2009 Blue Jays Home Opener

I may make attending Blue Jay season openers an annual tradition. The tickets are relatively inexpensive, the crowd is fun, and something interesting tends to happen. Last year's opener versus the Red Sox was wrought with bleacher melees and semi-nude streakers. Did Boston bring their over-testosteroned fans, or are Jays fans just as insane? I was able to find out as I compared and contrasted the '08 opener with the '09 opener when Toronto hosted Detroit and their more sedate supporters.

The Tigers line-up. In lights!

Last year I arrived at the game early enough to witness the pre-game ceremonies. It featured Roberto Alomar and a couple other names from the days of yore. Names were added to the "Level of Excellence" and everybody showered everybody else with polite applause. Unfortunately I missed all of that this year as work and bad traffic prevented me from getting to the Rogers Centre until about 15 minutes before the first pitch. I suppose that's good timing if I wasn't interested in sitting through all the pomp, but it would have been interesting to see if Kelly Gruber or whoever was left from the 92/93 Jays would make an appearance and a speech.

Whatever. I was there to watch baseball anyway.

I was optimistic for the Jays success that night because Roy Halladay was pitching. Halladay (whose real name is Harry Leroy, I just learned) won 20 games for the sub-par Blue Jays last season and came in second for the Cy Young Award. Everybody was confident that Doc would shut things down.

Justin Verlander, who historically has not fared well during the month of April, started the game for Detroit.

The Rogers Centre center-field

Halladay was solid, not allowing a hit until the 4th inning. For Verlander, though, it was a different story.

Verlander got two quick outs in the 1st inning, then allowed a walk, then a double, then a single (coupled with an E9), then hit a batsman, then another double. Four Toronto runs would score that inning, but they weren't through yet.

The Tigers scratched back with a Curtis Granderson solo home run in the top of the 4th, but Travis Snider of the Blue Jays (who will be a Rookie of the Year contender this season) responded with a solo shot of his own. Marco Scutaro immediately tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly. After Verlander allowed a double and a walk he was pulled for reliever Eddie Bonine. It didn't help as Adam Lind hit a three-run homer to center-field.

At this point the Jays were winning 9-1. Halladay was cruising until the 7th inning when, inexplicably, he fell apart. Carlos Guillen hit an RBI double. Gerald Laird followed that up with an RBI single. Brandon Inge followed that up with a two-run homer. Four quick runs, and Halladay was noticeably agitated. Halladay finished the inning, but probably because nobody had even been throwing in the bullpen until that point.

Over 48,000 in attendance

In the meantime alcohol was taking effect in the 500s. The 500 level is the upper tier of the dome. It's the cheapies, and it's taken on the reputation recently of being party seats. Don't get me wrong, it's a lot of fun up there. There's a lot of good-natured ribbing, a lot of odd goofiness. I just wouldn't ever take children up there during a busy night. Opening night is a busy night x10.

At first there were just a couple paper airplanes, but then the paper airplane phenomenon caught on throughout the rest of the stadium, and eventually everybody was trying to see if their plane could coast all the way to the field. This wasn't initially a big problem because it's hard to glide a drunkenly made paper airplane one-or-two hundred feet.

There was also a lot of Tiger baiting. There were some heated arguments and some spilt/sloshed/tossed beer, but I didn't see any fists fly.

More and more planes were making it onto the playing field, and finally, in the bottom of the 8th, two baseballs were thrown at (or near) left-fielder Josh Anderson. Somebody also chucked a golf ball or two (who brings golf balls to a baseball game anyway?... unless it was one of those expensive souvenir balls, in which case the ball tosser was stupider than I thought). Tiger manager Jim Leyland called his players off the field and we all sat for eight minutes while security took the field. No announcement was made. More planes hit the field and the crowd applauded. No announcement. The umpires and managers conferred near home plate. No announcement. Finally the crew chief pointed at the PA booth, and finally an announcement was made to please refrain from negatively interfering with the game by tossing foreign objects onto the playing surface thank you. Bang, players back on the field, game resumed. They could have made the announcement ten minutes prior, but maybe they were waiting for a super special moment. Maybe the PA guy was just taking a leak.

The empty field with five or six security personnel keeping watch

ANYWAY, just before Leyland hit the pause button, the Jays had tacked on three more runs. The Tigers couldn't do anything in the ninth inning as Brian Tallet and his '80s 'stache (saving up for the throwback nights, I'm sure) induced the final three outs.

Afterward a lot was made of the delay of game. Nobody should have thrown baseballs or golf balls or anything onto the field. It is dangerous, rude, and annoys thousands of people. On the other hand, nothing was being done to prevent it. Security was useless, and an announcement to please stop was made only after the umpire told somebody to make the dang announcement. Usually that sort of thing is done when it become evident that people are trying to hit the field/players with whatever objects they have on them. And an announcement may have been all that Jim Leyland wanted anyway as he allowed his players to return to the field immediately after one was made.

It was a distraction, and it is too bad because the Jays crushed the Tigers by a final score of 12-5. When I mention the game to people all they ask about is the delay. They don't ask how Halladay looked, or about Snider's good game (2 for 4 with a home run and a double) or about Lind's great game (4 for 5 with six RBIs and seven total bases).

Umpires conferring.

