Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Security stays tight, as usual, at Yankee Stadium

Staying near Times Square, Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen was up until 3 a.m. watching the news.

The failed bomb attack happened two blocks from his hotel. Later that morning, he was at Yankee Stadium, and a bit shaken.

"Things were kind of scary," Guillen said.

Police in the Bronx monitored the more than 45,000 fans attending the Sunday afternoon game between the Yankees and White Sox without adding to their typical force. Less than 12 hours earlier much of Times Square, teeming with thousands of midtown Manhattan tourists, was evacuated Saturday night when a smoking sport utility vehicle carrying a bomb was found on 45th street.

"Our usual precautions are sufficient," police spokesman Paul Browne said.

From Baltimore to Florida to Chicago and St. Louis, major league baseball teams playing afternoon games Sunday reported no change in security.

"We already have tight security measures. So, nothing in addition," Tigers president Dave Dombrowski wrote in an e-mail before Detroit hosted the Los Angeles Angels.

The Pittsburgh Marathon, however, was briefly halted when police found a suspicious device near the finish line. Investigators said they believed that the device, which was disabled by a robot, was not an actual explosive. Authorities tried to reroute the race but eventually ended up delaying it in the area for 10 to 12 minutes.

The Pittsburgh Penguins, in an afternoon NHL playoff game against Montreal, increased security around their arena after the marathon scare.

The White Sox were staying at a hotel on 47th street, two blocks from the crime scene. Several players were out Saturday night, some with their wives, but none were affected by the evacuation. Mark Buehrle, the White Sox's starting pitcher Sunday, spent several minutes asking teammates where they were.

Guillen was out to dinner uptown and returned to find Times Square crawling with police and pedestrian onlookers.

"We should feel proud of the people here in New York about the way they handled it," he said.

The White Sox were in New York when the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, occurred in Lower Manhattan.

The Yankees have tight security standards. The stadium's plazas are ringed by pylons and there is a police station with a street entrance near the bleachers.

Fans cannot bring in backpacks or even large diaper bags into the stadium, according to the security policy posted on the team's site. Media members must put bags and equipment through airport-style X-ray machines.

"We'll remain vigilant from a screening standpoint as we are with every game," Yankees spokesman Jason Zillo said.

Filing into the stadium Sunday, some fans carried clear plastic bags that are given to spectators if their regular bags are deemed unacceptable for security reasons.

"I didn't notice anything different," Bill Levin, 64, of River Vale, N.J. "They didn't pat me down like they usually do."

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AP Sports Writers Larry Lage in Detroit and Alan Robinson in Pittsburgh contributed to this report.

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