The Baseball Gods Have Smiled

The streak lives. My 41-year run of attending Phillies Home Openers is alive and well. My wife got an email today saying that since she's purchased holiday packs of tickets in the past, she was eligible to buy tickets to the Opener. Boom!

I've been sitting here with a ridiculous smile on my face. I don't really care that the seats are essentially in Delco (Section 431). I'm going to be in the building to watch baseball for the first time since June 2019. I was at CBP for last year's Home Opener in July for a photo, just to say I was there. So this year marks Year 42 of The Streak.

Things are looking up for the regular season as well. JT Realmuto returned last night and homered in his first at-bat. Catcher Jeff Mathis asked for his release today, so the Phils must be pretty sure JT is good to go. And Aaron Nola was absolutely dominant against the Yankees on Monday night. In six innings, he gave up one hit, struck out nine, and got 16 swings and misses. Let's save some of that for next Thursday against the Braves.

And the centerfield derby is still on. Adam Haseley returned from injury today and went hitless in three at-bats. Scott Kingery got a hit, but is still batting .143. Odubel Herrera is 1 for 3 today and hitting .231. And finally, Roman Quinn is hitting .323 with an .866 OPS. It says here Quinn gets the starting job, a healthy Haseley gets a bench role, and Kingery might get some time on the taxi squad to get his offense going. Herrera can go pound sand.