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Opening Day and Open Thread
2007-04-01 15:00
by Bob Timmermann

The 2007 regular season is scheduled to get underway at 5ish (look at the tagline in the upper right for time zone info) in the lovely Mound City, where the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals will take on the team they beat in the NLCS, the New York Mets.

There will be three simultaneous "first" pitches each one being from the pitcher who got the last out from one of the last three World Series the Cardinals won (1967, 1982, and last year) to the manager of that team. So that will be Bob Gibson tossing to Red Schoendienst (the pride of Germantown, Illinois), Bruce Sutter to Whitey Herzog, and Adam Wainwright to Tony La Russa.

Then the Best Fans in Baseball® will get to hear the National Anthem performed by REO Speedwagon. And that can mean only one thing: the terrorists have won.

Finally, the Mets and Redbirds will get down to business with Chris Carpenter facing Tom Glavine.

The Mets and Cardinals won't play tomorrow, but just about every other team opens the season Monday. Except for the Padres and Giants who will start Tuesday.

Comments (54)
Show/Hide Comments 1-50
2007-04-01 16:17:20
1.   D4P
I'll be rooting for the Mets
2007-04-01 16:22:03
2.   graciebarn
I wrote the original poem here: http://forums.longpatrolclub.com/showthread.php?t=4959
2007-04-01 16:27:24
3.   dianagramr
REO Speedwagon is actually a very appropriate choice, given their baseball-tinged lyrics ...

They had a song for the Pirates pitchers:
"I just can't fight this fielding anymore ..."

They had a song for the hitters who could only handle dead red fastballs:
"Roll with the change-ups ..."

And then there was the one for a particular Devils Rays (and former Cub) pitcher:
"I'm gonna keep on lovin' Ryu ..."

2007-04-01 16:35:15
4.   Bob Timmermann
I would say that I am sad that I will miss the National Anthem as I will be on my way home from work.

But then I would be lying.

The computers at work thought today was the first day of DST and moved themselves ahead one hour.

This was not a good thing.

2007-04-01 16:36:19
5.   D4P
The computers at work thought today was the first day of DST and moved themselves ahead one hour

My TV did the same thing, but it was an easy fix

2007-04-01 16:41:45
6.   Bob Timmermann
1 TV vs 65 computers

I win.

2007-04-01 16:43:28
7.   Scott Long
Having REO Speedwagon do the national anthem makes me feel a little better that the White Sox co-opted Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'". Not a lot better, though.

What are the odds on the Royals winning it all and then having Kansas sing their national anthem the following open day.

Carry on My Wayward Sons.

2007-04-01 16:45:10
8.   D4P
6
Lucky you
2007-04-01 16:49:58
9.   Bob Timmermann
And all the computers were turned on, then turned off, and then turned back on again.

In about 15 minutes.

It was a stirring race against time similar to "24".

2007-04-01 16:54:37
10.   D4P
Why did you have to turn the computers on and off and on?
2007-04-01 16:56:03
11.   Bob Timmermann
We didn't realize until they were all turned on that they had the wrong time. Then they fixed the server and we had to reboot them all and the configuration is such that they all required hard reboots.
2007-04-01 16:58:08
12.   D4P
Are they all located in close proximity to each other, or are they scattered throughout the liberry...?
2007-04-01 17:03:38
13.   Bob Timmermann
The whole liberry has about 200. But the 65 I had to work with all were tied in with internet reservation systems so they had to load a lot of software when they booted up.
2007-04-01 17:05:32
14.   D4P
I'm going to sample the Gameday-equivalents on CBS and Yahoo tonight
2007-04-01 17:15:31
15.   Marty
5:15 It only takes one batter in the first game for Joe Morgan to say "I don't care much about Statistics"
2007-04-01 17:15:35
16.   das411
Ahhh baseball is back!! Gotta love it!

...both of these teams better enjoy this game though because they are not going to be in contention the whole time this season...

2007-04-01 17:17:38
17.   D4P
I've quickly determined that I'll prefer CBS over Yahoo
2007-04-01 17:19:45
18.   D4P
15
They should fire that guy
2007-04-01 17:20:15
19.   Underbruin
18 - Fire Joe Morgan?

What a novel idea...

2007-04-01 17:22:24
20.   DXMachina
The Red Sox fired Joe Morgan once, but it was the wrong Joe Morgan.
2007-04-01 17:24:23
21.   Icaros
17

I've actually been using CBS over Gameday for years now. I appreciate the simplicity.

2007-04-01 17:27:28
22.   D4P
21
Ironically, I used CBS exclusively until I started visiting DT, after which I switched to Gameday
2007-04-01 17:38:11
23.   Bob Timmermann
The Gameday app that shows up on my Blackberry is the old style.

