Friday, April 04, 2014

Opening Days



Spring is "officially" here, and while old man winter has been stubbornly refusing to leave, the baseball calendar will not be denied.  On Friday the Nats played their home opener, and of course Owen and I were there.  I picked up Owen early from school, and we joined Mom Mom & Grandpa Don at the game.  We took in all the pre-game festivities; cheered mightily as we watched Ian Desmond sprint around the bases for an inside the park home run as Justin Upton pretended the ball was lodged in the fence; booed lustily (and maybe shed a tear or two) when the first ever instant replay challenge at Nats Park went against us sending Desmond back to second; and reveled in the hope and joy that a new baseball season brings, even if Braves spoiled the fun besting the Nats 2 to 1.

The Nats weren't the only ones with an Opening Day this weekend.  Owen moved up to AA little league this year, and his new team, the Rangers, played their first game Saturday morning.  Owen was brimming with excitement for all the new challenges in AA ball, machine pitch, keeping track of outs, and playing with the big kids in second and third grade.  The biggest change though was that Coach tapped Owen to start the game off playing catcher.  He donned all the gear, put on a catcher's mitt for the first time, and crouched behind the plate catching (and blocking) the bullets fired in by the pitching machine.  The whole team had plenty of rust to shake off during the first game, but they beamed with the excitement of a new season.



(click here for all the pictures)

No comments: