Opening Day

Today was Opening Day...and like a good baseball fan, I took work off and went to the game. It was far more difficult to get the day off than it should've been (and a few guys were upset with me for getting it off...they had to go in to work...but none are Rangers fans so I win), but that's another story.

So I went with Woody, Tim, and Ashley. Four TCU guys off to the ballpark. We started off really early...leaving the house at 8:30am to meet up with the other guys in Arlington. After breakfast, we parked at WalMart (more on that in a bit) and walked over to the stadium.

Let's start off with the weather. Even though it was 80 degrees on Saturday, it was pretty cold this morning. The wind was brutal, and armed with only a long-sleeved t-shirt, I was cold. We watched some batting practice, but it seemed like each guy only got 4-5 cuts. If we saw Josh Hamilton hit, I wasn't aware of it.

Side Note - I saw Mark McGwire hit batting practice during his 70 HR year. That was a spectacle. The Rangers need to make more of Hamilton Batting Practice - announce it on the JumboTron and the PA so that everyone can watch in awe. Maybe have Hamilton do BP as late as possible, encouraging people to show up to the game a bit early.

Anyways, we were three hours early for the game, and we watched the rest of batting practice from our seats on the third deck in the foul side of left field. I watched as everyone around me ate cheese fries, and I went and got a $4.50 hot dog and a $3 bottle of water.

Then, a few minutes before the festivities started, they let go a few hundred balloons. This was pretty awesome because the Ballpark is known for its odd wind currents - and most of the balloons simply swirled around and around. It wasn't until an hour later that the last balloon finally made it out of the confines of the park. I'm not entirely sure how to explain what it was like, but it was actually pretty cool.

Then President Bush (W.) threw out the first pitch. He did pretty well, and he got a relatively warm reception. I think people are ready to move on from hating the man, and I've always felt sorry for him. They played a bit of an interview with him from the game on the news tonight, and he seems like a good guy. I think it'd be amazing to spend a few hours talking with the man - I'm sure he'd be very entertaining.

(It did scare me that there weren't any metal detectors at the Ballpark)

And then there was the giant American flag. It covered the entire outfield, and it seemed to keep coming and coming as they were marching it onto the field. It took a busload of people to hold it down...and they needed every one of them to contain it from an intense wind. That was a lot of fun to watch.

We also had a flyover from a couple of B-1 bombers. Flyovers are always super-cool, but they timed the flyover pretty horribly...as the sound drowned out most of the middle of the national anthem. I once saw a special on how those flyovers are supposed to work, but they went way too early this time. I wonder what went wrong because it's usually perfectly timed.

The weather warmed up a bit, and I have a nice borderline-sunburn on my arms. Ashley, on the other hand, has a real nice sunburn on his lower arms (only part of his forearm) - complete with a nice imprint of his watch.

Oh, and there was baseball too. The Rangers took control from reigning Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee and beat him up for seven runs. And Kevin Millwood finally pitched like the $15 million ace he was, giving up only one run in seven innings.

I'm not really one for optimism with the Rangers...just because I've been burned so many times. Baseball was my first true love, and the Rangers have just never been there for me. I've never strayed from them, knowing that I have to cheer for my hometown team. Instead, I simply have become jaded to baseball.

But at times like this, the little kid inside me is released. The Rangers' 2009 offense has the potential to be very scary, and if their pitchers can perform (and 4/5 of their rotation has had success in the major leagues before), this team can make a run. And I'm not just saying that because I have $10 on the Rangers winning it all.

It was just fun to be out there in a packed ballpark with almost 50,000 excited Rangers fans. This town desperately wants a winning baseball team, but for almost 40 years, this team has done nothing but disappoint. 40 years, three playoff appearances, and only one playoff win.

They're finally going in the right direction, though. They have a lot of youth on offense, and their famed young pitching is getting closer and closer. Elvis Andrus, the new SS, looked solid today. Add him to Young, Kinsler, and Hamilton...and you've got something. Throw in Nelson Cruz (who has hopefully finally figured it out), a hopefully-healthy Hank Blalock, and a maybe-ready-to-be-a-big-league-catcher-and-still-extremely-young Jarrod Saltalamacchia...and this team is talented at every position.

And, again, Millwood has performed in the past. Padilla pitches great in contract years (this is one), McCarthy did great before he got hurt, Kris Benson has had success in this league...this team has some pitching. And if you can score 5-9 runs a game, you're not going to need much more than that.

No matter what, there's room for optimism. If not this year, optimism for 2010 and 2011. At some point in the next few years, this team will seriously contend for a World Series, and that's very exciting.

After the game, we walked back to the Wal-Mart...passed the beautifully excessive new Cowboys stadium (which we're either naming JerryWorld, That's What She Said Stadium, or the Mothership)...and both Ashley and Tim's car were both there.

But Tim's car was pointed in a different direction from where we left it. As we walked over to the car, a guy in a red pickup told us that the car had been towed...and then brought back. Needless to say, we were all confused. The car looked okay, but it had definitely been moved.

Woody eventually talked to one of the tow-truck drivers who explained the situation. There were signs that said that ballgame parking was not to be allowed and that people would be towed if they parked there for the game. Cars began to get towed, but the manager of the Wal-Mart had the drivers bring the cars back. Apparently he didn't want people to get towed on Opening Day.

And I thought that was really cool. He had every right to have people towed...they were using his parking lot illegally, I suppose. But he went out of his way to make sure that, not only were more cars not towed, but that the company brought back the ones that were. It saved Tim hours of paperwork, time, and money...and after the break-in at Tim's house...he really didn't need that.

So a shout-out of thanks to the manager of the Wal-Mart by JerryWorld. I'm sure you read this religiously, and I want you to know I appreciate your coolness.

All in all, it was a great day off, and it was great to get out to the Ballpark. Since hockey is basically over, its nice to be able to have something to turn to. And, even if just for one day, the Rangers delivered.