Yes, It’s Here--Baseball Season : Expectations are high, but Angels have yanked the famed family section

All the off-season baseball shoptalk of inflated salaries, questionable trades and dashed hopes gets put aside in favor of Opening Day around the country today.

Forget for a time the crush of the deficit. Suspend Angst about the alienated electorate. For these few hours in April, America turns to the baseball diamond. It’s time to reach for the high notes of “The Star-Spangled Banner”; time to limber up a celebrity arm for the first pitch; time to suspend judgment about the season.

We await that inaugural lob with hopeful expectation. The Dodgers are at home today, and the Angels open Tuesday in Anaheim. Southern California baseball fans who hail from somewhere else will find their minds wandering.

One big part of baseball’s attraction is that it is a family game. Thus it’s too bad that when the Angels take the field at Anaheim Stadium, their fans will find that one welcome feature is missing.

The team has thrown a curve to those who sought refuge in the 2,600-seat “family section” from things hurled--beer cups and insults. It has been eliminated. Since 1987, no alcohol had been permitted in the family section. And ticket prices will go up in the seats once reserved for families, despite a previous statement to the contrary.

The section was introduced in response to a well-placed concern in Anaheim and around the country about rowdiness. The club, however, says demand for the family seats was low. But fans know there’s no mystery to the demand curve for tickets. It goes up dramatically when any club wins.

A hassle-free outing is a big part of baseball’s intrinsic appeal. But on Opening Day, it is good enough to know that the grand old game has returned.