Monday, March 17, 2008
St. Patty's Day!
A little bit of green perhaps....no.
After numerous failed plans to do things today (like go to the Grand Canyon...snow...causing a 40 car crash and major highway construction), we decided to catch a Rox-Giants game in Tucson. Holy crap, driving down there from Phoenix sucks. Its like a 2 plus hour drive. No wonder ball players don’t want to get on the bus to travel back and forth. Two lanes going each direction, but a good stretch of it was under construction and speed limits down to 50...55 mph.
On the way out of town, we forgot to stop and get breakfast on the south side of Phoenix. Next city: the evil town of Casa Grande. My dad continued to drive by the exits for places like...I-Hop, and Denny's, I thought he knew where he was going, since he mentioned something about eating at the outlet mall or something. So I kept my mouth shut. Well I was wrong, and we came to the last exit out of town. So we were forced to the options on the last exit. Burger King or the Iron Skillet. Hmmm. So we stopped off at the Iron Skillet for breakfast. IRON SKILLET! Pow! It's the greasy spoon Johnson’s corner of Arizona. IRON SKILLET! Pow! We enter and see an "All you can eat breakfast buffet." Okay, lets try it. So we all order the buffet and go up there for our first helping. Load up on food…and then minutes later…then it shut down. Nice that the waiter told us that.
As I went up for seconds, all the prongs were gone and there were some pans of food left at the bar. A Hispanic lady was packing up the buffet and taking food away. There was one pot of scrambled eggs left with no utensils to scoop with. I asked if it was shutting down and she turned to the other Hispanic guy behind the buffet and spoke some Spanish gibberish. She gave me a spoon and continued to pack up the rest. I guess she didn't understand what I asked. I looked at the spoon and shrugged. I used the spoon to scoop some more eggs. I guess it’s over.
So we get down there a little late, normal exit was closed and we had to maneuver around town to find a new way to get to the park. Once there it didn’t get any better, Hi-Corbett Field sucks when it comes to parking. They have about a hundred spots for a stadium that fits 10,000 plus. Ended up parking a half mile away and walking in. Made us even later. Didn’t mind the walk though, by the time we left the game no traffic affected us.
We finally got to the ball game and it was in the top of the second with no score. The Rockies have their big guns in to play today, unlike Friday. Helton, Nix, Tulo, Atkins, Holliday, Willie T, Spillie, Iannetta and Cook pitching. I recognized virtually no one on the Giants. Randy Wynn and Bengie Molina were the only two. Every one else was like…Who? Guys like Rajai Davis, Nate Schierholtz, Eugnio Velez, Travis Denker, and Guillermo Rodriguez. Where’s Barry when we need him? Cook pitched pretty well giving up three hits and two runs in five innings? Maybe six.Dinger
Part 2 of picking on my step mom's favorite mascots. So she has a love for the Rockies mascot Dinger. Dinger's the purple dinosaur who resembles one of Barney's friends. I've been saying this since the day he was introduced. She denies it. Bottom line = Dinger is a dork. There is only one good mascot...Rocky. Although, Dinger has given me at least one good moment of entertainment.
Back in college, a couple friends of mine and I went to a Rockies home opener. We bet Shark some money to get a hug from Dinger. He reluctantly agreed on the bet. During one of the innings Dinger was going up and down the aisle next to us. Shark made his move. He went up to Dinger and asked for a hug. Dinger backed off and put his hands up. Kind of like, "get away from me you perverted man!" Shot Down! Unfortunately Dinger eventually agreed to give the pervert a hug. But it was worth it to see the Shark get shot down by Dinger.
Back at the game...my dad points out that Dinger's here. I turn and look. Oh crap he is. What the hell is a mascot doing at a spring training game? Of course Dinger's supporting the St. Patty's day theme by wearing a green Rockies shirt over his costume. Initially I was gonna keep my mouth shut and not say anything. BUT...the two ladies from Chicago sitting behind us made the comment, "Hey look at the mascot. The purple dinosaur. He looks like Barney. I wonder what his name is."
IT'S ON!
I looked at my step mom and she was upset. I just smiled. Of course I used that fuel the rest of the day to pick on Dinger.
All the runs for the Giants came in the third, single…stolen base…stolen base…single…stolen base…single. Iannetta struggled throwing people out, or maybe Cook sucks at holding the runner. Either way it was embarrassing. Rookie stud 2B, Jason Nix hit a solo shot in the bottom of the third and it remained 2-1 until the 7th.
Scott Posednik drove in one with a triple to tie it at 2-2 and the Rox loaded the bases with one out only for rookie catcher Edwin Bellorin to hit in a rally killer inning ending double play. The score was 2-2 going into the bottom of the 10th, the last inning before the dreaded tie. I was thinking…pretty sad that the SF JV squad made it a game against the Rox starters…anyways, Helton got a base hit and was pinch-runned for. The next pitch, future stud Ian Stewart launched a two run shot deep over the right center field wall, giving the Rox a 4-2 win. Just like the good 'ole days. Time to start a new 20 out of 21.Final Score:
Rox 4
Giants 2
Rox 4
Giants 2
The Rox celebrated St. Patty’s day by painting a green shamrock on all the bases and selling green Rox hats at the stadium. The attendance was announced at just over 5,000 (hate to see parking when it really is packed). It was a cool day floating between 59-63 degrees in and out of shade, and off and on sprinkles. And a slight breeze.The National League Champion Trophy was on display at Hi-Corbett. They kept it in behind home plate in the darkest part of the concourse. Unfortunately had no choice, but to use a flash. Lighting sucked.
On a plus note...I bought a world series hat, pin and T-shirt for $20! If you've ever been down to Hi-Corbett, you probably remember this, but if you haven't... One of the Air Force bases is a few
blocks from the park and through out the game they practice landing the planes. All types of military air craft fly low over the stadium as they land and take off at the base. There was a pack of 5 A-10's that flew over. You could see all the ball players look up and watch. It's got to be a great place to train. Just look up and watch the air show for free and play ball.
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