You can read all the opening day impressions here.
Bill Young attended the Expos real home opener on April 23rd and sends this report.

I did it again, I went to yet another last first game of the Expos. They held their real, albeit unofficial, home opener on Friday, April 23. (The official home opener, so-called, took place at the beginning of the month in Puerto Rico, but that’s another story)
If not for bad luck the Expos would have none at all this year. They are off to their worst start ever, they have just completed a 20plus-game road trip to begin the season (unofficial – El Selig would maintain that San Juan was home), they have lost starters Vlad Guerrero, Javier Vazquez and Michael Barrett from last year’s team, and when they finally get to open in Montreal – traditionally a festive time for the faithful – they find themselves a) competing directly with the first game of a Canadiens semi-final game against Tampa (fortunately in Tampa), b) being bounced by the local Sports Channel; it was to televise the game but for obvious reason chose to do the hockey game instead, c) starting three substitutes because the regulars – Carl Everett, Peter Bergeron. Nick Johnson – were on the DL , d) and acing the Phillies and Bobby Abreu, one of the all-time Expos killers. Not an auspicious beginning. (and as a final indignity – they are home for only three games before flying to the west coast to face the Padres and the Dodgers)
Nevertheless there were 30,000 or more of us at the game, a great many sporting Habs jerseys. There was vintage – Recchi’s number 8 was the oldest I saw; there was current – Kovalev’s 27 was the newest. And there was, as always, a sense of anticipation. If nothing else, the Expos are back in town. Can summer be far away?
The opening ceremonies followed a Survivor theme, based on the TV show, and although no one was voted off this time, the event was awash in symbolism. The beating of the drums and the flashing of the strobe lights, as much as anything, paid tribute to this little band of survivors – players and fans, and some media types – who have taken the hits and continue to persevere, even in the face of Major League Baseball’s current promise to toss the whole bunch off the island (of Montreal) by mid-summer.
The crowd was noisy and happy but you could tell that expectations were low. And so when the first two Phillies got on base and Bobby Abreu followed with a home run, as did next batter Jim Thome, the whole thing pretty well began to lose its business. The Expos did get one back in the first, but when the scoreboard flashed the first hockey score: 2-0 Tampa, it was clear: this was not going to be one of our better nights.
When Bobby Abreu knocked in a fifth run in the second inning the die seemed cast. The Expos did rally nicely for four runs in the sixth, but the euphoria was short lived. Abreu led off the seventh with a double and then scored the go-ahead run, on a wild pitch and a force out at first. His was the only hit of the inning.
The Phillies scored two more; the Expos got one back in the ninth. Twenty-two hits, ten pitchers and it ended up with the good guys on the short end of an 8-6 score.
But still the miracle of Montreal lives on – not so much as a reflection the Expos’ winning ways (remember last season: in mid-September the Expos were tied with the Marlins for the wild card spot. They got that close) but in the fact that they are still playing at all.
Those of us who made it to Opening Day have stopped worrying about the “what ifs” of tomorrow. We’ll settle for the “what is” of today. And that, I believe, is that the Survivor theme was all about.
Oh, for the record, the Expos lost on Saturday, 6-0.

You can read all the opening day impressions here.

Adam Newman reports from the White Sox home opener:

I attended White Sox opening day at U.S. Cellular
Field (aka “The Cell”, still called by many “Comiskey
Park”) yesterday. It was a typically cold Chicago
April day (although much nicer than last year’s), but
that didn’t stop me from leaving work early and taking
the train down to the ballpark – and when I got off
the train, I was amazed at what I saw.

This off season was the 4th year of a planned 5 year
renovation project that has altered almost every
aspect of this unfairly criticized park. This year’s
renovations were the biggest yet, with the top 6 rows
of the upper deck (consisting of 6,600 seats) were
removed and replaced with an old-fashioned looking
flat roof with iron work on the front. They also
enclosed the upper deck concourse with new fiber optic
panels that are supposed to light up at night
(although I didn’t see that). The overall effect
makes the upper deck much smaller and friendlier.
There were some other smaller changes, too, like
adding additional levels to the popular “fan deck” in
center field and adding a balcony to a party room.
Along with this, the team continued their recent trend
of making everything in the park green (as opposed to
the original blue) by changing all the padding in the
park. At this point, the only blue left is the seats
themselves, which are strongly rumored to be changing
in the next few years.

My seats were in the aforementioned upper deck, 6th
row directly behind the plate. In other words, almost
perfect. I got myself a kosher hot dog with grilled
onions and a beer and watched the pregame festivities.
First, the lineups announced by the best PA announcer
in the game, Gene Honda. Kansas City was first, and
aside from Tony Graffinino (who spent the last few
years on the Sox and was generally liked by all), all
the players got a round of boos. Then, the White Sox.
Unlike last year, (which the Sox opened with a
horrible road trip), people were generally cheering
for everybody. The most mixed reaction was probably
Billy Koch, who’s pitched well this year but has to
pitch well for a lot more than a week to make people
forget last year. Some of the biggest cheers were the
obvious stars, Magglio Ordonez, Frank Thomas, Carlos
Lee, Mark Buehrle, Esteban Loaiza. The biggest one of
all, though, might have been former Sox shortstop
Ozzie Guillen, in his first home game as manager.

The Ozziefest continued with the first pitch, which
was thrown out by the three White Sox Venezuelan
all-star shortstops, Chico Carrasquel, Luis Aparicio,
and (of course) Ozzie Guillen. The pitches were
caught by Davey Concepcion (another Venezuelan
all-star shortstop, and Ozzie’s hero growing up),
Magglio Ordonez (not a shortstop, but certianly a
White Sox Venezuelan all-star), and (in a surprise to
everybody, including Ozzie) Carlton Fisk (and you all
know who he is). At this point, the crowd started an
Ozzie chant that lasted until he tipped his cap to the
crowd.

