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.