opening day memories
Well, I got out to St. Louis to be with my fellow Cardinals fans for Opening Day festivities, in a year fraught with fear and trepidation of just what may come. For the record, it appears Cards fans are torn between those who buy all the hype that has had them picked to finish last in the division by some outlets (Sports Illustrated among them), and those like me who believe there is potential for special stuff in this team. But that didn't stop the fans from coming down to the park, which is spectacular, for the opener.
Things were even going really well for the Cards, holding a 5-1 lead over defending NL champ Colorado in the third inning, with ace Adam Wainwright on the mound, and the bad taste of last year quickly leaving... and then...
Allow me again to be a fan, and inject some of my, shall I say, charming personality traits (superstition chief among them) into my otherwise well-grounded blog. The baseball gods struck again.
The gods just could not deal with a 5-1 Cards lead, obviously still mad that they allowed a mediocre-at-best team to win its 10th World Series title in 2006, and sent the rains. What was supposed to be a drizzle, or on and off showers, turned into a downpour, and I was treated to the sight of what 10,000 Cardinals fans look like huddled under the left field stands. It was a pretty beautiful sight, I must say, but the game, my pilgrimage to St. Louis, was rained out. (For the record I brought a sign to the game, and managed to get on the big screen as a part of the left field seating section known as "Big Mac Land", sponsored of course by McDonald's. The sign read: Connecticut Cards Fan on Opening Day Pilgrimage. But very few people seemed to understand or care.)
I had to fly back to Connecticut to prepare for spring season here, and did not get to go to the makeup game, but here's how it went. Kip Wells, the pitcher who destroyed the Cardinals' season a year ago by not just being mediocre, not just bad, but at times worse than some high school pitchers I cover, picked up the emergency makeup start for his new team the Rockies. Ironically, he pitched six innings and allowed only one run, and to make matters worse than ever for Cardinals fans, the Rockies came back to win the game 2-1.
Now, I'm left asking myself this question: Are the baseball gods merely playing a one-day trick, sort of a last laugh because the situation presented itself and they just couldn't resist, or is this a sign of what is to come the rest of the season?
Well, wins the following two days seemed to brighten the picture, and I don't care if it's April 4, I'm enjoying a four-way tie for first place. We will see.
But I have to give it to those baseball gods. They've got a hell of a sense of humor.
I hope I haven't taken up too much of your time.
Things were even going really well for the Cards, holding a 5-1 lead over defending NL champ Colorado in the third inning, with ace Adam Wainwright on the mound, and the bad taste of last year quickly leaving... and then...
Allow me again to be a fan, and inject some of my, shall I say, charming personality traits (superstition chief among them) into my otherwise well-grounded blog. The baseball gods struck again.
The gods just could not deal with a 5-1 Cards lead, obviously still mad that they allowed a mediocre-at-best team to win its 10th World Series title in 2006, and sent the rains. What was supposed to be a drizzle, or on and off showers, turned into a downpour, and I was treated to the sight of what 10,000 Cardinals fans look like huddled under the left field stands. It was a pretty beautiful sight, I must say, but the game, my pilgrimage to St. Louis, was rained out. (For the record I brought a sign to the game, and managed to get on the big screen as a part of the left field seating section known as "Big Mac Land", sponsored of course by McDonald's. The sign read: Connecticut Cards Fan on Opening Day Pilgrimage. But very few people seemed to understand or care.)
I had to fly back to Connecticut to prepare for spring season here, and did not get to go to the makeup game, but here's how it went. Kip Wells, the pitcher who destroyed the Cardinals' season a year ago by not just being mediocre, not just bad, but at times worse than some high school pitchers I cover, picked up the emergency makeup start for his new team the Rockies. Ironically, he pitched six innings and allowed only one run, and to make matters worse than ever for Cardinals fans, the Rockies came back to win the game 2-1.
Now, I'm left asking myself this question: Are the baseball gods merely playing a one-day trick, sort of a last laugh because the situation presented itself and they just couldn't resist, or is this a sign of what is to come the rest of the season?
Well, wins the following two days seemed to brighten the picture, and I don't care if it's April 4, I'm enjoying a four-way tie for first place. We will see.
But I have to give it to those baseball gods. They've got a hell of a sense of humor.
I hope I haven't taken up too much of your time.
posted by Ryan Pipke at
1:35 PM
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