70 more to go...

Well, opening night # 14 (for me, anyway) is in the book. It was, uncharacteristically, sunny and warm. The field looked awesome, and as I stated in an earlier post, it won't look that good until next opening day. But we'll all do our best to keep it looking top-shelf. A large, very enthusiastic crowd was on hand, 4034 I think i heard announced, pretty good as opening nights go. We hardly ever sell out for opening night, as a matter of fact, I don't ever recall a sellout for an opener. I think its the combination of traditionally crappy weather and a Thursday night, a tough night for familes with school still in. The renovations are moving right along and I hear that the boardwalk might be open by mid-May. Towards the end of the game, the crew and I went out into the area that will be the new bullpen area. The view of the gaame there was great, and up on the boardwalk the views should be outstanding!. I think it will be a great place to hang out for the casual fan who like to socialize and for parents with small kids who want to come to a game, but have restless youngsters. The pregame ritual went off without a hitch, with crewmembers in attendance being: myself, Doug, Alan, Izzy, the new kid Ryan, and, of course, Newt. Frank was unable to attend, due to work committents, and he was missed. With all the work being done to the ballpark, we were unable to to park in out usual location, behind the outfield wall. So the hike in from the regular parking lot sucked. The walk back out after the game sucked even more. As usual it was the usual opening night chaos with all of the pomp and circumstance. Once the game got started, we settled in to the familiar routine. The new scoreboard is indeed impressive, although they have some issues with the display that are being worked on. It was a little jittery most of the time, but I heard they should be worked out by the end of the homestand.The boys played a good game, with Marvin Lowrance parking one in the new left field seats to open the scoring. I t went back and forth until the late innings, when the Sens with a 3-2 lead put Mike Daniel up to pinch hit. he deposited one over the right-center field wall to bump the lead to 4-2. I the bottom of the 8th we got a couple of guys aboard and Javi Herrera hit a 3-run jack to make it 7-2, and that was the final. Post game got off to its usual delay due to the Launch-a-ball game so we had to wait them out. By the time we got finished, it was pushing the 11th hour, so it would be late until I got home. Getting up in morning was a blast! well back at it friday night. it's supposed to be a lot warmer, should be a great night for a ball game.