Watching the First Game

The Fan is camped out on his special recliner with ESPN on high definition watching the first game of the year on Opening Day, 2009. Here we go. The season is finally here!

While this isn't intended on being a live blog, here are some observations as the game goes on:

- Brett Myers looks awful. Derek Lowe looks great.

- The Braves' shortstop, Escobar, looks fantastic. He's slick, really slick.

- The third man in the booth isn't working for ESPN. The Fan is irritated every time Steve Phillips speaks. He's like an intruder. Ugh! Get him out of there.

- It's always fun when a rookie hits a homer in his first major league at bat. The rookie? Jordan Schafer. He also got a single his next at bat.

- Casey Kotchman must be the slowest runner in the major leagues. He's hit two grounders and looked each time like he was running in mud.

- Ryan Howard looks much slimmer.

- Man, Derek Lowe looks great. Reminds the Fan of his performance against the Yankees in the playoffs.

- Why wasn't Escobar's double reviewed? Why didn't ESPN even show a replay? It looked like an iffy call. Is this going to be a pattern?

- Joe Morgan had a great observation about Franceaur's open stance. Morgan said that those who are new to an open stance tend to pull inside pitches off the plate into foul territory giving up strikes. Nice.

- Myers settled down and gave the Phillies six good innings.

- Philadelphia's ball park looks fantastic. Beautiful green grass.

- Have you seen those Dustin Pedroia/Playstation commercials? Obviously, it's tongue in cheek, but it sure makes Pedroia look like a big-headed oaf.

- Ibanez has been up three times and pounded the ball into the ground all three times. Three ground outs. Not a good start.

- Scott Eyre = LOOGY. LOOGY baseball is annoying. Two batters. Bring a new guy in. [sigh]

- Not sure what Crown Royal is trying to prove. But their commercials feature scruffy looking people that aren't impressive at all.

- Why do the Phillies keep swinging at the first pitch?

- The Fan had forgotten how weird Brad Lidge throws a pitch. It really is a weird motion. But it sure is effective.

- The Braves' closer sure looked iffy. He pulled the game out with two strikeouts of Howard and Ibanez. Gonzalez is going to be an adventure for the Braves.

And so the game is in the books. The 2009 season begins with the Braves in first place and the Phillies in last. After a long wait, the season has started and it sure is wonderful to get going again. Wahoo! Here we go.