The Tradition Continues...
When the Rox made the playoffs and World Series last year, I was thinking..."Oh crap, that means Home Opening Day tickets are gonna be tough to get!" Many Colorado fans are bandwagon fans or Happy-go-lucky. When the team is doing well, the fans flock to the stadium. When the team isn't doing too well, then...well they don't show or support the team. For many years the Rox have been in the latter category.
Ever since the All Star Game in 98', ticket sales have not been through the roof. I've tried not to abandoned them even though the product on the field has sucked. There were even times when I found myself believing in a team that just wasn't any good. Okay, I admit it...I was a Jeffrey Hammonds fan. He was perfect for Coors Field. He was a product of Coors Field. There was nothing wrong with that. At least until he decided to "test" the free agent market and cash in on the biggest contract given.
News Flash: It wasn't us. And he never lived up to the contract.
I also thought at times that Mike Hampton would pan out, like the day I was sitting out on my parents boat listening to the game where he struck out 13. I was thinking...well, maybe they'll turn the corner and get competitive again. Didn't happen that year. Most players that have come and gone for the Rox, I've given some respect to. And some, I've thought were a lot better than what they were...Dante included. For the record: Daryl Kile, Mike Lansing, and Denny Neagle were not my list of "Great Signings or Trades by the Rox". And Larry Walker...that's for another day.
I've lived through the years of "rebuilding" seeing numerous players come and go, and last years success was rewarding to me. I never believed they would ever go to a World Series, but last year proved me wrong. Just like the Rox in the Series, I was just happy they were there. Soaked up the national spotlight and livin' large. Who cares that they lost? I don't. I'm just glad for the memories. Sure they may suck for another 10 years, but at least for that one month (Rox-tober) they were on top. I'll still try and get down to a handful of games this year, just as I've done in the past. Schedule and money pending. But the only game I
REALLY care to make year in and year out is the home opener.
Going to the home opener has been a tradition that my father and I have endured since the first game in 1993. We have gone together to every Rox home opener. At least until last year. Last year my father packed up his bags and bolted to Arizona and missed the opener in the process. Our streak together snapped at 14 in a row. I couldn't let my end die, so I went to it with a couple friends...keeping my streak alive at least. 15 in a row for me. His rebuttal was that he went to the D'backs home opener vs. the Rox a few days later. Sorry. Doesn't count. He snapped his home opener streak. Too bad, done deal. It's over! Even worse, he hung up his royal purple and traded it in for the D'backs red and black. He wasn't even a year removed from Colorado before he gave up on the Rox and went for a newer look. The D'backs, a team that won the division and also a team that lost...scratch that...got swept in the N.L.C.S. to the Rox.
He he. That's what you get for being a trader.
This year I even tried to coax him into flying out for the home opener and giving him a mulligan from last year. Didn't work. It was even his new favorite team...the D'backs. The answer...still no. Work. Oh well, I guess I had to continue the family streak.
Anyways on to Opening Day....April 4, 2008
The day started off on a bad note when my friend, Bookie came over early that morning to leave for the game. He dropped the bad news on me that the Rox were not going to reveal the National Champions banner at the game.
WHAT!? Why the hell not? The Rox decided to make the opening week a entire celebration of last years success. Home opener was just going to be...a home opener. The second game will be the unveiling of the banner. The third game were the hand out of the championship rings. The fourth game they were to hand out replica rings to the fans. The fifth game was championship team posters. And the sixth game was replica championship trophies.
Got Milk? Yeah that's what the Rox are doing. Milking the fans for all it's worth. I guess they're afraid their attendance would drop. No one would show up after opening day. Fifty thousand plus on one day and twenty thousand on the next. There's faith in your fan base. So I was a little perturbed at that point. But oh well, I just want to see Opening Day, the banner would have been a bonus. I guess I only care about the streak at that point.
Damn management.
On the way down to the game I had mentioned that Luis Vizcaino was this years version of LaTroy Hawkins. Last year, LaTroy blew every game for the Rox that Bookie went to. Including the home opener. After watching Vizcaino pitch in St. Louis, we both were agreement.
*** Breaking News *** Rox place Vizcaino on 15 day DL
Sweet. Maybe it was a good sign for things to come.
We arrived at the game about ten minutes before gates open and were able to find a quick "no baggage" line and got in the stadium within two minutes of the gates opening. We got our free magnetic Rox schedule and then proceeded to the gift shop to get Opening Day Pins and Balls. We had to be within the first hundred fans to enter the gift shop and got the O.D. Ball and went to get the pin and...SOLD OUT. What? How can they be "sold out"? We were one of the first ones in the place. What'd they have...four pins? So we left and tried one of the vendors on the concourse gift stands. I found a couple of O.D. pins. They were a different look than previous years, but that's all they had. After a quick shopping purchase we headed up to our seats in the third deck. We took some pictures up there. It was a beautiful, sunny Colorado spring day with the temperatures in the mid 50's to 60's.
