A lot of people are waxing and waning nostalgic about Yankee Stadium in the last series between the Red Sox and Bronx Bombers at the historic grand ballpark on 161st Street and River Ave., and I definitely had a little of that going through my head when I played in the final Boston/New York media game at “The Stadium” yesterday morning.

With that in mind, there will definitely be a House That Ruth/Gehrig/Berra/Ford/Jeter/Munson/Jackson Built flavor to the latest installment of deep thoughts by Hacks with Haggs.

A quick overview of the game before I get to the aimless musings: it was a team victory for the Red Sox media squad with contributions up and down the lineup and with none bigger than from the Hartford Courant’s Jeff Goldberg. “JeffGo” fought through a balky right knee to score the winning run on a wild pitch in the top of the eighth inning. Goldberg’s run to glory put the exclamation point on a riveting 9-7 win for a Friends and Family audience that watched a bunch of writers play a kid’s game in an empty Yankee Stadium.

WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford got us through the first couple of innings with a gritty pitching performance that saw him throw an impressive Daisuke Matsuzaka number of pitches, but also saw us trailing by a 5-1 score. To be pair, we brought our stainless steel gloves to the field with us and booted balls all over Yankee Stadium over the first few innings.

I would estimate 78.9 percent of the lineup wasn’t totally awake when the first pitch was thrown at 9:30 a.m.
NESN producer Jeb Fisher -- the man who created the Hacks with Haggs Banner you see at the top of the page -- took the hill next and battled through assorted left arm issues to give a couple of gutsy innings, and undisputed game MVP Japanese reporter Katz Nagao threw four strong shutdown innings to close out the House that Ruth Built.

Kat’s big mound performance allowed the Boston media’s bats to come alive and players like the Lawrence Eagle Tribune’s Bill Burt and WEEI.com’s Mike Petraglia came through with clutch offense and defense – and some adventurous derring-do on the basepaths.

It all came down to a 7-7 tie ballgame in the top of the eighth inning with SI.com’s Tom Verducci on the mound, and the longtime New York baseball scribe uncorked a wild offering that allowed Goldberg to amble on home with the winning run.

It was the second straight win for us – and one without any bench-clearing brouhahas between the Boston and New York writers – and I definitely took a few minute to look around and take in a panoramic view of the Stadium while playing right field in the closing innings.

I also managed to work in a Willie Mays Hayes-style basketball catch that saved a run in the sixth inning, so I made up for my 0-for-2 at the plate.

One final thought about the venue: I’ve heard some people refer to Yankee Stadium as a giant toilet masquerading as a baseball stadium, but I’ve always been impressed by the majesty and history that go along with the building.

Ok, enough with the schmaltz and more with the thoughts:

*First off I’ve got to include some – as promised – birthday pictures from the Karaoke Bash at Courtside last weekend. Along with those photos comes a huge thank you to the little lady behind Hacks with Haggs – my girlfriend Alyssa -- for which none of this baseball reporting and blogging-type stuff would be possible if she wasn’t constantly taking care of Haggerty business.
As one of my sports media friends told me, she deserved an A+ for throwing the party and I would have to agree. Any girl that surprises you with a Chewbacca birthday cake is a keeper. Included in the photos below are me, WEEI producer James Stewart, WEEI.com's Alex Speier and 890 ESPN's Mike Salk. And, yes, I know what the Chewbacca on the cake looks like. So no need to point out its resemblance.

So on with the last Yankee Stadium-inspired deep thoughts...

*Am I the only who is amazed that the Red Sox front office was able to grab both Paul Byrd and Mark Kotsay in separate waiver trade deals? They gave up next-to-nothing – with all due respect and apologies to Luis Sumoza’s family – and snagged players that could have potentially helped other playoff caliber clubs. There may be an AL team or two that comes to regret not putting a claim in on other player if the Sox make a prolonged run through the postseason.

*I love the sheer enormity and regal feel that Yankee Stadium oozes, but I won’t miss Cotton-Eyed Joe one bit if doesn’t make the move over to the House That Hank Built.

*Was there some kind of humility-inducing design to busting Clay Buchholz down to Double-A Portland and scheduling his first Sea Dogs start the same night the team was celebrating Clay Buchholz Bobblehead Night at Hadlock Field? Buchholz seemed genuinely humbled by the way his electric stuff was easily handled by big league hitters, but I can’t help but think that the team would much rather see Clayboy working on fastball location instead of Penthouse Playmate hunting.

*We’re all in agreement that Carl Yastrzemski is the Greatest Living Red Sox, and will thankfully continue to be after undergoing successful triple bypass surgery last week. I’ve always had a special affinity for the notoriously gruff Yaz because we share the same birth date of Aug. 22, but it got me thinking. Who is the Second Greatest Living Red Sox player at this point, and – in essence – the heir apparent to Yaz? Carlton Fisk? Jim Rice? Obviously the age of free agency changes things, but there doesn’t seem to be a clear-cut choice in my mind. Roger Clemens? Wade Boggs? Is there anybody that I’m missing, and does Rice get it simply because he never played for another team and is a borderline Hall of Famer? How about the Worst Living Red Sox? Ed Jurak? Greg Pirkl? My nomination would actually be Tim Lollar, who still remains emblazoned in my memory as the worst pitcher to ever wear a Red Sox uniform.

*I don’t know how many of you have been to Yankee Stadium, but one of my favorite traditions – as opposed to the woebegone Cotton-Eyed Joe – is the first inning Yankee Stadium Roll Call that the fans out in the right field bleachers give to each member of the Yankees while they’re in the field. The fans basically chant the players name over and over until each Yankee turns around and gives a wave of the glove or flashes some other kind of acknowledgement toward right field. I saw Red Sox fans actually give a Sox roll call at US Cellular Field in Chicago last year, but the exercise came to an immediate stop when Kevin Youkilis refused to acknowledge or wave to the fans while he played first base. Gotta’ love Youk.