April 2007 Archives

Yesterday marked the end of the second home stand of the 2007 season for the Arizona Diamondbacks. As I previously promised I will try to provide a synopsis of each home stand. This will act as my own personal barometer of how the stadium, team, and season are going. Before we begin let me again reiterate the standard warning/disclaimer that the views expressed in this blog are my own personal views and do not represent the views of any factual person living or dead. Based on normal driving conditions your mileage may vary. Any rebroadcast of these thoughts and views without the express written consent of Major League Baseball and the Arizona Diamondbacks is ok because if you read this paragraph carefully you would have seen that these views don’t represent anyone’s thoughts but my own. See I knew you guys were not paying attention! Without further delay let me present the State of the Fan address for the home stand ending April 29.

There were activities for everyone at today’s game. It was Family Emergency Preparedness day with exhibits set up on the plaza to teach you how to keep your family safe. It was Bike to Chase day where families could ride bicycles to the ballpark to teach you about bike safety and give everyone an opportunity to get a little bit of exercise. Once you entered the stadium they had Diamondbacks Sportscaster and former Major League Baseball player Joe Garagiola Sr. there signing copies of his book Just Play Ball. Somewhere lost in the midst of all this activity was the fact that there was a baseball game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Francisco Giants. It was the final game of the series and the homestand and a lot was on the line.

Technically yesterday was Dakota’s birthday but plans had already been put into motion to allow him to have a birthday party today. It’s interesting how children’s birthday parties have changed over the years. I remember when I was a kid, a birthday party consisted of cupcakes, pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, and strange hats and noise makers that always seem to get broken as soon as you got home (I think parents broke these on purpose to save their sanity). Now though birthday parties have become events of a grand scale. There are businesses that have sprung up just to cater to this market. Places like Amazing Jakes, Game On, Makutu’s Island offer entire entertainment and party packages where kids can go and celebrate their special day. There are activity centers, games, music, themed rooms and music to provide the party with the appropriate ambiance. I don’t remember this much planning going into my wedding let alone a birthday party. So when Dakota’s special day was approaching I was never more grateful to his commitment to the Arizona Diamondbacks. I mean what do these other party centers have over Chase Field?

This is a very special date in my life. In the year 1 BD (Before Diamondbacks – I have decided that starting at this point on I will refer to all dates as occurring either before the Diamondbacks began playing or after the team first took the field in 1998) I was recovering from my second reconstructive shoulder surgery. My shoulder had been suffering from bilateral instability and I had a torn rotator cuff and labrum. After the surgery I would have to be in a brace for eight weeks. This was not your average brace. This monstrosity would hold my arm up 60 degrees from my body from the shoulder to the elbow. The elbow to the hand went out 45 degrees towards the front of my body. I felt like a wide load truck going down the highway as my arm hung out impeding traffic. Trina at this time was 9 months pregnant so we made quite a couple. I was as wide as she was deep. Our spatial footprint looked like a couple of Sumo wrestlers without the towel wedgies. During the morning of April 27, 1 BD (1997 for those who are Diamondbacks date challenged), Trina came to me to announce that she had gone into labor and that it was time to go to the hospital. This information presented two problems for me.

Since he was eight, Dakota has been actively participating in the Cub Scouts. I think that is a good thing as the scouting program has a lot of values that I happen to agree with. Besides, where else do you get to turn boys loose with knives, fires, and camping without having some kind of police intervention? So based upon that I think scouting and in particular the Cub Scouts are good for a growing boy. They teach commitment and life skills and do so in a manner that little boys don’t realize they are learning stuff. They just go every week and have fun. Sometimes though Cub Scouts start to encroach on baseball and that is when I face a moral dilemma of teaching Dakota about proper life choices and prioritization. It just so happens that today I face just such a problem.