And as far as whether or not Jays fans create all the trouble... oh yeah, it is definitely us. Boston fans and Yankee fans may contribute when they are in town, and Detroit has a fairly strong base in Southern Ontario, but it was definitely the homies goading the out-of-townies, and it was the homies who got liquored up and didn't know when to stop. It is okay to an extent. I'd rather have a rabid (literally, even) fan base than an uncaring and silent one. And again, the stadium's personnel did little to quell the disruption. But there are lines, and you may toe them, but know when you've crossed them.

By the way, no alcohol was served at the dome the following day. For incidents unrelated to opening day, the Alcohol and Gaming Comission of Ontario suspended the Rogers Centre from serving beer on three particular dates: April 7th, April 21st, and a Toronto Argos CFL game on August 1st. Canadians love to abuse alcohol, I guess.

Regardless, I had a lot of fun at the home opener and am happy that another baseball season has finally arrived. I also look forward to the other eventful/eventless games I'll see at the Rogers Centre this year.

Speaking of the season, that Brandon Inge homer was the first of three consecutive homer-hitting games. Game number four is in progress. We'll see if he finishes the year with 162 dingers this year.

That's Mean: Fun With Regressions

I just noticed something, though this has probably been common knowledge for months. At press time (my living room doubles as a high-volume press room for daily periodicals, don't you know) the Texas Rangers have the best run support in the AL, averaging 5.63 runs per game. But they have the worst pitching/defense, allowing 5.91 runs per game and committing 100 errors so far (leading the league in both categories). They're currently four games above .500 and trailing the Los Angeles Angels by 11.5 games, good for second in the AL West. Bill James' Pythagorean expectation formula, which describes how "lucky" a team is, puts the Rangers six games under .500 and in theoretical third place. They've gotten some good breaks, but if we're to believe in "regression to the mean" then the Rangers will slide a bit before the season ends.

As I type this the Rangers are tied with the Yankees 5-5 in the 9th inning. I predict the Rangers will end up losing to the Yanks by a score of 5.63 to 5.91.

Interestingly, despite leading the Majors in errors, Texas also lead the Majors in turned double plays. The only explanation for this I can come up with is that the team's pitchers must be putting lots of men on base and lots of balls in play (many of which happen to end up as tailor-made double play grounders).

What does all this mean? I don't know, just weird statistical anomalies I noticed.

In fact I was looking up information on how "unlucky" Blue Jays' pitcher Roy Halladay has been this season. During tonight's game against the Athletics (see the post date) things were going his way as he allowed only one run while the Jays put up six. But in Halladay's previous start he limited the Rays to only three runs, while the Jays supported him with... zero. In fact, seven times this season Halladay has allowed four runs or less and came away with a loss or no-decision.

Here's a telling stat. The Blue Jays' bats produce 4.28 runs per game (discounting tonight's game, which would actually bump it up to 4.33). When Halladay starts the team only gives him 3.79 runs per nine innings (again, discounting tonights game which, if my math is correct, would bump his support up to 4.01 runs per nine innings).

With an ERA now at 2.77 he's going to get a lot of wins, but he's also going to get a lot of undeserved losses, and his 13-8 won-loss record reflects that. I don't know how to Pythagorize a pitcher's record, but Halladay has the third-best ERA in the AL, second-best WHIP, second-best K-to-BB ratio, second-most strikeouts, tied for most shut-outs, and has the most complete games (by far). Somebody appearing at the top of those rankings should have more than 13 wins to his credit by this point. He definitely shouldn't have eight losses. But I suppose that's what happens when you pitch for a team fighting with Baltimore for last place.

And, as far as Cy Young Awards go, this may come back to hurt Halladay. Wins and losses, as we've just proved, are meaningless when it comes to a pitcher's talent. Obviously a good pitcher is more apt to win games, but it ultimately depends on his team's offense. Many voting members of the BWAA still think that a won-loss record is a good reflection of a pitcher's abilities. If Halladay ends up with a respectable 18-12 record, he's going to lose out to Cliff Lee who'll probably go 20-4. (It should be noted, however, that in many of Halladay's "second-best" stats Lee is the one in front of him, and if Lee does win the Cy Young Award then he probably does deserve it).

Pythagorasly speaking, Toronto has been "unlucky," especially while Roy Halladay has been on the mound. Expect the Blue Jays to perform better the remainder of the season (more a law-of-averages type thing, less a Cito Gaston type thing), and expect Halladay, if he continues to do his part, to have fewer losses and no-decisions.

Texas won, by the way, beating New York 9-5. So much for regressions.

Yankee Stadium + Toronto @ New York, June 5th, 2008

I originally intended to post this earlier in June, but I suddenly got swamped and extracurricular activity dwindled to zero. But I was so struck with Yankee Stadium and the aura that surrounds it that I knew eventually I had to get my thoughts down on paper... er, computer monitor. So, as my June 5th, 2008, visit to Yankee Stadium still freshly lingers in my mind, here is the account and impressions of my visit.

My wife and I went to New York City for a couple of days during the first week of June. There was Times Square and Greenwich Village and all that, but we were mostly there for Yankee Stadium.

