Colorado Rockies Baseball

Baseball with an altitude!

On Saturday, September 5th, Geoff and I went to the Rockies baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Coors Field in Denver. We had seats behind right field on the second level. We didn't get there until the 2nd inning, and it was already 2 to 0 with Rockies on top.
In the pictures where the ball was visible, I drew a red circle around it to make it easier to see. If there's no red circle, then the ball is outside the picture or in the catcher's glove.

The first batter is Seth Smith who is playing left field tonight. You can tell from the pictures that he gets a called strike from the umpire, then a hit, but he is put out before reaching first base.

The next batter is Todd Helton. In the pictures you can see that he works the count full and finally gets a hit but is put out at first.

The pictures in the next section below are Tulo. His real name is Troy Tulowitski but we call him Tulo. This is his 3rd year in baseball. In his rookie year he got a very rare triple assist. We were hoping he would get the rookie of the year award but unfortunately he didn't. In the series of pictures you can see where he gets a hit and gets on first base.

Ryan Spilborghs is no. 19, the next batter. You can see Tulo stealing 2nd in this series, but eventually Ryan strikes out.

No. 9 is Ian Stewart. He's a utility player and a good hitter. In this series he works the count full and gets a hit but they get him out before he gets to first.

The next batter is Yorvit Torrealba, the catcher. He is from Venezuela. Unfortunately he struck out.

This is a new pitcher that I don't know anything about. His name is Jose Contreras. In September they always call up new players and he's one of them. Anyway, he held the Diamondbacks to one hit until the 7th inning.

No. 5 is Carlos Gonzalez. He was called up from the minor leagues in July and has been hitting like crazy and has become a very valuable player. But in this series of pictures he strikes out.

Now we've batted around and we're back to Seth Smith, no. 7. In this series he gets a double.

This is Todd Helton batting again. He gets a hit and gets to first. Then you can see Seth Smith coming around from 2nd, sliding home and scoring.

In these two pictures, Tulo is batting again. He gets a hit but is out, and that ends the inning, leaving Todd Helton stranded on 2nd.

This is Dinger, the mascot, a dinosaur. The men in front are holding a large slingshot. They have packages of T-shirts, and Dinger shoots them up into the crowd as a free give-away. Some of these pictures came out very blurry.

By the 7th inning, the pitcher was loosing his touch, so they took him out. In the first picture, the man farthest to the left is the general manager, Jim Tracy (Clint Hurdle was taken out back in the Spring.). No. 17 is Todd Helton. No. 54 is Contreras, the pitcher who is leaving after 6 innings of excellent pitching. Behind him is Yorvit Torrealba, the catcher. No. 12 is Clint Barmes who plays 2nd base. Behind him is Tulo, the shortshop, no. 2. And on the right is Ian Stewart, no. 9, who is playing 3rd base.

The new pitcher is Joe Beimel, no. 97. While he takes a few practice pitches, the base players have a conference.

This is Eric Young, Jr., in for the pitcher's batting position. He is the son of one of the original Blake Street Bombers, Eric Young, in the early years of the Rockies team.

In the pictures from left to right, are Ryan Spilborghs, No. 19, right field; Seth Smith, No. 7, left field; Carlos Gonzalez, No. 5, center field; Clint Barmes, No. 12, 2nd base; Todd Helton, No. 17, 1st base; Ian Stewart, No. 9, left field; Troy Tulowitski, No. 2, shortstop; and Yorvit Torrealba, No. 8, catcher.

In the 9th inning they brought in the closer, Franklin Morales, No. 56.

One of the last batters for the Diamondbacks was Eric Byrnes, who made some comment about the Rockies a few years ago, so now he always gets booed when he plays here.

After a conference on the mound, they got the last out. This is the catcher, Yorvit Torrealba, from Venezuela, and the pitcher, Franklin Morales.

Right after the last out, they always line up to shake hands and give high fives. I forgot what the score was, but they won. At the time of writing this, they are at the top of the Wild Card and only 4 games back of the Dodgers for the National League West Pennant.

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Contact webmaster Updated 9/10/09