I just got home — a little later than I’d planned — from Coors Field, after watching, in person, “one of the strangest games ever in Denver,” a 14-inning affair that ended in the first walkoff grand slam in Rockies history (and the first grand slam I’ve ever personally witnessed, never mind a 14th-inning walkoff slam), with my Dad.
Pretty damn awesome. And it wasn’t just the grand slam that made the game great. There was weird baserunning, bizarre umpiring, teams running out of players, a pitcher with a .000 batting average being inexplicably walked with the bases loaded (and ultimately scoring the winning run!), a batter badly hurting his knee with a foul ball but nevertheless finishing his at-bat and (gingerly) running the bases, a reigning Cy Young winner coming in as a pinch runner… it was a strange, weird, wonderful game. And here I was initially regretting having picked today’s game to go to, in light of what looked to be crappy weather. The rain cleared out, and then the Rockies gave us a real treat with a seemingly impossible comeback. Wow.
It was the second time I’ve seen a walkoff home run in person, and the first time it was by the team I was rooting for. (The other time was Mel Hall’s three-run shot at Yankee Stadium to beat the Red Sox on May 27, 1991. Ugh.)
Oh, and the Rockies now have a 4-game lead over the Giants in the wild-card race, instead of the 2-game lead it looked like they’d have, when the Giants took a three-run lead in the top of the 14th. Nice.
P.S. The Rockies are now 3-0 this season in games that I attend.
Still not gonna beat the Phils! I saw this on SportsCenter last night. Wow. Spilborghs needed that after blowing it earlier.
http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/stadium_bursts_out_laughing?utm_source=a-section
🙂
73 mph? That’s generous. and 😛 http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/53648932.html?cmpid=15585797
One other weird thing you didn’t mention, Brendan – the reigning Cy Young winner being used as a pinch runner? Giants Nation just about had a heart attack when that happened. Of course, we did have a heart attack in the bottom of the 14th.
Ha! I was totally oblivious to that when it happened, largely because I was searching Twitter on my cell phone trying to figure out what the heck had happened in the bottom of the 10th… but I do remember the double-play ball that Brian Wilson hit into. I had no idea it was the pinch-running Cy Young winner who was thrown out at second… LOL.
P.S. I added that to my list of weird things. Thanks. 🙂