OPENING DAY!

My brother has taken Opening Day off of work for the past 5 years. I am a public school teacher so I have never been able to enjoy afternoon baseball on this hallowed day. The planets have aligned this year, or maybe it was the MLB and Durham Public Schools calendars, so I was able to partake in the festivities.

The day got off to a shaky start when the Yankees/Blue Jays game was

rained out. The Royals and Tigers provided a decent replacement. My brother is still angry with Tim Welke, the home plate umpire, who punched out Alex Gordon twice on balls way outside the strike zone. Gordon is on his fantasy team. Its crazy how important the first day of the season seems for fantasy baseball. You watch the ticker excitedly, reading off the day's HR's. By mid-year, our friend David will have wrapped up the championship for the 5th time in 8 years and none of it will matter.

We watched a little Cubs/Brewers and Mets/Marlins. Woods imploded so Marmol (my fantasy team) should be the closer sooner than later. Shields, for Tampa, and Escobar, for Atlanta, (both on my team) each played well.

My Mets rolled against the sad Florida Marlins. Johan pitched 7 nice innings (worth every penny so far) and David Wright (real 2007 MVP) doubled in 3 runs. Every game counts when the Braves seem to be the new "team to beat". Even the Mets more questionable outfielders, Pagan and Church (I know its pronounced Puh-gon, but come on, Pagan and Church is just too good a combo. Heck, his name is Angel Pagan!) got in on the act with a few hits, runs, and rbi.

I ended up staying up way too late when those Braves wouldn't go away. They made up a 5-run deficit in the ninth and threatened to erase the Pirates 3-run lead in the 12th. Ex-Met Xavier Nady was the Player of the Day. Two HRs including one of the 3-run game-winning variety in the 12th inning. Obviously Johan picks up the Pitcher of the Day hardware.