Coors Field
Denver, CO
San Francisco
Giatns at Colorado Rockies
July 9, 2003
By
Ken Schlapp
Since I had a day between the Diamondbacks game on July 7th and the
Rockies game on July 9th, I decided to make a stop at Four Corners,
which is the geographic location where Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and
Colorado all meet at one point. OK, so I'm a sucker for things like
making sure I set foot in all lower 48 states during my journey.
Therefore, I satisField the criteria of having been in Utah and New
Mexico by stopping to see this monument, since there is no need to
do so at any other point of my trip.
The bad part about this detour was that for the first time during my
journey I had to do most of the driving on 2-lane roads instead of
on Interstate highways. I guess this was the point where having
driven almost 10,000 miles in less than 4 weeks started to get to
me. Instead of enjoying the beauty of the Rocky Mountains, I was
just irritated at the cars going 40 MPH in front of me with no way
to pass. It was taking so long that I was starting to worry about
getting to Coors Field late, but in the end I made it with plenty of
time to spare.
Wait! Hold the presses! I almost forgot this is a Baseball story
I did get to see a game at Coors Field, you know, the stadium most
famous for high scoring games with tons of homers. I was not
disappointed, considering the final score was 11-7 in favor of the
Rockies. The Giants got off to an early lead on a Barry Bonds RBI
single in the 1st, but the Rockies came back immediately with 4 runs
in the bottom of the inning. The big blow was a 2-RBI double by
Larry Walker, which was also his 1,279th hit as a Rockie to make him
their all-time hit leader (he passed Dante
Bichette). The Giants came right back to make it 4-3 in the top of
the 2nd with RBIs by Ray Durham and JT Snow. It appeared to be all
Rockies after that as they scored 4 more in the 3rd and 1 in the
6th, with the highlight being a 3-run blast by Juan Uribe (in the
3rd) to put the Home team up 9-3. But the Giants again tried to make
a game of it by scoring 4 runs of their own in the 7th, led by Barry
Bonds line drive 3-run dinger, much to the dismay of the loyal Bonds
bashers sitting with me in left field. However, Preston Wilson
doubled in 2 more runs in the 8th to put the game away and cap off
his 4-RBI night and take over the National League RBI lead with 83.
Coincidentally, this game marks the 3rd consecutive Jesse Foppert
start that I have attended. Some may begin to think I'm a Foppert
groupie, but it was just a coincidence. In summary, he was awful in
a loss to the A's, then pitched poorly against the Padres, but won
anyhow, and finally last nights loss to the Rockies. So he is now
1-2 with me in attendance. Maybe, for his sake, I should avoid his
starts from now on. By the way, Aaron Cook pitched just well enough
in his 6.1 innings to get the win and may have also saved himself a
trip down to AAA. Overall, things worked out well for me. I got to
see a high scoring game at Coors and even saw Bonds hit one out (for
the second straight game on my trip).
Although I was having a good time, the Rockies' fans at this game
seemed extremely quiet. Maybe, because they are used to seeing a
lot of runs scored, they don't get too excited over scoring? The
main sign
 of
life from the fans was the constant yelling at Bonds, which I was
able to hear quite clearly from my seats in left field. The only
problem with the yelling was that not one of the fans was saying
anything amusing or witty; they were just yelling at him to wake up
and pay attention to the game and that he was a bum. In fact I
found them (one or two of them to be precise) to be annoying enough
for me to root for Bonds to hit one out and he complied. The fans
did show some excitement during the in-game promotions such as:
* The electronic races, where 3 pigs riding on red, white, and blue
Harleys (red was the winner);
* A fan runs from center field to replace 2nd base and then run
towards the dugout;
* A fan has to catch a ball shot into center field with a slingshot;
and
* When a guy working for the Rockies would sprint to the infield to
bring in the relief pitcher's warm-up jacket (OK, this wasn't a
promotion, but it fit well here).
