As a few of the Blue Jays told their tweeps, Friday's home opener was the perfect start to the season.
These are not your father's Blue Jays.
I was lucky enough to be one of the 47,984 fans at Rogers Centre on Friday night for the Blue Jays' home opener against the Minnesota Twins.
Sitting beside my Sportsnet Radio The FAN 590 morning show co-host Greg Brady (@BradyFan590), we both noticed that there was something tangibly different about this year's Jays team.
Not only is the team much younger, but the actual game-day presentation was very different.
Greg was thrilled to find out that none of the Jays were using the band he despises the most, Nickelback, for their intro music.
The pre-game video presentation was the kind of thing you would expect at Old Trafford or Yankees Stadium -- first class all the way!
It all made sense when I read Richard Griffin's column in the Toronto Star and discovered it was put together by Kevin Foley. I used to work with Kevin and he has a brilliant mind when it comes to producing baseball videos.
The game itself could not have gone better for new manager John Farrell and general manager Alex Anthopoulos. A packed house, your ace pitcher on the mound, a national television audience and the Jays destroying the Twins 13-3.
The Jays are filled with players who are very active on Twitter. This is another sign that the Jays are a young and very progressive baseball team.
Ricky Romero (@RickyRo24) and that nasty changeup of his overwhelmed the Twins for six innings. Of course Romero is dating Miss USA Rima Fakih (@TheRealMissUSA).
Miss Fakih gave her boyfriend a little pre-game karma (easy, I said karma!) with this Tweet: "Loving the weather in Toronto &i can't wait to watch my boo @RickyRo24 beat the #Twins tonight @BlueJays".
So let me get this straight. Romero is the ace of the Jays pitching staff. He has a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract. He is a polite and humble young man and he's dating Miss USA!
Take that AJ Burnett.
Rookie catcher JP Arencibia (@jparencibia9) joined Brady and I on the FAN morning show just before spring training wrapped up. Arencibia assured the listeners that, despite struggling in grapefruit league action, he would be good to go once the regular season got underway.
The dude wasn't kidding. Batting ninth, Arencibia went 3-for-4 with two home runs, a triple and five RBI.
Saturday morning, Arencibia sent out this tweet to thank Blue Jays fans for all the love they gave the team the night before.
"Still at a loss for words not by our performance but the atmosphere u guys brought to that stadium yest. U impact us in a HUGE way! Thank u!"
At one point during Friday's game, Greg and I looked at each other and both agreed how cool it would be if the Jays were fighting for a wild card spot in mid-September.
Who knows if that will ever happen again? But for one night at least, it really felt like some of the magic was back at the Rogers Centre.
Over the course of 162 games, the Jays are bound to go through some tough stretches. That is only natural. The only thing that Jays fans should expect between now and September is that the team will play hard … and do a lot of tweeting!
Travis Snider (@lunchboxhero45) got into the act as he left the stadium Friday night.
"It was an honor to wear that jersey in front of you guys tonight. Never under estimate what you make us. Here's to a great season. Night all".
Expect some tweets Sunday night after Brett Cecil (@CEC0208) gets his first start of the year.
With 6,850 followers, Cecil has some work to do in order to catch up to Romero, Snider and Arencibia on Twitter. Snider has 11,699 followers; Arencibia has 11,769 followers; Romero leads the team with a whopping 13,325 followers.
Of course Romero's girlfriend, Rima Fakih, has more followers than him with 13,397.
However, a few more starts like Friday night and Romero will be the undisputed Twitter King on the Blue Jays.
All in all, the Jays' home opener was almost a perfect night. My only issue took place in the stands. It involves a guy, his date and a major violation of the "man law." Greg and I will discuss it in greater detail on Monday's show.
