Word: ripken
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Kansas City seemed the place to be for Opening Day, if only because the twin virtues of Ripken and real grass harken back to a time before the hideous words work stoppage entered sports parlance. Unfortunately for the Royals, only 24,170 fans felt that way, some 16,000 fewer than usually attend Opening Day. It was drizzly, to be sure, but the weather wasn't as off-putting as the baseball climate. The game lost many fans during the bitter "work stoppage," and there were similarly disappointing crowds elsewhere last week...
Because the Orioles went down 1-2-3 in the top of the first, leaving Ripken standing on deck, it wasn't until he had completed the bottom of the first in the field that Game No. 2,010 became official. Barring rain-outs, work stoppages or, heaven forbid, an injury, Ripken should surpass Gehrig with No. 2,131 on Sept. 6 in Baltimore. Andy Van Slyke, newly signed by the O's to play center field, is excited but slightly anxious about playing with Ripken: "What if we collide on a short fly ball? What if I knock...
...Ripken would forgive him. The truly heroic aspect of the streak is that he's not doing it for selfish glory; he's doing it for the team. If Ripken gets to No. 2,131, you can be sure he'll play in No. 2,132. And though the demands on his time are already ludicrous, he is willing to put up with them. Says Ripken: "I think the good feeling that is starting to generate about the streak comes from our love of baseball. It's not necessarily about me. It's about statistics and history and the game...
Appier, meanwhile, carried a no-hitter into the seventh. But after he struck out Ripken for the second out, manager Bob Boone decided the rest of the season was more important than the rest of the game, and he brought in a reliever. All about the park, you could hear the debate rage over Boone's move. But then Harold Baines of the O's drove the ball deep to center, and everyone stopped to watch as Tom Goodwin made a sensational diving catch...
Alas, the no-hitter was lost in the eighth, but the fans still went home happy, albeit wet, after the Royals' 5-1 win. They were talking about Appier's stuff and Cal's streak and Goodwin's catch and the new grass. As Ripken says, smells like baseball...