And then, the game. I won’t go into huge details
about the game, because this is already very long and
you can easilly find game details elsewhere. I will
say it was one of the more fun games I’ve seen in a
while. White Sox starter Esteban Loaiza didn’t have
good stuff at all, giving up 5 ER (on 4 homers) in 6
innings. It was enough, though, because the high
powered White Sox offense scored 12, including a
dramatic 2 out 3 run homer by Paul Konerko. Every Sox
starter got at least one hit, and every one scored a
run except Magglio Ordonez. It was a 12-5 final, and
the big opening day crowd went home cold, but very
happy.

The White Sox’s park was built a couple of years early. It was modeled after the Royals park, which at the time was considered a gem. Good to see the club is trying to adjust to more modern expectations in the stadium.

You can read all the opening day impressions here.
Andrew Olmsted, who has been a generous linker to this blog, attended his first opening day at Coors, and wrote about it on his blog, AndrewOlmsted.com.

You can read all the opening day impressions here.
Tom at Shallow Center attended the first game at Citizens Bank Ballpark and loved the new stadium. He doesn’t like the way the Phillies are losing, however:

In the meantime, what has become exceedingly frustrating over the season’s first week is not the losses, but how they’re being incurred. The Phils’ bland acceptance of defeat, their passive, uninspired play, is no better in person than it is on television. I don’t expect water coolers to be hurled out of dugouts, but I’d like to see some signs of life. The Phillies are committing perhaps the worst sin of all — not only are they losing, they are boring as well. Does anybody on this team’s bench even know what a rally cap is?

Bad and boring, a deadly combination.

You can read all the opening day impressions here.
Marty Cortinas attended the Giants opener. What a great day to be at a ball game in San Francisco! He published his thoughts at his blog, Across the Seams.

You can read all the opening day impressions here.
Jack Flynn attended the opener at Shea today.

Opening Day at Shea Stadium is a lot like taking the ugliest girl in your high school to the Senior Prom. For that one special day, when she’s wearing a nice dress, has some makeup on and has her hair done nicely, you almost forget just how bad she looks like the rest of the time.
Unfortunately, you can only do so much with the big ballpark in Queens these days. Shea is 40 years old now and she’s not aging well at all. It doesn’t help that the organization isn’t exactly bending over backwards to try make the stadium more aesthetically pleasing either; sure, the usual bunting was hanging from the rafters and the grass was sharply cut as always, but the seats are still dirty, the bathrooms are even worse and the scores of exposed rafters give the stadium the feel of an abandoned warehouse.
You’re really not getting the Shea Experience unless you’re sitting in a small, dirty seat that’s not even facing home plate as the wind whips in from Flushing Bay hard enough to chill your bones. Sure, you could go wait on line for 25 minutes to enjoy watered down tap beer and some of the worst ballpark food in baseball (I’ve visited 14 stadiums in the last three years, so I know from what I speak), but you’d only be making things worse. At some point you’ll have to visit the bathrooms, which are either impossibly crowded, stomach-churningly disgusting or simply flooded out and unusable.
In case I’m being too subtle here, let me be more blunt – I still love the Mets, but a visit to Shea Stadium is a terrible experience. Everything about a Mets game in Flushing is infuriating to any fan who expects some justification for the exorbitant ticket prices. But hey, the Mets smacked Mike Hampton and the Braves around on the way to a 10-6 victory today, so all is well in Wilpon-land!
It was a gray, chilly day in Queens and the demeanor of the parking lot attendants reflected the weather as they took $10 to pay for stadium parking. The parking lot was already a mess as the tailgaters were out in full force; I’m thinking the place will be all cleaned up by mid-July. By the time I got to my seat, it was just about time for the first pitch to be thrown. Unfortunately, when I got there I recoiled in horror – none of the seats in the section had been cleaned since (presumably) the end of last season and all featured a sickening layer of dust and grime on each one. This was a new low even for Shea – how do you not power wash every seat at least once in the offseason!?
Having attended roughly 200 Mets games in the last 15 years, I know better than to eat any of the food, but it was Opening Day and it would’ve been simply un-American of me not to have a few $6.25 beers. Big mistake. Of the 50,000 people in the stadium, 40,000 of them were men who also wanted to show how patriotic we were, and the lines to the men’s room were (I’m not kidding) close to 100-deep by the third inning. Another curious quirk of Shea is that it features nearly twice as many ladies’ rooms and mens’ rooms, which certainly didn’t help matters. By the end of the game, at least two mens’ rooms had to be closed because the plumbing had failed and water was streaming from the bathrooms. Lovely, I know.
Lest you think there weren’t any positives, I should mention that there were some minor improvements worth noting, especially the new scoreboards in right field and along the foul lines. They look more like silent radio now and are now longer reliant on the individual flash bulbs that are still used to display the out of town scores. Two other features are also nice additions – the scoreboards in left and right field now picture a head shot of each player next to their names and the main scoreboard keeps a pitch count with balls and strikes included.
In the end, these minor cosmetic improvements don’t obscure the fact that Shea Stadium may well be the ugliest and dirtiest open-air park in major league baseball. It doesn’t help that the surrounding neighborhood is a jungle of auto-body shops and expressways and has about as much charm and ambiance as a demilitarized zone. There is no franchise in baseball, with the possible exception of the Expos, in more dire need of a new stadium than the Mets. Don’t hold your breath – unless you’re entering one of the bathrooms, that is!

I first visited Shea Stadium in 1970. I remember my dad really liking it. Unlike Yankee Stadium at the time, there were no obstructed seats. In fact, they used to boast that there wasn’t a bad seat at Shea. Of course, we were there with the Cub scouts, so my Dad and George Shawah spent the game taking the boys back and forth to the bathroom, because the den mothers couldn’t. The Braves were in town that day, so I got to see Henry Aaron play. Unfortunately, he didn’t get the ball out of the infield. It’s sad to see a park that was once considered a jewel fall into such disrepair.