Yankee Stadium, the one Ruth built, will be demolished following the '08 season. Initially I was saddened to hear this, but the more I thought about it and the more I considered the make-up of the new stadium the more I felt that this wasn't such a bad thing after all. A lot of the original old timeyness was chucked out the door during the renovations of the 1970s, and the most historical part of Yankee Stadium, Memorial Park, will be transplanted to the new stadium. They're bringing back the frilly frieze and field dimensions will remain unchanged. Also, and there's no way I could have known this without visiting the stadium itself, the inside of Yankee Stadium (all that area between the gates and the field) is cramped and dank. New Yankee Stadium will feature a "Great Hall" and ample walking room. When you're mashed up against thousands of sweaty New Yorkers you'll take all the breathing room you can get.

And honestly, when it comes down to it, it's just concrete, right? The house isn't as important as those who live within it, and the game itself isn't going to change.

My biggest gripe against the new stadium is that its seating capacity will be 6,000 fewer than the current one. That doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Obviously with fewer seats there will be higher demand for tickets, thus tickets prices will be high. But with a new stadium (especially a new Yankee Stadium) every seat will sell regardless of the price, be there 50,000 or 70,000. Additionally the rise of ticket costs will likely prevent a lot of Joe Sportsfans from snagging what were once cheap seats. Rich people are allowed to be baseball fans too, but they're a lot less fun to hang around, and they're intolerable when they fill a stadium.

Anyway, even though Yankee Stadium may be "just concrete," there's still enough history and mystique there to lure me hundreds of miles just to be a part of its final year of existance.


New York subways, for all the crap they get (figuratively and literally), are actually efficient and easy modes of transportation. After seeing what goes on above ground I couldn't imagine going borough-to-borough in a car. And if you drove you'd miss out on being in a tube full of baseball fans going to the same game. It gets crowded down there, especially on the stadium stops, but if you can't deal with a crowd then you shouldn't be going to baseball games in the first place.

As we climbed the stairs to ground-level we could see the facade of the new stadium. It's large and impressive, like the outer shell to a mighty coliseum. I knew the insides still looked like churned up dirt and rocks, but it was a good start.

The current of bodies lead us to our gate. There were two discernable mobs; there was the initial mob which got filtered through friskers (I was clean, but that was the quickest unthoroughest frisk ever) to the second mob, which was supposedly a lineup to the ticket-takers. People tried to secure some sort of spot for themselves, but all they ended up doing was blocking the freshly frisked from entering. There was a little bit of confusion until a big-voiced usher kindly demanded that everybody "move to the left... you WILL get in." And you know what, he was right. And even though there were gobs of people all trying to mash themselves into the same space, this whole process only took a few minutes.

The insides, as mentioned before, were slim, but the crowds eased up as people went through tunnels to find their respective tiers, rows, and seats. Eventually, upon the upper deck and behind home plate, we found ours. All of those classic pictures of the field were likely taken near our seats, and we had a great panoramic view of everything.

Unfortunately Bob Sheppard wasn't in attendance, at least not in the PA booth. He's been out all season with a bronchial infection and was once again unable to announce the players. There was one exception, though. Derek Jeter, in lieu of Bob Sheppard actually announcing his plate appearances, has requested that Sheppard's recorded voice make the announcement.

Like in most stadiums I've been to, many of the ticket holders were fashionably late. It initially didn't appear as though the stadium would fill out, but a few innings later the place was packed. What was disappointing, at least to me, was the number of patrons who filed out early. The game was a close one, but people started leaving soon after the seventh inning stretch. I understand wanting to beat the rush, especially to the subway, but I felt as though people were taking their team for granted. Too bad for them though because they missed a tremendous finale, which I'll get to later.

Speaking of the seventh inning stretch, I knew beforehand that they (meaning those in charge of stadium operations) play "God Bless America" before ye olde "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." I read somewhere that while "GBA" blares over the PA ushers actually block the aisles so people can't wander around during the duration of the song. This is half true. From the upper deck I peeked over the rails and saw that the ushers below did indeed block the aisles. People love to be forced into reverence. Up in our half of the stadium though the aisles and tunnels were free and clear. God bless America and God bless being allowed to go to the bathroom.

The game itself was fantastic. Chien-Ming Wang and his sinker started for New York, and Dustin McGowan and his mutton chops started for Toronto. The Yanks scored two quick runs in the first, then the Jays tied it up in the fourth when Matt Stairs hit a 2-run homer. The Blue Jays went on to score five more runs in the fifth, knocking Wang out of the game. The Yankees responded with two runs themselves in the bottom of the fifth and two more in the sixth. It remained 7-6, Blue Jay lead, until the ninth inning. Matt Stairs knocked another one, a ground-rule double, to score Alex Rios. Scott Rolen ended up on third with no outs, but he was unable to score.

Eight to six Toronto lead, bottom of the ninth.
Derek Jeter grounded out to third. One out.
Bobby Abreu lined out to center. Two outs.
Alex Rodriguez... Rodriguez singled to left, then advanced during Hideki Matsui's plate appearance due to "fielder indifference."
Then Matsui singled to center and Rodriguez came around to score.
Eight to seven Toronto lead, two outs, Matsui on first, Jason Giambi pinch hitting.
Swing and a miss. Strike one.
Foul ball. Strike two. The Yankees down to their last strike.
Then Giambi crushed the ball down the right field line. It was obviously far enough to clear the wall, but would it stay fair? After I lost sight of the ball I looked for the umpire. He was waving his finger in a circle. Yankees won on a walk-off home run by Giambi. The team swarmed Giambi at the plate and the crowd stood for several minutes applauding. People were cheering as we finally exited the stadium. People cheered all the way into the subway. What a great way to end a day at Yankee Stadium.

