story of the Toronto Blue Jays.  

The Jays are also weak on video. The official World Series highlight films of 1992 and 1993 are available on DVD, but if you’re looking for The Essential Games of the Toronto Blue Jays, or The Essential Games of Rogers Centre, you’re out of luck.

At least you won’t have to look at those blue Js. When the Jays were heading into the 1992 postseason, somebody remembered the previous season’s World Series, when the Minnesota Twins brought back the Homer Hankies of 1987, and the Atlanta Braves made the foam tomahawks to do the Tomahawk Chop. So someone made up about a million big bright blue foam objects in the shape of the letter J. A “blue J.” Get it, eh? (Not to be outdone, when the Jays played the Chicago White Sox in the 1993 ALCS, white socks were given to Chicago fans to wave around. As far as I know, the Red Sox have never given people red socks to wave around.) The blue Js were still better than the foam headgear I once saw, resembling the bird on the team’s then-logo. That looked really ridiculous.

During the Game. You do not need to fear wearing your Yankee gear to Rogers Centre. Although quite a few U.S.-based crime dramas (and other shows, and films, particularly those that supposedly take place in Chicago) have been filmed in and around Toronto, it’s not a particularly crime-ridden city. You might get some verbal from the Jays fans, especially after a Jays win over the Yanks, but this will mainly consist of them yelling, “Yankees suck!” And you’ve heard that before, and you know how to respond: “Five rings since ’93, what have you done since then?”

If it's a day game and it's warm, no threat of rain, and there's no wind, most likely the roof will be open. If it's a night game, or a day game but rainy and/or windy, or not especially warm, the roof will probably be closed.

The ball travels farther with the roof closed (this is usually the case with domed stadiums, though the first, Houston's Astrodome, was a pitcher's park), but with a large amount of foul territory, the Rogers Centre is generally regarded as a pitchers' park.

Since you’re in Canada, there will be two National Anthems sung. “The Star-Spangled Banner” will probably be sung by about half of the few thousand Yankee Fans who show up, but “O Canada” will be sung by the home fans with considerable gusto. When I’m at a sporting event where the opposing team is Canadian, I like to sing “O Canada” in French. Montreal Canadiens fans like this when I do it at the Prudential Center. Fans of the other Canadian NHL teams just think it’s weird. When I did it in the 2 games I’ve been to at Rogers Centre, the Jays fans, as I warned they would, simply thought I was a twat. But then, they root for the Jays, and I root for the Yanks, so I’d rather have their opinion of me than my opinion of them.

The Jays’ mascot is a blue jay named Ace.  From 1979 to 1999, they had a blue jay mascot named B.J. Birdie. B.J. resembled the logo the Jays had at the time, while Ace resembles the one they’ve had since the 2004 season.  From 2000 to 2003, Ace had a girlfriend, named Diamond – baseball or otherwise, “diamonds are a girl’s best friend,” get it? But they must have broken up, because Ace has been alone since 2004.

At the 7th inning stretch, after they sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," they go into “OK Blue Jays.” It was written by Jack Lenz and Tony Kosinec, and the recorded version is by Keith Hampshire & the Bat Boys. They’ve used this song since 1983, and it is certified as a gold record in Canada. (That’s 50,000 copies, as opposed to the 500,000 you need to sell to get a gold record in the U.S.) It’s a very stupid song, but then, so are most baseball-themed songs. It’s not like “Here Come the Yankees” is appreciably better.

On occasion, the Jays will wear throwback uniforms at home – but these will be their original road uniforms of the Exhibition Stadium era, 1977 to 1989. And they will be powder blue. There’s a reason why teams stopped wearing that color: It is not particularly athletic-looking! Except maybe at the University of North Carolina.

If the roof is closed, fireworks will shoot out from it following a Jays homer or a Jays win. That’s right, indoor fireworks. But the peak of the roof is high enough that you should not be in danger.

After the Game. As I said, Blue Jays fans may try to take a few liberties, especially if their team has beaten the Yankees. Toronto is an international city, every bit as much as New York is, and some of these people may have cut their teeth as sports fans in European soccer. But we’re not talking about hooligans here. And, of course, you can just bring up the 27 rings, or the 5 the Yankees have won since Joe Carter touched ‘em all 20 years ago. Wow, that means a recent college graduate living in Toronto probably has no memory of it. Beats being 50 and having no memory of the Leafs winning the Cup, though.