Of course, I can't open two windows on a Blackberry.

The guy next to me on the train is rolling a joint. He apparently does not fear the MTA gendarmes.

2007-04-01 17:39:15
24.   Bob Timmermann
He is not lighting up the joint however.
2007-04-01 17:45:11
25.   das411
So Tom Glavine has a classic Tom Glavine strike zone tonight....has anybody heard if that QuesTec thing is in the new StL ballpark?

Wow and Scotty Ballgame = awesome!

2007-04-01 17:51:56
26.   dianagramr
18

well .... Theismann got canned from NFL work, so there MIGHT be some hope after all

2007-04-01 17:52:01
27.   StolenMonkey86
I'm watching the game with my roommate, a Mets fan, so I'm rooting for the Mets along with him.

Watching Taguchi fall over last inning was rather amusing.

2007-04-01 17:56:18
28.   StolenMonkey86
LoDuca isn't about to let just anyone squeeze him
2007-04-01 18:05:44
29.   Underbruin
Carpenter's not looking so good...
2007-04-01 18:09:55
30.   D4P
An old friend drives in two other old friends
2007-04-01 18:10:24
31.   Underbruin
HEART AND SOUL! Good for Lo Duca.
2007-04-01 18:35:07
32.   Underbruin
Cards getting beaten like a drum. Over/under on number of Glavine starts before he hits 300 wins? I'm setting it at 18.
2007-04-01 18:52:56
33.   Bob Timmermann
I believe the stat that Tom Glavine is 135-0 when his team is ahead by 5 or more runs is indicative of nothing.
2007-04-01 18:56:46
34.   D4P
I'm guessing Joe Morgan likes that kinda stat
2007-04-01 18:59:06
35.   das411
WOW that was an awful call by Oquendo...of all the people to send towards a collision at home, and with Albert Pujols on deck no less???
2007-04-01 19:05:13
36.   D4P
Yay! Frank Robinson!
2007-04-01 19:07:04
37.   Bob Timmermann
34
Even Joe Morgan knew to dismiss that stat. As he said, "If you're up by five, you usually get taken out of the game before you give up a sixth run."
2007-04-01 19:14:28
38.   Andrew Shimmin
35- Yeah, but how would holding him at third have been cool to watch? I think somebody's priorities are out of whack.
2007-04-01 19:27:28
39.   Gen3Blue
Its great to see San Fran get beat--but ultra depressing to see Barry get 2 HRs.
Sorry, very sorry.
2007-04-01 19:28:05
40.   das411
Aww poor Joe Smith...Heilman is a bum though, let's go Scotty Ballgame!!
2007-04-01 19:30:34
41.   Bob Timmermann
Joe Smith is the second Joe Smith to play in the majors. There was a Joe Smith who played for the Yankees in 1913.

Except he really wasn't a Joe Smith. He was born Salvatore Persico in New York City.

Yet, he attended Berkeley.

2007-04-01 19:31:19
42.   Bob Timmermann
Why was Morgan going "Oh, no?"
2007-04-01 19:31:57
43.   das411
WOW Valentin just scored like 2 runs with that glove right there!
2007-04-01 19:32:41
44.   Underbruin
A name change from Salvatore Persico to Joe Smith?

That almost feels like murder, in a sense. The one name is so much more interesting than the other.

2007-04-01 19:39:32
45.   Bob Timmermann
It was likely a lot easier for Mr. Persico to find work with the name of Smith.

Or we can ask Shawn Greenberg for his opinion.

2007-04-01 19:40:17
46.   Andrew Shimmin
Is that the first time ever the fake to third, throw to first worked?
2007-04-01 19:41:29
47.   Bob Timmermann
Joe Morgan's quest to get the "fake to third, throw to first" pickoff ruled a balk will be as successful as my campaign against the double error or D4P's campaign to get the NFL to change its playoff tiebreaker criteria to favor the Rams.
2007-04-01 19:41:48
48.   Bob Timmermann
46
How soon people forget the career of Mike Fetters.
2007-04-01 19:43:01
49.   Andrew Shimmin
The only thing I remember about Fetters is Mark Grace's impersonation of him.
2007-04-01 19:45:07
50.   das411
So how many homers off of straight 97 mph fastballs does Wagner give up here?

......bum.

Show/Hide Comments 51-100
2007-04-01 19:47:28
51.   Underbruin
45 - Not arguing against the reason. An unfortunately necessity, perhaps.
2007-04-01 19:47:48
52.   Greg Brock
Infield defense is the most important thing on a team.

Um, no.

2007-04-01 19:50:18
53.   Bob Timmermann
The Mets are going to go 162-0!
2007-04-01 20:15:34
54.   D4P
Meanwhile, would this be the first time in history that the defending WS champions when 0-162...?

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