Upon Further Review: Opening day is here once again
It doesn’t get any better than that.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a big baseball fan or not, opening day is something very special. And if you’re lucky enough to be at a ball park on opening day, you have experienced the sights, sounds, smells and the electricity in the air of the first game of the year.
As you sit in your seat, the air is filled with anticipation of the first pitch — and with the first pitch comes the hope of each fan that this year their team will make it to the World Series.
Now Mr. Nunley awaits opening day like a kid waiting for Christmas morning. Each year he has high hopes his Cubs will go all the way. And if the Cubs play like they did last year, who knows? It might just be his year.
Now Rob celebrates opening day the way most of us celebrate the fourth of July. He takes off from work — runs to the nearest fireworks stand, which is about 50 miles away — and finds as many TV sets as he can. There’s plenty of food and drink, he has the grill going and if the Cubs win there’s a fireworks show right after the game in his back yard.
OK, maybe the fireworks are a little too much but I know from experience he is very enthusiastic about opening day. And this year was no exception, the Cubs won their opener and already Rob is talking World Series.
One of our hometown heroes had a pretty good opening day, too. Jamie Walker, who pitches for the Detroit Tigers, worked 2/3 of an inning in the eighth. Walker threw 10 pitches getting the Blue Jay batters to fly to center and ground to short as the Tigers beat Toronto 7-0.
Walker had a pretty good spring camp getting in 13.2 innings of work. He had eight strikeouts, walked two, and gave up two home runs. With the addition of several new faces in the Detroit lineup hopefully the Tigers’ offensive production will double from last year and Walker will have a solid season in the bullpen.
Barry Bonds had a pretty good opening day, hitting his 659th tater, that’s one behind Willie Mays. Bonds has been in the spotlight over the winter as questions of steroid use surfaced, but all the cameras and lights won’t bother him. This is a man who has had more than his share of good and bad publicity.
Now for my team, the Atlanta Braves. Opening day was on Tuesday for Atlanta and having to write this column before the opening pitch puts me in somewhat of an awkward situation. I know the Braves won’t let me down and they’ll take care of the Mets.
But after losing several big sluggers last year, one has to wonder if the Braves won’t find themselves in the middle of the pack this year.
Gary Sheffield, Javy Lopez and Vinny Castilla accounted for over 85 home runs last year, so the big question is where will the Braves find their offensive power.
J.D. Drew has the task of replacing Sheffield, and the big question is: Will he stay healthy? If Drew stays healthy, he should be able to provide some offense to a team desperately in need of some power.
Johnny Estrada will be behind the plate and this 27-year-old catcher has a lot of promise. He played in just 16 games as a Brave last year and finally gets his big shot.
Many Braves fans have worried about losing Greg Maddux. As far as I’m concerned, good riddance. I’m very happy he’s back with Rob and the Cubs. Maddux, who has seen his better days, will be missed,. But the Braves have some fresh new arms who should be able to step in and not miss a beat.