Maybe the day is appropriate. Our lefty starter gives up a jimmy-jack in the second inning. He lasts 4 2/3 innings of lackluster ball and leaves with the Rangers down 4-0. Jon Lester is on. Jon Lester is June 6, 2009 on. 9 innings, 11Ks. Red Sox win 8-1 after the bullpen janitor gets blitzed in the 6th. Uh oh. Now allow me to direct you to your calendar and point out the following: April Fool's!
Truly there is only one thing to celebrate today and it isn't prank calling your grandma or seeing what lame "invention" Google came up with; it's our Opening Day. We're signing up for another year that will test our mettle as often as it rewards our reverence. That's where it's at. That's baseball's sweet spot and is one that only baseball can offer. Today, we will celebrate willingly devoting ourselves to this game for another year, each and every day. It's possible the above scenario could play out, but regardless of the outcome, around Three O'Clock this afternoon, we're bulletproof again because baseball is back.
Fools? Maybe. Maybe it is foolish to find obligation in a sport. We've heard this winter about bad traffic & heat, manipulation & misleadings, differing management styles, and shambles. There have been tweaked groins, cold bats from big names, uncooperative shoulders and vanishing release points. We've worried about the closer, the closer starting, the 8th inning guy if the closer starts, the possible 8th inning guys now that the once-thought 8th inning guy was named a starter, and 3, 4, & 5 guys. But none of the fretting matters today because there's baseball to be played, American League Champion worthy baseball, and it's not going to stop for hand-wringing. Nor should it. If ever an Opening Day was worthy of our allegiance, it is today's. Not just because of 2010's successes. Not only because of 2011's promise. But because, out of the shadows of unprecedented success, the sun shines down upon this team waiting to thrill anew. We have 162 games to be fools for loving this game once again. This time, perhaps, they'll finish the job and fool 'em all.
