Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
April 05, 2004
Opening Day Impressions

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.


Posted by David Pinto at 10:51 PM | Opening Day Impressions | TrackBack (1)