The long winter is finally over. It's Opening Day 2005, and the Toronto Blue Jays are back. Roy Halladay opposes the Devil Rays and Dewon Brazelton in Tampa in an unusual 4:15 pm Opening Day start. Few openers will be watched as closely by Blue Jay fandom as this one.
Simply put, the Jays need to start well this year. Halladay has been rocked in his past two Opening Day assignments, last year by the then-lowly Detroit Tigers. Those losses have set the stage for miserable Aprils, which the Jays have now experienced three seasons running. It needs to end today, and the Jays could scarcely have asked for a better opponent, a Rays team whose second baseman and rightfielder retired in the spring and whose replacement centerfielder was just suspended under MLB's new drug-testing policy.
Speaking of policies ... Batter's Box has a brand new set of Game Thread Guidelines in place for 2005. Before posting to this thread, please read through the Guidelines, then c'mon back and enjoy the game!
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20050404160828420