PITTSBURGH -- There’s Christmas, there’s July 4 and then there’s Opening Day at Busch Stadium.
When Paul Goldschmidt witnessed the spectacle last year, he was in the visitors’ dugout with the D-backs as their starting first baseman. He struck out looking and lined out to center field against Adam Wainwright, but he collected a single off Dominic Leone -- both of whom share the Cardinals' clubhouse with him now.
“It was like a holiday,” Goldschmidt said. “So it’ll help that I’m not going into it blind, for sure.”
The newest Cardinals slugger will take the field in the home red and white for the first time on Friday. With the warm reception he’s received from the St. Louis faithful in the offseason and even on the road early this season, he’s looking forward to the first trot out from under the pennant-filled dugout roof.
“I expect it to be exciting,” he said. “It’s almost a sellout every single night there. It will be fun to get back home.”
Goldschmidt has already found success entering play on Wednesday, as he’s swatted four homers and knocked in eight runs in just five games. But on the other side of the equation -- run prevention -- starter Jack Flaherty feels like he has something to prove with his start in St. Louis.
His season debut was a short start in Milwaukee on Friday, when he lasted just 4 1/3 innings after allowing four runs, including a homer to Ryan Braun in the third inning.
“I’ve been just trying to get under control,” Flaherty said, “trying to get my body under control, moving the way that it had coming out of Spring Training. I’ve just been working to try to get that same feeling that I had in the spring.”
Flaherty pitched extremely well in Grapefruit League play, striking out 22 batters in 17 innings for a 2.12 ERA. He was a reliable arm for the Cardinals last season, and he led the team with 182 strikeouts in his 151 innings, the second-highest workload for St. Louis behind Opening Day starter Miles Mikolas (200 2/3).
As he enters his first home opener as a starter, he’s working to keep a level head in what he expects to be a lively environment.
“I feel like there are two ways to go about it,” Flaherty said. “One, you can try to downplay it and just see it as another game, or you accept it for what it is and understand that there’s going to be a little bit more of a buzz in the stadium. It’s the first one, and I know those fans are going to be excited. We’re excited to get back, starting the season on the road.
“You just accept it, accept the buzz and then understand that you’re kind of doing both. You go in there wanting to win, and it’s the same thing you’ve been doing since the start of Spring Training.”
It’s also a first Busch Stadium opener for Mike Shildt as the full-time manager of the Cardinals. He became the interim skipper on July 14 last season after the dismissal of Mike Matheny, then earned the everyday job on Aug. 28.
“I’m excited for it, because it’s a special day,” he said. “I’m excited for our guys and to bring our team back to the city. I know the city’s excited. So I think [of it] more along those terms.”
And what’s not to be excited about, with a team that features a new perennial All-Star in Goldschmidt and a young, stuff-heavy pitcher like Flaherty to help unveil the 2019 team on Friday?
“It’s a team the city should feel good about and be proud of and excited to share the journey with us,” Shildt said.
Ozuna scratched late on Wednesday
Marcell Ozuna was expected to bat cleanup in the Cardinals’ lineup in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, but he was scratched shortly before game time with tightness on his right side. Ozuna will have an MRI on Thursday, and manager Mike Shildt said the injury appeared to be something related to his left fielder’s right intercostal muscle.
“It’s nothing we feel like is significant, but significant enough for him to miss [the game] and have an MRI,” Shildt said after the 5-4 win over the Pirates.
Worth noting
• Though Opening Day at Busch Stadium was pushed back from Thursday to Friday, the times will remain the same for the game (3:15 p.m. CT first pitch) as well as the pregame ceremonies, which will begin with the appearance of the Budweiser Clydesdales at 2:30 p.m.
All 16 living members of the Cardinals Hall of Fame are expected to be recognized before the game. The 2018 inductees, Vince Coleman and Ray Lankford, will be introduced, and ’19 Hall nominees Jason Isringhausen and Matt Morris will throw out the ceremonial first pitch.
For more information on the scheduled festivities and more related to #OpeningDaySTL, check here.
• The Cardinals unveiled Bob Gibson Way on Wednesday in St. Louis’ Grove Neighborhood. The route lies along Gibson Ave -- no relation to the Hall of Fame pitcher until the newly established way -- and runs from the 4200 block of the avenue to S Kingshighway Blvd.
“I am humbled and honored that the residents of this neighborhood would want to name a street after me,” Gibson said in a press release on Wednesday. “The baseball fans in St. Louis have always made this city feel like a second home.”