opening day
so for the 9th consecutive year i went down to opening day with my dad
it was a lot of fun as usual. its funny how routine my dad is with stuff. i couldve predicted exactly what was going to happen when we got down there.
get down there before 9am, park, eat at leo's coney island which is inside the park but opens outside (since the park doesnt open until 10:30), walk around the stadium a few thousand times bullshitting about baseball, family, life, etc., get in line about 20 mins before they open the gates, as soon as we walk through the gates my dad looks at me and says "its good to be back", walk directly into the pro shop, pick out our hats for the season (i went with traditional away hat since my traditional home hat still fits from last year, they normally shrink), he asked me what i wanted for my birthday, to which i replied, "a cabrera jersey", we walked over to the counter, asked if they had any, got one, he picked up some other non-sense stuff (gloves and a snow hat... him and my stepmom are taking a trip to alaska in a couple months, he wants to show off the D as much as possible where-ever he goes, i have the same gloves and snow-hat he bought, he liked em, what can i say), buy it, walk out, put on our hats, walk to the right field outfield bleacher seats, stand, look out onto the field in silence for awhile, just taking it in, start jawing about some guy wearing a jersey that says "tiger santa" on the back who is begging players for baseballs and collects three in the time we are there, stay there watching batting practice talking about baseball for about 45 mins, walk around the park, pass the first bathroom, "i gotta hit the head" my dad says as he walks toward the bathroom (this is probably the biggest and longest lasting tradition we have, walk into the park, first thing my dad does is say this exact phrase, i joke about his growing prostate, he tells me that not everyone is a camel, and he walks away), we walk around the park a few hundred times, go up to our seats, get a pizza, see lenny (the usher who has worked our section since we have started having those seats), who promptly shakes our hands with excitement talking about how good it is to see us again and hopes we go all the way this year (lenny likes us because we moved to that section a year before the tigers lost 119 games, and have retained the same seats, the same enthusiasm, the same everything since they were the worst team in baseball to the world series heavy-weights they are now, he respects that, our seats are nice, so im sure he seats a lot of people who are fair weather fans), we sit, eat our pizza, fill out the starting lineups on the scorecard, and the game begins.
opening day is a little different in the fact that we dont generally get up during the game. the bathrooms and concessions are always packed and you are bound to miss at least a full inning if you go. generally though, my dad hands me the scorecard in the 3rd or 4th and disappears only to come back with popcorn, licorice, a diet pepsi, and a beer, haha, never fails, every game, whether i want it or not.
so the tigers lost a sloppy game that wasnt as much fun as it couldve been. it started off really well, starting pitching was sharp, some key hits to make it exciting. but still, two errors in the first few innings (cabrera committed a throwing error on his first and only play in the game) verlander couldnt command his high heat, but it was fun to watch him groove a low 90's fastball and still fooling hitters with a upper 70's circle change, and a low 80's curve ball... he brought the heat less than 6 times, and the last time he did he nailed mark i cant spell your last name but it sounds like grudzilonic in the hand/wrist/forearm region.
everyone will blame the game on our bullpen, but they really didnt do too bad. two guys didnt get holds in hold opprotunities, but no one in our bullpen gave up a run. stretching into 11 innings always wears down your pitchers, bottom line. i think we lost it due to the fact that we stranded ten men (including a lead off double in the 11th, and bases loaded, and 4 times leaving men in scoring position), and verlander got flat out lit up in the 7th.
oh well. it was a fun day, and i am still excited about the season!!
cabrera hit a homer, which was his only hit, and he couldnt do it the two at bats before that when there were men on base, he did it when he was leading off. but still, he is on pace for 162 homers and 162 rbi, if he stays on pace with either of those stats it will mean MVP year!
hahahaha
it was a lot of fun as usual. its funny how routine my dad is with stuff. i couldve predicted exactly what was going to happen when we got down there.
get down there before 9am, park, eat at leo's coney island which is inside the park but opens outside (since the park doesnt open until 10:30), walk around the stadium a few thousand times bullshitting about baseball, family, life, etc., get in line about 20 mins before they open the gates, as soon as we walk through the gates my dad looks at me and says "its good to be back", walk directly into the pro shop, pick out our hats for the season (i went with traditional away hat since my traditional home hat still fits from last year, they normally shrink), he asked me what i wanted for my birthday, to which i replied, "a cabrera jersey", we walked over to the counter, asked if they had any, got one, he picked up some other non-sense stuff (gloves and a snow hat... him and my stepmom are taking a trip to alaska in a couple months, he wants to show off the D as much as possible where-ever he goes, i have the same gloves and snow-hat he bought, he liked em, what can i say), buy it, walk out, put on our hats, walk to the right field outfield bleacher seats, stand, look out onto the field in silence for awhile, just taking it in, start jawing about some guy wearing a jersey that says "tiger santa" on the back who is begging players for baseballs and collects three in the time we are there, stay there watching batting practice talking about baseball for about 45 mins, walk around the park, pass the first bathroom, "i gotta hit the head" my dad says as he walks toward the bathroom (this is probably the biggest and longest lasting tradition we have, walk into the park, first thing my dad does is say this exact phrase, i joke about his growing prostate, he tells me that not everyone is a camel, and he walks away), we walk around the park a few hundred times, go up to our seats, get a pizza, see lenny (the usher who has worked our section since we have started having those seats), who promptly shakes our hands with excitement talking about how good it is to see us again and hopes we go all the way this year (lenny likes us because we moved to that section a year before the tigers lost 119 games, and have retained the same seats, the same enthusiasm, the same everything since they were the worst team in baseball to the world series heavy-weights they are now, he respects that, our seats are nice, so im sure he seats a lot of people who are fair weather fans), we sit, eat our pizza, fill out the starting lineups on the scorecard, and the game begins.
opening day is a little different in the fact that we dont generally get up during the game. the bathrooms and concessions are always packed and you are bound to miss at least a full inning if you go. generally though, my dad hands me the scorecard in the 3rd or 4th and disappears only to come back with popcorn, licorice, a diet pepsi, and a beer, haha, never fails, every game, whether i want it or not.
so the tigers lost a sloppy game that wasnt as much fun as it couldve been. it started off really well, starting pitching was sharp, some key hits to make it exciting. but still, two errors in the first few innings (cabrera committed a throwing error on his first and only play in the game) verlander couldnt command his high heat, but it was fun to watch him groove a low 90's fastball and still fooling hitters with a upper 70's circle change, and a low 80's curve ball... he brought the heat less than 6 times, and the last time he did he nailed mark i cant spell your last name but it sounds like grudzilonic in the hand/wrist/forearm region.
everyone will blame the game on our bullpen, but they really didnt do too bad. two guys didnt get holds in hold opprotunities, but no one in our bullpen gave up a run. stretching into 11 innings always wears down your pitchers, bottom line. i think we lost it due to the fact that we stranded ten men (including a lead off double in the 11th, and bases loaded, and 4 times leaving men in scoring position), and verlander got flat out lit up in the 7th.
oh well. it was a fun day, and i am still excited about the season!!
cabrera hit a homer, which was his only hit, and he couldnt do it the two at bats before that when there were men on base, he did it when he was leading off. but still, he is on pace for 162 homers and 162 rbi, if he stays on pace with either of those stats it will mean MVP year!
hahahaha