Sarah Nickoson, 8, of Delhi dressed for the wintry chill. (Craig Ruttle photos) | ZOOM |

        It looked more like a Bengals game than baseball. There was a run on coffee and hot chocolate. There were as many orange and black Bengals coats as Reds baseball caps. And fans huddled together, sharing their stadium blankets, gloves and scarves.

        “I'm kind of bummed about the weather, but I'm glad I'm here,” said Bev Gfroerer, a sixth-grade teacher on spring break from the Lakota School District. “I'm not going to Florida like my friends, so I thought I would come see the Reds. I have tickets for Saturday's game, too.”

        So went Opening Day II Tuesday night, as fewer than 17,000 remnants of the Opening Day sellout braved the elements to watch the Reds fall to the Brewers, 5-1.

        What kind of fan came out to the second attempt at a home opener?

        “It looks like die-hard fans came out tonight,” said Gary Schloemer, 25, of Delhi, a season ticket holder in the red seats. “All they want is to see a good baseball game.”

Pokey Reese tries to keep warm. | ZOOM |

        Monday's sellout opener against the Milwaukee Brewers was called in the sixth inning with the score tied, 3-3.

        Tuesday's game was the makeup game, and only those with tickets to Opening Day were admitted. All statistics from Monday's game will count, except the score. And Tuesday's game started from scratch.

        “Good old Cincinnati weather, you wait an hour and it changes,” Mr. Schloemer said.

        That couldn't have been more true Tuesday. There was rain, sleet, snow and sunshine all within hours of one another. But it was just cold by game time.

        It was a windy 35 degrees for the opening pitch shortly after 7 p.m. The high for the day was 49, recorded at midnight Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service in Wilmington.

        For the players, preparing for the game was business and usual.

        The Reds took batting practice in cages under the stands. The tarp was put on the field about 4 after some rain fell.

        Players put on long underwear, heavy sweat shirts and nylon skull caps.

        Right-fielder Dante Bichette, who played in often-chilly Colorado for seven years, spoke from experience.

        “Cold and wet is the worst,” he said. “The toughest thing is keeping your hands warm. You can't think about it because if you do, you're going to let up a little.”

        In Colorado, the players used “hot pocket” hand warmers.

        “We kept them in our back pocket,” Bichette said. “It worked pretty well.”

        Given a choice, players would take cold over rain.

        “You'd rather not sit and wait,” Dimtri Young said. “Once you start, you want to finish. Sitting there with nothing to do is bad.”

        “You can't let it affect you,” Young said. “There's not a lot you can do about Mother Nature. You still have to play at major league level. We just have to weather it until June. Then we'll complain it's too hot.”

        Mr. Schloemer agreed the weather kept the crowd down. After the first inning, the blue and green seats appeared almost filled. But there were just scattered groups of people in the upper level red seats.

        “I thought there would be more people here,” he said. “The snow this morning and everyone saying it was going to get in the 20s scared people away.”

        The weather didn't keep the ticket scalpers off the streets. Justin Mayer, 23, of Jeffersonville, Ohio, paid $25 for a ticket in the green section just minutes before Tuesday's game.

        “I thought that was pretty high,” he said. “But I wanted to come out, drink beer and have fun. I was busy yesterday and couldn't come.”

Brewers 5, Reds 1 Neagle proves bad March meant nothing Die-hard fans brave chill Burnitz, Brewers remain Reds killers Parris looking ahead, not back REDS NOTEBOOK Runs, box score

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