When the Cardinals and Marlins met on Wednesday, it wasn't quite opening day because, well, we've already played a pair of regular-season games, and, well, it wasn't day. So let us call it "Domestic Opening Night." Fair enough?
So the Cardinals, on the strength of six no-hit innings by right-hander Kyle Lohse, bested the rebranded Fish by a score of 4-1. The real star of the night, however, was Marlins Park and its curious and abundant amenities and/or signifiers of Western decline.
For instance ...
Anyhow, the great Muhammad Ali was on hand and in the company of team owner Jeffrey Loria ...
As you would expect, Brazilian dancers escorted members of the home team out for introductions ...
And eventually baseball was played. Carlos Beltran in the top of the first notched the first hit in Marlins Park history ...
Then, at some point, this presumably planned event happened between innings ...
Kyle Lohse held the Fish hitless ...
Until Jose Reyes led off the seventh with a single -- the first Marlins hit in Marlins Park history ...
In the ninth, however, Jason Motte ended things with a 90-plus-mph slider to Giancarlo Stanton ...
And that, readers, is the visual tale of "Domestic Opening Night 2012."
Tomorrow, of course, comes "Opening Day 2012 III."