I had a plan for today. Really. I was going to get up, go put money on my laundry card, do laundry, return my movies, return my library books, print my ticket to the Dbacks-Rockies game at the library, and get to the game around 2:30-3:00pm to get in early and try to catch a baseball during batting practice. Unfortunately, the world mostly decided not to cooperate with me.
Once I got up and put on the only clean pants I had available, I went down to the apartment complex office where I live to put money on my laundry card in their little machine. But to my dismay, the office was closed. I tried to wait, thinking I was just a little early, but the office manager never came. I went back home and waited a bit, then tried again, but to no avail. The office was supposed to be open by 10am, but by 11:30, it was still locked up tight. So annoying. So I tried to be productive. I returned my movies to the movie store across the street and ran down to the post office and picked up a couple packages that were waiting for me (a 2012 Allen & Ginter Bryce Harper framed auto card and a 2012 Bowman Sterling Yoenis Cespedes refractor auto /199). Upon returning to the apartments an hour later (thank you, US Postal Service employees who take FOREVER), the wonderful office staff was STILL not there. So, no laundry today. I'll have to take my clothes to a laundromat tomorrow because the office is closed on Sundays. After I decided that, I decided to just take a shower and go to the library to return my books and print my ticket. I went to the Burton Barr library, parked, threw my books in the drop, and went up to the second flood express computer area. As soon as I walked up to the computer lab, the librarian put out a sign saying "Out of Order." Apparently, the entire computer network for the library had just crashed and there was no way to tell when it would be back up. Even the librarians' desk computers were down, as was the printer. They suggested that I run down to another library to print my ticket, but I decided I would attempt to wait a little and see if the network would get back up quickly. I had enough time before the game, and I had by that point decided to just skip BP. After around 40 minutes of waiting (during which time, in retrospect, I should have just grabbed a book to read, but I did not), the network finally came back online and I was able to print my ticket without any issue. I drove to Chase Field, and the gates were by that point open - and it was Wade Miley Garden Gnome giveaway day so there were thousands of people waiting in very long lines - and I just decided not to even try for any baseballs today. Instead, I went up to my seat and sat down to relax. I had a great seat for the game, in the third deck of the stadium, second row, aisle seat, just to the left-field side directly behind home plate. In my estimation, one of the best seats in the house. I set up my scorecard and settled in. Then I got hungry, so I went out to the concourse and bought some loaded nachos from the Macayo's stand (which were really messy, but REALLY good). The game itself was one of those weird games where lots of strange things happen. Wade Miley was pitching and started out the game with four strikeouts in the first inning, and seven overall on the night. He only lasted 4 1/3 innings, throwing 98 pitches, but he didn't give up a single run. Martin Prado hit a solo home run to left field in the first inning for us, and it was followed up by an RBI triple by Cody Ross in the same frame. The Diamondbacks wouldn't score again until extra innings. For the Rockies, Wilin Rosario hit a solo homer in the sixth and Troy Tulowitzki drove in the tying run in the seventh before trying to stretch a single into a double and being thrown out by 20 feet. In the sixth, Dexter Fowler robbed Miggy of an extra-base hit with an amazing diving grab. In the home half of the seventh, a sweet wild pitch allowed Gerardo Parra to take two bases at once, but the Diamondbacks couldn't put anything together against Adam Ottavino. In the Rockies' eighth inning, Michael Cuddyer singled, then Rosario singled. Then, when Josh Rutledge was batting, Cuddyer was picked off and caught trying to steal third. Rosario took second on the play, and one pitch later, Rutledge flied into a double play as Rosario couldn't get back to second in time. Flash-forward to the bottom of the tenth inning: AJ Pollock singled, then stole second and took third on a wild throwing error from Rosario. Paul Goldschmidt struck out swinging, and Miguel Montero was walked intentionally. With runners on the corners, Cody Ross stepped up to the plate, took strike one, and hit a long, high, towering fly ball to deep left-center field which was caught at the wall - scoring Pollock on the sacrifice fly for the win! Good ending to an otherwise strange and epic day. Go Dbacks! Comments are closed.
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Andrew MeeusenBaseball fanatic, political observer, soon-to-be library science grad, and all around mildly interesting person. Archives
December 2013
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