FIRST GAME AT SALT RIVER FIELD AT TALKING STICK

My day Started with seeing a post from the Rockpile Ranter that he was first in line to enter the new stadium. Later on there was a phone call from Robert saying he had not caught the first batting practice ball at Salt River Fields @ Talking Stick, But Did get the second that he caught from Troy Tulowitzki. An was the 1st Rockies fan to catch a BP home run. I was unable to get to Scottsdale for this game so I did watch the entire game from home on FSN soon to be Root Sports. During the whole game you were able to feel the excitement from phone call and post from friends that were there, to the chatter between a bunch of us before and during the game.

Finally after months of watching the count down on The Salt River Fields @ Talking stick website. The time had come and a new Era for the Rockies has started.

The First Pitch was thrown by Arizona’s  Aaron Heilman to the Colorado Rockies center fielder Dexter Fowler. It was a taken strike. Then Dex hit along flyball to the Diamondbacks center fielder Chris Young. On another day it would have been a Home Run, even though it was an out for the Rockies.The crack of the bat said that baseball is back. After a quick 1,2,3 inning, that saw Seth Smith and Cargo both grounding out.The Rox took the field behind their Ace starting pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez. Ubaldos first pitch was a ball. He then walked Johnson. Parra got the first hit. After that, J.D. Drew hit into a double play, the first double play. Tulo to Lopez and then to Wiggington for the double play. The Rox came up in the 2nd. Another 3 up 3 down inning But Tulo had the Rox first hit for a single. Then Ian Stewart hit into a double play getting Tulo out at 2nd and Stewart at 1st. Ty Wiggington made his Rockies debut with a pop out.

              Now to the D-Backs 2nd inning. where Geoff Blum flew out to Cargo an up came Pena who hit a single off of Ubaldo for the first hit in the history of Salt River Fields @ Talking Stick. The first run was scored off of the Rockies 2nd Pitcher of the day Gregg Reynolds, after the HR he really improved and pitched a very good 3rd and 4th with 2 strike outs and only a base hit allowed besides the HR. in the Rockies 4th the Rockies scored their first run when Cargo hit a single that scored Seth Smith from 2nd. After the Rockies 3rd inning most of the Rockies starters left the game. It was time to see the minor league players prospects and invitees. One very notable performance was Jonny Herrera who went 3 for 3 with a walk. Their were no other runs till the Rockies 6th inning. When Sky Sox left fielder Cole Gardner hit a single with 1 out. Followed by a Pop out by Gomez and a walk by Chris Nelson then a double by Mike Jacobs scored them both, making the score 3 to 1 Rockies. In the Top of the 7th the Rockies scored 4 runs which they sent 9 batters to the plate. The Diamondbacks did respond in the 7th when Brandon Allen scored off of some bodies double (Trying to keep track of opposing teams with not very known players yielded to be difficult). The score at this point was 7-2. It looked like the game was well out of reach, BUT as many people know you never leave a game early and in baseball anything is possible and especially in spring training. The Diamondbacks came back in the 9th with 5 runs including a 3 run HR by invitee Paul Goldschmidt, tying the game at 7 a piece. The game went into the 10th inning. At first the Diamondbacks did not come out to the field thinking in Spring Training fashion the game would be called. Not in this one, they were going to the 10th, and, after a Mike Jacobs fly out to center Charlie Blackman came up with a long solo shot to the berm in right field. I was actually on the phone with Robert who was at the stadium and heard the homer over the phone before i saw it on the 7 second delay on TV. The D backs came up in the with an un productive inning and the Rockies won the game 8-7. Andrew Johnston Pitched very well in the 9th and 10th inning an even got an at bat for a walk in the 10th. So The game was a great first game for a new stadium. With exciting come backs and extra innings and was won in total Rockies style.

During the game FSN showed the new Rockies Commercials which as always were very entertaining. My favorite was the Metal detector which featured Troy Tulowitzki and Todd Helton.

Even though I was not there it was fun and exciting to watch. Had a great time chatting with other Rockies fan who were also watching from their homes. Gary X, Joy and Dan. And hope this will be a frequent tradition during away games.

As I am writing this 9 News in Denver has reported that the Rockies Lost this game in 10 innings 8-7. Maybe they should watch the games or maybe even read one of the MLB Blogs.

For More Coverage from this game Check out the Rockpile Rant baseballsnatcher.mlblogs.com  who was their live and I’m sure will share the experience and photos from the game like only the Ranter can.

I can’t wait for my trip to Scottsdale on March 18th when I will be blogging nightly from the games at Salt River Field at Talking Stick and Rockies away games.

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