Kansas City @ Toronto, 5-23-08: ALL YOU CAN POSSIBLY STAND TO EAT

The Blue Jays decided to try out the All-You-Can-Eat option this past weekend in Toronto (where patrons can purchase a ticket that guarantees them a seat to the game, plus all the hot dogs, peanuts, popcorn, nachos, and soda they can handle). Naturally I was all over that.

It was interesting to note that they chose the Royals series to try out the promotion. The Royals don't draw a whole lot of fans to games in Toronto (at least not compared to Detroit or any of the Eastern Division teams) and I suppose this was the best way to gauge whether or not this thing would be a success.

Most of the dome was empty, but the AYCE sections were packed

Thanks to slow traffic on the QEW (and rubberneckers gawking at un upside-down car) we arrived an inning late. KC had already scored, and it turned out we missed the Royals' only run. I and everybody else, though, was far more interested in the food setup.

They gave us wristbands that allowed us to pluck whatever food we wanted (and however much we wanted) from the rows of tables on the 200 level. I had anticipated long lines, but everything was surprisingly efficient. From our seats we could leave, snag a handful of hotdogs, sit back down -- all in under 60 seconds.

The seats themselves were okay. We were tucked in an alcove next to the glass-encased restaurant beyond centerfield. We couldn't see the jumbotron, but there was a television overhead for our benefit. The crowd in our section was very well behaved, too (in contrast to those encountered in our last game). There were a lot of families, and I suppose the best time to bring kids to the game is when you can stuff them for a nominal fee.

TV above, actual action below... which to watch?

I found that due to the constant eating I had the worst time paying attention to the game itself. I am probably only able to do one thing at a time, and if I'm negotiating the cheese for my nachos I'm going to have trouble telling you who that runner is on second, or even how he got there.

Mysterious (and addictive) stadium cheese... in a bag!

Anyway, I anticipated this being a quick and low-scoring affair as Roy Halliday and Zack Greinke were on their respective mounds. I was half-right as Halliday ended up pitching a complete game, walking nobody, striking out five, and only allowing that one run we didn't see. Greinke, on the other hand, allowed six runs in five innings (all amassed in the 2nd and 3rd) on nine hits. The Royal relievers only allowed one more run after that. Toronto's back-up shortstop, Marco Scutero, was responsible for four of those runs as a pair of Jays scored on each of his two singles. Who needs Eckstein?

My favorite play, though, came when Aaron Hill made the best catch I've ever witnessed at a game (well, there was an amazing Little League catch I remember seeing -- a second baseman dove away from home plate into the outfield grass to make an over-the-shoulder grab -- but he was too short to simply jump up and catch the ball properly).

The Blue Jays needed this win too as they were fourth in their division and were in last place as recently as the 14th. Likewise, the Royals really could have used the victory as they too were fourth in their division. They lost, however, making it their fifth in a row.

Nobody messes with DeJesus

Everybody appeared to have a good time, at least on the 200 level. The game, for better or worse, was more of a side attraction, and the food, for better or worse, was plentiful. Personally I downed two-and-a-half hot dogs, three sodas, half a box of popcorn, half a pretzel, and three mini-boxes of nachos. My stomach still feels like a garbage bag, but I couldn't get enough of that cheese. I wasn't able to take many pictures for the same reason why I wasn't able to concentrate on the game; FOOD APLENTY.

You Always Big Hurt the One You Love the Most

The Blue Jays just shot themselves in their big collective Jay foot.

The team is struggling this year (it's early in the season, but last place is no fun be it April or September) and changes might be necessary. But changes need to be made for the better, right?

Frank Thomas is now wearing Athletic green, and he's gone, and he's not coming back.

But he was slumping, wasn't he? Not contributing offensively?
Two things: A) the team has been slumping offensively, and B) Thomas in recent years has shown himself to be a slow starter anyway. Also, there was that 10,000 plate appearances = $10 million thing. Three things, then.

Thing A.
As of whenever I wrote this, the Jays are only averaging 4.57 runs per game. That's 10th in the league. As a team they're batting .258, good for 7th in the AL. Just 291 total bases, 11th best. 12th in slugging percentage. 13th in doubles. Interestingly though, the Jays have a decent on-base percentage (4th best in the league) thanks to a multitude of base-on-balls (2nd best!), but obviously all those runners are getting stranded (1oth in RBIs). Is Frank Thomas solely responsible for the team's last place presence? No, of course not. Half the line-up is in a funk. Thomas is just a circumstantial cog. In fact, Thomas had a bulk of those walks, so while he may not have been hitting his way on base, it's not like he wasn't there at all.

Thing B.
Frank Thomas, slow starter. These are his March/April stats from:
2007 - .250 batting average, .369 on-base percentage, .424 slugging percentage (4 HRs, 13 RBIs)
2006 - .190/.264/.405 (5 HRs, 11 RBIs)
2005 - injured
2004 - .304/.494/.571 (4 HRs, 9 RBIs) [in only 18 games, a good start]
2003 - .244/.440/.487 (5 HRs, 9 RBIs)

so far this season his line reads .159/.312/.317 (3 HRs, 11 RBIs). This includes his game for Oakland yesterday. These numbers aren't good even when compared to Thomas' recent March/April stats, but they're not drop-from-the-team worthy anamolies. How did he fare at the end of each of those seasons?