The official address for the Rogers Centre is 1 Blue Jays Way, which is the street outside the left field corner, which flows into Peter Street. At 99 Blue Jays Way is Wayne Gretzky’s Restaurant. But since he betrayed his former fellow players and sided with his current fellow owners in the 2004-05 NHL lockout, I consider him a traitor to the game of hockey, and I will not set foot in his establishment, and I would advise you to avoid it as well.

I would also advise avoiding Jack Astor’s, a smart-alecky-named chain of Canadian restaurants that includes one at 144 Front Street West, about halfway between Union Station and the Rogers Centre. I ate there the last time I was in Toronto, and the food and service would be mediocre at half the price. They have only one location in the U.S. -- not surprisingly, in nearby Buffalo, at the Walden Galleria east of downtown.

There’s the Canadian Bar & Grill, at the Hyatt Regency at 370 King Street West, 4 blocks from Rogers Centre.  It features what it calls “traditional Canadian cuisine.” This includes wild game, as well as regional items like poutine and Newfoundland clam chowder. (Apparently, the word “chowder” came from the Newfies, and theirs is closer to New England’s than to the tomato-based abomination known as Manhattan clam chowder. Clam chowder is one of the few things New England does better, a lot better, than New York.)

If rabbit stew isn’t your cup of tea, try the Loose Moose Tap & Grill, at 146 Front Street West, 2 blocks from the stadium. There, as they say, you’ll “eat like a king then party like a rock star!” You’ll be dining like a typical Torontonian, rather than with guys likely to jump into the Monty Python “Lumberjack Song.” (If you’ve never seen that sketch, let me put it this way: Don’t ask, and I won’t tell.) And the Lone Star Texas Grill, a block away at 200 Front Street West, is jointly owned by several former CFL players, and is a fair takeoff on the U.S. chain Lone Star Steakhouse.

Actually, your best bet may be, as Vancouver native Cobie Smulders of the TV series How I Met Your Mother would put it, “the most Canadian place there is”: Tim Hortons. (Note that there is no apostrophe: It’s “Hortons,” not “Horton’s,” because Quebec's ridiculous protect-the-French-language law prohibits apostrophes and the company wanted to keep the same national identity.) They have a 62 percent share of the Canadian coffee market (Starbucks has just 7 percent) and 76 percent of the Canadian baked goods market. They also sell sandwiches, soup, chili, and even (some of you will perk up faster than if you’d drunk their coffee) New York-style cheesecake. It’s fast food, but good food. I rate them behind Dunkin Donuts, but ahead of Starbucks.

Tim Horton, a defenceman (that’s how they spell it up there) for the Maple Leafs, and businessman Ron Joyce started the doughnut/coffee shop chain in 1964, while in the middle of the Maple Leafs’ 1960s dynasty. He played a couple of years for the Rangers, then went to the Buffalo Sabres and opened a few outlets in the Buffalo area. He was still playing at age 44, and the only thing that stopped him was death. Specifically, a 100-MPH, not-wearing-a-seat-belt crash on the Queen Elizabeth Way over Twelve Mile Creek in St. Catharines, Ontario. (In other words, if you’re driving or taking the bus from New York to Toronto, you’ll pass the location.)

Joyce, whose son Ron Jr. married Horton’s daughter Jeri-Lyn, joined with Dave Thomas of Wendy’s and merged the two companies in 1995, becoming its largest shareholder, with even more shares than Thomas. Although the companies have since split again, it was mutually beneficial, as Wendy's gained in Canada and Timmy's poked their heads in the U.S. door.  There are now over 3,000 Tim Hortons locations in Canada (including one at Toronto's Union Station and several on Canadian Forces Bases around the world) and over 500 in the U.S. – and they’re heavily expanding in New York including 3 in the Penn Station complex alone (despite Horton himself only briefly having played for the Rangers upstairs at the “new” Madison Square Garden). They are also partnered with Cold Stone Creamery, with an outlet on 42nd Street, a 2-minute walk from Port Authority. These Hosers know what they're doing.

