Opening Day: Its about time!

It's been 6 months since the Cardinals celebrated their World Series victory. Now that all the preseason chatter is over, the hoopla of who's going to finish where, its time to make the games count. I grabbed my ticket and got ready to go to Safeco Field for their 30th anniversary game against the hated Oakland A's. As I got on the bus to the stadium, all you could see was 55 or so fans in a sea of Mariner Blue and Teal. Everyone was talking about how the M's are improved but we didn't know what to expect at all. Final Four talk was completely non-existent on this day. It was time to see our M's open our season.

When I got off the bus and got into Safeco Field, I took a look around the stadium just to take in the moment. The smell of popcorn, bbq chicken and pizza dominated the stadium. Mothers with their little kids were getting faces painted with Ichiro's number on their cheeks. The older men getting a beer and some peanuts. Teenagers in their Ichiro, Sexson or Felix jerseys. The ushers at the stadium greeting you at every section. You could tell that this day had a lot of good vibes. After grabbing some pregame snacks, a hat, a camera and an information guide for this season, I sat down in the upper deck section behind home plate. The view over the stadium was one of the best I've seen in a while. The grounds crew was putting the finishing touches on the 2007 in the infield. The Newport High School Band was rocking out to Low Rider in center field. After they were done, the real pregame show began.

The fans at the stadium were very laid back during the A's introductions. Sure there are the A's fans that came in the abundance of six people but you could barely hear them. After that was over came the M's, Fireworks came a blazing and the crowd got on its feet. One by one as they came out, you can feel the electricity just building and building. Then came the peak, when Mr Mariner Alvin Davis, Dave Niehaus and Jay Buhner came out to throw the 1st pitch. All we needed was Edgar Martinez out there and it would have completed the whole thing. When the M's came out on to the field, we were all waiting for that 1st pitch.

When Felix Hernandez threw his 1st pitch, all you could see was flashes from cameras all over the field. I could tell that he was more motivated than at any point last year.
He probably made his best start of his career on this day. The fans were going nuts on every pitch, cheering him on whenever he got to a two strike count. After he got out the jam in the sixth inning, he was throwing fist pumps, jumping all over the place and giving glove slaps to his catcher as he went off the mound. He took the crowd's energy and threw a great game. The roof was almost blown off when Sexson hit his 1st homerun of the season. While we all wanted to see Felix finish the game, the 42,000+ fans were very happy that we beat the A's after going 2-17 last season against them.

On the bus ride home, all we could talk about was one thing. That thing was Felix Hernandez, the kid was throwing pitches that ranged from 65 MPH to 98 MPH. We had hope that this season would be better than we anticipated. The game left us wanting more for the season and this is a good thing. We waited four years to get this feeling back and it could happen now. After stopping by a sports bar before going home for the night, All I could talk about was Opening Day to my buddies, I haven't done that in a long time. I encourage everyone one day to go to at least one of these days. What was your opening day experiences? It was some of the best twenty-five bucks I've ever spent.