Tagged: Vinny Castilla
Bet Girardi didn’t come to Party
5-7-2013
Yankees vs Rockies Game 1
Weather: 64 degrees, cloudy.
Wind: 9 mph, In from RF.
T: 2:47.
Attendance: 41,595
Rain…Lots of rain.
I didn’t feel like I had great pictures for this game so I was going to skip this particular blog entry. However this was a Rockies win, the only one of the series and the only one in a while. Plus how often are the Skankees in town?
Although I was shut-out for BP again…. I felt like BP was as it should be. Baseballs flying everywhere and folks I know catch’n ’em. I was witness to the Rox Addict snagg’n his first two of the season while surrounded by Yankee fans gloves.
Best thing about BP is it wasn’t raining…Yet.
I watched Jersey Geoff spring into action and snag Mariano Rivera’s autograph while in left field.
I was also witness to the end result of an overly eager ball hawk that decided it was a good idea to crowd Jersey Geoff. A BP ground rule double bounced off the warning track then off of a glove and tagged that eager ball hawk right in the eye. (He’s OK).
Folks, that’s how you keep an eye out for the ball 🙂
With Joe Girardi (Skankees Manager and the Rockies first catcher) in town it was time for a group pic. Four old Rockies pretty much the same age as me. Prize for best hair hands down goes to Vinny Castilla.
Think these fellas have a few stories to tell?
I hung out with the Rox Addict most of this game, sitting just under the second level along the first baseline taking pictures and trying keep my camera dry.
It started raining early on and never stopped. Here’s my buddy “Big B” and his lady center picture toughing it out in the pavilion.
Remember this guy? Chris Nelson a Yankee!…Oh well at least he’ll get to play there.
Anyone else think Ichiro’s eyebrows look tattooed on? This dude is still one helluva player despite the botched make-up.
Quote from Walt Weiss about Jorge: “Jorge gave up three singles — that’s a big-time performance,” Weiss said. “It’s nice to see one of our starters go out there and pitch like he did. If we get good starting pitching like we have for the most part this year, we’re going to win games.”
LOL
As per usual, weather became an issue.
Cargo blasts a homer to center field and scores Rutledge…2-0 Rockies.
Quote from Cargo: “I won’t lie — I was a little angry the whole game,” Gonzalez said. “We’ve been playing in a lot of bad weather, in a lot of bad situations, but we’ve still got to go out there and do our best.”
Well played Cargo!
I’m “D” the Ranter and give a lil props to the Rockies as this was their first shutout win at Coors Field since a 6-0 victory over the Cubs last Sept. 26.
I’ll be sitting front row of the pavilion May 16-18 for the Giants series here at Coors Field with my only goal being catching a game homer. See you there…”D”
Padres Tank…Baby Bull Holds a Shank
I wasn’t going to blog about this game but the pictures were so good and the fact that we play the Padres tonight I figured Rockies fans could use some inspiration.
4-7-11
Padres vs Rockies Game 3…Opening Weekend, Coors Field
It was Hunter and I today and I have to tell you, it’s pretty sweet walking into Coors Field for game 3 with the series won already. My goal today was to catch my first BP homer of the season and get David Nied to sign my poster of him I’ve had tucked away for years.
Here’s a shot of David in 1993.
Nied was the first pick for the expansion Colorado Rockies in the 1992 Major League Baseball expansion draft. Nied started in the first ever game for the Rockies, taking the loss against the New York Mets. He also pitched a number of other firsts for the Rockies, including first strikeout, first walk, first complete game, and first complete game shutout.
Nied compiled a 5-9 win-loss record in 1993 and went 9-7 in 1994 but won no more games in the next two years, playing sparingly. In 1996 he was granted free agency and joined the Cincinnati Reds organization. Nied retired from baseball at 28 after an arm injury. He now sells equipment for his father’s company. He is engaged to Heather Cranford, a former contestant on the TV show The Bachelor.
Batting Practice
For the second game in a row I was shut-out. However, Hunter’s learned if you can’t quite catch-em, positioning and being polite will win you the race. He snagged two baseballs today. Hunter probably could catch one, but his dad’s not ready to let him yet…Maybe next year.
Sorry, scares the shit out of me thinking about him just missing one and getting hit.
The Rockies had the elder Rockies from 1993 lined up along the first and third base lines signing autographs. By the time I figured out which line David Nied was in the line was almost up to the concourse. No matter, we made it in time and David signed my poster “Nied for Speed” when I asked him to.
Thank you David!
This baseball game was just fun to watch. Within a few minutes of the start of the game I had my first broken bat picture from Baby Bull Rosario.
His bat still in hand, and the broken piece and ball in the picture…Perfect!