You can see all the opening day impressions here.
Scott Jefferies brings us opening day from Arlington, Texas:

Good Friday: The Rangers will not play a losing team from 2003 until May 3, so April will be torturous with games against Boston, Oakland, Anaheim, and Kansas City. But for one day, the Rangers schedule worked out to perfection for all involved. Having the home opener for the 2004 Rangers on Good Friday, a day where many people, particularly kids were home on holiday was a god send. The attendance at the Ballpark in Arlington for Fridays game was 50,000 plus and the mark was a record for the club in a regular season game.
The weather could not have been better. Clear skies, sunny, 76 degrees. I was glad to see so many people take advantage of the nice weather because the weather will be downright hazardous come July.
Lone Star: Now that Major League Baseball has corporatized Opening Day and we all are made to Live For This, I was particularly on the look out for Opening Day festivities that were indigenous to Texas. Besides the barbeque menu on the tailgate grills, the most obvious sign that you were in Texas was the Texas Flag. Covering Greens Hill in straight away center as I walked into the ballpark was a giant Lone Star Flag. I doubt the Colorado Rockies drape the field with the State Flag of Colorado during their games. Another sign of Texas sized influence was the rendition of the National Anthem by Texas music (think Jimmy Buffett on Tequila instead of Margaritas) artists Cross Canadian Ragweed. Decked out in replica Ranger uniforms, the Weed tried their hand at an Eagles style four-part harmony and it was really weak.
Saddam Hussein: One of the best things to happen Friday, besides the Rangers 12-4 win, was the honor and ovation given to the 4th Infantry Division from Fort Hood before the first pitch. It was these guys who were responsible for the capture of Saddam Hussein and to watch them march on to the field in front of the Angels and Rangers introduced lineups was inspiring. Everyone in the stands was on their feet and cheering. It always seems easier to be patriotic while sitting in a ballpark.
In honor of the men and women still in Iraq, the Rangers released 7,500 yellow balloons from the center field area. I was watching with keen attention to the direction of and strength that the balloons blew away so to pick up on any evidence of the much talked about Ballpark jetstream. It did appear that the balloons released directly from center field were helped out of the ballpark by a significant gust.
Gabe Kapler, Tim Crabtree, Einar Diaz, and now Mike Young: As the Rangers have moved on from their playoff runs in the late 1990s, they have gradually dropped star players and key pieces to their success. None of the immediate successors have had any staying power but Mike Young hopes to change that as he seeks to place his own mark on the Rangers shortstop position. Moving over from second base, Young received an early opportunity to show the home fans that the position was in capable hands. From the outset he failed. Two consecutive errors, one on a routine double play opened the door for the opportunistic Angels to score three runs on an Adam Kennedy homer. I wouldnt have been surprised if my binoculars showed tears running down Youngs face as Kennedy rushed by him in his home run trot. But what may prove Young to be more successful than the above mentioned successors is what he did in the bottom of the inning.
After a Lance Nix homerun and a Gerald Laird single, Young came up with one out and the Rangers down 3-2. He laced a double to bring home Laird and tie the game. Young later scored and also had an RBI single in the third and finished the game with three RBIs and two long forgotten errors.

You can see all the opening day impressions here.
Derek from Pinstrip News reports on opening day. He doesn’t like the new scoreboards, either. Seems like the Yankees made a mistake with these.

You can see all the opening day impressions here.

Bill of the Detroit Tigers Weblog sends his comments on watching the first place Tigers in their home opener:

People always care about Opening Day in Detroit. It is an unofficial holiday in an around the city of Detroit. People play hooky from work and school, and start drinking very early in the morning-much like St. Patty’s day. Fueled by a 3-0 start this year, the opener wasn’t just about the peripheral festivities (drinking). The baseball game on the field actually took on more importance than any of the 7 previous openers I’d attended.

For my friends and I, the day started at a diner at 8:30 in the morning. We fueled up on omelettes, waffles, and coffee before heading down to Detroit.

Our favorite pre-game hang-out is a bar named Casey’s. Casey’s is located a couple blocks from the old Tiger Stadium. The bar is small and has been there for years. Legend has it that Lou Gherig came to the bar after the first game he missed in 1939. I don’t know if the legend is true, of if the bar was even called Casey’s back then, but one look around and it certainly seems plausible.

We spent several hours at Casey’s taking in several pitchers. We excitedly discussed the possibilities for the Tigers this season, and how we actually expected the Tigers to beat an injured Twins team. We toasted, “Here’s to the Tigers being undefeated, and this not being the first game of the year.”

Shortly after noon we trekked down to another bar, Nemo’s that operates a shuttle to and from Comerica. We reached Comerica about 12:45 and the place was already buzzing. With an hour until game time, we headed over to the Tigers beer hall to grab pulled pork sandwiches and more beer before heading up to our seats. This year, my friends and I sprung for a 21 game season ticket package, and we were anxious to see what our seats would be like for the year. Our seats are in the second row of the upper deck along the third base line. One of my main gripes with Comerica is that the upper deck is so far away from the field. However, these seats don’t seem too bad. One of the main reasons for getting the season tickets was so that we could have access to 2005 All Star Game tickets. Now we’re whispering about how if the Tigers make the playoffs, we’d have priority for those tickets as well. We’re all aware this is only the first week of the season, but it’s so nice to be working on a winning streak instead of a losing streak.

The National Anthem and a flyover by a pair of F-16’s meant that it is game time. With the temperature in the mid 50’s, no precipitation, and the no biting wind it is a pleasantly warm day. The late arriving crowd is still pretty sparse, but enthusiastic.

