San Francisco fans braced themselves for a year of rebuilding, patience and sheer horror stories. The Home Opener certainly had elements of all this. The opening ceremonies started auspiciously enough with a celebration of 50 years in San Francisco. Surviving members of the 1958 team were driven around the field in vintage cars. They looked elderly but happy to be there and the mellifluous voice of Lon Simmons announced each player to the cheers of the Giants fans. Afterwards, the national anthem was sung, the great Red/White/Blue was unfurled (this blogger decided not to be part of the unfurling this time) and a young child's voice cried, "Play Ball!" That was the high point. What followed was a dreadful pitching performance by Matt Cain who had the honor of facing the Padre's elderly ace, Greg Maddux. He was finally replaced in the 6th by Keiichi Yabu, who had earlier bruised both his eyeballs in a freak rubber band accident near his locker. Yabu did better than Cain, though one wondered how long his eyes would handle the strain. Final score 8-4 Padres.Meanwhile, in the other "rebuilding" camp, the Oakland A's have already lost 2 pitchers to injuries. Duchscherer, in his starting pitcher debut, strained a bicep after pitching brilliantly against the Indians and promptly went on the 15-day disabled list. The most delicate of the A's pitching staff, Rich Harden, is again hurting somewhere. Still, the A's are doing better than the Giants. They beat the Jays tonite.