After last night’s experience at the ballpark it is hard to imagine anything was going to compare. I guess that means I have a limited imagination (which is something I have never been accused of having). Tonight I was taking Dakota to the game with me. In an odd scheduling anomaly Dakota somehow got tagged with tickets to last night in the pool, tonight, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It wasn’t that either of us was complaining about it, it just seemed kind of odd that he got so many games in this home stand. Usually he is begging and pleading for an extra game here and there but this year he has gone to a lot of games already. At the first game I took him to he signed up for the new Kids Club fan loyalty program. Prizes are awarded at various levels when kids attend a certain number of games. The highest prize level is for attending 20 games. Based on Dakota’s attendance so far this season, he is going to go past that level around the middle of May. Looking at the expressions on the faces of the people working at the prize redemption center I am not sure they anticipated a kid being this dedicated or attending that many games. Now normally I love having Dakota go to the games with me but this year not so much.

I was sitting at my desk pondering the environmental implications of baseball when my cell phone rang. Absently I reached over and answered it. “Hello? Is this Jeff Summers?” the caller asked. “Yes, this is Jeff.” I replied. “This is Carrie from the Arizona Diamondbacks and I am calling to ask if you would be interested in 4 tickets to tonight’s game?” she questioned. Now anyone who knows me should realize what my answer would be. Without hesitation I replied, “Yeah I would love tickets to the Diamondbacks game!” This in and of itself would constitute being an awesome day and the best news I could possibly receive but what happened next just floored me. “These are seats to the pool area at Chase Field for you and three guests. I will leave the tickets at Will Call for you to pick up. I hope that you enjoy the game.” The first thing that went through my mind as the call ended was that I needed Trina to make me a dental appointment. I need to know whether I caused any permanent damage when my chin hit the desk from shock. This is not the first time that Carrie had called me with good news. She is quickly becoming my new hero ranking right above Wonder Woman but just below Batman. I eagerly called home to tell Trina what had just happened. It wasn’t until my conversation with my wife that I actually realized life may not be as perfect as I first anticipated.

Every year I eagerly await the Arizona Diamondbacks creating their media guide. The media guide is perhaps the most under-rated communications tool that a team produces. Its audience is the press who cover the team. Within its covers are facts and figures on every player on the roster, results from years past, and pieces of trivia that would easily make you the most popular guy at a party. Getting your hands on a media guide can sometimes be a difficult proposition. Many a year I have scoured the depths of eBay looking for someone who might have a Diamondbacks media guide. Sometimes I get lucky and one falls into my hands. This year I definitely fell into the lucky category. During conversations I had was Greg Salvatore from D-backs Insider magazine I happened to mention the yearly quest I go on to find one of these elusive guides. We both laughed at some of the stories and the lengths I went to in finding these books. Much to my surprise, Greg sent a copy of the 2007 guide with a note. It was amazing!

Is it just me or does it seem like the whole world has suddenly gone crazy for environmental consciousness all of a sudden? We’ve been warned about global warming for the past 20 years and environmental groups such as Green Peace and The Nature Conservancy have been around for around 50 years. It used to be that those groups were thought of as splinter groups that in no way represented the mainstream of society. Lately though that has changed and you can’t go anywhere without someone uttering the phrase “carbon footprint” or somehow measuring the environmental costs of a policy decision. At first I blamed Al Gore. Since inventing the Internet then losing the presidency Mr. Gore has become spokesman for the planet making appearances, writing books, and now making a movie about the dangers our environment faces. I have to give the guy credit. He has at least found something to do since losing his government job. I just wish he would have put his powers to work for good instead of evil. Don’t get me wrong, I think protecting the planet is great and everyone should do their part. It is just that we have other issues that are even more pressing that deserves our full attention.

