Opening Night

What a start! The season is underway, the Braves are 0-1 and the Nats christened their new home with a walk-off HR. I'm thrilled. I missed the comforting, sage advice of Joe Morgan, the baritone squawk of Jon Miller and the insightful scoops of Peter Gammons. Ryan Zimmerman teed off on a pitch from Peter Moylan and sent it to the first row in left center. I got a bad feeling the Nats could be an unexpected thorn in the Mets' side this year. I think that it was pretty cool that the first game in Nationals Park featured some late game drama. That seems unique to baseball- it would be hard to imagine a new basketball arena ending on a buzzer beater or a new football stadium finishing with a game winning field goal. People won't connect that with the actual place, the way they would with baseball. I wonder if it will take on that type of identity- one known for wild endings. Every ballpark needs a personality. We will see it develop over the coming season and years. The season itself is new, fresh and has yet to take on an identity of its own. For now, everyone is 0-0 and has hope, the winners have yet to be delineated from the losers. No one's a loser yet. Well, except for the Braves.