A 4th of July baseball home stand series! We all know what that means…FIREWORKS! Despite the freakish rainstorm that hit the front range area about an hour before the scheduled first
pitch, my friends and I were able to see the spectacular fireworks display after the Colorado Rockies-Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game. Also it was a chance to stick it to my father.My parents had moved down to ‘Zona about two years ago and since then has traded in all of their Colorado sports team loyalty for the teams of the Valley Sun. Hell, by the fall of that year, they were hard core D-back fans rooting against the Rox in the NLCS. They weren’t even down there for ten months and they had already swept the Rox underneath the carpet.
It was like…“What the hell?” Our family has been Rox fans since the day we got the franchise in 93’. We had been partial season ticket holders through the 98’ season (and picked up some more for a couple year stint between 02-05) and have made every home opening day in its history…a feat only I hold now in the family. Opening Days in ‘Zona don’t count dad!
Bottom line is that my parents had become “Sell-outs” when it came to the Rox, and every time the two teams battle each other the phone battles begin. I just need to add that I really loved visiting ‘Zona in October of 07’ as the Rox finished their SWEEP of the D-backs in the NLCS. Traitors. Go Rox!
The drive down to the Mile High City took a little bit longer than usual due to a terrible car accident which had the interstate backed up for miles and the buckets of rain that poured down on the state shortly afterwards. The ride was actually really painful as we approached Denver. My friend Bookie and I were listening to the local AM radio station for the pre-game broadcast, but tuned in about twenty minutes before the start of the broadcast. In the mean time we were treated to a excruciating gap of news radio in between.
News had been slow all day, and the only thing to report was the current rainstorm that had swept into the metro area. Both radio D.J.’s were in the last leg of their work week as they were preparing just like everyone else to dive into their 4th of July weekend plans. With nothing to report and anxious to get the hell out of work, the radio station fielded live callers for the majority of that gap in between programs. It ended up to be a weather report from every angle of the city.
DJ: “Hey, let’s take another caller. It’s Bob from Thorton…”
Bob: “Hi guys. I’m in Thorton and it’s raining like cats and dogs here.”
DJ: “Ha ha ha. That’s great. Here’s another call. Now we have Jeff from Parker on the air…”
Jeff: “Oh my God! It’s the worst rainstorm in Colorado history! I can’t see across the street visibility is so bad!”
Yes…people panic when it comes to weather. Now repeat those 20-30 seconds caller updates for the next 15-20 minutes and you have the afternoon’s radio entertainment for the ride to the stadium. It was just ear wrenching how dumb people sound when it comes to the weather. I just love how people over exaggerate the weather.
“It’s the worst storm ever! The world is ending!”
For cryin’ out loud…it’s just rain. We’ve had rain since the beginning of time and we’ll have it ‘til the end. Big deal people…get over it.
The rain storm did do one good thing…delayed the game’s start time by a half hour or so. It actually allowed us to get there in plenty of time despite the longer than usual drive in. Normally it takes me (and my lead foot) to get from my house to the stadium about 45 minutes to an hour. On this day, factoring in the accident, weather, and all the fans that attend Rockies’ fireworks games (or opening day, play-off or any other “hot” game that gets the mob flowing to the stadium) the drive took almost an hour and a half.
Bookie and I finally get there and meet up with our other friend, The Tool, and his family. We spot out Tool in the crowd while waiting for a courtesy shuttle to the stadium (because we ended up parking in the main lot like ten miles away). Tool had brought his lovely wife and two little cute energetic kids. The second the kids saw us their eyes widened and lit up with joy as if they’ve gotten a new toy to play with. And Bookie and I was the new toy…the human jungle gym. Of course they were the first ones to come greet us with arms wide open.
We enter the stadium with the hopes of getting a little American flag, a promotion in which the Rockies advertised…Everyone attending gets a flag. Except for the gate we entered which was one of the main gates leading into the place. There was no flag to be found, except on other fans walking around. Oh well, it’s just another example of our cheap organization.
After battling the rainstorms on the way down, we found ourselves sitting in the upper right field corner section battling the sun on an otherwise beautiful Colorado evening. We sat in the row right below the famous purple “Mile High” row (row indicating a mile above sea level) and right above a three row section of a bunch of little kids and moms.
I only saw one dude there who could have been a dad everyone else was a kid or a chick. It was like a big picnic at the ball game. The moms were prepared too. They had Twizzlers, Rolo’s, little snack sandwiches, blow pops, popcorn and even little neon glow sticks (which they were kind enough to give one each to Tool’s kids).
Wow. I didn’t think that half of the crap they brought into the game was kosher with stadium rules. But I guess when you have a dozen to twenty little kids you have to cut corners to save money. With stadium prices, it probably would have been a month’s salary to feed all those little suckers.
By the time I was done settling down, and entertaining the little kids it was the bottom of the sixth inning. Holy crap the game was moving pretty fast (ended up being a 2 hr 24 min game) and the Rox were in complete control.
