Diary of a Guardians home opener: Sing-alongs, gyrating mascots and more DeLauter homers

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Here’s a chronicle of how the 33rd home opener at Progressive Field unfolded Friday against the Chicago Cubs. 11:18 a.m.: Jon Lampley, an Akron native and member of the band O.A.R., completes his final tuneup for the national anthem, as the sweet sound of his trumpet drowns out leaf blowers and construction vehicles. 11:23 a.m.: Longtime scribe Paul Hoynes has far more energy than I would have expected for a 75-year-old who took a red-eye flight home from Los Angeles that included a layover in Chicago. That wasn’t the worst part, though. No, that would be when he returned to his car after the series finale against the Dodgers to find that he had somehow left it running the entire game. If you know Hoynsie, who will be honored by the Baseball Hall of Fame in July, you know a story like that is par for the course. The Guardians, meanwhile, landed in Cleveland at 5:40 a.m. Thursday morning after their grueling road trip. Their charter did not stop at Midway Airport. 11:42 a.m.: As he opens some mail, Austin Hedges jokes that he briefly considered retiring after the game on Monday night to go out on top, having achieved 10 years of major-league service time, with a pair of hits in his final game, plus a Guardians win. He also says he’s starting to get the hang of his postgame ritual in which he knights the player of the game with the team’s new sword. 11:50 a.m.: José Ramírez makes his first visit of the season to the Progressive Field interview room. As long as he doesn’t miss a game, he’ll become Cleveland’s all-time leader in games played on Monday. “Of all the records, I feel like that’s one of the most important, because it resembles what I wanted to do with this team,” he says, “and thank God for keeping me healthy and being able to play like that. I think that was my ultimate goal, to be able to play as long as I could here.” 12:07 p.m.: Ramírez storms into the clubhouse repeatedly yelling “Bro, what is this?” at no one in particular. A clubhouse attendant meets him at his locker to show him the magnet schedule the team is handing out to fans. Half of the magnet is the schedule; the other half is Ramírez’s face. The staffer says now that Ramírez is signed for life, his face will be on anything and everything. 12:14 p.m.: Chase DeLauter is in the lineup and he’s talking about how he came to the ballpark on the off-day on Thursday to get some work in after missing a day with a bruised foot. DeLauter also shares his perspective on watching Ramírez over the years: “I was an MLB The Show guy. … Probably in middle school, going into high school, he was one of the best third basemen on the actual video game, so you know he is in real life, too.” 12:38 p.m.: Bench coach Tony Arnerich ponders whether he could pull off an interview as his doppelgänger, Stephen Vogt, with an unsuspecting reporter. 12:45 p.m.: Vogt can’t wait until his finger, which he sliced during spring training while opening a package, is healed so he can play golf on his off days. He has advanced from a full brace that covered his right forearm to a simple wrap on his index finger. 1:30 p.m.: Can we talk about the weather? Where are the flurries? What’s this bright orb in the sky? Why is no one wearing a parka? When was the last time it was this warm for the home opener? I ask the Guardians’ research mavens to investigate. 2:00 p.m.: The gates open, a train whistle blares from the ballpark speakers and the Guardians play “Karn Evil 9” by Emerson, Lake & Palmer, the song known for its opening line, “Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends,” which is an apt way to describe a baseball season. The train sound effect, by the way, was instituted in 1994 because ushers manning certain positions couldn’t always hear the announcement that the gates were open. 2:10 p.m.: Guardians president Chris Antonetti walks over to the Cubs’ side to say hello to manager Craig Counsell. The Guardians interviewed Counsell in October 2023 before ultimately hiring Vogt. 2:35 p.m.: During a segment on WKYC, the esteemed Russ Mitchell asks me about my most memorable home opener, and I just can’t shake the bizarre memories of 2011, my first year on the beat. The artist formerly known as Fausto Carmona started for Cleveland and before you could take a bite of your hot dog, the Chicago White Sox had taken a 14-0 lead. Chicago ended up winning, 15-10, but Manny Acta’s bunch somehow jumped out to a 30-15 start that year. 2:45 p.m.: It’s my first time seeing Associated Press writer Brian Dulik since he covered his 1,000th consecutive Cavaliers home game. His streak started on March 22, 2001, when the Cavs topped the Vancouver Grizzlies, thanks to 16 assists from Andre Miller. There’s nothing like going from covering Andrew DeClercq to DeLauter. 2:55 p.m.: Spotted: A Triston McKenzie jersey, but with DeLauter’s name taped on the back. Let’s check in on McKenzie, who is pitching for the San Diego Padres’ Triple-A affiliate… oh. One start, two innings, four walks, two runs, 44 pitches and only 19 strikes. 3:31 p.m.: As Hall of Fame radio broadcaster Tom Hamilton walks to a podium on the infield for pregame introductions, the Guardians air a minute-long vignette on the scoreboard about the aura of Opening Day, narrated by Rajai Davis. We’ll see plenty of Davis this year, as the Guardians honor the 2016 team with a mid-May reunion. 3:38 p.m.: The Cubs are trying to warm up, but there’s a massive American flag taking up virtually the entire outfield. One player runs sprints on the little strip of grass available in short right field. He stops just before reaching the line of people holding the flag. 3:42 p.m.: No staff member receives an ovation as overwhelming as Sandy Alomar Jr., who is enjoying his 27th home opener in Cleveland (his 28th if you include 1995, when he was recovering from knee surgery). 4:03 p.m.: Cleveland Heights native Laila Edwards, a member of the U.S. women’s national ice hockey team that captured gold at the Winter Olympics, throws out the ceremonial first pitch to Austin Hedges as Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” plays. 4:05 p.m.: Nancy Sherwin, who is 94 years old and has had season tickets for 50 years, delivers the game ball to the mound. The crowd erupts as she ditches her walker and places the baseball on the rubber. It must feel like yesterday when she was a teenager watching Cleveland win the World Series. 4:07 p.m.: Slider, the furry, fuchsia mascot, is gyrating to Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise” as we await a first pitch that can’t get here soon enough. 4:11 p.m.: Joey Cantillo’s first pitch is a fastball. It’s 70 degrees, the warmest home opener (excluding 2020) since 1992. 4:11 p.m.: Nico Hoerner grounds out on Cantillo’s first pitch. Off we go. 4:16 p.m.: Moments after Cantillo sets down the Cubs in order, the skies open. 4:18 p.m.: The most electric scene going in Cleveland right now: Fans singing along to DeLauter’s walk-up song, “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” by John Denver. DeLauter hails from Martinsburg, W.V. 4:22 p.m.: Local meteorologist Betsy Kling appears on the scoreboard in a shirt that reads “I hate rain delays.” There’s something eerie about another brief rain shower on an unseasonably warm day with the Cubs in Cleveland. 4:31 p.m.: Cubs starter Cade Horton fires a 93.8-mph fastball and then exits. That’s every team’s nightmare scenario. He recorded three outs. 4:45 p.m.: Shortstop Gabriel Arias calls off Ramírez on a pop fly to short left field, but then both players abandon the ball and it nestles into the grass. Ramírez looks frustrated. Pete Crow-Armstrong reaches second base and eventually scores the game’s first run. 4:53 p.m.: Cantillo finishes the inning with a pair of strikeouts. He has everything working today, “except his shortstop,” says another writer. 4:57 p.m.: Arias strikes out looking on a slider down the middle, and a chorus of boos follows. He’s going to need to do something heroic to redeem himself today. 5:08 p.m.: DeLauter knocks a single to right field after another John Denver sing-along. Fellow The Athletic writer Jason Lloyd raises an interesting point: DeLauter has only ever played at Progressive Field when the place is packed and rocking. He’ll be in for quite an adjustment on a 43-degree night on a Tuesday in mid-April. 