Baby Bull is left holding a shank.
Sorry Jon 😦
This is how not to catch a baseball.
JP showing exactly how to catch a ball, with style and some vertical leap.
JP just short of a bullseye.
Chacin the Machine…Job well done!
Baby Bull’s hits a homer scoring Fowler and Cargo.
That ball’s history.
Bull’s homer as it enters the pavilion crowd.
This guy is special Yo!
Rockie Luv!
Rockies destroy the Padres..Final Score 9-1
I’m “D” the Ranter…Opening day weekend is a rap and a sweep.
Alumni in Town…Rockies throw Down
4-5-13
Padres vs Rockies.
Opening Day at Coors Field.
Let’s just say it’s been a long winter and if you live in Colorado, …it ain’t over yet.
Colorado does Opening Day right. Right in the fact that you don’t need a ticket to the game to enjoy the festivities, just show up early ready to party. The weather was 70 degrees and perfect for April baseball.
The day started out with Douglas’s breakfast at the 20th St Cafe as it has for the last few Opening Days. In attendance were, Jersey Geoff, Mike the Rox Addict…
Fran and Robert.
Our host Douglas, Hunter and yours truly. On an extremely cool note, I only eat at the 20th St. Cafe once or twice a year and the waitress remembered what my breakfast order was.
That’s impressive!
Once we were full it was time to wander. Although there were a lot of folks hang’n around Coors Field, this OD seemed a bit mellower than ones I’ve attended in the past. Still there was lots going on.
Hunter and I stopped by and checked out my favorite local Artist Kyle Banister. Kyle had a primo spot for his art and was working on the Rockies 20th Anniversary logo in liquid chalk. 🙂
Here’s Kyle Banister, Laura Rector, Eric Matelski working hard.
Here it is finished… WOW!!
Kyle’s work always pops out at you. His link is on my sidebar.
Stilt Man out harassing some lady trying to read a book?
Hunter and I met up with long time Rockies employee and Rant follower Missy. 15 years with the Rockies right Missy?
As we walked by the 850 KOA booth I noticed Goose Gossage and David Nied getting interviewed by Mike Rosin.
I have Goose’s autograph already but I was carrying a poster I wanted the “Nied for Speed” David Nied to sign. We waited around for a bit, but I figured I’d have better luck inside on Sunday acquiring Nied’s autograph.
Batting practice was taking place and as Hunter and I entered the pavilion a hit baseball had just rolled up to the wall. Matt Belisle picked it up, looked up and saw Hunter standing there and tossed it to him. Within a minute of entering the stadium Hunter had the first BP ball of the regular season.
Hunter managed to snag one more and his old man came up empty for Opening Day.
Before BP ended I met up with my a friend and co-worker Kevin and his daughter Sam. This was their first Opening day at Coors and you could tell they were happy to be there just soaking everything in.
Seemed like there were fewer balloons this year?
Ceremonial first pitch.
Gonna be a fun season seeing these guys around, it feels like old times.
I like the fact that Dante has the boys hitt’n good so far.
Props to Cargo for staying healthy last year…Another Gold Glove!
Damn that thing is shiny!
This set of conjoined twins is known as the Hellowitzki.
First pitch of the game.
Cargo showing you why he got the shiny glove.
WTF?
Look far left in the front row you can see Jersey Geoff in the mix.
This Canadian earned his bacon today.
Dex seconds before a home run blast to right field.
Dex’s home run ball just before it lands.
Dex gett’n some luv from the dugout. You can see John Elway and Dick Monfort above the dugout.
Wait a minute, the entire stadium is celebrating Dex’s home run and Elway is Texting?
Sorry John..I’m a huge fan but today you are the:
“Dude texting with TV seats” fan of the game.
Props to your girl though, she knows what time it is 🙂
Watch your back “Baby Bull”!
Rockies beat the Padres in their Home Opener…5-2
Folks that’s three in row. The best the Rockies did last season was three in a row.
I’m extremely impressed with the Rockies pitching and hitting so far.
This team is loaded with talent, the question is: Is this the year we stay healthy and a new set of “Blake Street Bad-Asses” is born?
I’m “D” the Bad Ass Ranter….We need some attitude to go along with this altitude.
Here’s the Skinny on Vinny
2/28/09
We arrived 6:45 AM at Hi Corbett field and as we were driving up to the stadium we saw Clint Hurdle and Don Baylor returning from their morning walk/jog. We parked real quick and ventured out to meet up them on the street.
Me with my 1978 Sports Illustrated magazine and Andy with an Inaugural Rockies program with Baylor’s picture on it.
Clint refused(he said to catch him later), but I was able to plug the Rockpile Rant with Clint listening and he thanked me for my support.
