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