5:28 p.m.: Arias makes some really peculiar swing decisions. He chases a 2-0 slider far out of the zone. That said, he does draw a walk. 5:33 p.m.: Now I’m imagining what DeLauter’s walk-up song routine will sound like after a lengthy rain delay with only a couple hundred fans left. That’s when the loudmouth who’s had a few too many Bumbleberry IPAs can pretend he’s on American Idol. Anyway, DeLauter strikes a game-tying single to left, though Arias is thrown out at home by a country road mile. 5:34 p.m.: Lampley plays the trumpet to introduce the Hot Dog Derby. Ketchup is your winner, since Mustard’s lawyer accidentally clocked his client in the head with a briefcase. Edgy. 5:41 p.m.: Cleveland reliever Matt Festa enters to an EDM remix of Andrea Bocelli’s “Time To Say Goodbye,” a reflection of his Italian roots. Festa, of course, pitched for Team Italy in the World Baseball Classic. Italy made a run to the semifinals. “We kind of grew the game overseas in Italy,” he said after the tournament. “We had over 7 million people tune in to that last game. We were in Italian newspapers. My Instagram comments are loaded up with Italian comments that I need to Google Translate to understand. So, I think we accomplished not the ultimate goal, but we accomplished one of our goals.” Festa escapes a jam as he induced consecutive foul pop-outs to Ramírez. 5:53 p.m.: Daniel Schneemann makes a leaping catch at the wall to rob Matt Shaw of extra bases. Pitcher Connor Brogdon shows his appreciation by raising his glove in the air. 6:04 p.m.: Gabriel Arias homers. Of course he does. It’s unintentional comedy at this point. The Guardians take the lead. 6:05 p.m.: Brayan Rocchio issues the first ABS challenge of the game, but he’s wrong. Cleveland drops to 2-for-13 on ABS challenges this season, by far the worst mark in the league. 6:12 p.m.: DeLauter hadn’t hit a home run in six whole days. (Granted, he only played in two full games in that timeframe.) He was due. He launches a fastball into the right-field seats for some insurance. When does Artemis II arrive at the planet from which this guy hails? That’s a league-leading five homers for DeLauter in 26 at-bats this season. Ho, hum, another 3-for-4 day. When he reaches home plate, DeLauter bumps into Steven Kwan so hard that it knocks Kwan’s helmet off. Kwan stands there for a second, a bit dazed, as DeLauter laughs and retreats to the dugout to put on the medieval home run helmet. “That one was my fault,” DeLauter said after the game. “He went in for a high-five. I went in for a hug. Bad combination there. We’ll get it figured out.” 6:17 p.m.: Ramírez socks a basic single to center, but Crow-Armstrong didn’t field it cleanly and Ramírez hustled to second, the sort of instincts that have paved his path to such an illustrious career. As Vogt would later say: “He’s probably the only person in Major League Baseball who’s standing on second base after his hit.” 6:23 p.m.: The Cubs win an ABS challenge, which means they have half as many correct challenges in the last five seconds as the Guardians do all season. 6:39 p.m.: Ian Happ challenges a called third strike and starts to remove his gear as if he’s about to trot to first base with a walk, before the ABS replay proves him wrong. As Kwan described last week, the public humiliation element of this should become a good teacher. 6:44 p.m.: Cade Smith blows away Dansby Swanson with a 97-mph fastball to seal the 4-1 victory. The Guardians are 5-3 and unbeaten at home. Slider races in from right field with a big navy flag and the Guardians line up for high-fives. First in line, waiting for his teammates? DeLauter. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Zack Meisel is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Cleveland Guardians and Major League Baseball. Zack was named the Ohio Sportswriter of the Year for 2021 and 2024 by the National Sports Media Association. He has been on the beat since 2011 and is the author of four books, including "Cleveland Rocked," the tale of the 1995 team. Follow Zack on Twitter @ZackMeisel