Opening Day

The Mariners are looking very good. We are one game into the 2008 season and I'm already predicting a pennant. This is the beauty of opening day. Hopes and dreams aren't yet squashed, and perennial losers like the Tampa Bay Rays and Cincinatti Reds have hopes of October magic.

But back to my precious Mariners. In our first game of the season yesterday against the rival Texas Rangers, the M's used their largest offseason acqusition - pitcher Erik Badard from the Baltimore Orioles - to shut down the praised bats of the Rangers. On a chilly opening day on the final day of March, the Mariners failed to cross the plate until the 7th inning when thier young and talented 2B Jose Lopez perfectly executed a called hit and run to advance Ichiro to 3B. This is surely a sign of things to come. With young and live legs, the Mariners finally have to opportunity to play aggressive baseball. They now have the ability to push their opponents into feeling uncomfortable wuth double steals and suicide squeezes in the 9th. All of this came to fruition in the later frames yesterday st Safeco Field, when the M's turned around a 1-0 deficit late in the game and took advantage of their speed and power, rallying in front of a racous sellout to win 5-2.

It is a brand of baseball we as Mariners fans have been waiting for far too long. It is a brand of the game this team can play, and play well. Maybe I am an optimist. Maybe I am a naive fan who lets my desire for success convolute the actual image of my team. But it's April in the major leagues, and right now, everyone has a shot. Everyone is in first place. Everyone wakes up in the morning to see their club at the top of the standings. And I don't know about you, but I'm sure as hell going to enjoy it. God I love this game.