My home stand is quickly coming to a close. In just three more days I will be away for 6 games before returning home for 3 followed by 7 away. At least that is how Trina and the kids refer to it. If the Diamondbacks are away then dad is at home. If the Diamondbacks are at home then dad is away. It feels great to know that Major League Baseball has defined my life so well for 182 days of the year. The one problem is that things tend to get a little backed-up at home so during my home stands I have even less time than I do when I am away. This is especially true early in the season since we haven’t settled into our baseball routine. At times things don’t go smoothly and Trina wants to make changes to the line-up or the rules of the game. I have to remind her that baseball season is a marathon. You can’t panic when things don’t go as planned. You have to keep an even keel and try not to panic. You just have to take it one game at a time and the good Lord willing you can help the team. (She hates it when I start quoting from Bull Durham.) During this home stand I had computer work that needed to be done (For the record I hate Microsoft just about as much as I hate the Designated Hitter and that’s a lot!) I also wanted to get working on Seat Cushions 2.0 so that I didn’t have to be embarrassed about sitting on purple and teal.

A week from today will be Dakota’s tenth birthday. In case I happen to forget that fact he makes it a point to remind me every day. When he first reminded Trina and I of that fact we asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday this year. He had this incredulous look on his face as he stated matter-of-factly “Well I am going to the Diamondbacks game of course.” I had never been more proud of the boy than I was at that moment. There was never any doubt in his mind that the most appropriate place to spend a birthday (or any day for that matter) is at Chase Field cheering on the Arizona Diamondbacks. If I taught my children nothing else I can at least die knowing that I was successful as a parent to instill the proper priority in my kids’ lives. Trina merely shook her head and muttered something about father, son, warped, and hair piece. No wait it wasn’t hair piece it was therapy. I’ve noticed that Trina develops an annoying habit of muttering and mumbling. I think it is an allergy since it seems to get worse starting in April and then gets better somewhere around the end of September though from 1999-2002 the mumbling went into October.

At the conclusion of the 2006 regular season the Arizona Diamondbacks began to make plans for the next year. This would not be a normal year where there would be a few tweaks to an already established product. No this would be almost a rebirth as the team attempts to redefine itself through new ownership, new colors, new players, and hopefully a new direction in the standings. We began to see the changes on November 8 when the team unveiled their new logos and colors at the Valley Ho resort. As Spring Training arrived we saw more and more changes become visible furthering the transformation. At the beginning of April we saw another change this one to the publications that the Arizona Diamondbacks produce for their fans. Gone is the old Diamondbacks Magazine and in its place is the new D-backs Insider magazine. This publication is designed to give the fans a look within the organization and its players. As a season ticket holder I receive a free subscription to this magazine but would gladly pay for it as it usually has great stories that you can’t find anywhere else.

The first home stand of the 2007 season is now behind us. Over the past 8 games we have been given a brief glimpse of the latest version of the Arizona Diamondbacks and many of us have begun to develop a conclusion of how this team and this season will go. I’ve decided to provide a home stand by home stand synopsis basically providing my own person state of the union address when it comes to Chase Field and the season in general. I should probably begin this by providing some sort of warning/disclaimer stating that the viewpoints expressed in this blog entry are my own warped sense of reality and do not reflect the views of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Major League Baseball, or any other normal human being. Any coherent thoughts either real or fictional are purely coincidental and are not meant to be taken internally. Should this happen, induce vomiting and contact medical professionals. Without further adieu I give you my thoughts on Arizona Diamondbacks 2007.

Tonight marked the merciful end to a brutal two game series with the Los Angeles Dodgers. If these two games are any indication of the level of intensity within the National League Western Division, this is going to be a knock-down drag out fight to the end. Not just on the field either as Dodger fans and Diamondbacks fans began brawling in the right field stands during the game. From my count it took 7 security guards to break up the ruckus and restore peace in the outfield. While the Diamondbacks came out on the short end of the score for both games, there were bright spots that kept a glimmer of hope alive. Over the course of a 162 game schedule it is hard sometimes to stay at an even keel. It is so easy to attempt to draw patterns and make assumptions based on a single game or a single series. Diamondbacks history has shown though that would be a bad idea. In 1999, the first year the Diamondbacks reached the post season the team was 5-7 through April 17. During the world championship 2001 season the team was 6-8 through April 17 thanks to a 2 game winning streak on April 16 and 17. In both those cases the team heated up like a Phoenix summer. Hopefully history will repeat itself in 2007. As I alluded to yesterday, the game was only have the story for this series. To a lot of fans Luis Gonzalez coming back to Phoenix was the real story. Now that both games are in the books I have had a little time to contemplate what this 2-day event meant.

