Opening Day in Cincinnati 2008


While Opening Day 2007 in Cincinnati was perfect as far as the game result went, Opening Day 2008 was pretty perfect in other ways. It was an enjoyable and relaxing day at the ballpark for me. It was my fiance’s first Opening Day. We experienced a few minutes of the parade. We ate dyed red bagels from Brueggers. We had Starbucks and talked about baseball. We hung out and experienced the city. She tried Skyline Chili for the first time.

It wasn’t a banner day for my boy Dunn. If this was his last Opening Day in a Reds uniform, he didn’t ring in the new season by homering like he has the past 3 Opening Days that I was present. He had an RBI groundout. It was that kind of day for the Reds offense.


We sat through a bit of a rain delay. The game was slated to start at 2:10, and it got underway about an hour later at 3:10 PM. Still it was a great day. The weather broke and it might have hit 70 degrees. The sun came out long enough for the fans on hand to cheer it. Above is a shot of the scoreboard and my first picture of the new season.

Brandon Webb is a legitimate big game pitcher. I learned that his sinker is his pitch that helps him dominate and he had it working on Opening Day. He threw 6 innings and allowed 3 hits and only 2 earned runs. He struck out 6 and despite walking 4, he still got the victory. He was just a tad better than Aaron Harang, the Reds starter who wore #41 to honor Joe Nuxhall.

I was pretty excited to see Justin Upton play. I think he’s going to be a big time star and at only 20 years of age this guy will be a force in the National League for the next decade + along with guys like the Reds’ Jay Bruce. Upton went 0-4 in the game and struck out twice, just moments before this picture was one of them (courtesy of Francisco Cordero).


One of my coolest photography jobs of the day. Walking out of the stadium I noticed at the Joe Nuxhall statue (which has been a meeting point for me and family members meeting at Great American Ballpark since it opened) that fans had placed their American Flag in the dirt next to Nuxie. Isn’t it amazing that people are like a flock of sheep? I mean really, one person placed their flag in the dirt and everyone else followed the act. It made for a very cool scene exiting the ballpark.

I was upset about the loss, and felt somewhat empty. Then I heard a guy say to his friend ‘relax man, there’s 161 more.’ That’s what I love about baseball. We’ve got a long season ahead.

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