My Opening Day Nightmare

I never followed the crowd. So as a Queens kid, I didn’t want to be a Dodger, Yankee, or Giant fan. One day when I was 8 I went to Ebbets Field and saw the Phillies with their red pin-stripes, Robin Roberts, Pudinhead Jones. Somehow this was for me. The rest is loyalty. Decades of pain.

-Art Garfunkel, long suffering Phillies fan

Art Garfunkel sang God Bless America. Well. That's about the only thing that went well yesterday for the Phils. (side note: isn't it apropos that the much-maligned, oft troubled second half of Simon and Garfunkel is the Phillies fan of the 2?)

It rained.

It was cold.

The Phillies were down 10-0 on a Scott Rolen grand slam.

A fight in the stands precipitated the closing of beer sales in the 5th inning.

In New York Billy Wagner had already saved his first game for the Mets.

Some 105 year old asshole/Cardinal fan sat behind me, mocking the Phightins' fortunes.

A fan tried to jumped on the field, attempting to tackle a replica of the Cardinals' mascot during a Phanatic bit.

If you told me someone was at my house banging my wife and kicking my dog, I'd have believed you.

It was that kind of day at the ballpark today, as the Phillies pitching in the first half of the Season Opener imploded in grand fashion, as Jon Lieber and Julio Santana threw batting practice made some bad pitches to the meat of the Cardinals' order.

Charlie Manuel made his fair share of blunders, but is anyone surprised? Did anyone think he was going to morph into Joe Torre over the offseason? Intentionally walking Jim Edmonds to load the bases for Scott Rolen was one of the most boneheaded decisions he's ever made, and that's saying a bunch. Rolen made the Phillies pay, and watching him circle the bases was vomit-inducing.

Starting Lieberthal based solely on loyalty and seniority, instead of starting Sal Fasano, who Lieber had become comfortable pitching to during spring training, was proof that Manuel isn't willing to make decisions that may rock the boat. It's obvious that Lieber doesn't like pitching to Lieberthal. After Pratt left the Phils to presumably win a pennant with the Braves, Lieber was ready to warm up to whoever the team brought in to backup our overpaid, whiny catcher. I hear he called Bo Diaz to see what he was up to. But there Lieberthal was, doing whatever it is that Lieber doesn't like.

There were some bright spots too. Aaron Rowand showed why the Thome trade was the best for the Phils. Howard hit a homer. Burrell had one too. And Chase Utley had some base knocks. Jimmy Rollins dug deep on a 3-0 count to ensure that his 36 game hit streak reached 37. The seconed half of the bullpen stopped the bleeding at 13 runs thru 5 innings.

One game does not a season make. Last year's opening win over the Nationals didn't promise a pennant anymore than today's loss guarantees failure this year. 161 games remain.