Eleven runs in the first six games, 13 in the last two. The bats are starting to wake up.

Monday’s opener was a blast. About 30 of us from work sat way out in left field, view level, seven rows from the back of the stadium. On Opening Day, if I’m in the park, I’m happy.

Thoughts from the game:

• Before the game, four Navy jets fly over the stadium. Man, that was loud. I can’t get that kind of sound out of my Marshall 4 x 12, and it goes to eleven.
• A brief tribute to Mike Darr is held, with a moment of silence and a video montage of clips of Darr playing. Some of the video shows him at Rancho Cucamonga, where I first saw him.
• Bottom of the first, with one runner on, Phil Nevin comes to bat. Brian Anderson falls behind in the count, 3-and-1. I tell my buddy Jeff that if Nevin gets a strike he’ll hit it out to right center. I’m wrong; he hits ball four out down the right field line, 2-0 Pads.
• Sean Burroughs collects his first big-league hit at home. Ground ball to deep second. He later adds another hit, slapping a single into Tony Gwynn’s patented 5.5 hole.
• Bass guitar virtuoso Stu Hamm plays "America the Beautiful" in the middle of the sixth. We all sing "God Bless America" in the middle of the seventh. I’m proud to be an American but I long for the days of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."
• The Diamondbacks play brutal defense, kicking the ball around and throwing it away repeatedly. They are charged with five errors (this is changed to four after the game), which may be a tad generous. An errant throw home by Mark Grace on a play already involving a passed ball and two miscues isn’t scored an error. Presumably the thought is that Bubba Trammell would have beaten the throw anyway.
• D’Angelo Jimenez has some pop from the left side of the plate. He knocks his first homer of the year off Mike Morgan.
• Brian Lawrence is mixing his pitches well and painting the corners. He throws a four-hit, complete-game shutout. Nothing is hit with much authority.

Last night’s game I caught on television. Most of what I saw you can read about in the papers or elsewhere but I just wanted to comment on the Padres’ defense. Frankly, it stunk last season. But so far this year I’ve been pleasantly surprised. Some guys, like Kotsay and Ramon Vazquez, I figured would be solid. But others, like Nevin and Ryan Klesko, have been better than I’d expected. Nevin is showing good instincts at first, while Klesko is reading the ball well in right and actually has made a couple of very nice plays the past few nights. It’s early yet but I’m encouraged by what I’m seeing. I’m sure the pitchers are, too…