On October 1, 2006 the Arizona Diamondbacks said farewell to two of the most charismatic and loyal players: Luis Gonzalez and Craig Counsell. The parting of ways was not the most amicable especially in the case of Gonzalez. Gonzo had played in Arizona for the Diamondbacks since 1999 and had become the face of the franchise for both his on-field performance and his off-field persona. It was an emotional good-bye for both players and fans. The Diamondbacks painted a number 20 in left field and a number 4 behind second base. Fans came in droves to the last game of the season to wish Gonzalez the best and to thank him for everything that he had done for the team and for the community. Gonzalez wanted to remain a Diamondback and was willing to accept a lesser role with the team to stay in Arizona. The team had no interest in picking up Gonzo’s option for 2007 nor were they willing to discuss Luis coming back as a bench or part-time player. The team was opting to give their young prospects an opportunity to make their mark in the major leagues. It was merely an added benefit that the team would save money going young at this juncture. So in the end it became a business decision to part ways with the most recognizable person in Diamondbacks history. Gonzalez was not prepared to retire and wanted to play a couple of more years. Since his team did not want him, Gonzo wanted to sign a free agent contract with a National League team preferably one in the Western Division so that he could play the Diamondbacks regularly and hopefully show them that they made a mistake by passing up on his services. In the off-season Luis Gonzalez signed a contract to play with divisional rival Los Angeles. Tonight’s game marks the first meeting of the 2007 season between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Arizona Diamondbacks. A mere half game separates these two teams in the standings with the Diamondbacks in first place and the Dodgers right behind them as if this game needed any more drama.

In the movie Back to the Future it seems that November 5, 1955 is the center of the time space continuum. All events future and past all seem to be connected by that one day. It started innocently enough when Doc Brown was describing to Marty McFly how the DeLoren time machine works. That tutorial was cut short when Libyans arrived at the Twin Pines Mall seeking vengeance against Doc Brown for stealing their plutonium. This sequence always made me wonder whether a simple somewhat trivial event in my life could somehow become the defining moment in the timeline of the universe. Based upon the events of today, I am wondering if April 14, 2007 may just be that day.

There are days when you just have to wonder whether God has some sort of perverted sense of humor. There is just no other explanation in my mind. How else can you explain the series of events that I had to endure at tonight’s baseball game? Ever since the 2007 regular schedule had been released I had been looking forward to today’s game. It was the first of six bobble head giveaway nights. This one would commemorate Brandon Webb receiving the 2007 Cy Young award. Bobble head nights are big at our house. I have a full collection of all the bobble heads that the Diamondbacks have given away since their inception. They are lined across the top of my desk and stand guard over my computer. There is nothing quite as comforting as knowing that you are being protected by little guys with springs in their heads that move at the slightest amount of movement. In the early years bobble head games were a huge affair to the Diamondbacks and people would begin lining up at 7 AM waiting for the gates to open at 4:30 PM. Many a day have I spent in the glaring sun of then Bank One Ballpark hoping to be counted among the first 20,000 to arrive to collect a bobble head. Those days have been replaced with a more civilized version with lines forming only an hour before gates open relieving a lot of stress and anxiety of wondering whether you would get one of these prized giveaways. Bobble head days are one of the few games where Whitney actually doesn’t mind going to the game which is good since she is the only one capable of going to today’s game due to scheduling conflicts. Given all of the excitement and anticipation of bobble head day you would think nothing could damper my spirits. That is where you are sorely mistaken. This was like the worst flipping day of my whole life.