2007 - .277/.377/.480 (26 HRs, 95 RBIs)
2006 - .270/.381/.545 (39 HRs, 114 RBIs)
2005 - .219/.315/.590 (12 HRs, 26 RBIs) [in only 34 games. Injury season.]
2004 - .271/.434/.563 (18 HRs, 49 RBIs) [in only 74 games. Injuries!]
2003 - .267/.390/.562 (42 HRs, 105 RBIs)

If he remains healthy for a full season then there's no reason not to expect 25-35 home runs and 90-110 runs batted in, no matter how poorly he starts. In fact, just last season he led the Blue Jays in home runs and RBIs (walks, too). The Jays organization know this, so what reason, what POSSIBLE reason could there be to drop Thomas...

Thing C.
There's a clause in Thomas' contract that states that if he accumulates 1,000 plate appearances in 2007/2008 then he'll earn $10 million for 2009. After over 600 plate appearances last season it sure looked like Thomas was going to earn himself a nice pay increase. But after being benched the conspiracy theory now exists that the organization wants to prevent him from meeting that $10 million guideline. I'm sure the Jays weren't terribly keen on paying so much money to a 41-year-old, but it still remains that until he was dropped he was one of the team's best hitters.

What's most disappointing is that Blue Jay fans never got to witness the extra pop a line-up with Thomas AND Scott Rolen back-to-back. Rolen's out with a finger injury, and though he's close to returning in tonight's line-up! it's already too late. There's still Alex Rios and Vernon Wells and Matt Stairs, but a line-up with all five of those players together would have been a great thing to see.

The Blue Jays Home Opener

Friday the 4th me 'n' the missus attended the Blue Jays home opener in Toronto. The Red Sox were in town and with them came all their boisterous fans. 50,000 total in attendance, division rivals meeting, and the excitement of a new season... this probably wasn't going to be a mellowed out game of baseball.

(Click any of these images for a larger view)

It was cold, windy, gray, and awful outside. Just this once I was thankful for domed baseball.

Great view from the 500-level nosebleeds. Yes, we were higher than the foul poles. Every Blue Jays fan, by the way, received a free white rag with the Blue Jays logo on them. They're like the Twins' hankies, but you can dry dishes with them.

We arrived early enough to beat the crowd and catch some Red Sox batting practice, but soon all of these seats would be filled.

Here is Roberto Alomar, with the lights out, saying some stuff on the jumbotron.
During the opening ceremonies they unveiled Alomar's name on the Level of Excellence. Even though Alomar only spent five of his seventeen seasons in a Jay uniform they were all all-star seasons. He also helped the Blue Jays win two titles, and should he be elected to the Hall of Fame he's expressed his desire to wear their uniform.

Fireworks are neat and all, but man, they really fog the place up.

After Alomar threw out the first pitch it was game time. The Jays took the field in their vintage powder blue unis, and the Red Sox were met with lusty boos. For the first few innings Jays pitcher Shaun Marcum kept the Sox from accomplishing anything productive. He only allowed one hit through six. Boston knuckler Tim Wakefield, though allowing more baserunners, was equally as hard to score off of. He kept the Jays shutout until Matt Stairs homered to lead off the bottom of the sixth. From our seats we were unable see the ball go over the right field wall and couldn't know what was happening until the stadium's boat horn signalled the home run.

From that point on the runs came pouring in. Toronto scored two more that inning, but then JD Drew hit a three-run shot in the top of the seventh to tie the game. The Jays came right back and permanently took the lead with a 2-RBI double by Frank Thomas. David Eckstein knocked in another run in the eighth inning, and the Blue Jays defeated the Red Sox 6-3.

As an added bonus, Marcum's eight strikeouts ensured that every ticket holder would receive a free slice of pizza. Hooray for food promotions.

The Ortiz shift, seen above.
Wife: The rightfielder is playing really shallow.
Me: That's the second baseman.
Wife: Oh. The second baseman is playing really deep.
The rightfielder himself was fielding his position so deep that he was beyond our line of sight. The shift worked as Ortiz grounded out twice.

Meanwhile there was a good bit of mayhem in the 500 level. Every Sox fan was mercilessly picked on and fistfights were inevitable. We saw a fellow a few sections over take a header down the stairs and somebody else ended up at the receiving end of a series of haymaker blows. Pow, pow, pow -- haymade.

Fan participation culminated with two shirtless fools (one male, one female with a skin-colored bra [who obviously took streaking lessons from George Costanza]) running across the field. The woman only made it to the foul line (much to the amusement of Manny Ramirez, who was standing on first base just a few feet away). The guy got all the way out to centerfield before getting levelled by security. He ended up with a nasty turf burn across his chest.
Pwned, or FAIL, or something.
And while I would never condone pseudo-streaking or unwarrented jaunts across a baseball field, it's still terribly entertaining. Here's somebody else's Youtube video of the event.