We decided to get some lunch and "donated" our $3 bucks for a cold hot dog and $4 for a souvenir cup of soda.
Side Note: Poor little girl working the stand. There were five or six people behind the counter and she had to get our hot dogs and then walk over to the soda dispenser and fill our sodas while everyone else there stood and watched.
The Rox showed their ability to be a top notch first class organization on the souvenir cups. They were left over N.L.D.S. cups from the playoffs.
WTF? Left overs from the playoffs. Not the World Series. Not the Championship Series. But
the Division Series. You got to be kidding me. To feed the fire, when we were leaving, we noticed a couple with a N.L.C.S. cup. They must have been on the lower bowl. Division Series? Not even this year's schedule on them. I would have settle for that. Just a plain N.L.D.S. cup (
pictured right).
After watching the D'backs take batting practice we commented on the staff trying to measure out where the field size American flag should line up on the field. It was kind of funny watching them walk around with their fifty foot measuring tape trying to find out where the military needs to stand for maximum flag performance. Don't they do this every year? And a few times in last year's playoffs? The field hasn't changed. Shouldn't there be a structural marker they can just glance at every year and say, "Yeah...that's where someone end should stand"?
On to the game...First bad sign of the day: Mark Redman took the pitching mound.
I've been secretly hoping all week that some how, someone else would get the nod to pitch instead. The rain out on Opening Day in St.Louis gave me hope. I figured that the pitching staff would be juggled a little bit to accommodate the extra pitching start. This left me thinking that Morales or Francis might get the nod for the home opener. Nope. Clint Hurdle decided to have Kip Wells make an emergency start to make up for the rain out and keep Redman as the starter for the home opener.
Dammit!Redman goes out and walks the first batter (Chris Young) and then the next batter lays down a sacrifice bunt only for Torrealba to throw wide of second base in an attempt to get Young. Both runners safe. And from there on out it was down hill for the Rox. Loud mouth Eric Byrnes walked on four pitches and catcher Chris Snyder singled home Young opening the early flood gates. At the end of the first half inning of the game: Arizona: 3 and the Rockies: dead and yet to bat.
Way to challenge the hitters and give a strong pitching performance Redman!
Redman's final line:5 2/3 innings, 9 hits, 5 runs, 3 walks, 4 k's left game trailing 5-0.
But Redman wasn't the only problem on this day. The Rox offense declined to show up. They still might be in Tucson training. Two hits, and one run. That's it. Thank God for Helton's solo shot in the seventh, because there was not much else to cheer about. The most exciting offensive play until then was a Tulo foul ball into right field that almost dropped fair. Kind of sad. Every hitter went up swinging for the fence on the first pitch. Each one was trying way too hard to break their own hitting slump.
A new feature with the scoreboard is that it keeps up-to-date batting averages for the players next to the lineups. Three games into the season and the scoreboard was peppered with batting averages in the .100's and low .200's by players from each club. Byrnes was an at bat ahead of Matt Holliday's average. So every time Byrnes got out we could see what Holliday's average was going to drop to after he struck out. The Rox led the majors in defense last year and on this day they committed more errors than runs scored, and the same amount of hits as errors.
Way to bring in the new season!
When all was said and done, the Diamondbacks rained down on the Rockies parade. A little sweet taste of revenge for the Championship sweep.
Final Score:
Diamondbacks (8)
Still, attending Opening Day is flat out a fun event. Even if piss poor management blows it. The new start of the season gives all fans hope for their team. Festivities are abundant, and dreams are high, but the "new car smell" to a fresh season will only last so long before it becomes sour as teams fall through the standings. The Rox will eventually break their hitting slump, I just hope it won't be too late. People say the season is like a marathon. Hopefully so. Because so far, everyone else has sprinted out to a huge lead. Maybe the Rox will catch up when everyone else cramps. If not, it will be a long season.
I still blame management for not properly unveiling the banner.
They jinxed us on the first day! Their excuse: "We didn't want a pregame ceremony longer that 35 minutes, and there was just too much to do." Screw it. It's the home opener. Do it like everyone else does. Start earlier, it wasn't like half of Colorado wasn't there two-three hours before the game anyway. I just have three words to say:
Where's the Banner?
Oh well, what do you do? At least the tradition (streak) of Home Opening Day for the Rockies is still alive. Chalk it up...16 in a row.
See ya next year!