Paraskevidekatriaphobia, even the word sends chills down my spine. When the baseball schedule is released every year I go through it with a fine tooth comb looking at potential match-ups, length of home stands, comparing gameday giveaways, and in general planning out my summer. After the first five or six reviews of the schedule I finally get down to marking out the calendar so that Trina and the kids know when I will be at home and when I will be at HOME (Chase Field). It was during this last review that I suddenly realized that the Arizona Diamondbacks would be playing on April 13 which is a Friday. Friday the thirteenth? Was this some kind of joke? Who in their right minds would schedule a baseball team to play on one of the most unlucky days of the year? This had to be some kind of mistake didn’t it? This is the kind of thing that can cause you to lose an entire season. What was even more inexplicable was the fact that the Diamondbacks would have an off-day on Thursday April 12 as did their Friday opponent the Colorado Rockies. Why in the world didn’t the scheduling geniuses at Major League Baseball just move the game ahead one day to the twelfth and then give the team the day off today eliminating any potentially devastating disasters? I guess for the same reason that they scheduled home games in the middle of winter storms in Chicago, Cleveland, and New York.

This season marks the tenth season that I have attended Arizona Diamondbacks ball games at Bank One Ballpark / Chase Field. I’ve attended 558 regular season games during that time. I’ve also attended every post season and Spring Training game that has ever been played at the stadium. Besides baseball I’ve also been to monster truck rallies, motocross races, a boat show, a marching band competition, and even a women’s college basketball game at the stadium. You would think that with all these visits to events that I would have done about everything there is to do at Chase Field. Well, not quite. I’ve never been selected to be in the condiment races during a game although my daughter Whitney did so I guess I can count that by family association. Still I would love a chance to get up on the dugout and run in place proudly wearing my “I am Relish” T-shirt. Of course now they are dressing the contestants up in these hideous looking hot dog costumes that look like they were left over from a Wal-Mart Halloween costume sale so I may want to rethink my life long dream of being a condiment. The other thing I always wanted to do was to watch a game from the pool area in right field. Since the Arizona Diamondbacks are the only team in Major League Baseball to have a pool inside their home stadium I look at this as more of a conversation starter than anything. I’ve suggested to Trina that we rent the pool for a game just so that I can say that I’ve done it but she always balks at the idea especially when she sees the price. So that may be something I never will experience as a fan of the Diamondbacks. Just because I haven’t done it, doesn’t mean I am completely oblivious to what the experience is like.

Last night’s game against the Cincinnati Reds had a little bit of everything. It was the best night of baseball I have seen at Chase Field all season. Of course it is only the second game of the season at Chase Field so my sample size for that statistic might be a little misleading. Nonetheless, it was a great night to be at the ballpark. After an opening night that saw 49,481 fans in attendance, there was a slight drop off in paid attendance to the second game. During the eighth inning it flashed on the JumboTron that 22,225. Less than half of those who were here last night came back for the encore. Considering that the team had just won 5 in a row and were sitting atop the National League Western Division, that is kind of sad. Some of the drop could be attributed to there being a Phoenix Suns basketball game but still there is no good explanation for why so many fans are still sitting on the fence rather than sitting in the seats. It may take a few games for fans to begin to get behind this team. So for those who aren’t sure whether to go down to Chase Field and catch a game, let me give you a few reasons based on tonight’s game of why this would be a good idea.

Last night did not go completely as planned. While the game was a blast and both Trina and I had a good time, there was one unexpected incident that put a damper on our evening. For the past 10 years I have gone to every Diamondbacks home opener and each time I take a camera with me to get some shots of the game and the fans that are enjoying it. In 1998 I used my Olympus OM-4 35mm camera with a 180mm telephoto lens and a 2x teleconverter making the lens essentially a 360mm f/5.6. As years progressed so did my camera equipment. Before long I had embraced the digital era and moved away from my film SLR and to a digital SLR. I collect cameras kind of like I collect bobble heads (at least that is what Trina would have you believe). I have several camera and lens combinations that have accompanied me to the games documenting our experiences and those of fellow fans. The latest equipment I am using is a Nikon D200 digital SLR camera and a Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 lens. From our seat location the lens is able to get a decent shot of the pitcher and the batter so I was eagerly looking forward to seeing what pictures I would be able to capture at the home opener. (The pictures from last night’s game are on my personal web site if you are interested in seeing what I took. I’ll be incorporating these photos into the rotation of pictures on NowHitting.com during the upcoming days.) These photos nearly didn’t happen though.

