Page 17 - ARUBA TODAY

A17
Thursday 23 May 2019

APNewsBreak:

Yanks, Red BLUES
Sox play on

artificial

turf London

By RONALD BLUM ROCK
AP Baseball Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — The tra-
ditional rivalry between
the New York Yankees
and Boston Red Sox will
take a radical twist when
they meet in London next
month: They will play on ar-
tificial turf for the first time
in more than 2,200 games
over a century.
Major League Baseball has
access to Olympic Stadi-
um for 21 days before the
games on June 29 and 30,
the sport's first regular-sea-
son contests in Europe, and
just five days after to clear
out. The league conclud-
ed there was not enough
time to install real grass.
Starting June 6, gravel will
be placed over the cover-
ing protecting West Ham's
grass soccer pitch and the
running track that is a lega-
cy from the 2012 Olympics.
The artificial turf baseball
field, similar to modern sur-
faces used by a few big
league clubs, will be in-
stalled atop that.
"It's the first Yankees-Red
Sox game out of the coun-
try, so why not a lot of
firsts?" New York pitcher CC
Sabathia said. "I think it will
be fine."
Instead, 141,913 square
feet of FieldTurf Vertex will
be transported by truck
starting June 4 from the
company's plant in Auchel,
France, a little over 150
miles (240 kilometers) to
a storage facility outside
London, according to Mur-
ray Cook, the sport's field
consultant.
Clay for the pitcher's
mound and home plate Blues rout the Sharks to reach the Stanley Cup Finals
area comes from Du-
raEdge in Slippery Rock, St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington (50) and Robert Bortuzzo (41) celebrate after defeating the San Jose Sharks in Game
Pennsylvania. 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Western Conference final series Tuesday, May 21, 2019, in St. Louis. The Blues won 5-1 to take the
series 4-2.
Continued on Page 22 Associated Press
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