SAN DIEGO _ This was to be the day of red, white and blue bunting and when brown pinstripes really, truly, officially made their debut.
And it would have been when 94-year-old Bill Doughty watched the Padres for a few hours of enjoyment and relief.
Doughty has bladder cancer and was moved into hospice a few weeks ago.
Oh, how his stepdaughter, Maggie Cascio, was looking forward to talking later Thursday or maybe Friday about Chris Paddack and Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado and whether Bill thought the new manager had made the right moves in his first game.
"I am so sad that there are no Padres baseball games for him to watch to take his mind off of his discomfort," Cascio said via e-mail. "... He can't do much but sit and watch TV. I would give anything to have games for him to watch. Tatis and Machado and Paddack could take his mind off of the pain for a few hours a day and I'd love to see if Jayce Tingler could pass muster with him."
Opening day is a holiday for baseball fans, the day in which optimism flows before it ebbs.
There was so much to look for forward to on this opening day.
"I was excited to see (Tommy) Pham, Tatis, Machado and (Eric) Hosmer hit in the same lineup," said Dale Huntington, pastor of City Life Church in Southeast San Diego, who is rarely seen without one Padres cap or another. "... I would've listened to the game and watched the game center on ESPN. I don't have the bling to go to opening day, but I celebrate it. Opening day has been on my calendar for months. I've left it there and each time I open up my calendar it taunts me."
