Some notes from the game

April 19, 2009

As I prepared to watch one of my favorite teams do my favorite thing yesterday, the news came at me like… something. “Manny Corpas will be replacing Huston Street in the ninth inning.” GAH! WHAT?!?! Huston Street!! You’ve embarrassed me in my choosing of you for the closer role. This is very unfortunate for both ends, in my opinion. When the word that Street was going to be coming to the Rockies, there was a lot of talk that he would be put up for trade because, well, a lot of people were looking for a closer. However, the Rockies welcomed him to the team and after a tough competition, found him a role as the closer. From there, what did he do?! He blew it. Whenever I say that, I always think of that scene from Billy Madison where he just yells, “YOU BLEW IT!!!” Anyway… yeah. I guess I’m just really disappointed about this because I was really looking forward to seeing what Street had to offer. It’s not only a let down for him, but it’s a let down for the team as well. I hope he figures out whatever issues he needs to so he can get back into the closing role.

So, as we know, the game yesterday ended in a 4-3 loss to the Dodgers. Sometimes I have issues with commentators, and they have a good way of making me yell at them. So during yesterday’s game, Jorge de la Rosa pitched incredibly well. Let me first say that de la Rosa and I have had some issues in the past. I’ve never been a fan of him, in fact, I’ve been incredibly critical of him. During the off season, the Rockies sports psychologist, Ronn Svetich helped de la Rosa work through some emotional issues, which have clearly helped him. After watching that game, it was clear that he was making a lot of strides. Despite the strides he’s making, you can see that de la Rosa still has some issues to work out, he’s still an emotional player and it’s evident in his face, in his reactions even after Svetich worked with him. But even after an error, de la Rosa was able to close down the inning. So anyway, de la Rosa was having a great inning, when what happened? The commentators were talking about how de la Rosa hadn’t given up a walk and then what happened?! He walked a guy. Then they talked about how the game was currently a shut out, then what happened?! ManRam on his high horse came in and got an RBI. Stupid commentators.

During the game, I also saw a Rockies commercial with Scott Podsednik… and then I got sad.I’ve always enjoyed Podsednik playing and was sad to see him go. I guess I have to understand it though, with young kids like Ian Stewart, Seth Smith, and Dexter Fowler coming up, it almost makes sense. I mean, Dexter Fowler has unbelievable speed! And Ian Stewart has started to play both infield and outfield. 

Besides the upcoming stars, let’s talk about our Veterans. Congrats to Brad Hawpe who got his first home run of the season yesterday! Look at how happy he and Garrett Atkins are.

Oh man, Garrett Atkins… Ha ha. Okay, anyway, so let me tell you that I went looking for this picture online to add to my montage of photos. So, I googled “Garrett Atkins” and went on the hunt. I found some great ones of Garrett Atkins that I had not yet found, but what was this photo that was available from google? What is this picture?! Can you even think of a caption for this picture?! I tried to find one, but I couldn’t even find the picture on the website I found it from, which I can’t find now to tell you where I even found the picture. But seriously, what is going on here? I just had to ask that question because I didn’t have any idea. Anyway, I thought I would see if you could come up with a caption for what’s going on in this photo.

Next thing, I never thought I held much hostility or resentment toward Matt Holliday after leaving the Rockies. Don’t get me wrong, I’m totally thrilled to see Garrett Atkins still with us(and it’s not just because I love him…) but pat of me always wanted Holliday to stay with us. I mean, can you blame me? Holliday puts up some great numbers, he shows leadership on the team, and was an all around great player. So, when people asked me if I was mad at Holliday or said that he was a traitor, I defended him completely. I always said that he never had a chance to stay in Colorado, regardless of what happened with Atkins’ contract. With an agent like Scott Boras, you’ll always go to whatever team is willing to put up the most money. So, I didn’t ever think that I held any anger toward Holliday; however, as the baseball season started, I realized that I found myself cheering against the A’s and hoping to see Holliday fail. After this realization I thought, “oh my god… I’m a terrible person…” I never wanted to see Holliday fail, I wanted to see him succeed. He’ll only be with the A’s for a season, why should I be holding hostility toward him? Matt Holliday was one of my favorite players, just because he’s with another team doesn’t mean I shouldn’t want him to succeed.

Speaking of hostility toward people, I also held a lot of hostility toward Todd Helton. I’ve always respected Helton as a player, being a hockey fan, he kind of reminds me of Joe Sakic, the upstanding captain of the team, the leader, and the role model. I blamed his contract for not being able to resign both Holliday and Atkins, and so a lot of anger came out of that. But as I’ve been watching him, I’ve really grown to respect him even more. I’m incredibly hopeful that he’ll stay healthy during the season and can stay the face that Rockies fans know and love.

The last thing I would like to say is this. I’m really not much of a political enthusiast, in fact, I’m quite the opposite. I know it’s important to keep up on the policies and beliefs of the people running our country, but the truth is, I’m quite apathetic toward these things. However, there are certain things that will really… just get me mad. I have no shame in saying that I voted for President Barack Obama. I believe in what he’ll do for this country despite all the negativity directed at him. See, that’s part of the problem with our country is that we’re incredibly divided. It’s my belief that President Obama faces some of the harshest scrutiny that a President has or maybe ever will see. People look to find the smallest things wrong with what he does, like smoking. I also have the belief that because no one can say anything about his race, they turn to other things to scrutinize. With the power to finally vote, it seems that as time goes on, Democratic and Republican parties become more and more divided. I don’t know what’s right or wrong, I form my own opinions based on what I believe is right, what I believ
e will be the best decision for our country. President Obama will have my full support because the fact is, our country has to hit rock bottom before we can begin to build it back up. I really don’t think I would be on this political rant had I not spent a week with my super conservative, Anne Coulter and Bill O’Reilly worshipping relatives. One of my relatives called “CNN” the “Communist News Network.” Oh my gosh. So, that being said, I am livid when I hear about people wanting to see the leader of our country fail. I often find conservatives as the kind who love NASCAR and insist that if you don’t hang an American flag from your deck and follow the rules of set hanging you’re by default a communist. I find Rush Limbaugh an intolerable egotistegoist, however, I know that he believes that he is a true American citizen, one who will do anything for his country. However, his remarks are without a doubt, one of the most unpatriotic things I have ever heard. However, this debate is a difficult one because I do believe in the freedom of speech, however, his remarks strike me as a kind of “hate speech.” I guess what it comes down to, is that I may not have a radio show, I may not be able to reach every American out there, but for the person who wants to see Obama fail, I want to see him succeed, so, I hope the President of our country, the one who is our leader knows that I want to see him thrive in his term.

Oh, I also have to tell you this kind of hilarious story. I grew up in Boulder, and my high school’s rival was Boulder High School Panthers. I guess recently there was some kid who, not long after Obama was inaugurated, wanted the school to be named after our new President. Therefore, the school would be: The Barack Obama Panthers. Anyway… I kind of thought that was hilarious.

 

1. Photo courtesy: colorado.rockies.mlb.com
2. Photo courtesy: www.daylife.com
3. Photo courtesy: my baseball pictures
4. Photo courtesy: me, but actually the Denver Post
5. Photo courtesy: weblogs.wpix.com
6. Photo courtesy: www.washingtonpost.com

Written by mlblogsdeconstructingthoughts Posted in Dailies