Baseball Opening Day

Can you smell that? The smell of the fresh cut grass, the fresly laid clay dirt, the aroma of hot dogs and peanuts. It's Opening Day ladies and gentleman! A day that should be considered a national holiday! A day that I should have off of work. Yes, I know technically there was a game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Miami Marlins (I hate the new name and logo) where the Cardians won 4-1. But today is when most other teams start and more importantly, my San Diego Padres begin play today against those yucky Los Angelas Dodgers. Play begins today at 4:05 at Petco Park (pictured above), home of the Padres. It will be Clayton Kershaw (LAD) vs. Edison Volquez (SDG).

I've been a Padre fan since 1997 when I finally started to understand baseball. I will leave and breathe the San Diego Padres until the day I die or the day their franchise is erased or sold to some other city. Tony Gwynn is my all time favorite player and for good reason. The man had 8 batting titles, 20+ seasons of hitting over .300 with the same team, 15 All Star appearances, 16 Gold Gloves...the man is a legend and it was an honor growing up watching him play, because he defined baseball for me. Along with Trevor Hoffman, I feel I was spoiled. Yes, the Padres have never been all that good of a team. They have only been to the Series two times, once in 1984 (before I was born) and again in 1998. But a true baseball fan demonstrates loyalty even through the constant rough times. I have detracted a few times out of anger and disappointment but I always stray back even though they are a pretty bad team. A few  years ago they had 3 straight winning seasons. It was a miracle. But now they have two straight losing seasons and everyone is predicting them to fail again this year.

I can't stand these "experts" who feel they can predict the exact record of a team. To me, sports is completely unpredictable. Anything can happen. Sure, you can look at the players on the team and their history  and gauge what you think might happen based on what you have on paper. But you don't know when a player or players will have breakout years. You can't predict injuries, suspensions, etc. So many things happen in the course of a baseball season, which is 162 games long. To say you know exactly how it will pan out? Don't be so cocky. Sure, I expect the Padres to not win the World Series this year, but it's still possible. You just DON'T know for sure. I like to have a slight ounce of hope that my team will prove everyone wrong each year.

I'm just excited for tonight! Win or lose, Padres baseball begins tonight and to me...there is no better feeling! YAY! Cant' to see guys like Cameron Maybin and Chase Headly knock a few out of the park!