Rays Haze

I just watched the video highlight of Carl Crawford's walkoff double to defeat Peter Angelos.  Sure, it's an exciting baseball play, well-called by the play-by-play man.  What ELSE do you notice?

I thought there was old-fashioned TV static on my internet video.  On further reading, I found out that a haze had settled in over the Trop, St. Petersburg's indoor stadium that is second only to old Olympic stadium for charm.  Why the haze?

During player introductions, the Rays used elaborate smokey special effects to heighten the excitment of opening day.  (Traditionalists such as the Nachoman scoff scoffingly at such gimmickry.  If a fan needs more than organ music to feel excited on opening day, than he is no fan.)

Problem is, the Trop is an indoor stadium.  INDOOR!  I've been annoyed at Reds games in an OUTDOOR stadium when the brief smoke effects after a home run drift into the crowd and reduce visibility for a half inning.  The Tampa smoke hung around until the end of the game.

I continue to wonder at how baseball manages to survive when marketing geniuses like these are in charge.  I'd rather watch Schotzie the Elephant.

NM

Ribbie Reporter -- OPENING DAY

Sadly the Royals and White Sox have been rained out today, but I did catch part of the Phillies-Braves opener last night.

Let's just say that Derek Lowe picked up the first Nachoman Quality Start (NQS) of the year with no problem: 8 shutout innings, 2 hits, 0 walks, 4 Ks and 13 groundball outs behind the sinker.
Baseball really is a simple game when you throw a devastating sinker for strikes and just let the World Champions pound the ball into the infield over and over.
And it gets even simpler when you get three home runs in the first two innings to back you up, including a shot from a rookie making his first MLB at bat.