Katherine and I had a wonderful time at the Ballpark in Arlington this afternoon. I've been a baseball fan for 44 years and never been to an Opening Day game. The weather was gorgeous (86º and sunny, though clouds moved in later). We got to the ballpark early to enjoy the festivities. The Texas Rangers raised their American League Championship banner; a B-52 bomber did a flyover at the conclusion of the National Anthem; and the players lined the baselines for introductions. The new scoreboard is magnificent. As you can see from the image in this post (click to enlarge), which was taken from my seat with my BlackBerry, it is directly in front of us. We can also see into the Ranger dugout. We have these seats for 20 games this season.
The Boston Red Sox jumped out to an early lead (2-0), but the Rangers came back to tie. Boston went ahead again, 4-2, but Mike Napoli put the Rangers ahead 5-4 with a three-run home run in the fourth. When he hit the ball, I thought it was a single up the middle. It was a line-drive home run to left field. I guess it was an optical illusion. The Red Sox tied the game on a home run by David Ortiz in the eighth, which quieted the rowdy crowd. In the bottom of the eighth, with tension mounting, the Rangers blew the game open. The key hit was David Murphy's two-run double. The crowd of 50,146 went wild. Rookie of the Year Neftali Feliz came in to close the game. Rangers 9, Red Sox 5.
It's hard to articulate how much fun I had today, so I won't try. Suffice it to say that life began anew this afternoon.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 