That enthusiasm was supressed when the Twins put up runs in the first two innings and took a 3-0 lead while the Tigers could only manage a single by Carlos Guillen. Skeptical fans were starting to voice concerns about the “same old Tigers.” Fortunately Nate Cornejo settled down and only allowed two baserunners through the next 4 innings.

Then in the 6th inning, the “new and improved Tigers” came to life. Alex Sanchez improbably hit a homer, and then the Tigers strung together several more hits to take a 4-3 lead. The scoring was capped by double to the right-center gap by the much maligned Bobby Higginson. Last year an early 3-run deficit would have spelled doom for the Tigers. This year, anything doesn’t seem insurmountable.

Unfortunately the lead was short lived as Cornejo gave up a solo homer to Jacque Jones that tied the game.

In the 7th inning, the stands were still surprsingly full. Normally half the fans have headed back to the bars at this point. I don’t know if it was the fact that the Tigers are better, or if the weather was warmer, but people were staying-and they’d be glad they did. After two quick outs the Tigers drew 3 straight walks. A wild pitch scored the go-ahead run and Comerica was rocking. The Tigers then piled on 3 more hits which scored an additional 4 runs putting the game out of reach. The scoring was capped once again by a Bobby Higginson shot into the right centerfield gap. The inning ended when Craig Monroe to Jacque Jones to the warning track in straightaway centerfield which is no small feat.

Higginson, who has been the target of a lot of negative feelings due to his large contract and lack of performance the last few years received a standing ovation and chants of “Bobby” as he resumed his position in rightfield.

Eric Munson hit his second homer of the year, and the Twins managed to pick up a couple of runs on a 2-run homer. With two outs in the ninth the remaining crowd came to their feet to urge on Steve Colyer and the Tigers. As strike three was called, the crowd roared and for second consecutive home game (the last being the last game of 2003) the Tigers came off the field to a standing ovation.

It was a great day for the Tigers, and a great day for the fans. While the season is only 4 games old, at least they are 4 wins. I don’t know if this Tiger team will be good or not this year, or if this is just a 4 game win streak. However, for a franchise that has started so poorly the last few years, this streak is awakening a baseball city that has been dormant for too long.

It’s good to see the fans in Detroit have something to cheer about this year.

You can see all the opening day impressions here.
Clifford of Clifford’s Big Red Blog also attended the Yankees home opener. He doesn’t like the new scoreboards, and he has pictures.

You can see all the opening day impressions here.
Brian attended the Yankees home opener and left his thought on his blog, Commerce Comet.
I love the way Brian notices how the park changed from last year. He has a great eye for detail.

You can see all the opening day impressions here.
Mike Hunssinger attended the Marlins opening game, and almost caught Choi’s HR!
Correction: Fixed link.

You can see all the opening day impressions here.
Jeff Lancaster attended the Royals opening game. Here’s his take:

– I arrived a bit early so I made my way to the live broadcast of the Royals flagship (810am). They were broadcasting outside the stadium, very close to the George Brett statue. I watched a quick segment and during their break, the actual George Brett arrived, and participated in an interview and a roundtable. I believe it was my first experience of seeing a statue and the actual live model at the same time.
– Also heard from my buddies that they had spotted the true baseball spokesperson from Kansas City driving a champagne colored Cadillac. Buck O’Neill had his arms out the window and his patented smile on his face. His famous quote of “born at the right time” still rings true.
– It was about this time that I received a call from a member of my foursome that his car broke down and he wouldn’t be able to make the game. Not a good game to miss.
– Noticed many, many people with fingers held aloft looking for tickets. A very welcome sight outside of the K.
– My other buddies called to tell me that they had found a spot for the Winnebago so I began the trek. They were located near the Chiefs practice facility which is easily a half-mile from the stadium. While walking through the crowds, I noticed dozens of tailgating games of washers. If unfamiliar, it’s very similar to horseshoes but played with palm-sized metal washers. The “pit” is a wooden box with a white cylinder in the middle of it. One point for a toss into the box, three points for a toss into the cylinder.
– Arrived at the Winnebago (which was a gift to our group just to drive it away from the previous owner) and a 16-team washer tournament had already started. Brats, hamburgers, peppers, chips, and Boulevard beer was the menu.
– Made it inside the stadium for the National Anthem, Challenger the Eagle, and the flyover. Our seats were about four rows from the top (row AA) on the first base side. Clearly a great angle to yell at the umpire for those missed calls.
– The Royals handed out, for the first time ever I believe, ThunderStix. For the first eight innings, they were very, very annoying as various drunk fans used them simply to give me a headache. In fact, one such person sat one row below us and about ten seats to our left. And he only seemed to reach truly epic levels of annoyance when his wife would leave for bathroom breaks. However, when used in unison, they were extremely loud and proved very effective. In fact, it’s our belief that Mendy’s home run was ThunderStix aided.
– One noted conversation: Friend A: “I had no idea that Sandy Alomar was still playing baseball. I mean he’s really old and he really sucks.” (Five seconds later) Sandy: “HOME RUN”. Unbelievable.
– More quotes: “Well Pena’s obviously giving up by bringing in Shawn Camp and Nate Field”. (I still believe this, by the way) “There’s no way that Pena will lift Stairs just because Marte is now pitching”. “Mendy Lopez pinch-hitting for Matt Stairs, no freaking way”.
– And wouldn’t you know it, after Mendy’s homer I even high-fived that annoying ThunderStix guy in the row in front of us. The moral of the story: Everyone is happy when the Royals win!!!!!!!!
– The very first call-in question on sports radio while driving away from the stadium……”How will we ever keep Mendy Lopez next year?”.

I’ve had the experience of talking about how bad a player is just before he homers. They always want to prove you wrong. 🙂

You can see all the opening day impressions here.
Michael Korte, Designated Driver for the Devil Ray Bandwagon, attended the home opener in Tampa Bay.