Everybody, except for those who got punched in the face and certain members of security, had a great time (though my wife said that this was the most amoral game she had ever been to). The atmosphere was electric, the Blue Jays won, the Red Sox lost, and great baseball was played. Hopefully the Jays will make it all the way to the playoffs this season. Regardless of whether or not they do, I'll definitely try and make it to next year's opener.

2008 Opening Day Live Blog

Kansas City Royals vs Detroit Tigers. Channel 43.
I missed the first batter because I was taking out garbage. Stinky kitchens are no good, and I'll miss a first pitch to fix a stinky kitchen situation every time.

Justin Verlander on the mound for the Tigers. He's looking pretty solid, but it is only the first inning.

Mark Grudzielanek reached first when the first baseman bobbled the catch. Actually, Grudzy's name is so long his uniform reached base thirty seconds before he did. Not really? Okay.

Blue Jays vs New York Yankees. Channel 22.
...Rain delay?! What the fork? Oh well. This'll make my channel flipping a much easier thing to deal with.

Channel 43.
Gil Meche on the mound for the Royals. The Royals are full of questions marks, each of which will be answered by the end of the season. Meche himself is a question mark. Will he have a good season? A poor one? He had a surprisingly good season last year, but he was only so-so with Seattle prior to that. Of course, much of his performance will rely on how well the rest of the team hits and fields, and much of that is as questionable as Meche is. It's a big confusing circle.

Meche unquestionably walked Gary Sheffield (who I hear is a pleasant and agreeable person) and gives up a single to the Big Tilde.
I'm also paying close attention to Meche because he's on my fantasy baseball team. But none of you would care about that so I won't mention it again.

Channel 22.
Rain delay.

Channel 43.
The first and third base coaches look dumb in helmets. It's one thing to voluntarily wear the helmet. Colorado first base coach Glenallen Hill was the first to don a helmet following the death of a minor league coach, and I applaud him for it. But an isolated incident shouldn't be the basis for a rule that requires coaches to wear a helmet. Silly. And probably uncomfortable. A few agree.

ANYWAY
Bottom of the second, Carlos Guillen on second, and Meche striking the crap out of Ivan Rodriguez.

Detroit's going to be good this year. I'm already awarding them the AL Central title. The Royals... like I mentioned before, I just don't know. And since I don't know I think it's okay to be optimistic about the team. Not TOO optimistic, but they'll certainly be better than the last couple seasons. Right now they're battling with the Orioles for the status of "American League Punchline". If the Royals are solid enough this season then maybe they'll be omitted from that contention.

Meche walked another. Two walks, two innings.
Edgar Rentaria + single up the middle = first Tiger run of the 2008 season.

Channel 22.
Rain Delay.

Channel 43.
Commercials.
Why is the TV flickering? I don't know if the signal is bad, if the TV crew in Detroit doesn't know how to properly use an outlet, or if somebody on my floor is running a vaccum. How annoying.

I'm eating a bowl of noodles. The spicy chinese kind you make with boiling water. It's pretty good.

That half-inning came and went. It was unremarkable. Verlander struck somebody out. Three for him. Three strikeouts in three innings.

Meche back on the mound, striking out an overly upset Gary Sheffield. Magglio enacts Sheff's revenge by doubling to right. His hair might be disgusting, but his swing is a very pretty thing.

Miguel Cabrera, fresh from Florida. I'll be keeping an eye on him this season. I'll also be keeping an eye on Dontrelle Willis who came to Detroit from Florida as part of that same deal. I don't even remember who the other players involved were.

Groundout, by the way.
Two down, bottom of the third.

Carlos Guillen... another hit! A single to right. Magglio chugging around third. Chugging... chugging... still chugging... good grief he's slow. Thrown out at the plate by ten feet.
New inning.

Channel 22.
Spicy Baconater commercial. Those things are pretty good. It's the jalapenos that make them noticeably spicy, but unfortunately I don't like the taste of jalapenos. The rest of the burger is great, but if I brush off the jalapenos, what's the point?

Rain delay continues.

Channel 43.
Grudz on first base again. How did that happen? He looks a bit shaken up. What happened??

In Grudzy's first at bat, the one where the first baseman dropped the ball, they bumped into each other. If there's going to be an incident every time Grudzielanek reaches first base then he's in for a long season.

Oh. Hit by pitch. Grimace explained.

The Royals, by the way, have yet to get a hit. Top of the fourth. One down thanks to Alex Gordon hitting into a fielder's choice. Grudzy's free to nurse his boo-boos in the dugout.

The Royals have a Jose Guillen. The Tigers have a Carlos Guillen. Jose strikes out. Carlos points and laughs.

Bob Dylan has a great song called "Catfish". It's about Catfish Hunter and is probably the only song ever to mention Charles O. Finley. Check it out.

Bottom of the fourth time.

Channel 22.
Large white tarp covering Yankee Stadium's infield. How depressing.

Channel 43.
Since 1901 which team has played the Tigers the most times in Detroit on opening day? The Afflac duck tells me it's the Indians.

Ivan Rodriguez (or Pudge-Rod) singles to center.

Jacque Jones at bat. Cubbie last year. Tiger this year. It's like he's a fully grown animal now. Strikes out like a big freaking baby, though.

Bottom of the fourth, one out. Tigers up 1 to 0.
It looks really gray in Detroit. Gray and cold. That makes since because Detroit is two hours west of here, and here it's gray and cold.

