Opening Day 2013

My Red Sox won the season opener at Yankee Stadium 8-2! It's always a good day when the Sox win, it's a great day when they beat the Yankees!

Opening Day: Casey at the Bat

Today is Red Sox opening day. It is a day that heralds the beginning of Spring and the renewal of Hope for millions of baseball fans. The game of baseball will be a part of the daily fabric of our lives for the next seven months. There will be moments of great joy and bitter disappointment throughout those months and no single piece of literature captures the roller coaster ride that is a baseball game better than the poem Casey at the Bat by Ernest Lawrence Thayer. It is a song of hope and despair and it is one of my favorites.

Here it is:

Casey at the Bat

The Outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day:
The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play.
And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,
A sickly silence fell upon the patrons of the game.

A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The rest
Clung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast;
They thought, if only Casey could get but a whack at that -
We'd put up even money, now, with Casey at the bat.

But Flynn preceded Casey, as did also Jimmy Blake,
And the former was a lulu and the latter was a cake;
So upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy sat,
For there seemed but little chance of Casey's getting to the bat.

But Flynn let drive a single, to the wonderment of all,
And Blake, the much despis-ed, tore the cover off the ball;
And when the dust had lifted, and the men saw what had occurred,
There was Jimmy safe at second and Flynn a-hugging third.

Then from 5,000 throats and more there rose a lusty yell;
It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;
It knocked upon the mountain and recoiled upon the flat,
For Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat.

There was ease in Casey's manner as he stepped into his place;
There was pride in Casey's bearing and a smile on Casey's face.
And when, responding to the cheers, he lightly doffed his hat,
No stranger in the crowd could doubt 'twas Casey at the bat.

Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt;
Five thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on his shirt.
Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip,
Defiance gleamed in Casey's eye, a sneer curled Casey's lip.

And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air,
And Casey stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there.
Close by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped-
"That ain't my style," said Casey. "Strike one," the umpire said.

From the benches, black with people, there went up a muffled roar,
Like the beating of the storm-waves on a stern and distant shore.
"Kill him! Kill the umpire!" shouted someone on the stand;
And its likely they'd a-killed him had not Casey raised his hand.

With a smile of Christian charity great Casey's visage shone;
He stilled the rising tumult; he bade the game go on;
He signaled to the pitcher, and once more the spheroid flew;
But Casey still ignored it, and the umpire said, "Strike two."

"Fraud!" cried the maddened thousands, and echo answered fraud;
But one scornful look from Casey and the audience was awed.
They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain,
And they knew that Casey wouldn't let that ball go by again.

The sneer is gone from Casey's lip, his teeth are clenched in hate;
He pounds with cruel violence his bat upon the plate.
And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he lets it go,
And now the air is shattered by the force of Casey's blow.

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville - mighty Casey has struck out.

Hey, Hey, Hey- It's Opening Day

Today is one of my favorite days of the year- Red Sox Opening Day! This year's team is poised to make a serious run for a pennant- the pitching is strong and they added two BIG BATS in Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez to an already potent line-up. I look forward to watching many games as the Spring and Summer progress.

Baseball season means Hot Dogs too.

The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council projects that MLB ballparks around the country will serve 22,435,400 hot dogs this season, enough to round the bases 31,160 times and, if laid end-to-end, would stretch from AT&T Park in San Francisco to Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati. That represents 1.06 million more hot dogs than 2010, or a 5 percent increase, the first increase in three years.

That's a lot of Hot Dogs!

They serve Fenway Franks made by Kayem at Fenway Park (they also serve Kayems at Washington Nationals Park). At Wrigley Field, they serve Vienna Beef. The Cincinnati Reds have the most interesting hot dog on the roster this season: the Meat Lovers Hot Dog- a jumbo hot dog wrapped with bacon and deep fried, then topped with beef and black bean chili, shredded pepper jack cheese and crispy salami. Does that ever sound good!

No matter who you root for, the hot dog will always be a part of going to the ballpark.

As Humphrey Bogart once said, "A hot dog at the ballpark is better than steak at the Ritz."

I couldn't agree more!

WOOO HOOO I'll Be OPEN!!!

The part I was waiting on came in Monday. I'll be open on Tuesday!!!!!!!!



And I should be able to catch the Red Sox home opener which was rained out Monday!

Life is good.

OPENING DAY!!!

It was a fine early Spring day. A little crisp, but bright and sunny-a PERFECT day to start the season. I had one little glitch-left the lights on and killed the battery. Luckily I have a charger on board, so it didn't ruin my day.



I got to the spot at the usual time, got everything ready to go and served my first dogs of the day at about 10:30 AM to a guy named Jack Hoffman and his dog. Jack's a local journalist who writes for the Middlesex News and Worcester's In City Times. How fitting is it that a DOG got the first dog of the year! Here's Jack's dog munching his dog.



Here's Jack with his hot dog!



Around 11:30 the crew from BOSE showed up-like 20 of them! I had a big line for Opening Day. THANKS GUYS!

There were some new faces today, but most of the customers had eaten at the old truck. Everyone was happy to get their hot dogs and I was happy to be back. Some new faces rounded out the first day, obviously drawn in by the new sign, painted by my daughter!



I think the new spot is going to work out well. Once I get the "picnic area" up and running, I'm sure to be very busy. Right now, it's "under construction."



See you all tomorrow and "thanks for coming by!"

Red Sox Truck Day

While this might just look like an ordinary moving truck to most people, it signifies a landmark early right of Spring to members of Red Sox Nation. This is the truck that leaves Fenway Park with all the Red Sox equipment every February for Fort Meyers, Florida. The truck left this morning, signaling the first spring training ritual.

ONLY 59 days until OPENING DAY!!!!

True Signs of Spring

Three things signal the true beginning of spring for me:

Little League tryouts
Red Sox Opening Day
The sound of the Spring Peepers in the early morning and at dusk.



The day has finally come for our Little League tryouts! They are Saturday and Sunday which means the next three months will not be my own; I will be dedicating many hours to my team with practices and games. All the snow is gone and the fields look good, its time to PLAY BALL!

The Red Sox open in Kansas City on Monday and I believe there are three day games next week-that means the Red Sox talk will be hot and heavy at the Hot Dog Truck!

I heard my first Spring peepers this morning.

IT'S REALLY SPRING!!

Here's a couple of Kraut Dogs to hold you over until dinner:

Two with Mustard- to go

This guy-two with brown mustard-comes by a lot. Likes to talk Red Sox. He likes the Papelbon move too. I'd say it was 95% in favor of Papelbon going to the bullpen at the Hot Dog Truck today.

There were some Yankee fans on Boston talk radio today knocking the move. When questioned, they didn't want to talk about Mussina or Petitte or the fact that Carl Pavano is their opening day starter! One Yankee fan actually admitted that he was a closet Red Sox fan since he moved to the area. He claimed he likes going to the "bawl game" and he likes to go to Fenway-he even admitted to OWNING A RED SOX CAP! I sure as hell wouldn't buy a Yankees hat!

The Sox open a week from today! Woo Hoo!