Cincy Loves Opening Day

CINCINNATI–Red, white and blue bunting decorated the front of the balcony levels of the Great American Ballpark. In places where it was possible, red, white and blue facsimile bunting decorated electronic message and scoreboard areas. These folks even had the words “Opening Day” stencilled on the field on the first and third base lines.

They only do this for the playoffs, World Series and Opening Day here–and they do believe in the first day of the Major League baseball season in caps Opening Day. For those who love baseball, Opening Day is always special, but no one loves Opening Day more than Cincinnati.

I don’t know how many big-league towns throw a parade to welcome back baseball. This is the only one I know about. And Thursday afternoon Cincinnati did it again, the populace massing in downtown streets to cheer floats passing by for the 93rd annual Findlay Market Opening Day Parade.

The parade went off in bright sunshine a few hours before the hometown Cincinnati Reds made their 2012 debut against the Miami Marlins before a sellout crowd of  42,956 fans. That was record attendance for a regular season game at this park and the Reds made it worth everyone’s while with a 4-0 win.

Thank you, Johnny Cueto, who gave up just three hits in seven innings for the win. A Jay Bruce solo homer and a slew of doubles contributed to the scoring.

Reds manager Dusty Baker, who sometimes doesn’t mind acting as if he has been in the game since it was invented, was quizzed beforehand about memories of his Opening Days as a player with the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers, or managing the San Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs. But Baker said at this point the openers pretty much all run together for him.

“I know how big Opening Day is here,” Baker said. “For me, it’s the start of the race.”

The long pennant race is what he meant. It was day one of six months of chasing the National League flag and hopefully a berth in the World Series.

That is six months from now. Six months ago, Baker was sitting in the same office wondering how the 2011 season turned out so disappointing. Then he went on vacation. Yes, he needed a break. He had knee surgery and a procedure done on one shoulder. One might think he was playing in the NFL, but he is 60-something and things fall apart.

So Baker got six months off and here he is with a team that a lot of people like, that many people think will do very well this season. Baker was recuperating in the off-season as general manager Walt Jocketty sought to recoup. Jocketty went out and bought or traded for guys at every position where he had a need.

And after a spring training of fine-tuning, Opening Day came around. Everyone wants to start 1-0. Everyone wants to start fast and put some daylight between them and the rest of the division. But in a 162-game season, how much does it matter, really? The Reds started 5-0 in 2011 and what does Baker remember about that?

“There were signs (held by fans) that we were going to go 162-0,” he said. The Reds did not finish with a winning record. “It’s a long race. It’s a long run. You want to start off great, big-time, but nobody really remembers the start. Everybody remembers the finish. Nobody remembers who won the Cactus League or the Grapefruit League.”

He’s right about that. The moment Opening Day arrives, barely anyone remembers passing through Arizona or Florida except the Diamondbacks, Marlins or the Tampa Bay Rays, and that’s only because their home zip codes are there.

By the time spring training ends and the real deal starts players are hot to go.

“You know the coolest thing about Opening Day?” said Reds outfielder Chris Heisey. “Everybody starts even. Everybody is 0-0. It’s just the unknown of what is going to happen.”

Oh yeah, and everybody loves a parade. At least in Cincinnati. Especially if the home team is 1-0.

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