That was pretty cool. On a sour note, twice now Vinny Castilla has blown right by me and refused to sign. Today as I held the RPR banner out with twenty other Rockies autographs on it Vinny said to me again “I’m not a player man”. He wasn’t very nice about it either.
I might understand his refusal if I was one of those guys standing there with fifteen baseball cards and wanted him to sign each and every one of them(believe me I’ve seen that here).
But that wasn’t the case, I was standing in front of him with a hand drawn TEAM banner.
He deserves a full fledge Rant but I’m on vacation and that takes way too much energy.
So Vinny, keep your autograph. It means more to you than me.
NOTE: This blog was not created to slam individual players. However I am a reality blogger and when somone is in your face rude, that’s REAL to me.
Check out my banner.
Here’s a closer look. There are twenty autographs on this banner in this picture. I’ve added two more since I took the picture. Josh Fogg and Glendon Rusch.
In 40 minutes we’ll be heading over to the practice fields to see what kind of trouble we can get into…More later…D
12:27 PM
I’m back from the practice fields. I was really lucky today.
Not only did I get 22 autographs on my banner this morning I managed to get 4 more autographs on my World Series ball. I had one baseball that Jason Hirsh signed in the wrong place so I decided to turn that baseball into a team baseball.
While I was watching batting practice in the practice fields, I decided to head out into the outfield and see if I could catch one of Helton’s BP homeruns. I was standing out there about maybe twenty minutes and then Helton hit one over to my area but it didn’t go over the fence.
Ian Stewart came over to pick it up and I asked if I could have it. He looked at me and said “Don’t worry he’ll hit one over. Not two minutes after he said that Helton hit two in a row to me.
One I caught on a bounce and one I snagged while it was still rolling.
My day gets better…After I snagged these two baseballs I headed over to get my ticket for the game. It was T-shirt day and I wanted to make sure I got one.
After I picked up my T-shirt and headed back to the practice fields to watch the rest of batting practice. When it was finished I saw my opportunity to get Todd Helton’s autograph on my bat and I took it.
Mission complete. I am now the proud owner of one Todd Helton autograped Big Stick bat and one Todd Helton World Series baseball.
Here’s a shot of the bat and the team ball I’ve been working on:
Rockies vs Dodgers
This was the third pre-season Rockies game I have been to this season and it is the third loss I have witnessed. Here’s a breakdown of the hitters and I’m not even going to go into pitching.
Final Score: Dodgers 13 Rockies 5
Eric Young 0-4 with two errors.
Scott Podsednik 0-3.
Troy Tulowitzki 0-3.
On a bright note, Matt Murton went 2-3 with one run and Joe Koshanski 1-2 with one home run scored and two RBI.
Two more Rockies games while I’m down here. One more at Hi-Corbett and one against the Brewers at the Maryvale Baseball Stadium. I need to see a win. I’ve pretty much accomplished what I set out to do down here and it would be nice to drive home buzzing with a win.
It will happen, remember I’m a BELIEVER.
Are you ready for a picture show of epic proportions? I swear I could do this for a living.
All of the pitchers doing their morning warm-up stretches.
Here’s another.
Some of the big hitters warming up, I like this picture.
Garrett Atkins
Catcher Big Sal Fasano from the Cleveland Indians. Andy and I both agree this guy has the perfect baseball moustache. He seemed like a really good guy to have around.
I heard him say at batting practice after hitting a couple of nice hits “I got those but I couldn’t even hit a foul yesterday.”
Big Sal (who’s also a blogger), Todd Helton and Ian Stewart.
Big Sal and Chris Iannetta.
Helton and my buddy for the day Vinny Castilla.
Joe Koshanski
I don’t know about you but I like seeing Helton standing there. It just seems right.
Helton or as he’s known here “Sweet T” betcha didn’t know that.
Barmes about to scoop up a grounder. He has been extremely cool about signing stuff for me this trip. Thank you Clint. He hit really well today.
Taking a break.
Clint Barmes rubbing his bat.
Garrett Atkins
Soon my friends. As far as Andy and I can tell he looks healthy and is hitting well.
It’s getting late and I haven’t even posted the game pictures that I took today. I’ll go ahead and do that tomorrow. I can’t let this entry end without letting you know how the Vinny Castilla thing turned out can I?
If you remember Vinny was a little rude this morning and tried to play me for a chump. It’s too bad because up until today I really liked Vinny Castilla.
As I was walking past Vinny’s Porche I saw something sticking in the window.
Upon closer inspection look what it was.
Wonder how that got there?
Sorry Vinny you can’t play the Ranter…Back atcha tomorrow…D
