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CHRIS TISCHToronto Blue Jays followers gladly braved the muggy weather Sunday to cheer their team's hot plays and a home run against the Philadelphia Phillies.
DUNEDIN - It was a day that reminded many a Canadian of a summer afternoon back home.
Warm but damp, pleasant but gray-skied. And with the sounds of baseball in the air.
The Toronto Blue Jays celebrated their spring training home opener Sunday afternoon in front of an enthusiastic crowd at newly named Knology Park. Fans - some local, some not - got to see the Blue Jays put up a good fight early but eventually lose to the Philadelphia Phillies, 12-6.
"It's a super little park," said Blue Jays fan Miriam Stroud, who traveled with her husband from Canada to Florida to watch her first spring training game. "We timed our trip to Florida to come to the game."
Stroud and her husband, Tom, have been Jays fans for years. They have tickets to the regular season home opener, too.
"Our whole family is Blue Jays fans," Mrs. Stroud said.
But not just Canadians love the Blue Jays.
Any fan would have to respect the loyalty of Dunedin resident Bob Towle, who has season tickets. He lets his three children take turns accompanying him to the games, where they have collected hundreds of signed bats, balls and jerseys.
Towle said the memorabilia could put all three kids through college.
With him on Sunday was 11-year-old Steven, who wore a hat and jersey signed by his favorite player, shortstop Chris Woodward. Steven also has batting gloves signed by Woodward and anticipates he'll get a signed fielding glove this spring.
"All he needs are his cleats and his pants," his father said.
Canadian Liz Boyd knows all about that kind of dedication to a team. A winter resident of St. Petersburg, she has been coming to spring training games in Dunedin for about eight years.
She expects her team to have a good season, even though it is in arguably the toughest division in baseball. The Blue Jays haven't been to the playoffs since beating the Phillies in the 1993 World Series.
"It's been a long drought," said Boyd, her Canadian accent making that last word rhyme with "boat."
Boyd and her friend, June McGee, said years ago they attended spring training games with more than a dozen friends. But some moved away, and some stopped making the trip to Florida. Some passed away.
"We're still coming," Boyd said.
There were a few things different Sunday compared with previous springs. The Blue Jays have a snazzy new design to their uniforms. And the field is now called Knology Park, the naming rights sold to a Georgia-based company that offers high-speed Internet service, digital cable TV and local and long-distance phone service.
Some fans professed knowing nothing about the company.
"I have no clue," Towle said. "I kind of miss Grant Field. It had been Grant Field for years."
While the Philadelphia Phillies' sparkling new spring training ballpark in Clearwater gained many of the headlines this week, Blue Jays fans seemed perfectly cozy in their park, especially when Carlos Delgado smacked a towering home run.
They hope to see more of that when the warm, humid days come to Canada.