It’s 6:50pm Mountain Time, and I’m sitting 21 rows behind the visiting AZ Dbacks dugout. Let’s PLAY BALL!

OK, so some notes and observations from Coors Field in Denver, Colorado:

  • There are two lefties starting tonight… had I bothered to research this ahead of time, I probably would NOT have chosen to sit behind the THIRD BASE side dugout. No foul balls for The Borg tonight! durrrr….
  • The stadium is nice. Newish feeling, even though it’s over 10 years old. It’s got an open lower concourse, ala Nationals Park or Minute Maid (formerly Enron) Field. However, it feels more like Camden Yards, and the upper deck is akin to Camden or FedEx Field.
  • VERY late-arriving crowd for a 7:10pm game. In the 2nd inning, I began to wonder if we might not hit 10K fans. By the 3rd, the lower deck was full, and more than half the club seats as well. However, the UD was nearly barren.
  • Speaking of the Upper Deck, there’s a neat row of purple seats about 5 rows from the top (while every other seat in the stadium is dark green). The purple row evidently signifies 1 mile above sea level.
  • The air is indeed VERY thin here: balls are absolutely FLYING outta this yard. 4 dingers in all, three of which looked like they’d be short-ish pop-ups in any other park. And two others went to the wall, and two others hit off it. Wow.
  • Concessions are cheaper here. Not by a ton, but just enough to feel like I’m getting a bargain - beers are $6/6.50; water is $3; A regular hot dog was actually more expensive (like $4.50) as compared to Nats Park, but the double-length, grilled “Rockies Dog” - which comes with choice of any/all of onions, kraut and grilled peppers, was like $5.50. It was damn yummy.
  • I didn’t see helmet sundaes, but i didn’t bother with ice cream. By the 8th inning, there was a 20-mph plus breeze, and it was like 65 degrees. BRRRRR!!!
  • There’s no Presidents Race, but they did several neat things in between innings, including the “Ushers Race” where a fan gets a chance to run in from left field, replace a base, and run off in :25. She barely made it. — Also, another fan got a chance to catch one of two fly balls (shot from a Nat Pack-launched slingshot). He missed both. Badly. And was roundly booed. By me. Most people clapped politely. They’re WAY too nice out here!
  • The pre-game “entertainment” sucked arse, tho. There basically was none. Uber lame.
  • On the lower deck (where my seats are), the ushers stand in the way of aisles during play and only let fans back to their seats at play stoppages. How sophisticated! You’d think a more cosmopolitan city like DC could adopt such practices.
  • Former Nat “Big” Jon “Wookie” Rauch comes in for the D’backs in the 8th of a 4-4 game, and gives up the game-losing 2-run HR. RUH ROH RAUCH!! :-p
  • Brian Fuentes comes in to save a 2-run lead in the 9th, gives up a run, loads the bases (including an IBB to Connor Jackson in order to pitch to newly-aquired Adam Dunn), and gets Dunn to ground out on a 3-2 pitch. Heh.
  • Rox Win! Rox Win!!