41,755. SOLD OUT. Devil Rays.
Many of us were under the impression that the Devil Rays couldn’t fill the stands if the tickets were free and each seat had its own beer fountain. But tonight they filled the stands with people, and doubled the ticket prices too!
I was planning on going to the game 1 hour before, but 2 hours before I was flipping on the local news and people were already streaming in. It was a laid back batting practice, with everyone filling the first rows of the seats as the Yankees hit shot after shot out of the park.
Before the game started, I was concerned that fans wouldn’t attend…like last year….and the year before…..As they were introducing the players I would estimate that 1/4th of the seats were filled, which would be an improvement over last year, but a disappointment for an opening game.
It became clear real fast that a big chunk of New York City had made the trip down to St. Pete, because the biggest cheers in the intro went to Don Zimmer, Tino Martinez, Jeter, and Torre. By the opening pitch, to my amazement, the stands were 90-95% full. STUNNING.
The game opened up as expected….Two Homers in the first inning from the Yankees (Arod and Sheffield), 4 runs on 2 hits, with everyone screaming for Zambrano’s head. Little did we know the Yankees wouldn’t score another run, and would only get 2 more hits.
It was ALL Rays from then on. Lugo, Crawford, Cruz Jr, Zambrano….they were all HUGE. Mussina was yanked in the 5th, another shelling to add to his season. I don’t feel like doing a win share analysis on him, but I will say this: Mussina looked like crap, and so go the Yankees.
I came to see how Danny Baez would hold up as the closer. He did not disappoint. 1-2-3 final inning. With the entire crowd standing and clapping with 2 outs and Arod up, Baez strikes him out swinging, and the game was over.
I really hope this is a sign of things to come for the Rays, not only the winning but also the exciting atmosphere of a full dome. My gut feeling is that 30% of those people were there solely for the Yankees, but the buzz this game is likely to create, people will come. People will most definitely come.

It was a good day for Florida baseball. The two franchises drew almost 100,000 people. I don’t know how long it will last, but beating the Yankees in that fashion should indeed generate some buzz.
And of course, people are wondering what’s wrong with Mussina.

You can read all the opening day impressions here.
Nathan Canby also attended the Dodger game.

The beginning and end of the story of any game at Dodger Stadium is traffic. Remarkably I sailed through town and arrived at the gates of the parking lot with an hour and fifteen minutes to spare. It took about 40 minutes before I could park. Once I made it to a parking spot I went ahead and parked further on, to be closer to the gate for easy exit. This proved to be a mistake, as I learned first of all when I got to the turnstile and realized I?d left my tickets in the glove compartment, and learned secondly after the game when my car was surrounded by others trying to leave, and was immobile for another 40 minutes.
But while I was surveying each inch of the parking lot, twice, the gray cloud cover lifted, to reveal blue skies and sunshine. The Navy fighters roared overhead and the doves were released _ a potentially unfortunate combination but one that worked out this time?just as I entered the stadium. I was sitting in the upper deck, which I love at Dodger Stadium. We all know the idea that baseball exists outside the clock and in a green place set apart from the world around it. From up high in Dodger Stadium, with the flowered hills and palms trees as a backdrop to the green field, the idea has the most force for me.
The Opening Day crowd was un-Dodger-fan-like. They were ready to boo the Dodgers from the first inning, they booed Shawn Green for striking out in the first inning, and Glenn Hoffman for not sending the runner in the third. The 30 year-old guy next to me was decked out in Twins gear, and was cheering for the Padres. He had never seen anyone score a game before, and asked me about it. His girlfriend, however, had been taught to score by her father, and told him all about it. On the other side of me was a guy originally from Pittsburgh with a shirt that read F— All Dodger Haters, which struck me as an interestingly nuanced sort of double negative.
The new Dodgers acquitted themselves well at the bat, and those with new positions fielded them well, though Dave Roberts looked tentative on one ball in the corner. The lineup scoreboard was incapable of putting up Milton Bradley?s name – there was simply a blank in the third spot all game. I thought it was that he was too new, but they managed to put up Jason Werth’s name as a pinch-hitter, who has barely been with the team longer, and who was, after all, a pinch hitter. So I figure: must be a trademark issue. Bradley earned well-deserved cheers for running down towards first each time he came up.
It?s hard to tell from the karmic signs where the Dodger season is headed: does one focus on the 2 meager runs, or the 15 hits? On Shawn Green?s long homerun, or the fact that it came in his only time at bat no one was on base? The Padres, on the other hand, look good – at least until Nevin hurts himself again and can?t be counted on for any more grand slams.

I love the Bradley scoreboard story. Maybe the Dodgers are embarassed they traded for him? 🙂

You can read all the opening day impressions here.
Brandon writes about his first opening day game.

