President George W. Bush threw the first pitch for the Cincinnati Reds' home opener in Major League Baseball on Monday, becoming the first sitting president to throw a ceremonial pitch in Cincinnati as the Reds took on the Chicago Cubs.
The ball to catcher Jason LaRue was high and off the plate.
Bush received a loud standing ovation when he took the mound. He was accompanied by two injured soldiers and a father who lost his son in Afghanistan.
Small American flags were distributed to the crowd of 42,000 before the game.
Bush, the former Texas Rangers owner, told Fox Sports Network in a gametime interview that he has long been a baseball fan.
"I was born when my dad was in college, and he was the first baseman for the Yale Bulldogs, and mother used to take me to the games," Bush said.
"I've got the dish at home at the White House, and so, when I'm doing my work, I keep a game on. And there's nothing better than opening day," Bush said.
Cubs 16, Reds 7
Matt Murton homered in a five-run first inning and Todd Walker singled home a pair of runs in a seven-run sixth.
Chicago scored a club-record 16 runs in its opener for the second year in a row and stretched its first-game winning streak to four. The Reds hadn't given up so many opening-day runs since a 24-6 loss to Louisville in 1877.
Will Ohman got the win in relief of Carlos Zambrano. Loser Aaron Harang gave up nine runs -- six earned -- and nine hits in five innings.
Cardinals 13, Phillies 5
At Philadelpia, Jimmy Rollins extended his hitting streak to 37 games with a double in the eighth inning, but the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies 13-5 in Monday's opener as Albert Pujols homered twice and Scott Rolen hit a grand slam.
* Major League Baseball ticket prices are up by an average of 5.4 percent, and the Boston Red Sox have the highest average for the ninth straight season.
* Tickets in the major leagues average US$22.21, up from a revised average of US$21.08 last year.
* The NFL averaged US$58.95 last year, the NBA US$45.92 this season and the NHL US$41.19.
* Boston, which has the smallest major league ballpark,
hiked its average 4.3 percent to US$46.46.
* Oakland had the highest percentage increase, a 25.2 percent rise to US$22.10.
* Kansas City has the lowest average in the major leagues at US$13.71, leaving prices unchanged from last year.
* Only two teams lowered their averages: the Atlanta Braves were down 2.5 percent to US$17.07, and the Colorado Rockies 1.3 percent to US$14.72.
Source: Team Marketing Report
"I've been waiting five or six months, so I didn't mind waiting," Rollins said. "It was good to get the first game out of the way."
Chris Carpenter pitched five effective innings for the win, allowing four runs and nine hits.
Rolen was 3-for-5 with four RBIs, Pujols was 2-for-2 with four RBIs and Aaron Miles had four hits, including two doubles and a triple.
"There's no way to explain it, coming here swinging the bats like that," Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa said. "There were a lot of hits in that ballgame, but in the end, we had a couple of big damaging ones."
Pat Burrell and Ryan Howard homered for the Phillies, who ended up with their most lopsided opening-day loss since a 12-3 defeat to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1935.
Loser Jon Lieber gave up eight runs and nine hits in 3 1-3 innings.
"I felt fine. The results are a little embarrassing," Lieber said. "I have nobody to blame but myself."
Mets 3, Nationals 2
At New York, Tom Glavine outpitched Livan Hernandez in a matchup of World Series MVPs, Billy Wagner got a save in his Mets' debut and newcomer Xavier Nady went 4-for-4.
Washington's Alfonso Soriano, who made his major league outfield debut, was thrown out when he tried to score in the eighth on Ryan Zimmerman's double into the left-field corner. Jose Reyes' accurate relay throw to the plate beat a diving Soriano, but replays showed umpire Tim Tschida missed the call -- catcher Paul Lo Duca juggled and dropped the ball after applying the tag.
Making his seventh opening-day start, Glavine allowed one run and six hits in six innings to earn his 276th career win. The two-time Cy Young Award winner also went 2-for-2.
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