I Aint Joking..Lets Stop this Choking

September 26, 2009

9/24/09                                     Padres vs Rockies Game 3

I guess I’m not much of a Ballhawk. My stats this year are pathetic. I’m averaging less than a ball a game and that’s barely noteworthy.

I don’t think I’m slipping. I still catch ’em as good as I ever have. Actually I’m much better this year at maneuvering the pavilion bleachers and I’ve managed to keep myself injury free. 

Everybody has an excuse so here’s what I’m going to attribute this lackluster snaggin season to:

The Rain…. If I attend a game and there’s no batting practice or batting practice is cancelled due to weather that still counts as a game attended and no baseballs caught,…yep it’s sad but true.

I’ve lost count of the number of BP’s that have been cancelled or cut seriously short due to rain or lightning.

Here’s another disturbing trend….Lately the Rockies have been cutting their BP short. Coors Field opens two hours early but by the time fans get inside the Rockies have already been out practicing for a while.

Normally fans who show up early get a half hour with the Rockies on the field.

This picture is of the Rockies leaving the field early. For the last several games the Rockies have been ending their BP shortly after I get myself situated.  

I hope the Rockies don’t think I show up two hours early to watch the opposing team hit? Check this out, finally I get a rain free afternoon and for the most part batting practice is deserted (remember it’s the Padres). My team leaves BP early (for the umpteenth time) and lets the uninspiring Padres take over the field.

No offense to Padre fans but in my opinion there is not a stingier group of MLB players in all of baseball. It wouldn’t matter so much if they were littering the pavilion with home run balls, but for a team who has had the Rockies number of late these group of guys couldn’t seem to hit a ball anywhere close to the fence.

Whatever Padres, be that way. Credit where credit is due…I will congratulate the Padres for their recent hot streak. Too bad it doesn’t mean anything now. We’re done with you, see you next year.

(I hate losing to the Padres at Coors).

  A ballhawk’s worst nightmare… A whole section to myself and not one single ball hit there.

        Normally I don’t take pictures during BP, but this one was a bust so here’s a few.
                                  For some reason Jorge De La Rosa was all smiles.

                      See what I mean. I don’t think I have any other pictures of Jorge smiling.

                                            Still smiling, must have been a good joke.  

                               Or maybe Jorge was laughing at Ubaldo’s sunglasses.

 If you played professional baseball you could afford the cooler things in life like these special sunglasses. They actually snap into your ears and are guaranteed to never to fall off    🙂

After BP or the lack thereof, I walked over to the Rockies side to take a few more pictures and maybe snag Garrett Atkins or Brad Hawpe’s autograph.

Today I saw Chris Iannetta run past the fans and not sign. He (so I thought) has a pre-game ritual and always signs for a few minutes before he heads off to warm-up. Sup with that Chris, why are you breaking routine?

First to walk over and start signing was pitching coach Bob Apodaca…Very nice guy, signs his whole name and takes his time while doing it.
   Next up is one of the coolest and easiest to talk to Rockies players….Clint Barmes.
 
 A group Coors field employees were being recognized for something. Erik Young Jr was given the assignment of congratulaing each one of them.

Check out this lady…Either EY Jr tickled her palm or he told her the same joke Jorge was laughing at earlier.

                              A shot of the 850 KOA helicopter hovering above Coors Field.

                                 Miss Colorado’s were in the house.

          I didnt’ realize there were so many variations of Miss Colorado.

              Garrett Atkins for my friend Emily 🙂

Tulo and Seth Smith…Each a superstar this season. No time to be resting on our accomplishments though, this season isn’t over yet.

    If you’ve ever wondered how they make those rectangles so perfect…now you know.

I respect both of these guys too much to bust on them so come up with your own caption for this picture. You can post it in the comment section if you’d like.                                                                       I’ll let Atkins slide too.

 EY Jr taking on first pitch duties. I wonder where Jeff Francis is? Normally that’s his job.

  
                    Told you that goatee would be back soon.                                  
Here’s Helton is doing his thing.

Chris seemed out of it. Maybe it’s because Yorvit’s having a great season? 

 

                                                     Tulo and Don Baylor.

 
These ladies need to practice this maneuver because they damn sure haven’t mastered it yet.

 
What’s up with Glenallen Hill’s hair? Did he lose a bet? I know the 80’s are coming back but damn Gumby.

 
                   One of many pitching changes during this game.

 
                                      Bases loaded.

This game sucked. Padres win this one 5-4 and take the series 2-1.

 It pains me to watch this team drop the ball like this so late in the season when everything is on the line.

 Look out for the Braves, they’re creeping up on us and have a lot of home games left. At this point we don’t have to panic but lets not continue lose games to teams that we should be spanking.

Rockies it’s time to kick it into high gear.

I know your tired, at times it’s quite visible. The last couple weeks of the season is what separates the men from the boys and I don’t go to Coors field to watch boys play baseball.

Step it up fellas, I’m starting to see a smugness in some of the Rockies players and I don’t like that. Remember, the only reason you get to play this sport for a living is because we the fans pay to see you.  

Note to the higher salaried Rockies players….Lose the fu*king attitudes. I know the difference between confident and smug and unless you’re Todd Helton you haven’t been playing long enough to have one.

Stop this recent half-steppin, respect your fans and give them some love back, focus, play hard and win some games and we might not look like chumps in the post-season this time.

      Go Rockies, I still believe and I’m here to keep your azzes grounded…D

I’d like to say thank you to Jim from Utah who offered me his code to buy tickets for the NLDS series. Unfortunately, you had to purchase for all three games at once and the only seats left were the expensive ones. This Ranter doesn’t make that kind of money…But that was a mighty kind thing to do.
 

Written by RANTER Posted in Ranter's Blog Entries Tagged with Colorado Rockies, Coors Field, Franklin Morales, Garrett Atkins, Jim Tracy, Padres, Rockies, Todd Helton, Troy Tulowitzki