{"id":498560,"date":"2010-04-01T16:15:49","date_gmt":"2010-04-01T20:15:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.downtownphoenix.com\/blog\/?p=2293"},"modified":"2010-04-01T16:15:49","modified_gmt":"2010-04-01T20:15:49","slug":"13-reasons-to-celebrate-opening-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/498560","title":{"rendered":"13 Reasons to Celebrate Opening Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Can you believe that Monday will mark the 13th Opening Day in Arizona Diamondbacks history?<\/p>\n<p>Crazy, right? It seems like yesterday that the Diamondbacks opened then-Bank One Ballpark and soon redefined what it meant to be an expansion baseball team, winning 100 games in their second season and taking down\u00a0the Yankees in seven games to take the World Series in year three.<\/p>\n<p>A lot has changed in a baker&#8217;s dozen years but\u00a0just like\u00a0Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling, Luis Gonzalez and Mark Grace guided\u00a0the 2001 club to World Series glory,\u00a0a new band\u00a0of talented young\u00a0players\u00a0including\u00a0staff ace Dan Haren, 21-year-old budding superstar Justin Upton, sleek shortstop Stephen Drew and power-hitting Mark Reynolds\u00a0are poised to lead the Diamondbacks back to the playoffs.<\/p>\n<p>After\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.downtownphoenix.com\/what-to-do\/event\/34537-exhibition-game-arizona-diamondbacks-vs-chicago-cubs-april-2-3\" >two\u00a0final Cactus League tuneups against the Cubs<\/a>, Arizona will begin its pursuit of a National League West championship in earnest with a season-opening homestand against the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.downtownphoenix.com\/what-to-do\/event\/34539-home-opener-arizona-diamondbacks-vs-san-diego-padres\" >division rival San Diego Padres<\/a> and the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.downtownphoenix.com\/what-to-do\/event\/34542-arizona-diamondbacks-vs-pittsburgh-pirates\" >Pittsburgh Pirates<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Here are 13 reasons to be a part of the action all season long at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.downtownphoenix.com\/directory\/5611-chase-field\" >Chase Field<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2339\" title=\"JUP\" src=\"http:\/\/www.downtownphoenix.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/JUP.jpg\" alt=\"JUP\" width=\"210\" height=\"198\" \/>Downtown Is the New &#8220;Uptown&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Now you can spend your Friday and Saturday nights in <a href=\"http:\/\/arizona.diamondbacks.mlb.com\/ari\/ticketing\/uptown.jsp?affiliateId=panel_ari_uptown031610\" >Uptown<\/a>, the new fan zone located directly behind All-Star right fielder Justin Upton. There you&#8217;ll get an up close and personal\u00a0view of Arizona&#8217;s franchise player and fantasy baseball&#8217;s newest heartthrob.<\/p>\n<p><strong>New &#8220;Sheriff&#8221; In Town<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Last season, third baseman Mark Reynolds didn&#8217;t\u00a0just\u00a0hit 44 home runs and swipe 24 bags, leading the team in both categories, he established himself as a clubhouse leader\u00a0and earned\u00a0a great nickname along the way.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Co-Jack Is Back<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>After missing most of 2009 with Valley Fever,\u00a0left fielder Conor Jackson has returned healthy and maybe better than ever, hitting a cool .364 in Spring Training.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Front Row Seats Available<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s one thing to watch the game at a sports bar with big TVs but it&#8217;s another experience altogether to watch the game at a sports bar that sits a few hundred yards from the warning track. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.downtownphoenix.com\/directory\/5293-fridays-front-row-sports-grill\" >Friday&#8217;s Front Row <\/a>allows D-Backs fans to nibble on ribs from the comforts of left field.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Augie&#8217;s Army Wants You<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Augie Augie Augie, oy oy oy!&#8221; is a chant you&#8217;ll hear almost nightly as fan-favorite Augie Ojeda cements his status as the DBacks&#8217; can-do-everything utility infielder.<\/p>\n<p><strong>It&#8217;s a Bird, It&#8217;s a Gazelle, It&#8217;s CBY!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Center field is where\u00a0would-be doubles go to die, due in large part to Chris Young&#8217;s Gold Glove-caliber defense.<\/p>\n<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-2312\" title=\"baxter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.downtownphoenix.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/baxter1-99x135.jpg\" alt=\"baxter\" width=\"99\" height=\"135\" \/>Baxter&#8217;s Potato Gun<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>D. Baxer the Bobcat is armed and fabulous, dancing up a storm and shooting T-shirts into the crowd.<\/p>\n<p><strong>LaRoche Is French for &#8220;The Steal&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It wasn&#8217;t the most-talked about offseason move, but the Diamondbacks&#8217; sneaky acquisition of free agent Adam LaRoche could pay huge dividends to a team longing for power and stability at first base.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Skyrockets In Flight<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Diamondbacks will offer <a href=\"http:\/\/mlb.mlb.com\/news\/press_releases\/press_release.jsp?ymd=20100304&amp;content_id=8675318&amp;vkey=pr_ari&amp;fext=.jsp&amp;c_id=ari\" >10 postgame fireworks shows <\/a>this season, beginning with some afternoon delight following Monday&#8217;s season-opener against the Padres.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stuff We All Get<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Dbacks <a href=\"http:\/\/arizona.diamondbacks.mlb.com\/schedule\/promotions.jsp?c_id=ari\" >lead the league in SWAG<\/a>, including bobblehead nights for Upton, Haren, longtime announcer Greg Schulte and all-time great\u00a0Luis Gonzalez. There&#8217;s even a DBacks Garden Gnome Night! If you don&#8217;t like garden gnomes, well, you probably don&#8217;t like Christmas or lollipops, either.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Fashion Forward Baseball<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Even Tim Gunn thinks the Diamondbacks look amazing in their Sedona Red uniforms. You can get your hands on great DBacks gear at the Chase Field <a href=\"http:\/\/www.downtownphoenix.com\/directory\/5388-teamshops-chase-field\" >Team\u00a0Shop<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sausage Fest<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Did you know you can get footlong bratwurst at Chase Field?\u00a0Yeah, it&#8217;s true, and\u00a0you don&#8217;t need me to tell you how awesome that is.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gettin&#8217; Miggy With It<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>After hitting .294 with 16 homers in 2009, Miguel Montero is quickly becoming one of the league&#8217;s top-hitting catchers.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">***<\/p>\n<p>Why do you love the Diamondbacks? Tell us in the comments below.<\/p>\n<p><em>Now let&#8217;s play ball!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/DowntownPhoenixBlog\/~4\/VBSKQjvneGU\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Can you believe that Monday will mark the 13th Opening Day in Arizona Diamondbacks history? Crazy, right? It seems like yesterday that the Diamondbacks opened then-Bank One Ballpark and soon redefined what it meant to be an expansion baseball team, winning 100 games in their second season and taking down\u00a0the Yankees in seven games to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5072,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-498560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5072"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498560\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}