Opening Day in Cincinnati 2011

[Box Score]

Glorious Opening Day 2011 in the Queen City today where The Golden Sombrero and I began our day at 7:30 AM this morning in our trek to Cincinnati/Newport on the Levee.

The Reds put themselves in an early hole, but Ramon Hernandez was the hero providing all the drama today. When he poked a line drive home run into what looked like the right field bullpen from my view, I literally could not believe my eyes.

Mike from the Golden Sombrero taking in the action of his first Opening Day in Cincinnati. Great times had by all today.

Reds fans, this is the Gary and Ace type of fan base that we’re in competition with this year. We can’t allow a fan base like this to boast about an NL Central championship. It simply cannot happen. In all seriousness, the Brew Crew is going to be a worthy opponent. They proved that today with home runs from Weeks, Gomez and Ryan Braun and a decent outing from Yovani Gallardo; but they have enough chinks in their armor (cough, John Axford) for the Reds to win this division from the get go. The Reds struck with a nice first punch this afternoon.

Tough day for my boy Jay Bruce who struck out in a couple of big spots. Namely, he struck out with the bases loaded and no one out in the 9th. But he also singled in his first two at-bats. I’ll take 2 for 5’s all season long out of my boy. He’s also sporting new batter walk-up music. Name of the song upcoming when I can find it. As you might of guessed, it is hip-hop. We love us some Jay Bruce.

Our predicting 2011 NL MVP lived up to the billing today. He homered on a line drive off the batters eye in dead center field and was generally a tough out all day long drawing a couple of walks.

Joey Votto isn’t about to relinquish the crown easily. He homered as well–as he usually does when we’re on hand at the ballpark and drew a couple of key walks.

A huge spot in this game was in the 9th inning when Brandon Phillips–our homeboy–dodged a tag by third baseman Casey Mcgeehee on a ground ball hit by Scott Rolen in a long, tough at-bat. This allowed the bases to be loaded and set the stage for a Gomes sac fly and the Hernandez home run to win it.

Another great chapter in my life in baseball was written today. The Reds are 1 and 0, and we can still go 162-0.