Welcome to the Jungle……
This was my first ever opening day, I have been a Dodger fan since 1988, but haven?t really taken true interest in the team until maybe 5-6 years ago. I had found out I had received tickets for the game on April 1st, so I was a bit concerned it was to be a big joke. I would have drawn blood if this were the case.
The day started out with a morning mist, but was expected to burn off by game time. Entering the stadium parking lot, my mother and I made our way to the stadium. It is by far the most beautiful stadium I have seen in my brief 22 years of life, every off season, Dodger Stadium is repainted and made to look brand new every season, she’s forty years old and still grand. Set in Chavez Ravine, facing northeast, palm trees lining the outfield pavilions, Sierra Madre mountains in the background.
As we got to the gate, we spotted a sale for merchandise, and it was while standing in line that dookie (Lo Duca), shoe (Shuey), and mart (Martin) drove by in a golf cart to the applause of the crowd. I bought a great looking warm up jacket and we made our way into the stadium. Our seats were excellent, right above the press box perfectly lined up with home plate and the mound, almost directly a straight line from home to the mound to 2nd.
I was of course very excited. The Navy Seals were dropped from a USCG C-130 and dropped into center field, game ball, US flag and all. They were going through introducing past dodger greats. Maury Wills, Tommy Davis, the entire infield of the 70’s was present, Ron Cey, Bill Russell, Davey Lopes (padres 1st base coach), and Steve Garvey, the great Tommie Lasorda. Then the ceremony turned to a celebration of the great Dodger Cy Young pitchers. The great Don Newcombe was introduced, first recipient of the CY award, Don Drysdale’s son was present due to his passing, Mike Marshall, and Fernando Valenzuela were all introduced. Sandy Koufax was unable to attend since he goes to the Final Four games, but a taped message was shown on the video board, also, Orel Hershiser gave a taped message being the pitching coach for the Rangers. By far the largest applauds were for Fernando and Lasorda as both were given a standing ovation for a full minute. Then the Dodgers bullpen received the Rolaids Relief award and Gagne received his Cy Young award, presented to him by Don Newcombe.
The national anthem was sung with an over flight of F-18 fighters, balloons creating a flag were released in centerfield, and white doves were released.
First pitch was made by Newcombe, Drysdale’s son, Marshall, and Valenzuela, it was great to see them
It was interesting to see the Padres in their sand colored uniforms, it was different, but not recommended for other teams.
Izturis got things going with a hit to left, and was followed by a single by Bradley to center
Nomo was bit shaky through the 1st 4 innings, he never got his fastball above 88mph, and seemed to nibble his way through the innings. He had a bad pitch that Lawrence, his opposite, stroked down the 3rd baseline for a double and I was a bit worried about this, the pitcher got a very good hit off that very badly hanging curve or something like a curve.
It all fell apart in the 5th 🙁
Nomo finally fell apart, he gave up another hit to Lawrence and finally got himself in a jam by walking Giles to bring up nevin, who promptly deposited a bad fastball into the left field corner for a grand slam
My glorious day stopped, along with my heart.
Nomo walked klesko who was pinch run for, and promptly gave up another HR to almost exactly the same spot to the CF.
Nomo did not come out for the 6th. I was very impressed by Duaner Sanchez, he had great velocity (93-95mph) and he swept through the side. Greenie did seem to be trying to over swing almost every time he had men on base. His one good swing reached about 390-400 to the right field pavilion.
Another impressive thing I noticed, was that the Dodgers were not swinging at every first pitch they saw, Lawrence had 50 pitches through 2 innings and only lasted 5, they were going deep into counts and battling. It was a welcome change from last year.
The crowd booed at the end of the 5th, and every inning the bases were left loaded, it was very disappointing, but they were getting on base, that was impressive. Most of the crowd left at the end of the 8th inning when they left the bases loaded and Beltre grounded out. Being down 8-2, all hope had seemed to be lost with the crowd.
It was great to see Dreifort pitch with all that he has been through, and he pitched a solid 9th.
I was impressed with Bradley adjusting quickly to NL pitching and Encarnacion also had a solid debut. Greenie looked decent at 1st, he’ll get better as the season moves along. I pray for Nomo to come back and adjust, or it will be a long season
Those are my thoughts, I thoroughly enjoyed my first opening day, even if the day was a loss, there were silver linings, and maybe the season won’t be as long as I had feared. It will certainly have its moments.

I agree. The Dodgers had a good, but not timely offense tomorrow. If they play most games like that, they’ll score a lot of runs.

You can read all the opening day impressions here.
Lisa Gray attended the Astros game with her mom:

Well, mom and I get to the juice box just in time for batting practice. The crowd is already big and the mood isn’t the usual hopeful. It is this mixture of excitement and confidence that I haven’t seen since I was a little kid and my mom took me to see Mike Scott opening day 1986. This is the year we’re gonna win the series!!!!! yessssssssss!!!!!!! Everyone here feels it, too!!!!!!!
Batting practice. Mom and I head down to the 3rd base line in hopes of seeing Barry close up and maybe getting an autograph. It is perfectly ok to be in love with Barry even though we’re die-hard stros fans. (It?s like you guys drooling over the swimsuit issue) we meet 2 other girls there, both named Lisa. Barry comes out for throwing practice. He is smiling and happy and friendly with a few of the stros players- Vizcaino (is he showing him his swing??) and someone else who is not Jeff Kent. Barry is simply the hottest man ever. Hot hot hot hot hot. The other Lisas agree. And he’s a good ballplayer, too. So we watch him take BP. First time thru, he doesn’t hit anything out or even far. Seems to be getting his timing down, or else checking out the juice box- there is a good wind blowing from right to left. The next go round, he hits 3 homers, a double off the wall, one down the right line and one down the left. That perfect stance. That perfect swing. Us girls hope he’ll wander down the sidelines, maybe turn and smile that fabulous smile, sign a few programs, but no luck. Chris Berman, no mike, corners him.
So we go to our seats. On our left is a mom and her 3 kids. On the right, 2 more die hard female stros fans, one in a retro jersey. Chicks rule. We all agree that Barry is the best looking man. But we’ll brake for Brad Ausmus. He can’t hit but he sure is cute.
The game. Finally. Yessssssssss. Roy Oswalt gets 3 fast outs – 8 pitches. Rueter doesn’t look sharp. Lots of balls, few strikes. We leave the bases loaded. I remember that Rueter doesn’t throw lots of strikes, doesn’t throw over about 87/88 and doesn’t strike out many. How can you look lousy, get so many outs and win games? For some reason. My stat geek friends who hate low strikeout pitchers, he gets hitters to swing at the balls. Don?t ask me how.
Barry plays catch with the Astros batboy between innings. Lucky kid. I?ve never seen another outfielder do that.
2nd inning. Barry hits a double down the left field line. So much for Barry shift. Alfonzo flies out to Hidalgo. Barry tags and slides into third. Lousy throw by Hidalgo. Don?t think he expected Barry to go. Hello. The guy stole 500 bases. Heads up, dog. But Roy looks every inch the ace. Dynamite fastball and curve. This little guy (really, about 5’10”) throws 95,96 and spots it beautifully. Short guys rule. He is GOOD.
We?re up. Rueter looks absolutely terrible. Throws 32 pitches, half of which are balls and we only get 1 run. Kent gets himself out on a hit ball that bounces up and hits him as he’s leaving the batters box. Funny how he doesn’t look nearly as good without Barry in the lineup. 3 guys left on base. Not good.
3rd inning. 10 pitches for Roy. 3 up 3 down. He?s good. Rueter looks better this inning. 3 ground balls in 3 pitches. Doesn?t throw a first pitch strike.
4th inning. Roy gets 2 outs with 8 pitches. Then Barry is up. First pitch he drives off the left center wall for a stand up double. This looks just like batting practice. Remember that interview he did a few years ago where the interviewer asked him his secret to hitting and he said- “there’s no secret. I?m just good.” well, that is God’s truth. Roy is one of the 5 best pitchers in the NL and Barry makes him look like the BP pitcher. Sorry, this is talent, not drugs. Maybe it really is safer to walk him. The next 2 guys single and Barry scores. Then Roy gets the last out. Rueter needs 7 pitches for 3 ground balls. Still not throwing lots of strikes.
5th- 3 up 3 down. Oswalt is dominant. Rueter gets 3 ground balls in 7 pitches, 4 balls. Why why why are they swinging at the next pitch?
6th- Roy is dominant, except for Barry. Walks him with 5 pitches. He sure missed by a lot. Getting nervous? Rueter serves up a homer to Hidalgo. The place goes WILD! I?ve never heard it this loud. Screaming chicks rock this place.
7th- Roy needs 6 pitches to get Neifi Perez out- and he darn near walked him. Neifi??????? Then 6 more to get Pedro feliz out. First time tonight he needed that many for a batter. Only 82 pitches. Guess he’s tired. Well, we’re ahead 2 to 1 so I guess it’s Lidge then Dotel. Rueter is out, having thrown 93 in 6 innings. I guess Roy isn’t being taken out- he’s leading off. Guess Jimy isn’t going to do the Lidge pitches the 8th and Dotel the 9th this year. Anyway, we get 2 runs off the new pitcher so they bring in another one to try to get Berkman out, which he does. 2 guys left on base. Well, we’re up 4 to 1. But when Barry?s playing, I?d feel better if it was 10 to 1. I know that pitchers get him out half the time and he’s due to get out, but still.
So Roy goes to pitch. Durham gets on- 5 pitches. Snow out on 3 strikes. Tucker gets on- 5 pitches/3 balls. Barry is up. I feel sick. Better walk him. Wait- Jimy’s going to the mound. Lidge? Has he ever faced Barry? Jimy?s walking back and Roy?s thrown 96 pitches and 11 balls to the last 4 batters. Can u say Grady? Sure enough, Barry takes Oswalt’s 96mph outside fastball just over the right field wall. 340 ft? Hidalgo started to break forward before going back- might could he have caught it? Probably not – looked like a screaming line drive. The chick squad discuses this. I?ll bet everyone is going to go on and on about how there wasn’t a lefty in the bullpen, like Mike Gallo would have gotten him out. Yeah, surrre. He hit lefties better than righties last year. And the year before. And probly the year before that, too. NOW we bring in Lidge. And he finally gets the other 2 outs. Bad timing. Of course, he may not have gotten Barry out, either. Tie game. I remember Barry saying something about hating extra innings last year. And I remember what he did about it. I sure do wish he were on my team. Suddenly, I feel tired. And worried. Lidge did not look sharp. Will he do better in the 9th if he is still on?
9th- tie game. A lot of energy has gone from the park. Barry does that to you. Dotel pitching. Can he go more than 1 inning? The chick squad discusses “proven closer” – we think that some guys think it is tougher to get 3 outs in the 9th with no one on base than coming in some other time and not letting runners score. Well, if the guy believes he can’t get someone out, he won’t. Whatever. So dotel hits the first guy (that didn’t look like a slider or fastball- what did he throw?????). Then a sac bunt. Then the guy steals 3rd without a throw. Then a sac fly and he scores. Up next, tucker, and then Barry. Dotel HAS to get tucker. Because Barry is, shall we say, hot? Whew. Tucker is out. Barry left on deck. So we’re up, down 1 run. Herges is the closer. Another un-proven closer. Then Biggio gets himself out the exact same way Kent did in the second. Very weird. Then Everett does almost exactly the same thing. Bags is left. This isn’t good. Because he tends to overswing in these situations. Which he does. Game over. Barry beats us. Herges is proven, Dotel, unproven.
We have 2 future hall of fame position players on our team- Bagwell and Biggio. But you simply can’t compare them to Barry. He really is unbelievable. Anyone who thinks this is drugs just hasn’t watched him play. I can’t wait till tomorrow night. I?ll bet Pettitte and Clemens won’t walk him either.
So I get home after the game and my husband has washed the kidz and put them to bed and sent his homies out and put the pizza boxes and beer cans in the garbage and cleaned the kitchen. So Barry is downgraded to lukewarm because a new hotness standard has just been set. So I need to go thank him. And if I do a really good job thanking him, think he’ll watch the kidz tomorrow night, too?
Goodnight from Houston.

“Short guys rule.” Being below average height, I like that sentiment (although, I’m known in the family as the tall Pinto). Of course, the lesson of all this is that considerate husband beats hot baseball player any day. 🙂

You can see all the opening day impressions in this category.
Craig Brown attended the Royals home opener.