I can find no reference to a bar or restaurant in Toronto where New Yorkers are known to gather.

Sidelights. Being the 2nd-largest city in North America after New York – if, that is, you count Mexico and thus Mexico City as “Central America” – Toronto is loaded with tourist traps. This has been spoofed in “The Toronto Song,” a bit by the Edmonton-based comedy duo the Arrogant Worms. (It’s not obvious that they’re from Edmonton until the end of the song, by which point they’ve said everything in Ontario sucks, as do all the other Provinces, except “Alberta doesn’t suck – but Calgary does.”)

They’re not far off.  Toronto is much cleaner than most American cities: U.S. film crews, trying to save money by filming there, have had to throw garbage onto the streets so it would look more like New York, Boston, Chicago or Los Angeles, and then they have to do it again between takes, because the street-sweepers clean it up that quickly.  But the city does have slums, a serious homeless problem, ridiculous rents, never-ending lakefront high-rise construction (mirroring Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s similar projects in New York), and their share of metalheads, punks, Goths and chavs.

I wouldn't call recently departed Mayor David Miller a dork, as the Arrogant Worms did, although his predecessor, Mel Lastman, was often a Canadian version of Rudy Giuliani. With better hair. The current Mayor is Rob Ford, and he's an alcoholic and a crook, who was just barely able, through legal action, to keep his office.

Torontonians can’t quite decide whether they want to be Canada’s New York (national media, culture and finance capital, home of the CBC and CTV, and Bay Street is their “Wall Street”), Canada’s Chicago (a gritty blue-collar “drinking town with a sports problem”), or Canada’s L.A. (movie-filming center.) Actually, Montreal is Canada’s New York, Hamilton its Chicago, and Vancouver its L.A.

Toronto is... Toronto is something else. Scientists have yet to figure out what. But check out these locations:

* Hockey Hall of Fame, 30 Yonge Street, blocked by Yonge, Front, Bay and Wellington. If you go to Toronto and you don’t go to the Hockey Hall of Fame, they should deport you from Canada and never let you back in. This place is great, and the actual Stanley Cup is there.  Well, 2 of them are, the original bowl that was so damaged that they replaced it in 1970, plus some of the bands with old-time winners on it, and a display copy. The one that gets awarded every year is also stored there in preparation for its annual awarding, then gets to go wherever the winning team’s players want to take it for almost a year.

You’ll also see why Canadians call hockey jerseys “sweaters”: They used to be sweaters, as you’ll see in the display cases. You’ll also see why they’re not sweaters anymore: Holes where they were eaten by moths. Hockey eventually got that right.

They also got the location for their Hall of Fame right: While it’s not clear where hockey was invented, and the NHL was founded in Montreal, they put their Hall of Fame in an easily accessible city, unlike baseball (hard-to-reach Cooperstown, New York is NOT where baseball was invented), basketball (Springfield, Massachusetts is where it was invented but it’s a depressing town), and pro football (Canton, Ohio is where the NFL was founded but it's so drab and bleak it makes Springfield look like Disney World… Sorry, Thurman).  Union Station stop on the TTC subway.

* Exhibition Place. The Canadian National Exhibition is kind of a nationwide “State Fair.” It was on the grounds, off Princes Boulevard, that Exhibition Stadium, or the Big X, stood from 1948 to 1999. It was home to the Blue Jays from 1977 to 1989 and the CFL’s Argonauts from 1959 to 1988. It hosted only one MLB postseason series, the 1985 ALCS, which the Jays lost to the Kansas City Royals.  It hosted 12 Grey Cups (Canadian Super Bowls), although only one featured the Argos, and that was the 1982 game, won by the Edmonton Eskimos in a freezing rain, with fans chanting, “We want a dome!” The SkyDome/Rogers Centre project soon began, and Exhibition Stadium never hosted another Grey Cup.  Rogers Centre has now hosted 4, including the 100th, last November, which the Argos won over the Calgary Stampeders.

BMO Field (pronounced "BEE-moh"), home of Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame and Major League Soccer’s rather unimaginatively-named Toronto FC, was built on the site of Exhibition Stadium.  Exhibition stop on the Lakeshore West line of GO, Toronto’s commuter-rail service out of Union Station.