Brandon Inge up, whose name sounds and looks like a suffix. Doubles like a suffix.

Doesn't look good for the Mecher. He's given up seven hits in under four pitched innings. So far he's been fortunate to have only allowed one run, but I'm not sure he'll get out of this one cleanly. Especially after WALKING A MAN TO LOAD THE BASES. Still one out.

Placido Polanco looking to blast things open. That man has a huge head. Look at it next time he has his hat off.

Wow. PP flied (flew?) out to Jose Guillen in right field. Pudge couldn't tag up and score from third because Guillen fired that thing right back to home plate. Good show. Two down.

Gary and his Field of Sheff at the plate.
FULL COUNT. BASES LOADED.
...the pitch...
...it's...
...
...low. Ball four. Add one run.

Tigers 2.
Royals 0.

The Royals got a hit last half-inning. I forgot to mention that. Billy Butler with KC's first hit of the season.

Anyway, Magglio Ordonez, who is a terrifically awesome hitter, will probably hit a grand slam here.

...Pop fly to left. But he was thinking about it.

And how in the world did Gil Meche get out of that crap with only one earned run?! Meche: the luckiest man in baseball.

Channel 22.
Game officially postponed. I'm sure the Yankee fans would riot, but the rain probably wouldn't do much for the mob fires.

Channel... oh, wait. They're just showing the KC/Detroit game on this channel now. This is great because this channel doesn't flicker. I win.

John Buck at bat for the Royals.
John Buck struck out for the Royals.
Verlander really is averaging a strikeout an inning.

The ump just gave the Royal bench a warning. Probably arguing balls and strikes. Probably unnecessary whining.

Strikeout number six. So much for the one-strikeout-one-inning ratio.

I'm obviously not calling every play and every out and every pitch. Check a box for that stuff.

Bottom of the fifth.

Miguel Cabrera... with Detroit's first homer of the season.
...with his first homer as a Tiger.
...with his first American League homer.

Tigers 3
Royals 0

Good grief. Pudge hit it all the way to the track. Had it been down the line it might've gone out. Perhaps this is why Brett Tomko is warming up in the bullpen.

Quick inning otherwise.
Top of the sixth.

I've got the TV volume turned low and the media player volume turned high (hence the random mentioning of the Bob Dylan tune a while ago). Just thought you should know, and I'll mention any other interesting songs that randomly come up.

The best and worst thing about these noodle bowls are the completely bizarre things you'll find in them. Like this... it looks like Lisa Simpson's head with a red spiral in it. I have no idea.

Grudzielanek at bat for KC. Probably about to hurt himself somehow.
Non! A base hit. Just the second for the Royals.

There's only been one opening day no-hitter. Bob Feller for the Indians against the White Sox. 1940. Those things don't happen very often.

WOWIE. Alex Gordon just beat the cheese out of the ball. Homer deep to right. Suddenly the Royals are back in this.

Tigers 3
Royals 2

Royals with only three hits but with two runs. Compare that to the Tigers EIGHT hits, but three runs.

Bottom of the... where are we? Fifth? Sixth.

Meche is still in there (as he gives up a deep popfly out to Inge), but I suspect that if he gets into the trouble he saw last inning they'll probably pull him.

Another quick popfly out. Two down.

Have I been spelling "popfly" consistently? "Pop fly" vs "popfly". From now on it's one word.

Pop... I mean, GROUNDball out. That was quick.

Top seventh.

Neat. There's a sweet statue of a sliding Ty Cobb outside ComericA (no typo) Stadium. I don't doubt that statue will find some way to spike a second baseman somewhere.

Verlander's getting close to the 100-pitch mark. I don't know if he'll be back next inning or not, especially now that there are runners on first and third. Yeah, I don't know how it happened either.

...And now there'll be a pitching change. Let's all welcome Jason Grilli.

John Buck with a basehit. Tie ballgame. He took some hefty empty cuts, but finally he connected roundly enough to poke a single to left.

Tigers 3
Royals 3

Top seventh (still), NO OUTS, KC runners on first and second.

Tony Pena, Jr., at bat trying hard to bunt the ball. Foul. Foul X2. He'll have to swing now. He might as well have kept bunting. All he did was get the runner at first out in a rundown. We call that a fielder's choice. We call that a big waste of time.

Still a man on first, still a man on third. One out.

Pitching change. Good work, Grilli. I guess.

Now on the mound, Bobby Seay. A lefty to face lefty Joey Gathright. Gentle fly to short.

Pitching change. Good work, Seay. I guess.

Now on the mound, Aquilino Lopez. Who? He pitched 17 innings last year, none of which I saw. Grudz must have been watching the video, though, 'cause he just single to center like it was nothing. Go-ahead run.

Tigers 3
Royals 4

Alex Gordon pops to end the inning.
This game is turning out to be a little bit exciting.

Bottom seventh.

Brett Tomko now pitching for the Royals. I thought maybe Meche might come back, but that long Royal rally probably didn't help things. Also I have no idea how many pitches Meche threw.

Full count on Sheff. Ball four. Walk. Three walks for Gary. Give the man a pitch to hit.

Magglio up again. Grounds into a double play.

Miguel Cabrera at bat. Homered last time just because he wanted to. Stikes out this time. Just because he wanted to.

