4.14.00 LOS ANGELES DODGERS vs CINCINNATI REDS
There was something unexpectedly cool about the Dodgers' home opener coming so late, two weeks into the season. We got to see them play reasonably well in Montreal, valiantly steal a game from the Mets, then go up to No-Cal and ruin the Giants' obnoxiously self-congratulatory “PacBell Park” grand opening with a three-game sweep (okay, so it's a nice stadium—your city still sucks). By the time they came home, we actually had good reason to cheer our boys. And seeing all those other home openers on TV was not unlike watching everyone else open their presents first on Christmas morning, while savoring a few final moments of anticipation oneself.
The big question mark was just how bad they had messed up Dodger Stadium with Fox's $50 million renovation/luxury suites installation. It was no small relief to find upon arriving at the park that the classic LA logotype and distinctly period-typeface Dodgers underneath it remained unaltered on the backside of the scoreboard outside right field. Once inside, it was clear that, as promised, the cosmetic changes were minimal enough that only finicky aesthetes like me could find reason to complain about them. The luxury boxes are all but invisible. The only strikingly obvious change is the new shelf of seats poking out onto the infield behind home plate, which of course is unfortunate because it reduces the amount of foul territory (further tipping the scales in hitters' favor), but also because gone now are the sunken seats between the dugouts, the back walls of which had been gloriously painted in alternating panels of orange, blue, and yellow hues borrowed directly from the Brady Bunch opening credits' palette.
The only other noticable change is the new synthetic warning track, which replaced the old dirt one because the dirt was apparently clogging up the state-of-the-art irrigation system. The new track in itself wouldn't necessarily present any problem aesthetically, but alas, they got the color wrong. Instead of being an earthy orange to match the infield, it's a garish red. Why, guys? Couldn't you make it any color you wanted? Was it that hard to match the other dirt? Did someone forget the old rule about picking colors when painting your house (find the shade you want, then go with the next lightest)?
Whatever. The good news is, Dodger Stadium remains Dodger Stadium, minor annoyances aside. If that's what they had to do to pay for Alex Rodriguez next year, so be it.
The opening day festivities were appropriately festive, with Carole King's rendition of the national anthem handily beating last year's by Randy Newman (I mean, I love Randy Newman, but the guy has a hard enough time singing his own songs), and the team of sky-divers landing on the field after literally missing our Reserve Level heads by about fifteen feet eclipsing everything else we would see all afternoon in terms of sheer spectacle.
But the ballgame was what we were here for, and it did not disappoint. The satisfyingly symbolic return of starter Orel Hershiser on opening day was, happily, a successful one. He threw six mostly solid innings, holding the Reds to six hits and one run, a lead-off homer in the third by third baseman Aaron Boone. The highlight of the game came in the next inning, when, clinging to a 2-1 lead, Dodgers' reliever Terry Adams faced Ken Griffey with the bases loaded and two outs. Adams worked the count to 3-and-2, and the crowd to a foamy froth, before striking out Griffey with a high fastball. Damn.
The Dodgers then blew the game wide open in the bottom of the seventh, with two-run doubles by both Shawn Green and Eric Karros, and that was pretty much it.
FINAL SCORE: DODGERS 8, REDS 1
MEMORABLE HECKLE:
Recurring chants of “Griffey sucks!” emanating
from the outfield pavilions throughout the game—welcome to the National
League, Junior. Honorable mention to the guy behind us, who, when the Dodgers'
new Golden Glove, power-hitting right fielder first came to the plate,
yelled “Rauuuuuuul!”
