Royals Baseball Stadium, Kansas City

Spring has officially sprung and summer is right around the corner. This of course meant the return of Royals baseball to Kansas City. While there is little doubt that the Royals will finish near the bottom of the division standings as usual, Royals fans choose to ignore that on Opening Day. This is the day that Kansas City fills the Kauffman Stadium with blue.  We start the day tied for first place. Hope Springs eternal.

As I drove to work to put in 4 hours before heading out to the ballpark, the weather didn’t look like it was going  to cooperate. Fierce thunderstorms blanketed the metro and hail rained down from the sky.  I checked every weather service known to man, praying that baseball would not have to wait another day. Thankfully, the storms would be short lived and the clouds would make way for the Royals Home Opener.  Seventy-three degrees with a breeze.  Just about as good as it gets in early April.

Tailgates were in full swing in the parking lot. Burgers, Brats and Dogs taste better when grilled on a portable grill in a parking lot. A cold beer in hand, sitting in folding chairs with friends; the Tailgate is what makes game day at the K unique. You can say what you want about renovating vs building a  new stadium, but you know things wouldn’t be the same with Downtown Baseball.  Where would kids play catch? In some underground parking structure? I’ don’t think so. Baseball is about spending the day in the sun, and there is no better day than Opening Day for that.

The game its self was all you thought it would be. Zack pitched six strong innings, giving up 2 runs, one earned. The defense had some Opening Day jitters as Utility-man (playing 3rd base) Willie Bloomquist let a pop fly drop to the infield in the first inning which lead to Greinke’s unearned run. The offense scratched together four runs in 6 innings including a rare home run by Shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt to give Zack the advantage on the day. But then the bullpen came in and did what they did so often in the 2009 campaign; they gave it all back to the Tigers.

A 6 run seventh by Detroit was enough to win the game, but not enough to put a damper on Opening Day. Reality may start to sink in a bit. The fans may remember that these are the same Royals that we’ve seen for the last 25 years. But the Day isn’t all about baseball. Its about a summer ritual. Its about putting one of the worst winters in a long time behind us. Its about taking a half day and spending a great afternoon with family, friends and 40,000 other Royals fans. You have to take advantage of a day like that. Enjoy it. Be proud of your baseball team and your beautiful ballpark. You won’t see 40,000 Royals fans anywhere else on any other day.