Freez'n in the Post Season...Latenight Frostbite

10/11/09          Phillies vs Rockies Game 3...Coors Field

Game 3, series tied, and back at Coors Field. The temperature although a factor didn't matter. This was a game I wanted to witness and how bad could a few hours in the cold be right?

Baseball and cold weather do not mix. Frozen Cracker Jacks suck. 

 To quote my pops " It was colder than a well digger's a-ss in January". I can proudly say that I attended the coldest post-season baseball game in MLB history....Can you?

                                                 Meet Statue Man. Andy and I ran into him while waiting for Robert in front of the Blake Street Tavern.

                                         I asked if I could take his picture.

He mentioned he gets paid to pose, but in true Rockies spirit he let us have a freebie. Nice guy although I think he was stoned...get it?

When Robert arrived we headed inside and had the pre-game burger and beer deal and watched the last quarter of the Broncos/Patriots game. The burger was excellent, the beer that came with the burger was a Budweiser..So of course it sucked. 

King of beers...I don't think so...Try damn near any Colorado microbrew and you'll never touch that fermented urine colored water again.

 This from a guy who doesn't drink more than a beer or two a month. Quality not quantity. 

Andy (from spring training) is a Chiefs fan and Robert supports whoever happens to be playing against Broncos . They both harassed me for being a Broncos fan until the game was tied and then suddenly insults ceased.

Shortly after the game went into overtime I had the last laugh. Remember fellas, never insult a Broncos fan in a Denver bar :).

                            Student beats the teacher, Broncos are 5-0.

Robert kept us at the Blake Street too long and by the time we walked over to Coors Field we were about fifty people back in line. When I reached my spot in the pavilion it was 6:18 and batting practice was in full swing.

Unfortunately, the Rockies continued their trend of leaving within 15 minutes of their fans arriving and I totally missed them.

Missed them during batting practice on my last chance of the season. I was a little bummed.

Batting practice was a total bust as it's hard to hit cold balls when you've got cold balls. Shutout during batting practice at my last game of the season.

Andy and I headed over to the Rockies dugout because we could see them over there warming-up.

                     Did I mention it was about 30 degrees at this point?                     Carlos didn't seem like the cold weather bothered him.

While I was standing there taking pictures Garratt Atkins tossed his ball into the crowd. The ball was diverted by a bobbled catch by someone in the second row and bounced back into the forth row. I was in the fifth row and reached down to grab the ball at the same time as rather large fella.

The dude actually fell onto the ball trapping my hand underneath him.

Wonderful, there I stood as-s in the air bent over a seat and my glove hand trapped underneath him  chock full of man boob.

I must admit it was warm, but there was no way I was digging around in there for a baseball.

  Denied the last tossed-up ball at my last game of season. Thanks anyway G, next year.

Back at the pavilion we watched as they stretched out the massive flag during the playing of the National Anthem.

                                                Lots of balloons.

                                                    Lots of Military folk. Lots of smiles..Andy from Spring Training. Andy wanted me to mention it was cold.  

Seeing Yorvit's son toss out the first pitch warmed me up a bit. That was cool.                                                            Dan and Emily                                                                      Robert                 Electric blankets were aplenty in the first row of the pavilion, great idea.                       Here is video of the crowd cheering on Helton.

For a playoff game the crowd was kind of mellow. I'm sure this was because of the temperature. I can't say for sure but I didn't see "The Wave" the entire game. That's a start.

Around the sixth inning Dan let Andy and I use a set of tickets from a couple of people who had left early. So the last three innings we watched this game from the first row of the pavilion.

                                            Thanks Dan, that was very cool.

                        Here is a shot of Dan and Emily's holding thier sign  

                                                 Here's what the sign said:

I had a feeling I was going to catch a home run ball at this game, but all feeling was gone by the seventh inning especially in my toes. The temperature was 27 degrees and there was a slight wind.

Bone chilling cold. I guess mentally when you attend a football you expect it. But cold weather and baseball can really fu-ck you up.

You've still got all the same sounds and smells at the stadium so your mind thinks it's warm. You owe it to yourself to at least experience it. I had on three layers you might be wise to try four.

         Extreme cold baseball happens so rarely it's funny to watch how people react. 

 That got me to thinking if this was the coldest post-season game in history..Captain Earthman must have been serving the coldest beer ever served at a post-season game right?

Props to you Captain Earthman for setting a new record and finishing another season.

Hey I just call em as I see em :)                                                   The Rockies fan holding that sign was true to his word.    During a break in the innings the young ladies who toss out the T-Shirts positioned themselves in front of the pavilion. I stood up and moved over by Robert where there was a gap in seats and parked myself in front of the ladies and their oversize slingshot. 

I had seen these girls in action many times and they always bobble one. I've just never been close enough to catch their mistake.

Until today,...about the sixth or seventh T-Shirt they launched was a dud and the rolled up T-Shirt spun and flew about twenty feet directly to me. I leaned over the rail, reached out and caught it perfectly....Mine.

                     Actually it'll be Krista's,  it wont fit me after the first wash.

                                               Random crowd shot

                             Giambi, tried but couldn't do it this evening. 

                                   Look at the fans behind Helton.

     Here's video of Tulo's last at bat. I can't blame him. At the time I was piss'd too.

                                                          And that was it.

 It was an interesting walk back to my truck. It was after midnight, my feet felt like ice bricks and I had to be at work in a few hours.

 From a baseball viewers point of view this Rockies/Phillies series has been great. No shutouts, close games, lots of stragegy on both teams part.

But from a Rockies fans point of view, now we're down 2-1. This series and the Rockies season could be over at completion of one more home game. 

Rockies,  please make it last a little longer. I bet I'm not the only guy with a huge honey-do list :)