Opening Day....finally.
There was rain. There was a lot of rain. The game was delayed by an hour. Eventually the rain lessened and ceremonies got underway. The rain didn't really stop for good until the second inning or so.
The highlight of the pregame was the tribute to Joe Nuxhall. Every uniformed person on the Reds team was wearing a #41 Nuxhall jersey when they came out to be introduced before the game. The jerseys will be auctioned off for charity. Unlike everyone else, Aaron Harang kept his on for the whole game. It was a very special moment, a great tribute.
The matchup of Aaron Harang vs Brandon Webb was everything it should have been. These are two of the top five pitchers in the NL. They both pitched exceptionally well today. Harang gave up three runs (two earned) on only three hits and two walks. He struck out six. The third inning was tough. He gave up two solo home runs (one to Eric Byrnes and one to Chris Young) and he walked two. On the bright side, he got the last ten men he faced out. Despite the one rough inning, he finished strongly. Brandon Webb was Brandon Webb. Very few balls were hit in the air. He got a ton of ground balls. He struck out six also. He did walk four, which is odd for him.
The two best ABs in the game were had by Edwin Encarnacion. I'm not a fan of him. I would love to see Ryan Freel starting at 3B. When Alex Gonzalez gets healthy, I would love to see Jeff Keppinger slide over to 3B. I don't trust Encarnacion to routinely put together good ABs. He looked absolutely awful during spring training. He looked clueless at the plate right up until the second inning. He'd made an error in the top of the 1st (to be fair, the ball was slippery because of the conditions and the throw sailed on him). He had to atone. I wish I could say he drove one deep to the left field seats, but it wasn't anything that dramatic. However, he did coax a walk out of Webb. He took some close pitches. He looked like a real hitter, which is nice to see. His second plate appearance was more of the same. He was able to work another walk out of Webb It may not seem like much, but I think those two ABs were huge. It was like he knew exactly what he was looking for up there. He showed some patience at the plate.
The defensive player of the game for the Reds was Corey Patterson. It's like bizzaro world. For some reason Patterson played like a real centerfielder. He made a couple mistakes. He took a bad angle on a couple balls. He made a wrong first move on a couple balls. On a flyball late in the game, Ken Griffey, Jr. had to cut in front of him and snag the fly because Patterson didn't seem to know where it was. That said, he made a couple of spectacular plays. Patterson actually laid out for a ball. He actually dove....and he caught it. He also made two great catches running back to the wall in center. All in all, I was impressed with his first day as the Reds' centerfielder.
The two best defensive plays were turned in by Orlando Hudson, though. He showed why he has won three Gold Gloves. The first one was a little ducksnort that was too short for Chris Young. Hudson sprinted into short center and made a beautiful over the shoulder catch as he was running away from the infield. As much as I wanted it to drop, it was a fantastic play. In the fifth inning, with Aaron Harang up at the plate, Hudson made another terrific grab. Harang ended up getting a single out of it, but Hudson sure made it exciting. He had to range deep to his right before diving for the ball, popping up, turning and letting loose a perfect throw. Thankfully Harang was hustling all the way and managed to just barely beat it out, but it was a pretty dive and throw regardless.
All in all, it was a great day. It was Opening Day, how could it not be? This was my first ever Opening Day game. I hope to go to a ton more. The only word that could really describe my feelings leading up to the first pitch is "giddy". I was sitting there in my bleacher seat trying to ignore the rain and trying to just take everything in. I loved it. The crowd was great, the game was great, the weather sucked, the final score sucked.
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