Take me out of the ball game...then leave

The Rangers trailed by three runs after six innings and didn't have a hit off Blue Jays starter Shaun Marcum on Monday. But after the game, many Rangers insisted they weren't worried. The Rangers got to both Marcum and Blue Jays closer Jason Frasor. After Vladimir Guerrero broke up the no-hit bid, Cruz hit a three-run home run in the seventh, and then the Rangers, trailing by a run, rallied for two in the bottom of the ninth for a 5-4, walk-off victory on Opening Day at the Ballpark in Arlington. A crowd of 50,299, the eighth largest in Rangers history, were able to make it out to the ballpark for Opening Day, but most bugged out before the thrilling finale. This was the first walk-off victory for the Rangers on Opening Day since 1980, when Mickey Rivers scored on a wild pitch in the ninth to beat the Yankees, 1-0. But this is the first time in Rangers history they trailed going into the bottom of the ninth on Opening Day and came back to win. Neftali Feliz was brought out of the bullpen to keep it tied but couldn't do it. Vernon Wells lined a bases-loaded one-out single to give the Blue Jays a 4-3 lead, and Washington had to call on Darren Oliver to bail out Feliz. Oliver did just that, leaving the bases loaded by striking out Lyle Overbay and getting John Buck on a weak fly to left. Those outs, plus Francisco's work in the ninth, proved huge because the Rangers weren't finished. Frank Francisco, with a scoreless ninth inning, picked up the victory. Scott Feldman allowed three runs in seven innings but was spared from picking up a loss in his first Opening Day start because of the Rangers' late-inning heroics.

Josh Hamilton led off the seventh with a walk, and Vladimir Guerrero broke up the no-hitter with a single to right. Cruz then smacked a 2-2 pitch that was off the plate and sent it through the jet stream into the Rangers' bullpen in right-center for a three-run home run. Michael Young, after Frasor came on to pitch the ninth, started off the winning rally with a double into the right-center-field gap. After Frasor struck out Hamilton, Guerrero followed with a slow but well-placed grounder up the middle. Shortstop Alex Gonzalez made a diving stop but couldn't get off a throw. Guerrero had an infield hit, leaving the tying run at third and the winning run at first. Cruz then delivered his second big hit of the game. This one was hardly a blast, but it got the job done. He looped a soft line drive over first base and down the right-field line, scoring Young and moving Guerrero to third. Cruz ended up at second base with a double and a four-RBI afternoon. Murphy then pinch-ran for Guerrero and Chris Davis was walked intentionally. That brought up Saltalamacchia, who was 0-for-3 on the afternoon. Saltalamacchia worked the count to 2-2 and then got a slider he liked. The crowd roared with delight when Jarrod Saltalamacchia, batting with one out and the bases loaded, belted one into the right-center-field alley to drive home the winning run. With the Blue Jays outfield playing in, Saltalamacchia drove one far out of their reach into the gap in right-center, and Murphy danced home with the winning run for perhaps the biggest Opening Day victory in club history.

There have been six regular-season games, one playoff game and one All-Star Game that have drawn more people to the Ballpark in Arlington than Monday's home opener. There have also been two playoff games in 1996 that remain unsurpassed in the atmosphere created at the 17-year-old ballpark lodged between Nolan Ryan Expressway and Ballpark Way. But the Rangers were more than happy to revel in the experience provided by 50,299 fans on Monday afternoon who were on hand to welcome in the 2010 season. But I wasn’t. The papers and the TV news call them fans and that may be rightfully so, because what else do you call people who show up for the Opening Day of a team’s season. I know; you call them vapid, uninspired, posers. Dallas is a city full of such people. We have all the major league sports franchises and that means there are plenty of sporting events throughout the year, but the big ones always bring out the posers. I was there on Monday and the seats that me and my friends had were wedged right in the middle of some v-neck shirt wearing, big sunglasses having douchebags and some sundress wearing, high-heeled bitches. Fans know that you don’t go to the ballpark to “get sun” or “be seen”…hell no. You go to have fun, and WATCH THE GAME! All I heard behind me was gossip about some group of friends and how so-and-so said this about them and blah-blah. All I saw in front of me was wannabe tools completely absorbed by their iPhones. Ridiculous. “The Rangers' 5-4, come-from-behind victory was made that much sweeter by playing in front of such an enthusiastic crowd on an afternoon in which the 40 millionth visitor passed through the turnstiles at the Ballpark.” A quote from the news coverage on the Rangers website that makes an awesome point about how important it was to have a big crowd there on Monday, and how that crowd should have actually cared about what was going on.

Maybe the Rangers were on to something when they asked Roger Staubach to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. The former Cowboys quarterback was known as Captain Comeback during his Hall of Fame NFL career and that may have set the tone for the afternoon. After Sgt. Dana Bowman (ret.) made a majestic parachute jump into the ballpark to deliver the baseball, Staubach threw a high hard one to injured second baseman Ian Kinsler as the crowd roared in delight. But seriously, there was almost more applause for Roger the Dodger than there was for Cruz’s home run. I have to say that the overwhelming positive response Rangers manager Ron Washington received in his pregame introduction was nice, considering the recent news about his drug use during the season last year. But, this again was at the beginning of the game and most of the “fans” stayed with it through six tough innings as Blue Jays pitcher Shaun Marcum flirted with an Opening Day no-hitter. And the majority was still there when patience rewarded them with Nelson Cruz’s three-run home run to tie the game in the seventh. But, as hope waned in the eighth innings, the crowd started to funnel out in droves. Don’t let the news fool you because that 50,000 plus crowd had dwelled by at least 20,000 by the time the real important parts of the game started. Important parts that brought the remaining die-hard crowd to a full-throttle roar and they stayed that way right up to the end when Jarrod Saltalamacchia's bases-loaded single in the bottom of the ninth brought home the winning run.

All I can say is that where are those 50,299 “fans” after the opening week of the season? Where are they in the grueling months of July and August when the ballpark is like a pressure cooker and it reaches 100 degrees in the shade? I love big crowds at sporting events because they do create an atmosphere of excitement, but that’s just atmosphere. A smaller crowd of real fans can create the same excitement, trust me. I went to over 15 games last season and the crowds averaged under slightly over 10,000 and all of them were just as boisterous as that crowd yesterday. So, next time you are thinking about going to a game, ask yourself if you want to go for the sports, for the game itself, or do you just want to be able to tell everyone at the office the next day that you were there. If it is more important to be seen than to be involved, then don’t buy those tickets and let a real fan have a chance to go.