Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Denver

On Being a Mile High

Coors Field
Coors Field, 2008
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
San Diego Padres vs. Colorado Rockies
Coors Field
Major League Baseball, National League
Denver, CO
7:05 PM


Outside the Game:
I woke up earlyish this morning to turn in my rental car before my flight out to Denver. The car return was pleasantly painless, and getting my boarding pass and clearing security were welcomely similar. I was on a short puddle-jump flight, and although the plane was a little late getting into the terminal, the flight was on-time and without incident. We even got a snack and a drink, which is more than my coast-to-coast flight could boast. I was also seated next to sprightly old lady, who talked a good deal without talking a lot.

As I was only staying one night in Denver and flying out to San Francisco the next day, I stayed at a Sleep Inn by the airport. Carless for the first time on my trip and unable to put the effort into translating the byzantine local public transportation maps, I took a cab to the game. Realizing he had a money run with an out-of-towner, Rasta-man gave me his cell number to get a ride back after the game. He was quite personable company, so I took him up on his offer. It is funny how you can have some of your best conversations with cabbies.

I had planned to spend some time after the game wandering around Denver, but the flight had taken a lot out of me, and I had to get up early for my flight the next day. So I gave my friend a call pretty soon after the end of the game.


At the Game with Oogie:
Once again, I found myself in the "View" level behind home plate, and once again, it was a good seat.

I was sitting next to a hermitic baseball fan who wanted nothing to do with anything not the game. Head to toe in Rockies gear, he got to his seat, put on his radio earplugs (to no doubt listen to the game), and then didn't move or speak a word until the end of the game.


The Stadium & Fans:
Coors Field was not outstanding in any particular way, but it was a nice enough stadium. It had its promenade, it had its kids area, it had its batting-practice friendly outfield seating, it has its mind-boggling Jumbotron, and it has all the other touches you'd expect out of a new park. Its only standout features were the view of namesake Rockies out past Center Field and the row of purple seats that marked the exact elevation of one mile above sea level.


The Hot Dog:
The generic "Super Dog" was a slightly oversize hotdog.


The Game:
Although they were struggling up to this point in the season, the defending NL champ Rockies were facing the pitiable Padres, who only managed four base runners all night. The Rockies broke through with four runs in the fifth, and despite the reputation of the park, none of them were on home runs.


The Scorecard:
Padres vs. Rockies, 07-01-08
Padres vs. Rockies, 07/01/08. Rockies win, 4-0.
The scorecard was a $1.50 cardstock fold-out separate from the main $5 program. My rule for these trips has become to score the game as the local scorecards dictate. This was an interesting exercise here, as the Rockies have a distinctly non-standard scorecard that marks off balls and strikes, the batter's outcome or path to first base, and the order of outs in their own separate areas. While I don't think I'll incorporate any of their idioms into my standard scorekeeping, it was an intellectual curiosity.


Oogie's East Coast Connection of the Day:
One of the vendors at Coors Field immediately recognized my Brooklyn Cyclone hat. He turned out to be a Mets fan in exile, going to school in Denver, and he was very excited to see another Mets fan in his unfriendly confines, where he is apparently given a constant hard time about his allegiances.


The Accommodations:
Sleep Inn, Denver Airport
Sleep Inn, Denver Airport
I stayed at a very nice Sleep Inn near the airport. My willingness to pay for a cab to and from the game was profoundly confusing to the hotel staff for some reason, and it didn't seem like a worthwhile endeavor to explain to them.



2008 West Coast

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