2006: A Shortened Start
Yesterday was Opening Day for the 2020 MLB season… or at least it would have been, if not for the COVID-19 outbreak that has put our entire world, and basically all sports, on an indefinite hold. However, without the coronavirus, today would have been 14 days until MiLB Opening Day. With 15 seasons in the books for the West Virginia Power, it’s to turn back the calendar and revisit each of the first 15 Opening Days in Power history.
Yesterday, we opened up the first chapter of the West Virginia Power with the 2005 Opening Day game in Hagerstown. Today, we move to the 2006 season, where the Power opened at home for the first time in team history.
One season in the books for the West Virginia Power, as they finished 60–78 and posted a sixth place finish in 2005. The calendar turned to 2006, and with the dawn of a new baseball season came another bevy of future MLB stars. Ryan Braun had already concluded his 37-game stint in Charleston and was a mere 14 months away from making his MLB debut, but plenty of other prospects were on their way to The Capital City, including Michael Brantley and Lorenzo Cain.
As for the season opener, the Power picked up its first Opening Day win in team history, dispatching the Delmarva Shorebirds, 4–1, in a rain-shortened, six-inning game at Appalachian Power Park. The win would be the first of three straight Opening Day triumphs for West Virginia.
Cain made a large contribution in this one offensively, as he got the scoring going for the Power in the opening frame with an RBI double. He would score later in the inning on an ensuing run-scoring two-bagger by Angel Salome to make it 2–0, and then again on a wild pitch in the fifth for the team’s fourth and final run. Mat Gamel provided the lone other RBI knock, a fifth-inning infield single to short. Fittingly enough, Cain, Gamel and Salome were the team’s three Midseason All-Stars (as well as three of their four Annual All-Stars [Will Inman]) in 2006.
Meanwhile, on the bump, Kevin Roberts spun five innings with five strikeouts while only allowing one hit, the lowest hits he’d cede in a start this season.
Other notables from the 2006 Opening Day lineup: Darren Ford, who still holds the Charleston single-season record for stolen bases (69 in 2006) and Brantley, the four-time MLB All-Star. (By the way, Cain still has the single-season hits record — 162 — also from the 2006 campaign).
These lineups were stacked with future big leaguers: Brantley, Cain, Ford, Gamel and Salome from West Virginia and Brad Bergesen, David Hernandez and Brandon Snyder with Delmarva.
This contest still holds several records in Opening Day history for the Power: Opening Day home attendance (5,742) and shortest Opening Day time of game (1:49). Also, this Opening Day game is the only one that has been rain-shortened in team history (three have needed extra innings).
We’ll run through the 2007 season opener tomorrow! Stay tuned!
