Hopes springs eternal this afternoon as the San Diego Padres played the season home opener. The East Village was buzzing with excitement as Linda and I joined more than 44,000 fans to attend the annual festivities. The afternoon started with a block party surrounding the park celebrating the kick-off with with live rock and roll, and many of San Diego’s great restaurants providing entertainment and great food before the game.

The arch rival Los Angles Dodgers were in town for the home opener and there was an electric atmosphere as the game got underway. The Dodger faithful, as always, were out in full force, but their applause was muffled as the Padres defense got them out of out of a bases loaded jam with only one out jam in the first. The Padres jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the inning. LA battled back to tie it up in the fourth and both teams exchanged runs with the gamed knotted at 3 going into the 7th inning stretch. The Padres retook the lead in the bottom of the inning and scored 5 more runs in the 8th as the screams of “Beat LA” resonated through out the park. Final score Padres 9,Dodgers 3.

The revelry continued as the park emptied out into the surrounding neighborhood and filled the bars and restaurants in the East Village and the Gaslamp Quarter. Many fans were scrambling to beat the traffic for the long journey home, but we Mudvillians were happy to take the casual stroll back to the Flats. Today there was truly JOY IN MUDVILLE!