Giants Opening Day one for the ages

Posted on April 9, 2014

General interior overall scenic view on Opening Day before the game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park on Tuesday, April 8, 2014 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

 

John Tamargo did not hit a walk-off home run. John Montefusco wasn’t the starting pitcher. Chris Brown did not save the day. Bobby Murcer didn’t go deep. But, the San Francisco Giants did many good things yesterday afternoon as they disposed of the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks 7-3 before a sun-drenched packed house on the 15th Opening Day at AT&T Park.

The Giants always play their home opener in the afternoon, and yesterday proved that a day opener is always the best way to go. The weather was amazing, the team looked good, and the fans in attendance walked out of the park loving their team. I enjoy opening day, and yesterday’s game was one of the best I have ever been to.

I got to the park about four hours before the first pitch. I love to soak in the atmosphere and visit with old friends I have not seen over the winter. There is always so much pre-game hoopla I don’t like to rush around and get stressed out about covering it all. There are moments during the ceremonies I can’t see due to all the television and still photographers on the field doing their jobs for the ballclub and COMCAST. I realized long ago that I am the worst pre-game ceremony photographer there is, so I decided to abandon the field and go upstairs to shoot the scene wide from the upper deck behind home plate.

I had fun shooting from high home with Associated Press staffer Jeff Chiu. Everything looked so pretty from up there, especially when they rolled out the gigantic American flag in the outfield. After the Anthem I wandered down to the right field corner to shoot a few stadium overalls during the first inning. By the top of the 2nd inning I was down in my photo position for the day: low inside first base. I love this spot, and it was a fun place to be yesterday.

Tim Hudson is the newest member of the Giants starting rotation and he was on the mound to face the Diamondbacks. Hudson has always been one of my favorite players, ever since I first shot him as an A’s rookie in 1999. Hudson put in eight terrific innings to improve his record to 2-0 as he won his 207th game against just 111 loses over his terrific career.

After the game was over a long-standing opening day tradition continued as my good friend Eric Risberg from the AP and I gathered some of our friends for a post game celebration of food and drink. For the second year in a row we went across the street to Momo’s and had a wonderful time rehashing the day with funny stories of pictures made and pictures missed.

The fun doesn’t stop for me this week as I will be attending tonight’s game as a fan in my season ticket box seats behind first base with my sister Paula and her husband Randy. I will also be back out shooting on Friday night, Saturday afternoon, and Sunday afternoon. I think this might be a very fun season in San Francisco.