Why Opening Day is Important

Here in Cincinnati, Opening Day for the Cincinnati Reds is like a holiday. Why is baseball's opening day so important, at least to Cincinnatians? Cincinnati is the home of professional baseball. This city is where professional baseball first started. And for many years, opening day for the the Cincinnati Reds has been revered. At one time baseball was America's sport. Opening Day is the sign that there is life. Spring is here. And winter is over. The new season begins with hopes and dreams.

As for yesterday's game, I was going to write about a game that was going to look like a loss. I was going to say that it's just one game and there are one hundred and sixty one games left. But this is baseball. The Reds were trailing by three runs in the bottom of the ninth. If you know anything about baseball that's not good. You've got to get three runners on base to even think about a tie. And it's your final inning. The Reds were able to load the bases. Then a sacrifice fly by Jonny Gomes set up the scene for Reds catcher Ramon Hernandez. There were two outs. Hernandez belted an opposite field homer that won the game. It's a walk-off that won the game. Talk about Hollywood endings. Now Ramon has been going the opposite way for years. He doesn't try to pull everything. That's something that I hope the kids on the team are learning.

One down. One hundred and sixty one more to win.

Here's the official story with video.

Thanks to Riggs1523 for filming the walk-off home run with fan reaction.