It was the best national anthem rendition I have ever heard, "better than the game," Russell Martin says later of 16-year-old Charice, "tears in my eyes when she really gets going," Manager Joe Torre says.
Then Vin Scully embraces a wounded veteran, who hands him the first pitch -- as good a tag-team performance as you will ever see -- Scully tossing the ball to Torre, the old catcher, who is so thankful he doesn't drop it.
"It was easy to pick up," Torre says of the five-foot toss, and so hard at this point to ruin the kind of afternoon that has always been so traditional and special to baseball fans.
It's the home opener, and yet it does begin with controversy in the air, a report in USA Today that Manny Ramirez, who has put the buzz back into Dodgers baseball, would really like to play in Cleveland.
Kobe once said he was all for playing on Pluto, and while that may not be as extreme as moving to Cleveland, it's a pretty good idea around here not to take seriously what our local athletes have to say.
No one knows this better than Ramirez, who almost never has anything serious to say.
"I was joking," Ramirez says. "I was talking to Jim Thome in spring training and saying wouldn't it be sweet to be together again one day in Cleveland."
The rest of baseball, though, is ready to pounce on Manny being Manny, believing the moment will surely come. The conclusion now is obvious -- it won't be long before Manny takes three strikes from Frankie Rodriguez to speed up his way to Cleveland.
Personally, I like the Lakers' chances of making it to Cleveland before Ramirez.
But ESPN, which is as good as any media outlet in making something out of nothing, touts it as a news story and throws the Cleveland question at Torre -- seven games into this 162-game schedule.
Torre suggested the reporter check with Ramirez, a crazy idea, I know, but then the e-mails began to arrive, saying "I told you so."
"So much for your wonder boy Manny and the Dodgers 'pegging' him correctly," wrote Matt Mierzwinski. "He's already talking about a Cleveland reunion."
"He's playing you for a fool," is how Steve Holmes put it, while sending along a copy of Bob Nightengale's story in USA Today.
Nightengale quotes Manny as saying, "I would like to play for Cleveland one more time, to go back where I started . . . I think to go back where you started is everyone's dream."
