The result was disappointing; the venue was not.

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        Monday, during an afternoon more springlike than anyone had expected, a standing-room-only crowd of 41,901 packed Cinergy Field to watch the Reds get pounded by the Atlanta Braves 10-4.

        That was the bad news.

        The good news was they saw it in a Cinergy Field that, during the off-season, was turned from a concrete bowl stadium with Astroturf into a cozy ballpark with fresh, green grass.

        It was a day when fans not only got a first look at a stadium that cost $8.2 million to refurbish, but a day for the entire city to glory in a tradition that goes back 133 years.

        It started about 10 a.m. Monday, when an estimated 100,000 people lined the streets of Over-the-Rhine and downtown for the 82nd annual Findlay Market Parade.

Fans on the first-base side watching Pete Harnisch pitch on the new grass field could see Mount Adams in the background. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        Once the fans settled in their seats at the ballpark, they got the distinct impression that this new Cinergy — with its open outfield and 14,000 fewer seats — might turn into a launching pad for home run hitters. Four went flying out — two by Reds Sean Casey and Dmitri Young and two by Andruw Jones and Rafael Furcal of the Braves.

        For 11-year-old Nicholas Rymer, at the ballpark with his cousin Gari Ann Wallace and her friend Kevin Dunn of Batavia, it was a day of firsts — his first Opening Day and his first trip to a major league ball game played on natural grass.

        He loved it.

        “It really looks different,” said Nicholas, sitting in his red box seat high above the right field line, where he could see the construction site for the new Great American Ball Park beyond the left field wall and Mount Adams beyond that. “This is a whole new place.”

        The only complaint Nicholas had with Opening Day was that his hero, Ken Griffey Jr., had a hamstring injury and didn't start.

        “But that's OK,” Nicholas said. “It's more important he gets better.”

If it looks like grass, feels like grass, smells like grass, it must be ... (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

        Farther down the right field line in the red seats, Mabel Virgil of Kennedy Heights agreed.

        She was at her first Opening Day game, too, although she makes the trek to the ballpark at least a half dozen times a year, usually with a couple of her friends and her sister-in-law.

        Ms. Virgil moved to Cincinnati from Washington state nine years ago. She watched Mr. Griffey early in his career in Seattle.

Mabel Virgil lets out a cheer. (Michael E. Keating photo) | ZOOM |

        “I tell my family that I followed Junior here,” Ms. Virgil said. “Or he followed me.”

        “I'd like the Reds no matter where they play,” said Ms. Virgil, who was dressed in the team color from head to toe. “But this is pretty spectacular.”

        A lot of the Opening Day sights looked the same to Glenda Raley of Mount Lookout: Barry Larkin at shortstop, a full house at Cinergy Field and the Reds wearing their home whites on the first official day of the baseball season.

        But plenty about the view from Section 120 has changed since last year. There is a view of Mount Adams, plus the Interstate 71 ramp and cranes moving slowly outside the stadium, and real grass on the playing field.

        “It's a totally different feel — a good feel,” Ms. Raley said. “It's like the whole city is part of the game. The balls don't bounce like they used to. The players don't slide like they used to.”

Black Monster encounter

        After U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine, a long-time Reds season ticket holder, threw out the ceremonial first pitch and Reds' starter Pete Harnisch threw the first real one, it didn't take long for the fans to realize that this was not the Cinergy they had known.

Reds catcher Jason LaRue points Javy Lopez back to second base as Lopez finishes his HR trot. (Michael E. Keating photo) | ZOOM |

        In the fifth inning, Braves catcher Javy Lopez doubled high off the new 40-foot black center-field wall. Second base umpire Bill Miller called it a home run and signaled for Lopez to circle the bases. But Miller apparently didn't remember that the entire 40-foot wall is in play. The home plate umpire called Lopez back to second base.

        “Even the umpires don't know the ground rules in this place,” said Kevin Tyne, a 28-year-old fan from Dayton, Ohio, as he watched Lopez trot back to second base. “This place is going to be interesting.”

        In the top of the seventh inning, the Braves' Furcal hit a solo home run into the construction area beyond the left-field wall — a home run that broke a 4-4 tie and put the Braves ahead for good.

        Three hard-hatted construction workers were in the area. One of them snagged the ball on a bounce and tossed it to one of his buddies. Hearing chants of, “Throw it back! Throw it back!” from the crowd, he heaved it back onto the outfield grass.

        Cinergy erupted into cheers.

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        Bill Stevens, a 60-year-old Beavercreek, Ohio, resident, said the new stadium makes him look forward to the new one, which will open next door in 2003.

        “It really feels homey now,” said Stevens, a season ticket holder for 15 years. “It makes me look forward to '03 — if I can afford season tickets in the new one.

        The view wasn't so great for Andy Patrilla and Jeff Ward. They were sitting in the top row and had a fantastic view — of the rust on the back of the scoreboard.

        Patrilla, of Clifton, and Ward, of Loveland, paid $105 apiece for their tickets. The tickets had a face value of $16.

        “We just called 721-ripoff,” Patrilla said.

        “Hopefully, when we get tickets in the new stadium, we'll be able to see a scoreboard or something,” Ward said. “I mean the front side of a scoreboard.”

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