Ervin Santana calls Yankees Stadium “a joke” after giving up two homers yesterday

Greg Bird took Ervin Santana downtown twice yesterday, and that’s what cost the Twins the game. After the game, Santana had this to say about the homers he gave up. One of which he gives Bird credit for, the other he does not:

“The other one was a very good pitch, out and way, and he just hit it very good,” the pitcher said. “I know, probably in another park that’s a double. But here, it’s a joke.”

Maybe Yankee Stadium is a bit too homer friendly. After all, in the seven seasons the new Yankee Stadium has been open the Yankees have hit 166 more homers at home than on the road. Right field does seem to be a bit of an easier poke now than it used to be.

But in this specific instance Santana is nuts. Bird’s first homer went an estimated 384 feet and reached the second deck. It’d be out in every park in baseball:

[mlbvideo id="386680683" width="600" height="336" /]

His second one was even longer:

[mlbvideo id="386742483" width="600" height="336" /]

It was estimated at 420 feet and went to the back of the bullpen. Again, out in every park with the possible -- and I mean only possible -- exception of those couple of parks who have deep center fields or right-center alleys like AT&T and Minute Maid parks. It’s certainly out in any version of Yankee Stadium.

Of course, Santana is 0-4 for his career with a 8.14 ERA and has given up six homers in four career starts in new Yankee Stadium, so you can imagine his thoughts on the place are something less than rational.