It seems like only last week I was excitedly talking about Opening Day and the beginning of baseball. Oh wait, that was just last week. I wondered whether the Diamondbacks Home Opener would be diluted or less exciting because I had attended Opening Day in Colorado. Just as soon as I asked that question of myself I immediately began to laugh. That has to be the stupidest question I have ever asked myself and I have asked a lot of stupid questions. I’ve never been to a Diamondbacks game that I wasn’t excited. In fact, I have never had a dream about going to an Arizona Diamondbacks game where I wasn’t excited. Excitement level is probably not something I need to be worried about. I had more important and pressing things on my mind. It seems that all the clocks in my house are broken. There is no other explanation for why time has moved so slowly today. We had planned to leave our house just before 4 PM and yet the hands on the analog clocks didn’t seem to move at all. I sat and stared at my watch for what I thought was 5 minutes and yet it only showed that 1 minute had gone by. At this rate I didn’t think I would ever live to see 4 PM.

“Excuse me, could you please tell me which aisle I could find the Sedona Red rattlesnake eggs?” I asked. For the fourth consecutive store I was met with a blank stare by store employees followed by a pause and a “wha?” What kind of society do we live in when a guy can’t find Sedona Red or Sonoran Sand snake eggs for Easter? This is totally messed up. I’ve scoured the stores looking for plastic eggs for Easter and no one seems to be carrying the new Diamondbacks colors. I have found neon, pastel, speckled, camouflaged, Spiderman, sports balls (I did pick up 4 baseball looking eggs that were really cool), and metallic but no where did I come across any that were Sedona Red or Sonoran Sand. I would even have settled for black eggs but there were none of those either. Did these merchants not get the memo that the Diamondbacks had changed their colors? How in the world could I expect the Easter Bunny to fill Purple and Teal eggs and hide them for the children? That is so old school. I mean one of the main reasons for the color change was because it was difficult to reproduce the purple color on television and in merchandise. Yet here I am surrounded by 25 bags of purple and teal eggs that look identical to one another while I cannot find one single egg that matches the shade of my new Diamondbacks Sedona Red hat. And if that was not bad enough I find that they make Peeps in purple and in teal yet the Peeps company has never had a call in the history of the product (besides mine) that asked for them to create that marshmallow sugar confection in Sedona Red. As a consolation the receptionist on the other end of the phone did say they now made sugar free Peeps. How is that supposed to make me feel better? And while I was curious why anyone would want a sugar free Peep I just let it go. I did ask if they had an address where I could request product enhancements so that next year I would be able to find Sedona Red Peeps or at a minimum a nice Sonoran Sand marshmallow bunny.

On August 11, 2006 before a game against the Florida Marlins the Arizona Diamondbacks recognized Arizona Senate President Ken Bennett by allowing him to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. The pitch was a little wimpy and I came away not thinking too highly of Mr. Bennett’s throwing abilities. After the pitch the Diamondbacks announcers stated that the reason Bennett was throwing out the first pitch was for his efforts on behalf of House Bill 2727 which was signed by Governor Janet Napolitano earlier that day. I totally am oblivious to the workings of the state legislature so I had no clue what House Bill 2727 even was or if it was important to me. For all I knew that bill would make the red-shanked grasshopper the state bird of Arizona. I have noting really against the red-shanked grasshopper. From what I know of grasshoppers they too think it is tough to be a bug, they hate birds, and they sound like James Woods (at least they did in that movie A Bug’s Life). But that was not what House Bill 2727 was about. No it was much cooler than that.

