Heading to Opening Night for the Trenton Thunder, the sun was out shining and it was warm. Well, that changed quickly as the temps dropped and I laughed at the people who showed up to the game in shorts and t-shirts. HELLO! The ballpark is on the waterfront (and the forecast called for nighttime temps in the 40s). Still I wish to sit at a game without wearing gloves.

Gloves only help for so long as the new Thunder team is much like past teams: they take at least 3 HOURS to complete a game. No quick game last night. I could see why the two teams (the Harrisburg Senators and the the Thunder) were in last place: No offense.

Thunder starter Shaeffer Hall cruised through the lineup once, but the second time around the Senators hitters were teeing off. Tim Norton and Brian Anderson pitched well out of the bullpen (yes THE Brian Anderson that won a World Series championship in 2005 with the Chicago White Sox as an outfielder).

Then the 9th rolled around and Japanese import Naoya Okamoto recorded the first two outs (check out Mike Ashmore’s Thunder Thoughts for video on his delivery). Then he forgot how to throw strikes. His pitches either were way outside or didn’t bounced in front of the plate. Thunder manager Tony Franklin FINALLY came out of the dugout to get Okamoto after he walked in a run (much to the glee of those left it the stands). Okamoto should have been out of the inning with zero runs scored, but shortstop Jose Pirela made yet another poor fielding play. Steve Lombardozzi hit a ground ball to short. Pirela let the ball play him and took forever to throw to first (like the ball got stuck between his jersey and his glove). Lombardozzi was WAY safe, and the runner that was on second base scored. That runner took off when the ball was hit and never slowed down. He was about 10 steps from home when the Thunder first baseman caught the ball.

The Thunder had a shot in the bottom of the 9th. After already plating a run (the Senators manager quickly made a pitching change, unlike Franklin), Austin Krum hit a shot towards the center field wall. Two Senators outfielders chased, but Jonathon Tucker dove towards (and maybe into) the wall to make the catch. Honestly it was tough from 400+ feet to tell if he actually caught it (but the umps ruled it a catch). But it was a fine one if he did (would make Sportcenter’s top plays if someone got it on tape).