Caffeine, anyone?

The area around Yankee Stadium, at least by New York standards, is barren. Aside from some stray bars and hot dog stands, there's not a whole lot to greet the No. 4 train as it rumbles above the street and past the stadium walls.

Good thing the park itself has its own fine selection of food. Besides the standard fare -- Nathan's hot dogs are among the best in the game -- Yankee Stadium boasts some unique sandwich shops, including a Goya stand that serves hot Cuban sandwiches and a Carl's Steaks shop that doles out fresh cheese steaks. There's an Arthur Avenue stand for those in need of a good Italian sub, and if all else fails, the chicken fingers rarely disappoint. 

The food runs a bit pricey -- $4 for a pretzel, $9.50 for a beer and $10 for a chicken finger basket add up -- but the portions are large.

So glancing at the scoreboard and realizing that the Yankees and Mets needed more than two hours to complete five innings, I thought some more food might be necessary. But then I remembered what Jerry Manuel said before the game -- fans (and apparently not food) create the energy. 

"There's no question that these people, these fans in this city -- regardless of who's tired, who's not tired, who's fatigued -- they don't care," Manuel said. "They're looking for a performance from both Yankees and Mets, and hopefully we can give it to them."

I'm not so sure this was the performance Manuel had in mind. More than two and a half hours in, the Yankees and Mets are still stuck in the top of the sixth inning. Tick, tock, tick, tock. Less than four hours until the scheduled first pitch at Shea Stadium -- at this rate, we might not make it in time.