For nearly the entire off season I could not pick up a newspaper without at least one story telling of the dire straits this planet is in and how global warming could jeopardize the survival of the human species. Scientists told of how temperatures were continuing to rise making everything just a little warmer. Soon we would see palm trees growing in the Rocky Mountains and the polar ice caps would melt putting Florida and California underwater. The southwest would dry up and become a dust bowl. Uh hello, we live in a desert. We are a dust bowl. If you don’t believe me you should come over to my house when the wind blows and listen to my wife Trina get frustrated that she just dusted all of the furniture and it already has two layers of dirt on it. These articles have said how man is to blame for the changes in temperatures and the greenhouse effect which is what is causing the planet to get warmer. We’re hearing talk about something called a “carbon footprint” which supposedly measures the amount of carbon we create or destroy by how we live our lives. While interesting, none of this really mattered to me. It wasn’t like scientists had just discovered the cure for the designated hitter or something important. To be honest, the difference in the temperature between 120 and 121 on a July afternoon is probably not going to make that much of a difference to me. They are both about the same temperature that I use when I am slow smoking a rack of ribs and that is dang hot. If you also factor in the heat index in your car that has sat in the sun for 7 hours while you are at work and you will quickly understand why I carry a pair of oven mitts in my glove compartment for driving during the summer. Oh sure I may look silly with a couple of mitts shaped like lobster claws holding on to the steering wheel but at least I won’t get second degree burns on my hands in the 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock positions on the steering wheel. No, global warming didn’t really have an impact on my life until this past week.

After the frustrating last two games in Colorado, I am sure the Diamondbacks were as anxious to get out of Denver as I was. Tuesday’s game was a heart breaker. After the late inning heroics of Stephen Drew in the eleventh gave the Diamondbacks the lead, we saw it evaporate in the bottom of the inning on a blown save by the “big potato” Jose Valverde. (For those who don’t know, Valverde was given the nickname Papa Grande by former announcer Jim Traber who obviously didn’t know the Spanish language. He thought the nickname meant big daddy but instead it translates to big pope or in other translations means large potato which doesn’t have quite the same feel to it.) So whenever Valverde enters the game with a tight score, my kids immediately begin to worry that Mr. Potatohead is going to blow the game (Tuesday was a prime example of the kids’ fears). And while Tuesday’s loss was frustrating, yesterdays was even worse. We’ve been told on several occasions how Doug Davis’ stats are nearly identical to those of Barry Zito. Perhaps they meant Harry Zito who used to work in Pikes Market in Seattle throwing fish. Davis looked a little like a fish out of water in his Diamondbacks debut. Couple his wildness with the J’D. Durbin hit parade and it was a really long two days. I was reminded last night of the parting words I heard from Irene the usher at Coors Field. After Monday’s game we went down to the Diamondbacks dugout. I was hoping to get a couple of pictures or maybe a baseball for Dakota. Irene was the keeper of the section. Her job was to make sure that riff-raff like me stayed away from the dugout. She was sweet and reminded me of my grandmother. She initially stopped me and we began talking. I told her this was my first trip to Coors Field. She asked how I liked their stadium and the game. Since the Diamondbacks had just won, I liked it a lot. She cautiously looked around then in a hushed voice she said, “well we let the Diamondbacks win today just for you. Since you are leaving town after this game I guess I can let you in on a little secret, we are going to kill you guys the next 2 games.” If I were a conspiracy theorist, I may have turned that into a whole month of blog entries stating that baseball is fixed and Pete Rose is not in the Hall of Fame because he was about to go public with this information when Bart Giamatti silenced him with a lifetime ban. But that’s a subject best left to another day. There are other supernatural forces at work here that are a bit more pressing.

It was a weird three game series against the Colorado Rockies. Opening Day began with a 1:05 PM Arizona time game. That was followed by a 5:35 PM Arizona time second game. It concluded with a 12:05 PM Arizona time concluding game. I don’t remember the last three game series the Diamondbacks played where 2 of the games were day games during the week. Maybe this weird scheduling is the reason the Diamondbacks dropped two of the three games. Personally I blame Rally Sally but then I blame her for everything including global warming. It’s kind of funny, all through Spring Training I had to keep reminding myself that the Diamondbacks winning record in March had absolutely nothing to do with how well they would fare in the regular season yet each time the team won my expectations for the season became greater. Conversely, every time the team lost I was ready to stand out on the ledge and prepare to jump off. Baseball is definitely a game of perspective.

