Scottsdale (Rockies)

On Another Afternoon in the Sun

Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, 2016

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim vs. Colorado Rockies
Cactus League (Spring Training)
Salt River Fields at Talking Stick
Scottsdale, AZ
1:05 PM

Outside the Game: 

Another day, another game.

I was pretty lethargic getting up this Thursday. It was all starting to wear a little thin. I went through the motions to get breakfast (where they had a new pancake machine installed, but not operational), a walk in the park, and then a stop over at the gas station to load up on water bottles for the afternoon game.

It was an uneventful drive out to the game. I got to park much closer this time, and headed in. There was some traffic on the way back, but given how lucky I'd been to this point, it didn't bother me too much. I was back to the hotel, and off for a nap, and out to the hot tub for a long soak in the shade.

I was planning an evening in. I had to do laundry one last time, I wanted to pack up all my crap, and I wanted to get all my paperwork in order. But first, there was Honey Bears. On my way out to the car from my hotel room, I was flagged down by the new manager in the flesh. I did sort of feel bad for the guy. He was thrown into a bad situation, with a customer who had him dead to rights, and nothing he could do about it.

He started talking about what he could do for me. I asked him for a discount and a change of room. He said he couldn't do either. I told him that he could go to hell and leave me alone then. I mean, I'm not sure what he was expecting with that. “I can offer you nothing, does that make it better?” No, Chucky. No, it does not.

I got my half rack of ribs meal and enjoyed it tremendously. Back at the hotel, I settled in for a night of laundry and paperwork, and it was actually a pretty welcome experience. I took all my shipping supplies and packed up all my accumulated souvenirs with plans on shipping them to myself the next day. It was two pretty big boxes of stuff. The rest of the night was getting my receipts and whatnot organized and then an early night before another afternoon game the next day.

The Stadium & Fans: 

Home plate to center field, Salt River Fields at Talking Stick

The Salt River Field was largely unchanged from the day before, although it was a lot hotter in the afternoon than in the evening. My second walk-around mostly confirmed what I had seen the day before, but I did get to poke around a little more at certain places.

Dinger, for some reason

The Colorado crowd was less than the local D-Backs, to be sure, but it isn't like it was much short of a sell-out, especially with the number of Angels’ fans in attendance. It was also St. Patrick's Day, so there were green bases, and many of the contests between the innings paid lip service to the holiday. The least-favorite mascot in the majors, Dingers the Dinosaur, made an appearance to the delight of few.

At the Game with Oogie: 

The dangers of scoring

I was on the first base side again, and I was to find that I wasn't going to be in the shade until the later innings when the blessed darkness overtook my section. I was sitting with honest-to-goodness Rockies fans, however. It was a weird thing to see. But they were knowledgeable and making comments on their farmhands as they appeared, so in case you were wondering, the Rockies actually have some die-hards. And it would make sense that they would be the ones to travel to Spring Training.

Tacos and hydration

I wasn't very hungry in all the sun, but I did stop at the taco stand for some food. They were a lot better than I was expecting, to be honest.

The Game: 

Giveaways

The Angels came to the reservation to face the lesser partner in the new field, the Colorado Rockies. The ending was as bad as you can imagine.

The Angels came out swinging, with back-to-back singles to start the game, and then a double to drive them both in, although the batter was cut down trying to extend it into a triple 7-6-5. Nothing else came across, and it was 1-0, Angels, at the break. The Rockies had nothing to show for the first except a leadoff walk who was caught stealing. The Angels kept going in the second with a two-out double, a walk, and a deep single that scored one, making it 3-0, Angels. The Rockies had a single in their half.

The hits kept coming in the top of the third, with a one-out single that stole second, and then a two-out walk made it first and second. A ground-rule double only brought in the one run, before a new pitcher got a pop out to short leaving it at 4-0, Angels. The Rockies started the bottom of the third with a solo homer to make it 4-1, but nothing else came across. In the fourth, both the Angels and the Rockies got batters to third with steals, errors, and a balk, but nothing scored for either team. The Angels stranded one and the Rockies two in the fifth, and the Angels stranded one while the Rockies went in order for both the sixth and seventh.

The Angels kept the streak going, stranding one in the eighth, but the Rockies started their half with a hit batsman and a walk. A one-out single brought in one run, and a two-out triple scored two more, making it 4-4 at the end of eight.

Anaheim went in order in the ninth, but the Rockies started with an error by the shortstop to get the leadoff runner on, but three straight fielder's choices got single outs to end the game. They then declined to play extra innings, and the game ended in a tie, shaming literally everyone involved and watching the contest.

The Scorecard: 

Angels vs. Rockies, 03/17/16. Nobody won in a 4-4 tie.

The scorecard was again the centerfold of the reasonable $2 full-sized magazine program. It was spacious and again okay for pencil writing, but in the afternoon sun, the magazine-print scorecard was easily smudged by sweat and sunscreen.

Outside of the communist tie outcome of the game, there were several plays of note in this otherwise pointless ballgame. In the top of the first, the Rockies left fielder fell into the stands catching a ball with a runner on first, and the runner tried for a triple, but got CS 7-6-5. A one-out single in the third originally looked like a great play by the right fielder, but was immediately called a trap by the umpire. A two-out, ground rule double that same inning was awarded when the ball went under the left-center field fence.

In the bottom of the first, there was a good ole' 1-3-4t CS, a balk in the bottom of the fourth, and all three outs in the bottom of the ninth were made on fielder's choices.

Once again, ties are abject communism.

The Accommodations: 

I was the hotel again. Outside of the argument with the manager, there was nothing new to report, although I spent more time at the hotel that day that usual.

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2016 Cactus League

Denver

On Being a Mile High

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. 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

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.

Click here to see all the pictures from this trip.

2008 West Coast