As far as excitement over the game, only when Walker broke the team
hit record did they react loudly for their team. Other than that,
the fans pretty much only responded when prompted by the scoreboard,
and that was also infrequent.
Now to talk about Coors Field itself. There are two things Coors
Field is famous for. The first is high scoring, which I detailed
above. The second is Rocky Mountain Oysters, which if you don't
know already, are bull's testicles. I've heard many a time, that
once you get past the mental block of what you are eating that it
does taste great. So I had to be man enough to try them, but to my
surprise, I was informed that they weren't making any tonight.
Therefore, I couldn't try the stadium's special food. However,
members of Guest Relations informed me, that I should try a Blake
Street Steak Burrito. This was available and was huge and quite
good. So I guess 1 out of 2 isn't that bad. They also had a wide
variety of foods, such as sushi, Top Dog (which enables you to
sample hot dogs from other parts of the country like New York and
Chicago), and they even had a kid food stand behind the left field
bleachers. Not to forget, you will not have a problem sampling
various Coors beer products at this ballpark. I was disappointed I
couldn't try the oysters, but in general, I ate well.
As far as the actual stadium, I really like the all-red brick look
of the stadium from the outside. The clock overlooking the main
entrance gives a nice quality to it, which is similar to Pac-Bell.
When you first walk in through Gate D, you can see that the Rockies
want to showcase their brief history by displaying the team's past
highlight's and All-Stars on the walls. On the inside, Coors has
all of the similar amenities that most of the new stadiums have:
* An interactive section where fans can bat and pitch against actual
video of players;
* The various foods mentioned above;
* An outfield picnic area;
* Various upscale restaurants and clubs;
* A video game room; and
* A play section for children.
What I think Coors Field captures here, more so than the other new
ballparks I've seen so far, is a true old ballpark feeling. They
have all the extra "non-baseball" stuff, but it is not so apparent
from your seats. The manual out-of-town scoreboard on the right
field wall, that is in play and somewhat high above the field, gives
it that Fenway Park kind of look. The way the 3-tiered stands come
all the way around to the "batter's eye" makes you think of Tiger
Stadium. The extended bleachers over the "batters eye" are also
similar to Wrigley Field. They also have all green seats to bring
out the right baseball feeling. And, although there is a Jumbotron
behind the left field bleachers to pass on the useful in-game
information, it does not take away from the old "feel" to the
ballpark.
Bottom line - Overall at Coors Field, you can do all the extras that
take you away from the game, but if you want to watch a ball game in
a nice atmosphere this is a place to do it. The Rockies will just
have to work on building some excitement in their fans. Maybe, if
they started contending for a title it will pick up?
Basic trip facts:
* Stadium # 17
* Old Stadium Sites visited - None (Total - 9)
* Under construction Stadium Sites visited - None (Total - 1)
* Miles traveled - 853 via Car (Totals: Driving - 9,682, Subway -
20, Air - 3,196, Total - 12,918)
* States, provinces and/or commonwealths passed through - Arizona,
New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado (Totals: States - 29, Provinces - 0,
Commonwealths - 1)
* Seats - Section 145, Row 18, Seat 8 - Field Level in Left Field
* Prices: Parking - $20.00, Beer - $5.25 - $5.75, Hot Dogs - $3.25 -
$4.25, Blake Street Burrito $7.00, Rocky Mountain Oysters - $7.50,
Program (including pencil) - $6.25, Souvenir Soda Cup - $4.75
* Credit Card giveaway - Rockies T-shirt or Rockies Towel (I got
both). All fans also received a purple Rockies Santa Klaus hat as a
promotion.
* First Pitch - 7:07 PM
* Attendance - 31,139
* Results - Rockies 11, Giants 7, W - Adam Cook, L - Jesse Foppert,
S - None
* Home team record to date - 10 wins, 10 losses
* Record of "team I was routing for" to date - 7 wins, 13 losses
* Lodging - Cortez, Colorado (7/8), and Denver, Colorado (7/8) |
