Have our worst fears about the new stadium come true?

Last night, as well as in his game thread, Peter Abraham complained about the lack of noise at yesterday's opener, at one point comparing the new stadium to a church. Today's it's Joel Sherman's turn (hat-tip to Scott Proctor's Arm).

FOR $1.5 billion, the Yankees purchased the best that money could buy when it came to their new stadium -- except for a home-field advantage.
...

If regular-season Game 1 of this new building is any indication, the dimensions made it across the street from the old stadium, but not the passion. The Yankees wanted to build a museum, a palace, a mall-park. And what they may have ended up with is the House that Mute Built.

Incredibly, after all the anticipation and hoopla, the sellout crowd at this grand opening had about the same zeal as grandmothers playing mahjong. Why? The ticket prices mean a lot more corporate patronage in the seats close to the field, which means far fewer diehards near the action, screaming, taunting, making it uncomfortable for the opposition.

The claustrophobic feeling an opponent encountered in tough times is gone forever now. The upper deck no longer drapes over the action, but is rather higher and inclined away from the field. The bleachers -- and their creatures -- are now further recessed. The Yanks have played class warfare with their tickets and the result is that their most ardent fans -- those who helped create a 10th-man feel across the street -- will have to all bring microphones to be heard in full in this facility.

Those fans are rumors now to the visiting team. Indians starter Cliff Lee faced runners in scoring position in each of the first five innings. Yet the game might as well have been in Cleveland for all the hostility that reached him. On the other side of 161st Street, Lee would have been made to feel like a gladiator awaiting the lions, the fans in his ear, making him battle for concentration while also coping with the Yankees lineup.

...

"It is up to us to get them going and we didn't do that," Johnny Damon said following the Yankees' 10-2 loss. But this was a 1-1 game through six innings and what was clearly missing in the nip-and-tuck was the familiar soundtrack to a game in The Bronx. There was no fervent, rhythmic clapping when CC Sabathia got to two strikes -- and sometimes there was no clapping at all.

Nothing approached thunderous applause, even when Jorge Posada -- playing his first home game since shoulder surgery -- cracked a game-tying homer with two outs in the fifth.

Even the absence of moans and groans in the proper places was overt. Jose Veras walked his first batter on four pitches to open a fateful seventh inning, and there was not typical unease in the stadium. Veras and Damaso Marte collaborated to surrender nine runs in the inning and that, finally, brought some throaty displeasure.

But on what was supposed to be a memorable day, what will be remembered most was the sound of silence.

The Yanks have been slowly losing mystique and aura during an eight-year championship drought, but this felt like all the ghosts had vanished en masse. This felt like there was no more 10th man, no more onerous challenge to rumbling in The Bronx.

It looked like a version of Yankee Stadium, but did not sound like it. This new -- worse -- atmosphere might be permanent. The original park opened in 1923 with a homer from its most famous player and became the House that Ruth Built. This one opened with the volume turned down: The House that Mute Built.

Damon makes a good point, and contrary to what Sherman writes, from the left field bleachers the roar of the crowd during the Posada's homer, as well as Cody Ransom's great diving stop and throw to cut off a run, and Jeter's doubleplay, did sound right. But then again I was in the bleachers for those plays. I'd love to know how those plays sounded from the upper deck/lower bowl, so if any of you that were at the game and sitting in those areas please let me know how it sounded to you.

Again, from the bleachers you really couldn't tell, so my opinion on the subject is somewhat incomplete. I'll be sitting in the upper deck behind home plate on Monday and will get a better idea of things then. There's also a chance that the crowd was flat because the game was boring, but from the things I'm hearing from writers, as well as from people watching the game on TV, it's not looking (or sounding) too good. Losing the "feel" and noise of the old stadium was always my main concerned about the new place. Sadly, it appears that that is exactly what has happend.