* Varsity Stadium, 299 Bloor Street West and Devonshire Place. The home of the athletic complex of the University of Toronto, this is the 3rd stadium on the site, replacing one that stood from 1911 to 2002 and the one before that from 1898 to 1911. It only seats 5,000, but its predecessor could hold 21,739, and hosted more Grey Cups than any other facility, 29, from 1911 to 1957. Unlike Exhibition Stadium, the Argos won 9 of their 16 Grey Cups at home at Varsity Stadium: 1914, 1921, 1937, 1938, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1950 and 1952. (They also won at Sarnia in 1933, Vancouver in 1983, Winnipeg in 1991, Hamilton in 1996, Edmonton in 1997 and Ottawa in 2004.)

Varsity Stadium was home to the various Toronto teams in the North American Soccer League, and hosted the 1969 Rock ‘n Roll Revival Concert, as shown in the film Sweet Toronto, featuring John Lennon and his Plastic Ono Band (of course, also with Yoko Ono, but also with Eric Clapton), the Doors, Alice Cooper, and founding fathers of rock Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis and Gene Vincent.  This was the concert where a live chicken was thrown at Alice Cooper from the seats, and he threw it back, thinking it could fly, but it died.  Museum stop on the Yonge-University Line, or St. George stop on the Yonge-University or Bloor-Danforth Lines.

* Rosedale Park, Scholfield and Highland Avenues. This is where the first Grey Cup game was held, on December 4, 1909. The University of Toronto defeated the Toronto Parkdale Canoe Club, 26-6. There’s now a soccer field on the site of the original stadium. Unfortunately, the closest subway stop is Summerhill, on the Yonge-University Line, and you’ll have to walk a roundabout path to get there. If you really want to see it, you may want to take a cab.

* Maple Leaf Gardens, 60 Carlton Street, at Church Street. Home of the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs from 1931 to 1999, this was arguably the most famous building in Canada. The Leafs won 11 Stanley Cups while playing here: 1932, 1942, 1945, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1951, 1962, 1963, 1964 and 1967 – and they haven’t been back to the Finals since. The Gardens (always plural, never “The Garden” like in New York and Boston) also hosted the first NHL All-Star Game, a benefit for injured Leafs star Ace Bailey in 1934, one of the Canada-Soviet “Summit Series” games in 1972, and the first Canada Cup in 1976, where Leafs star Darryl Sittler stole the show.

On November 1, 1946, the first NBA game was held at the Gardens, with the New York Knicks beating the Toronto Huskies, who folded after that first season of 1946-47. It hosted the Beatles on all 3 of their North American tours (1964, ’65 and ’66), and Elvis Presley in 1957 – oddly, in his early period, not in his Vegas-spectacle era.

But somebody who doesn’t give a damn about history, only money, decided the Gardens was obsolete, and the Leafs moved into the Air Canada Centre in 1999.  A plan to turn the arena into a shopping mall and movie multiplex, as was done with the Montreal Forum, was dropped because of the way the building was built: Unlike the Forum, if the Gardens’ upper deck of seats is removed, the walls will collapse.

Fortunately, it has been renovated, and is now part of the athletic complex of Ryerson University, including its hockey team.  So, while the old Madison Square Garden, the old Boston Garden, Chicago Stadium, and the Olympia are gone, and the Montreal Forum has been converted into a mall, one of the "Original Six" arenas is still standing and being used for hockey.  College stop, on the Yonge-University Line.

* Mutual Street Arena, bounded by Mutual, Shuter, Dundas and Dalhousie Streets. This arena stood at this location from 1912 until 1989, when condos were built there, and was the home of the Toronto Blueshirts, National Hockey Association Champions and Stanley Cup winners 1914, and the Maple Leafs from 1917 to 1931. They were known as the Toronto Arenas when they won the first NHL Championship and their first Stanley Cup in 1918, and the Toronto St. Patricks when the won the Cup in 1922. Conn Smythe renamed them the Maple Leafs, after the city’s minor-league baseball team, when he bought them in 1927. Queen or Dundas stops on the Yonge-University Line.

