25,000 fans can't be wrong...or can they?
I love Baseball. It is far and away my favorite spectator sport. I have to specify that it is my favorite sport as a spectator because I've never actually played the game.
I know, hard to believe I was born in Southern California, much less the United States. For those not in the know, that last statement is a reference to the large number of Major League Baseball players that come out of Southern California.
Heck, my high school, which was not and is not a baseball powerhouse (I think we finished dead last in our league, or close to it, every year I was there) has produced a fairly large number of baseball players who have made it to the show - two guys from the squad that won all of 4 games my senior year (Sam & Mark) spent 8 and 19 years in the bigs respectively.
No, my love of baseball does not stem from a long career of swinging a bat or shagging flies. It stems from my love of statistics and strategy.
Especially strategy. When I'm into a game, really into it, I sit in my seat trying to map out each inning as if I was playing chess.
Chris Bakunas with Mandi and Sherri at the Rockies vs Marlins game Thursday night
Tonight's game was a freebie for me. I attended with the wife of one of my best friends, and one of her best friends. We had good seats (second row behind home plate...really, really good seats), and I knew enough about the visiting team, the Florida Marlins, to be able to maintain an interest in the action.
The Marlins are not having a stellar year and neither are the Rockies, so I wasn't expecting much tonight. However, I have come to expect entertaining baseball whenever Florida Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen is around.
First year Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen started the year off on the wrong foot (that is probably the biggest understatement I have ever written) with the Miami fan base, but he's one tough customer and his record shows he will do whatever it takes to win.
Tonight he had Ricky Nolasco, with his ERA knocking on 5, on the mound. Nolasco, a graduate of Rialto High School in Southern California, has been with the Marlins since 2006. He's had a few good years, most notably 2008, but he's been struggling - he's posting his worst strikeout to walk ratio since he became a starter (if he gives up 7 more walks this season he'll eclipse his total for any individual season since he's been a pro, including the minors).
Nolasco was strong through the first 5 innings, but then he served up what Michael Cuddyer must have thought was the nastiest mosquito ever, as Cuddyer swatted it clean out of the park and tied the game at 3-3.
I anticipated that Rox manager Jim Tracy would sit a few of his younger players who have trouble hitting hard-throwing right handers, and he did. However, he inserted Josh Rutledge, the kid who was called up to fill in at short when Tulo went on the DL, as a DH in the 7th, and Rutledge promptly hit a triple that drove in the go ahead run.
Sweet.
The Rockies had Alex White, one of the players acquired when Ubaldo was traded to Cleveland, on the mound to start. He gave up a tater to Carlos Lee in the 2nd though, and was pulled after a 25 pitch, earned run allowing 4th inning.
Adam Ottavino came in and did a credible job of holding down the fort for 3 innings, giving up a run on a solo jack by the player formerly known as Mike Stanton (Stanton, out of Los Angeles, California, now prefers to be addressed as Giancarlo - I think it's in honor of his Puerto Rican heritage, though he is also of Irish and African American descent - A true American if there ever was one)
Ozzie kept Nolasco in the game in spite of his allowing Cuddyer's two-run pop in the 6th, which may have been good in terms of resting his middle relievers, but was bad for Nolasco's ERA. The 7th inning saw Nolasco give up the aforementioned triple to Mr. Rutledge that gave the Rockies the lead, and Eric Young's fielder's choice sacrifice that scored Rutledge from third to put the score at 5-3
Matt Belisle pitched the 8th in relief of Ottavino, and looked a little shaky, giving up two hits. No runs though.
Betancourt came in to close the show for the Rockies in the ninth, using his weird gyrations and hat-pulling routine, along with that wicked slider and four-seam heat to shut down the Marlins.
All told, it was a great game, observed from great seats, with great company.
Disclaimer! Or rather, please note: I did not use any depictions of the game in any format whatsoever, as I did not want to incur the wrath of Major League Baseball. I did take a few nice pics of some of the action, but I'll keep those to myself.
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