My good friend Jerry had some extra tickets to the Tacoma Rainiers home opener, and invited me to take one of them... I told you he was a good friend!  :-)

I happily accepted, and drove down to his place, and from there we went to the stadium.  He's lucky enough to live within 5 minutes of the best entertainment out there - BASEBALL.

Built in the 1950's, Cheney stadium was bought by new owners, and has gotten a face lift.. I like the changes, it makes it look more like a baseball stadium. 
 

 
There was a bit of heavy air out there right as the game was starting.

That didn't dampen the spirits of the fans very much... it was OPENING DAY!

About a half hour before game-time, they pulled the tarp off, and rolled it up.

The stadium seats around 6,000 or so, and about 2/3 of those were filled up.

Not bad for a rainy day!
 

 
There's not much that can match AAA ball...  Most of them are tomorrow's majors, and you get to see the likes of Reed and Morse, both of whom played a lot of games in the 'bigs' last year.

 

Unfortunately, it was this picture where my camera decided to tell me (without warning) that the batteries were "exhausted".  I switched to my camera phone.

The line-up gets you ready for the new year...
 

The park was alive with the spirit of baseball!

The Air Force has a base nearby... some of the cargo aircraft changed their route so that they'd fly right over the top of the stadium, giving everyone a good look.

One went across right after the National Anthem was sung - our own military fly-by!
 

 
With the first pitch, the 2007 season was under way!

 
A crack of the bat, and a bang-bang play at first... baseball is like no other sport!

To me, Baseball is fun because it lets you spend time with friends and family, while at the same time providing disbursements of excitement... like when your team knocks one out of the park...
 

The game was a pitchers duel of sorts for most of the game... but as they got tired, things on both sides fell apart... it was a GREAT game!  
 

 
Unfortunately, the whole Rainiers team fell apart on the field, committing 4 errors in one inning, which allowed the River Cats to score too many runs to make up...

It was still a good game, and a fantastic night!

Jim, Jake, and Jerry... life-long baseball fans!

After the game, they dimmed the lights, and got ready for the fireworks display.  I decided to try one last flash with the camera... it died before it could close the lens cover, but it saved the picture. 
 

 
Since it was a Friday, they fired off the "Friday Night Fireworks" show... spectacular!

I managed to catch some good ones, even though I was using a cell phone...

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