Top of the eighth.

Aquilino still pitching for Detroit.
One pop out.
Two pop outs.

Teahen slaps one to the gap and has the Royals' first triple of 2008.

...All for naught, though, as Ross Gload grounds out.

Bottom of the eighth.

Tomko, still in.
Carlos Guillen... way out. WAAAY out. To deep right.

Detroit 4
Royals 4

If I poked my head out the window I could probably hear the crowd cheering from Detroit. Not really.

Two outs.
I wasn't paying attention. WW, as it were.

Beach balls in center field. Stop that.

Strike three, Inge out.

Top nine.

Todd "Handlebar moustache man" Jones now pitching. I guess the Tigers are expecting to close this one out in the bottom of the ninth or something. Ninth or tenth. Either way Jones usually makes things interesting.

John Buck is just hackin' and hackin'. Like, with his bat. If he was coughing that'd be pretty gross. Let's see if he can keep one fair, though.

He does, and it's a dinky little ground out.

TP, Jr., just strike threed on a pitch near his face. Gotta learn to lay off the ones in your teeth.

Gathright popout. Three outs.

Bottom nine.

Royals manager Trey Hillman looks angry and scary. If as the KC manager he's this hosed at the beginning of the year, just wait until... well, anyway.

Leo Nunez pitching for the Royals. Striking out Renteria.

Polanco... lining out to a diving Grudzielanek. I wish Grudzy would stop doing so much this game because his name is very hard to spell.

Sheffield at bat. Full count already. The pitch...
Ball four. Gary Sheffield has walked four times this game.

But why? Magglio Ordonez bats behind him. Would you rather face the Big Tilde?? (As he harmlessly pops out to the first baseman. I won't talk anymore.)

Top ten.

Trey Hillman, it's worth noting, managed in Japan from 2003 to 2007. He was a Nippon-Ham Fighter. I only wish I could play for a team called the Ham Fighters. Fighters of Nippon-Ham, I suppose. But still...

Denny Bautista taking Todd Jones' place. I understand.

Mark Grudzielanek at bat. Grudzielanek at first. Single to left.

Now's Alex Gorden. Remember he homered earlier. He could totally do it again.

They snuck in a pinch runner. No longer will I have to spell out Grudzielanek. Now running, Esteban German. Esteban and German rhyme.

You know what else rhymes? Esteban German stealing a BASE, right out from under your FACE.

Go-ahead run on second, one out (Alex Gordon was useless), Jose Guillen at bat.
Score tied.
Extra innings.

Guillen struck right out. Two down.

Billy Butler hit the ball pretty hard, but lined it to the left fielder (Clete Thomas?), who made some sort of sissy jump to catch the ball.

Bottom ten.

Extra innings on opening day. How exciting.

Leo Nunez, who's a flailer, is still on the mound for KC. Miguel Cabrera at bat. But not anymore. One out.

Carlos Guillen, popout to center. It was deep enough for people to think, at least for a split second, that the game was over. Two down.

The Tigers have played in the longest opening day game against the Indians (Afflac duck!) when they went 15 innings in 1960. Detroit won, 4-2.

Nunez has a hot fastball. 97 mph. Striking Pudge out.

Top eleven.

Royals have a couple guys warming up in their bullpen. I don't know if Nunez can deal three innings or not. Regardless, Bautista is still pitching for Detroit. They haven't shown the Tiger bullpen yet. If it's empty it might soon see some action as Teahen just walked.

Gload, sac bunt. Teahen to second. One out.

Trey Hillman looking angry.

John Buck single to center... Teahen rounding third? No. NOO. Pegged at home. Good throw by Inge. Trey Hillman is angry because he can see the immediate future.

Buck's at second if that's any consolation.

Pena, Jr., swinging for the fences. Missing, of course.
No home run, but he does golf a pitch to shallow center. It falls for a hit, Buck scores from second, and the Royals take an extra-inning lead.

Tigers 4
Royals 5

Two down, and they're really paranoid about Jr. at first. Pickoffs, pitchouts... he's in somebody's head.

My back hurts.

Passed ball. Pena to second. How weird. All this time they thought he'd run, but he advances on a passed ball. Irony.

Gathright walks anyway, so now there's a man on first and second with two down. Esteban at bat. Esteban swinging and missing. Esteban striking out.

Bottom eleven.

Joakim Soria will try and hold Detroit to zero runs this inning. But he's got Clete Thomas to deal with. CLETE!

CLETE!! with a double.

Brandon Inge is trying out the whole bunting thing and bounced the ball right back into himself. Try again. He does. Successfully. One out, man on third.

It's a wonder that Inge isn't a man of excess. In the boxes he's labelled as B.Inge.

(pause for laughter)

Renteria is taking cuts like he's trying to win a ballgame. A deep fly ball will tie the game back up. A deeper one will win it.

A strikeout will get him nothing. And it is so.

Two down. Fathead Polanco up. Tying run 90 feet from home.

Sharp grounder to that weird area between third and short. Diving stop by Alex Gordon. Throw to first for the out. Game over. ROYALS WIN BASEBALL!

Nice stop by Gordon. Totally saved the game. And ended it.


And this ended up being the longest post ever.

Happy opening day!
Enjoy the rest of the season.