Both teams continued baseball’s new recent tradition of special 4th of July Stars and Stripes ball caps. This year’s edition was red with the team’s logo filled with blue and white stripes. I went down with Bookie to the gift shop so he could pick one up. And let me tell you, they’re not cheap! ($37 each) But we got kind of a deal as we waiting in line at the gift shop. Bookie and I were joking with some other fan, who was a big bald dude who looked like he could have been our father.
Apparently the gift shop clerk thought so too because he offered us the “special” if we bought all our stuff together. The special was: Blow $74 bucks and receive a FREE Stars and Stripes beach towel. Wow. That’s the MAN (evil corporations of the world) giving us a hell of a deal. Spend nearly a hundred dollars and we’ll throw in a five dollar towel. Wha hoo!
The big bald dude behind us was like, “Okay, you guys can have the towel. I don’t care.” He bought a cap too and threw everything down on his plastic card and Bookie gave him the cash and got the towel in return. For once…we stuck it to the MAN!
After a 5-0 blanking of the D-backs by the Rox, we waited about a half hour so the fans seated in left and center field could be escorted out on the field to watch the fireworks show which was sponsored by Lockheed Martin. By the way, there’s a Lockheed Martin branch in my parent’s hometown in ‘Zona. LMartin does cool stuff like working with NASA, other aviation companies and misc. government contracts.
The firework show was awesome as it lasted around fifteen to twenty minutes. The fireworks were big and colorful (as usual) and I think there was a new type as a couple of them featured an effect that looked like a buzzing swarm of fireflies after exploding. The Grand Finale was big as they launched a whole sh*t load of fireworks off at the same time. I haven’t seen that many fired off like that in years.
As for the game itself, it was really no contest. Man…the D-backs suck! They had previously dropped like 10 out of their last 12 ballgames (or 11 of 13…doesn’t really matter) and looked like a team that had just flat out QUIT on the season. There was no life in the team what so ever…and they played like it. Instead of the Diamondbacks they should rename themselves the Deadbacks.
The D-backs had almost just as many errors as they did hits in the game (3 to 4). One of the errors allowed Rockies CF Dexter Fowler to complete a little league inside the park HR after doubling and advancing all the way to home after a bad throw that landed into the right field foul territory. The RF B.J. Upton had fallen asleep on the play and never bothered backing up the throw and just watched the errant throw sail pass the whole right side of the infield and into the outfield.
The D-backs starting pitcher and one of their young phenom’s Max Scherzer pitched pretty
well in the game (at least well enough to give the team a chance to compete) but the rest of the team just sucked. The defense was poor…outside of The Midget…Bookie’s favorite D-back…throwing out Brad Hawpe on a tough ground ball through the SS and 3B hole. But 3 errors! That’s just bad. All of the errors were costly as they kept innings alive or allowed runners to score. CF Chris Young dropped an easy routine fly ball/pop up.For their entire bad defense, the offense wasn’t much better. I think all of their hits came in just two innings. I never…I mean NEVER…felt that the Rox were in danger of losing the game. I became remotely worried after they were retired 1-2-3 in the bottom of the first, but that was it.
Rockies SP Jorge De La Rosa looked like a Hall of Famer as he induced ground ball after ground ball. Jorge’s the Rox’s fifth starter in the rotation and has the tendency to be a little…wild, but tonight he just baffled the lifeless D-back hitters. As a Rox fan…it was great!
Outside of watching the Rox capitalize on all the bad defensive plays the highlight of the game came in the bottom of the second inning. Tool’s youngest son’s favorite player is Ian Stewart (3B for the Rox) because his name is Ian. So naturally Stewart became the kid’s favorite Rockie. I kept telling him that they named the thirdbase men after him. Anyways…Stewart came up in the second inning and smashed a homerun to right-centerfield. Mini-Ian was ecstatic about the HR. I doubt if he’ll really remember the shot down the road, but it certainly gave him a spark that night.
For me…I was a little disappointed because I was getting greedy with the game. I have two Rockies on my fantasy baseball team, Hawpe and SS Troy “Tulo” Tulowitzki. Hawpe was robbed of a base hit by The Midget and hit a towering shot to deep right-center only to have it snagged out at the wall. Hawpe finished 0-4. Bummer. Tulo had a big RBI double in the game and finished 2-4. Combined they were 2-8 at the plate something that didn’t get me too excited, but oh well the Rox beat the D-backs. Not just beat them…shut them out…5-0. Season total against each other so far:
Rox: 4 wins
D-Backs: 3 wins
I think it’s time to call ‘Zona and give my father a little crap.
Player Stats:
D.Fowler CF 1-4 2B/Run/RBI
C.Barmes 2B 0-4
T.Helton 1B 1-3 2B/Run
B.Hawpe RF 0-4
T.Tulowitzki SS 2-4 2B/Run/RBI
I.Stewart 3B 1-4 Solo HR, SB
C.Iannetta C 2-2 SF/Run
C.Gonzalez LF 0-3
J.De La Rosa P 8IP 4H 4 BB 6K (W 5-7)
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