Opening Day, Take 1

"Programs! Get your programs here! You're Next!"

Hearing Durkin, perched at the top of the entry stairs, smack dab in the middle of the concourse, calling out the greeting is THE sign that Spring and the Season have truly arrived. I've heard Durkin singing out that phrase for nearly 30 years, and it's always a welcome sound.

Living in the middle of Central New York, I have the possibility of attending as many as 6 different Opening Days as day trips, 7 if you want to stretch it to Buffalo. Schedule permitting, (the teams' not mine) usually I make it to two, Syracuse and Binghamton. Last year they were the same day with one ending as the other was getting underway so I made it only to the B-Mets (they are, after all My Guys), but this year the home openers are a week apart.

It rained. Starting in the third inning, pouring during the eighth, and when they pulled the tarps at the top of the ninth, the score Rochester 9-Syracuse 6, I decided I was soaked enough and headed home.

Despite the weather, it was a great Opening Day. Not only did I get to see this year's Player to Watch (a potential My Guy), shortstop Aaron Hill, I discovered my first favorite B-Met is playing for Rochester! Being a bit ditzy, I forgot the dugouts are reversed in Syracuse, home team on the left, and was watching for Number 5, Aaron Hill to come out, noting that Number 11 had looked familiar though I didn't recognize the name on the roster. When Number 5 emerged from the first base dugout the player definitely wasn't Hill. The person I was talking with pointed out they were wearing away uniforms. Number 11 for Rochester is centerfielder Jason Tyner. Made my whole day right then.

Syracuse got off to a great start, putting down the Red Wings 1-2-3 in the top of the first and the leadoff Sky(gak)chief Anton French hitting a triple. They sailed along beautifully for three innings. Then the Red Wings decided to play.

I have a love-hate relationship with the Sky(gak)chiefs and root with a strong sense of schadenfreude. Most games I attend to watch a player on the visiting team and cheer him and his teammates, usually to vistory. The final score was 9-7 so they got that ninth inning in, and I was lucky enough to catch the tape-delay on cable. I got to see Jason Tyner get his second hit of the day (2 for 5 in the leadoff spot) and see him catch a routine fly ball to center for the final out.

Heading back for Game 2 today.