After the excitement of yesterday’s Opening Day, I awoke to the reality that I had to go back to Arizona today. It’s funny, a 13 hour drive didn’t seem like much when I was going to Opening Day but a 13 hour drive to go home and go back to work seems like an eternity. Looking back I didn’t plan this trip very well. I should have made it a couple of days longer and stay for the whole three game series against the Colorado Rockies. I can’t believe what an idiot I was. I guess I need to get home so Trina can remind me the magnitude of my idiot-cy. I packed my bags and headed down to the lobby to check out. In the elevator I ran into Juan Cruz and congratulated him on the win the day before. I always thought Cruz looked thin in his uniform but that is nothing compared to what he looks like in street clothes. I have a feeling he is never going to get an endorsement deal as spokesperson for Hungry Man soups. As I reached the lobby I went outside to see what the weather would be like. I thought I was going to die. The temperature was 34 degrees and the wind is blowing 10-15 miles per hour making the wind chill somewhere in the low 20’s. Not even my refrigerator is that cold at home. I quickly realized my dedication to the Diamondbacks when my face and fingers turned an exact match to Sedona Red. I hurried back into the hotel before my appendages began to turn black.

Mitch had set his alarm for 7:30 AM but it was hardly needed. I was wide awake by 5:00 AM and sleep was the farthest thing from my mind. I had gotten up, showered and dressed waiting for the day to unfold. I went downstairs to the lobby to look around while waiting for Mitch. In the lobby I saw Conor Jackson who looked fairly involved in his mental preparation before going to the ballpark. By 10:00 AM I couldn’t stand it any more, I just had to go to the ballpark. It was Opening Day, there had to be a swarm of activity around the stadium. I was so excited for this day and this game that I thought about little else. For example, Mitch reminded me that since we left yesterday morning at 6:30 AM the only times we had eaten was when he begged me to stop. With all the adrenaline my body was producing I hadn’t stopped to eat. I assured Mitch that there would be somewhere to eat around Coors Field (I was just guessing at that since I had never been there before) and that we could eat after we get there. Besides, the gates would be opening in 2 ½ hours so we could always get something inside the stadium. Coors Field was only 6 blocks from our hotel making the walk fairly short. I hadn’t gotten directions of which direction the stadium was from our hotel and at first was concerned we would go in the opposite direction. I had nothing to fear though. Down on the street there were Rockies fans who also wanted to be at the game early and we just followed them to Blake Street. There rising about the historical buildings was Coors Field. Inside the iron gates held the dreams of thousands of baseball fans. Inside would be the first game of the 2007 season.

Ever since the 2007 Diamondbacks schedule was released I knew I wanted to go to Opening Day. I kept mentioning it to Trina in hopes that she would get the hint. Her reply was, “You always go to Opening Day at Chase Field.” Ah but this year Opening Day was in Denver Colorado. This led to several discussions where finally she relented and agreed that it might be best for my sanity and hers if I made the road trip to see the Diamondbacks even if she didn’t understand why I couldn’t wait 9 days until they returned home to Phoenix. Armed with my credit card and my wife’s permission I began making plans for my road trip. First I acquired game tickets and followed that up with hotel reservations. Now all that was left was to load the car, tune my XM radio to the Major League Baseball channel, set my GPS system and the cruise control, and head north. Early in the planning stages for this trip Trina has laid down the law that I was not to take the kids out of school nor would she accompany me on this boondoggle. I am not sure whether she thought that would persuade me that this idea of going to Coors Field in Denver Colorado was ludicrous. If that was her idea, she sorely underestimated my resolve when it comes to baseball. Instead I made arrangements for my friend Mitch Jarvis to accompany me on this trip. He has never been to an out of town baseball game so this is either going to be enlightening or frightening and he will come away a avid baseball fan or he’ll need substantial amounts of therapy. Either way I’ll be at the Opening Day game for the Diamondbacks so it’s all good.