I’ve been a Royals fan for all my life. I’ve lived with the team through the highs (there have been a few) and the lows (there have been many more.) Today, the ballpark was as electric as I’ve seen it. To all long-suffering Royals fans, today’s game was as exciting as Game 6 or 7 of the ’85 World Series.
The day was perfect…sunshine, temperatures in the 70s. The parking lots were full about four hours before the first pitch as everyone knows Kansas Citians tailgate with the best. My group got into the stadium just in time to see the hardware handed out from last season. Angel Berroa got his ROY Award and Tony Pena picked up his Manager of the Year. Anyone who doesn’t see what Tony Pena means to this franchise is blind. His attitude is infectious, and has given our once-moribund franchise some life.
The Royals pulled out all the stops for the opener. The players ran out of the dugout for pregame intros and down a red carpet. Challenger the bald eagle flew in from left field, and an Air Force flyover completed the celebration.
The fans were ready for some ball. Anticipation is higher than any April since 1990. Brian Anderson started with a called strike and retired the side in order in the first. We all agreed it was a good omen (that would hopefully carry us through to October.)
Buehrle started for the White Sox and struggled all afternoon. The Royals helped him out by being overanxious. It sounds funny to write that because he was behind Royals batters from the very first inning. He started almost all hitters off with a ball, and went to 2-0 on a majority. It just seemed the Royals were swinging on that count no matter what, and not getting good swings at all. A number of weak popups and harmless flyballs.
Anderson was not very effective after the first and gave up four runs in the second. He threw what seemed like a ton of pitches (94) and was gone after five. Not a great start from the guy the Royals are counting on to be their number one starter.
Today both Benito Santiago (39 years old) and Sandy Alomar (38) homered. This has to be some kind of bizarre record…Oldest catchers to homer in the same game.
Really that was the only thing interesting about this game. I thought we could get runs back from Buehrle, but he was pretty successful all day. Cliff Pollite came in to squelch a potential rally and the Royals were down 7 to 3 in the ninth.
Then the magic began…
Pollite started the ninth. Is this because it was a non-save situation? Pollite was bringing the gas, hitting 96 on the stadium gun, but it seemed strange to bring him back out. After Randa and Harvey worked him for back to back walks to lead off the inning, it’s easy to second guess. In comes Koch and he gives up a double to Santiago, scoring a run before he strikes out Guiel. I was surprised when Pena let Benito hit. I thought it was the perfect time to showcase another free agent signing in Matt Stairs who does all his hitting against right handers. But now was when Pena decided to use him, pinch hitting for Graffinino. Out comes Koch and in comes the lefty Marte, so Pena counters with Mendy Lopez. I wasn’t too sure about the matchup, which turns out to be exactly what Pena wanted. We just were looking for the three run big fly. And Mendy delivered! Pandemonium! Those of us of the 41,000 who stayed were delirious. Down four going into the ninth and now its tied. A single by Berroa got us donuts, but no one even noticed. We just knew we were going to win. Up comes Carlos Beltran who is going to have an All Star season. BAM! Homerun into the water spectacular and the Royals win!
I hadn’t seen a baseball crowd go nuts like that since the ’85 Series. This was a special afternoon that won’t be forgotten by anyone who saw it. Just another reason why baseball is the greatest game. For over two hours we sat in a beautiful stadium on a beautiful day and watched what was turning out to be an average baseball game. That average baseball game became an extraordinary one in less than two outs in the ninth. What a day!
Hopefully this will be the launching pad for bigger and better things this season. This one is going to be difficult to top!

“That average baseball game became an extraordinary one in less than two outs in the ninth.” That sure is one of the things I love about this game. Sounds like the Royals fans are very happy tonight.

A number of Baseball Musings readers have volunteered to write in with their impressions from attending an opening day game. All of these stories will be available under this category. Over the next week, you’ll see them as they come in. The first is from Tom Bridge, who attended the Red Sox-Orioles opener Sunday night.

I’ve just returned from Camden Yards in Baltimore after a very enjoyable opener against the Red Sox. Just a couple things:
A) The ticket gates broke at all of the entrances, meaning each staffer had a hand-held scanner. This resulted in monumental waits to get into the stadium itself. We arrived at 7:20 and didn’t take our seats until just after 8. Frustrating at best.
B) Pedro appears to have lost velocity on his fastball. I saw a 91mph fastball just once, though it appeared that the stadium’s radar gun wasn’t always reading properly. There certainly was some movement on his changeup, but his fastball was at best batting practice quality. Javy Lopez took him yard on one such pitch.
C) Orioles fans are incredibly excited at the new lineup changes. Everyone is buzzing about Javy Lopez and Miguel Tejada and the return of Rafael Palmeiro. There were numerous chants of MVP after the double plays, which were, I might add, smooth as any I have seen in 16 years of specatating! Tejada to Roberts to Palmeiro may not sound like much, but it’s better than I expected!
D) Red Sox fans need to curb their drinking on other peoples’ home turf. Most of the folks wearing Red Sox jerseys and hats and sweatshirts were three sheets to the wind by the middle of the third. Few things are more disgusting than drunken Sox fans. Very few things.
E) The weather was COLD. Not nearly as bad as last season, when it snowed heavily during Opening Day, but still, quite inhospitable.
F) The Strikeout/Throwout double play early on was the first one I’ve seen in person in quite possibly 10 years.
G) Ponson pitched decently, but he’s still got a lot of problems to work out. He threw 111 pitches by my count, which is just an insane number for 5 2/3 innings of work. Mazilli has to keep this better under control.
O’s fans have a lot to be excited about this season. If their bullpen doesn’t blow too many games, and I fear that may be the case, it could be a great season up at the Yards.

Pedro also appeared not to have a good curveball last night. One of his strengths, however, is that he has four good pitches, so even if he loses two, he still has enough tools to get out batters.
I’ve experienced drunken Red Sox fans up close. It’s one of the reasons we moved out of the Fenway bleachers to the grandstand in the late 1980’s.
It’s great Orioles fans are excited. Their off-season moves, combined with a great opening day win should have the town buzzing. Thanks, Tom!