Opening Day 2009

Yesterday, I braved the elements to enjoy the Baltimore Orioles Opening Day 2009.  As expected, it is the one time of year I can look forward to Orioles baseball. I posted some photos from my seats in left field at my Twitpic account.  I have yet, however, to upload my photos from my camera to Flickr.  (That will happen tonight, though.)

Some of my favorite sights, though, had to be enjoying the dampened spirits of Yankees fans as the Bronx Bombers and their mighty payroll were vanquished by my lowly O’s.  CC “Fatty” Sabathia gives up six earned runs, and Mark Texeira was greeted lustily with boos and catcalls whenever he entered the batter’s box. Fortunately, Opening Day was the one time of year in Baltimore when the hometown fans outnumber the omnipresent visiting fans.

I’m a realist, and I know the Orioles are a couple years away from contention with the development of their minor league pitching and the best prospect in baseball–Matt Wieters.  Still, it was fun watching Nick Markakis and Adam Jones in the outfield.  It’s going to be fun watching them become good ballplayers–Markakis is well on his way there.

As I have always said in the past, the beauty of baseball’s Opening Day is its perfect connection to Spring. There is a renewed sense of hope along with the general sense of renewal.  There is hope that my team will defy all odds and hope for a win on Opening Day. At least one of the things I hoped for yesterday became reality.