THE GOOD THING ABOUT OPENING DAY -- AT THE END OF THE DAY, IT COUNTS. IT'S IN THE RECORD: East Coast weather forecasts be damned; today is the first day of spring.
For Phillies fans, a winter that grew infinitely warmer with the late-night Cliff Lee news felt increasingly chilly as Chase Utley, Domonic Brown, Brad Lidge and others have been taken from the active ranks due to injury, and what was hoped to be a 100+ win romp now looks to be a season-long dogfight with the improved, chipper Braves.
Still, at 1:05 pm EDT (insert: tomorrow!), my office radio (yes, they still exist) will be on, Roy Halladay will take the mound, and whatever will begin, begins. Welcome back, baseball.
Today is opening day, yes, but the Phils don't start til tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteErm...our opener is tomorrow, although the season does indeed kick off today at 1:05 with DET @ NYY and ATL @ WAS (and 4 other games on the slate for later in the day). Early April Fools?
ReplyDeleteYep, tomorrow's going to be a lovely opening day after these last exhibition games today! (Sorry, in my universe Opening Day is not before April 1st unless you're doing something exceptional like a Tokyo game, and the Reds get the first game.)
ReplyDeleteAnd speaking of dogfights, I can only imagine that even if your're not that interested in the AL Central, it's still going to be fun to watch the White Sox, Twins and Tigers battle it out all season, Predicitions have been all over the place as to the order of finish, but 86 wins could win you this division ahead of a couple of 84 game winners. Oh, and as the token White Sox fan here I'll be the one in the corner biting my fingernails until September.
Go Giants.
ReplyDeleteThat is all.
Welcome back, baseball! We'll be swathed in layers up on the 300 level of Nats Park. I will also be investigating the disturbing rumor that Five Guys has not renewed its concession contract.
ReplyDeleteIt has not, but by summer you're getting a Shake Shack and others.
ReplyDeleteGo Nats!
ReplyDeleteAs for the concessions rumors, according to NYMag Five Guys is being replaced by Danny Meyer's Shake Shack et al:
http://newyork.grubstreet.com/2011/03/danny_meyer_conquers_another_s.html
You're not the only White Sox fan here. I'll also be biting my fingernails until September. Looking forward to the annual dogfight between us and the Twins with an improved Tigers team thrown in for fun.
ReplyDeleteFirst, I hope that my scrappy underdog Red Sox can somehow defy the odds and manage to compete this year.
ReplyDeleteSecond, this will be the first year in a long time that I do not subscribe to MLB Extra Innings. The last couple of years I didn't feel that I was able to watch enough games to make it worth the money, so I bit the bullet and cancelled this year.
I'm not sure how I feel about it yet, but 1) my scrappy underdog Sox will probably make it on to national TV at least a couple of times this season, and 2) I'm planning to buy the MLB At Bat app for my Droid, which supposedly provides audio to all the games for only $15, and I love listening to baseball on the radio. Anyone here ever use this app, and if so, how was it?
Wow, hadn't heard about Shake Shack. That's exciting; I've always wanted to try it. And I won't cry over the loss of Five Guys seeing as how there are now two of them less than 10 minutes from my house.
ReplyDeleteWell, the Extra Innings people won't be losing any revenue as far as Thing Throwers go, at least--I re-upped with Extra Innings after a couple years off. I just don't know how much longer we're going to have Vin Scully, so I'm going to soak in all the Scully I can get 'til that sad, with luck far-off, day.
ReplyDeleteGo Los Atleticos!
Predictions for funsies? Rockies, Reds, Phillies, Braves with the Wild Card. Rangers, Twins, Red Sox, Yankees with the WC. A close second place for my A's, I think.
Jen! My new favorite person here!
ReplyDeleteVery annoyed I have to wait an extra day for the Pirates to start. I'm also visiting San Diego this weekend, and is there a good reason that a Padres/Cardinals series in early April is being played in the Midwest as opposed to southern California?
ReplyDeleteHappy opening day to one and all, regardless. Verlander/Sabathia is a very, very fun way to start, while Big Time Timmy Jim vs. Kershaw is an equally fun way to close.
I've been lurking for some time but finally decided to jump in the comments. White Sox fans have to stick together!
ReplyDeleteJake, one of the guys I work with has the App and LOVES it. His favorite part is that you can get the local feeds of the games, so you can choose which broadcasting team you want to hear for any given game.
ReplyDeleteAh, opening day. Probably the last time this year that the Mets will be in contention. But now, we're tied for first!
ReplyDeleteNo nail biting here. Only real question is whether the Mets can avoid losing 100 games.
ReplyDeleteNot headed to Wrigley for a few more weeks - first game of the year will be the second day of Passover. Me and my matzah! (If anyone is looking for tickets to Cubs games, backchannel me - my season ticket group is selling some extras we have. m-ferziger -at- uchicago -dot - edu)
Just downloaded the app. A summer of Joe Castiglione sounds mighty fine to me.
ReplyDeleteIt's also one of the best apps available for the iPhone and iPad; glad to see it's just as good for Android.
ReplyDeleteEh, It's St. Louis. That's practically the South right there.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to this season, not because the Mariners are going to win only 75 games (improvement!), but because I want to see what happens with the reigning Cy winner, with 6'7" 270-pound flamethrowing prospect Michael Pineda, with Greatest Story in the Majors Tom Wilhelmsen, with the development of Smoak and Ackley and maybe Saunders, and with the progress of Paxton and Liddi through the minors. That the Mariners will stink is apparent, but this season will say a lot about whether they stink with promise or whether they're going to stink for years to come.
ReplyDeleteAhhh, memories of Passover at the ballpark, stripping the buns off of Phillies Franks (not a euphemism) and not drinking beer....
ReplyDeleteI attended the first regular-season game at Citizens Bank Park. I remember a crappy game, cold and rainy weather, and standing in line forever to buy a hot dog and having to throw away the bun. The excitement of opening day aside, April baseball in the northeast kind of sucks.
ReplyDeletedare to dream that they will stink with promise!!
ReplyDeleteJust put on the Yankees-Tigers feed. Very good quality. This is great.
ReplyDeleteOne small thing -- it would be nice if you could use the app's other features (e.g. the box score or play-by-play) while you listen to the audio, but that seems not to be possible.
I was wrong -- you can use the other features while listening. Awesome.
ReplyDeleteless into baseball, but i do enjoy statistics and teams from philadelphia. It's WAR!
ReplyDeleteWhat is it good for?
ReplyDeleteI watched the Dodgers/Giants earlier where the Giants defense gave away Lincecum's good pitching. I had the ESPN feed of Valentine/Hershieser but would of preferred Vin Scully since I grew up listening to him. Best announer ever bar none! Props to the Dodgers starter though he pitched great....(I'm just blanking on his name right now sorry. Yeah, I know I could of looked it up, Kershaw right?) I'm sad about Ichiro being stuck on the Mariners though, why Ichiro why? You could been a contender! The only reason to watch the Mariners is Ichiro and King Felix seriously.
ReplyDeleteYes, go, Giants! And take the Dodgers with you!
ReplyDelete