Take Me Out to Opening Day
By Jason Branch
JACK OF ALL SPORTS
Opening Day 2009 in San Diego
April 6, 2009.
Baseball is officially back. And the Jack of All Sports served as Taking Back Sports’ representative at Opening Day, attending the Padres home opener against the Dodgers Monday afternoon.
(For those quick to point out the Sunday night game between the Phillies and Braves, allow me to point that in my opinion, there is no such thing as “Opening Night” in baseball, just “Opening Day”).
What a great day is was for baseball to return, at least in San Diego, with a 75-degree temperature at first pitch and not a cloud in the sky. My apologies to Cincy fans, who had to suffer through 35 degrees and rain. My sidekick for the game was my friend Dan, who came down from L.A. to help me cheer on the Dodgers. As we approached Petco Park on foot after parking, we saw a very packed block party across the street.
Despite losing 99 games last season and witnessing the circus departure of the beloved Trevor Hoffman (because Padres management is a joke), there was at least some excitement in San Diego for the return of baseball. The Padres celebrate their 40th anniversary this year; this was commemorated throughout the pregame, with the return of Padres legends Ollie Brown, Randy Jones, and “Mr. Padre” himself, Tony Gwynn.
I arrived at the stadium with Dan about two hours early to catch batting practice and take in the return of baseball. We took up residence in the “Park at the Park,” which is an area beyond centerfield with some bleacher seating and sand on the ground for kids to play in, and a large grass hill (watched over by a statue of Tony Gwynn) for fans to sit and watch the game live and on a big-screen television. For the time being, Dan and I made like little kids, trying to catch “BP” homeruns over the centerfield wall. But this is Petco Park, after all, and even during the day, it’s hard to clear the center field wall on the fly.
It was Padres batting practice when we first got there, so the Padres players were in the outfield — occasionally, throwing stray balls over the wall to fans. Dan — ever wanting his souvenir — ran wild into a group of people diving for a ball that the first person to get a hand on couldn’t secure. After a brief scrum between a 23-year-old Dan, middle-school-aged kids and a 40-something, Dan emerged covered in sand and with the ball.
Opening Day brings out the youthfulness in all of us, apparently.
Padres BP went on for another half-hour, and only one more loose ball of many was thrown over. Perhaps the attorney of Padres owner John Morse phoned down to the coaches informing the team couldn’t afford to give away anymore stray baseballs.
(For those unfamiliar with the situation, John Morse is in the process of a nasty divorce and, after holding out for months, has given in and his full stake in the Padres is up for sale. This is a great thing for Padres fans and the city of San Diego, as John Morse never was willing to pony up and try to bring a championship to the city despite only missing a couple of bats to complement a great pitching staff between 2004 and 2007.)
Next came the Dodgers’ turn for BP, in which I took more interest because the Dodgers are my team and have many more players capable of clearing the fences in home-run-suffocating Petco Park. Now, with Dodgers players in the outfield, there were better odds for me to get thrown a ball too, right? Right! (Not “wrong,” as is so often the case with such an obvious setup for a sarcastic expression. Sorry Arnold fans.)
So the first stray ball to come to a rest on the warning track was approached by a jogging Manny Ramirez. Ever alert, I yelled, “Hey Manny,” first. He looked up in acknowledgment and saw me in my Dodgers hat with my glove and other hand raised. Sure enough, he flipped the ball high over the jumping little kids and into my glove.
Jason and Manny: two little kids at heart on Opening Day!
“Thanks Manny!”
Now each with a ball in hand, we approached our seats in the left field upper deck: row 26 of 27, the “cheap seats.” While there was a great view of the stadium and the city from that high up, home plate was a long way away.
With about an hour until the first pitch, we chilled in our seats and watched the conclusion of Dodgers batting practice and listened to all the announcements over the P.A. system. One announcement — the standard “Don’t drink and drive” announcement — got my attention as I instantly recalled the image in my head of a concession stand sign that read, “Domestic Bottled Beer … $8.50.” Lousy economy aside, who can afford to get drunk at those prices? Certainly not me, as you could probably guess, judging by where my seats were.
As first pitch arrived, the stadium looked about 80% full, to my surprise. While more seats filled up as the game went on, there were still at least 1,000 that remained empty. There was, however, a significant fan presence on the grass field in the “Park at the Park,” perhaps as many as 500. The attendance figure, announced between the seventh and eight inning, was in excess of 45,000 — a Petco Park record. It is appropriate to mention here, however, that about one-third of the crowd consisted of Dodgers fans.
For some, baseball’s return clearly isn’t a huge deal, but it is a big deal for me and many sports fans across the nation. Even today, there is still a certain aura surrounding the game that makes it exciting, whether it’s the beach balls appearing in the third inning (true to form, that’s about when the first beach balls started flying in the left-field cheap seats), throwing peanut shells down on the ground in front of you and kicking them through the narrow separation between your row and the one below (that’s what I did during the fifth and sixth innings), or the chance to witness a great pitchers’ duel or “slug-fest.”
And I’m not the only one with strong feelings about Opening Day. Around the seventh inning, some heated scuffles broke out between a few Dodgers and Padres fans. Nothing too serious — fortunately — and there certainly was alcohol involved, but it’s great that fans still show up with a passion.
The game went by rather smoothly until the seventh inning, with the score 3-1 Dodgers, yet it slowed down as the pitchers became more and more deliberate, which is to be expected in a tight game.
Dodgers starting pitcher Hiroki Kuroda out-dueled Padres ace Jake Peavy
This makes for boredom at times — and I was a victim of this — but it is part of the experience of going to a game, especially on Opening Day. It’s an acceptable side effect of a close, competitive ball game, as far as I am concerned. However, when one’s team is leading in a game by three runs or less, there’s also the excitement of possibly seeing your closer enter the game — one who is capable of hurling fastballs in the neighborhood of the mid-to-upper 90s.
Today, by the top of the eighth, my sole reason to stick around was to see Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton enter the game. He’s not yet one of the game’s greats, but he’s young and getting better and has a fastball that tops out near 100 mph. It’s always exciting to see a guy throw that hard because very few pitchers in the game are capable of doing so.
So the Dodgers tacked on a run in the eighth while the Padres’ lackluster lineup did what it had done six of the previous seven innings — went scoreless. Top of the ninth, enter Broxton. True to form, he overpowered the Padres and retired the side, 1-2-3, capping a perfect opening day with a swinging strikeout on a 99 mph fastball.
My team won, Manny gave me a ball, and it was a beautiful day out — sounds like the recipe for a great Opening Day. But even if the Dodgers had been blown out, it still would’ve been great to be there and experience Opening Day.
“Welcome back, Baseball!”
Loading ...