KRTWake up and smell the peanuts all of you baseball fans out there! Baseball season is upon us.
Monday, April 3, 2006 was opening day for thirteen teams including the local favorite, the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.
At precisely 3:05 p.m., the first official Phillies game will begin against the St. Louis Cardinals. Probable pitchers are said to be right-handed Phillies pitcher John Lieber and right-handed Cardinals pitcher Chris Carpenter.
The Phillies have a one win one loss record in Citizens Bank Park on opening day with a loss against the Cincinatti Reds in 2004 and a win in 2005 against the Washington Nationals.
Before the game, the Parade of Athletes will take place at around 2:25 p.m., where the players will parade into the stadium led by the Cardinal O’Hara Marching Band.
Following the parade, ‘America the Beautiful’ will be sung by the Philadelphia Boys Choir and Men’s Chorale directed by Jerffrey R. Smith with representatives from Willow Grove Naval Air Station and 56th Brigade of the Pennsylvania National Guard while raising the American Flag.
After the initial introductions of each team’s players, the National Anthem will be sung with the traditional fly-over above.
The first ball will be brought in by the U.S. Falling Angels Skydiving Event team. It will be thrown by Kimmie Meissner, 2006 World Figure Skating Champion and Warren Bloom from Philadelphia, who won the Modell’s Sporting Goods first ball contest.
The mascots from each team are set to perform at the end of the fifth inning, ‘God Bless America’ sung by Art Garfunkel and Miss America is expected to dance with Phillie Phanatic at the end of the seventh inning.
The Phillies home opener this year is the fourth opener that has been sold out.
Hopes are high and confidence is apparent as the Phillies prepare for Monday’s game.
“You can learn from losing, as in what mistakes you made. I believe winning is an attitude. You’re trying to get your work done, there’s no doubt, but getting the winning attitude in Spring Training can help you. Winning helps the mental side of the game,” said Phillies Center-fielder Aaron Rowand.
Posted to the web by Brian Coary