* Air Canada Centre, 40 Bay Street. The Hangar, the home of the Maple Leafs and the NBA’s Toronto Raptors since 1999 (the Raptors played at the SkyDome 1995 to 1999, with a few games at Maple Leaf Gardens), it is a modern, 18,800-seat facility with all the amenities, built between Union Station and the Gardiner Expressway. Union Station stops on the Yonge-University Line and the GO and VIA Rail systems.

* Hanlan’s Point. This was the home of Toronto baseball teams from 1897 to 1925, and was the site of Babe Ruth’s first professional game, on September 5, 1914, for the Providence Grays, then affiliated with the Red Sox, much as their modern counterparts the Pawtucket Red Sox are. The Grays played the baseball version of the Maple Leafs, and the Babe pitched a one-hitter and homered in a 9-0 Providence win. Unfortunately, Hanlan’s Point is on one of the Toronto Islands, in Lake Ontario off downtown. The stadium is long gone, and the location is only reachable by Ferry.

* Maple Leaf Stadium, at Stadium Road (formerly an extension of Bathurst Street) and Queens Quay West (that’s pronounced “Queen’s Key”). Home to the baseball Maple Leafs from 1926 to 1967, it was demolished a year later, with apartments built on the site. The Leafs won 5 International League Pennants here, and it was the first sports team owned by Jack Kent Cooke, who would later own the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers, the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings, and the NFL’s Washington Redskins. There’s no good way to get there by public transportation, but it’s a short walk from the Rogers Centre, down Spadina Avenue toward the lake, then west on Queens Quay to Stadium Road.

* Fort York, Bathurst Street and Front Street West. You should see at least one place that doesn't have anything to do with sports, and with the bicentennial of the War of 1812 in progress, this place has become more interesting. In that war, the 2nd and last time the U.S. seriously tried to take Canada away from the British Empire, the U.S. Army, led by Zebulon Pike (for whom the Colorado Peak was named), burned the fort and what was then the city of York, now Toronto, on April 27, 1813 -- 200 years ago this month.  However, Pike was killed in the battle.  In revenge, the British burned Washington, D.C.  Essentially, Fort York is Canada’s Alamo. (But not their Gettysburg: That would be Lundy’s Lane, in Niagara Falls, and I recommend that you make time for that as well.)

* Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queens Park at Bloor Street West. “The ROM” is at the northern edge of Queen’s Park, which includes the Ontario provincial Parliament complex and the University of Toronto, and is, essentially, next-door to Varsity Stadium. It is Canada’s answer to New York’s Museum of Natural History.

* CN Tower, 301 Front Street West at John Street.  It rises 1,815 feet above the ground, but with only its central elevator shaft and its 1,122-foot-high observation deck habitable, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) ruled that it was never a candidate for the title of "the world's tallest building." From 1975 until 2007, it was "the world's tallest freestanding structure." The CN stood for Canadian National railways, but with their bankruptcy and takeover by VIA Rail, the CN now stands for Canada's National Tower. It's next-door to the Rogers Centre and accesible via a skywalk from Union Station.

Toronto has quite a few very tall actual "buildings." First Canadian Place has been the nation's tallest building since it opened in 1976, 978 feet high, northwest corner of King & Bay Streets.  There are 7 other buildings in excess of 700 feet, including, sadly, one built by Donald Trump and named for himself.

Being outside the U.S., there are no Presidential Libraries in Canada.  The nation's Prime Ministers usually don't have that kind of equivalent building.  Of Canada's 22 Prime Ministers, 15 are dead, but only one is buried in Toronto: William Lyon Mackenzie King, who led the government off and on from 1926 to 1950, longer than anyone, and is buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery.  375 Mount Pleasant Road, Yonge Street Line to St. Clair, then 74 Bus.

There have been plenty of TV shows set in Toronto, but most Americans wouldn't know them, so I won't list their filming locations.  Probably the most familiar, due to its being shown on PBS, is Degrassi Junior High and its related series.  Recently, ABC picked up the Toronto-based cop series Rookie Blue.

*

For some reason, the Jays list their start times as 1:07 and 7:07, instead of the usual 1:05/7:05 or the old-time 1:00/7:00 – or, as was the case with the Yankees while I was growing up, 2:00/8:00. This reflects what the starting time would be if it was, officially, 7 or 7:05.

Have fun, and remember, you're a guest in their country. Try not to go overboard with Yankeeness.