The game, part 2

So, yeah. Last night's NLCS game was great for two reasons. First, the Rockies made the World Series, which probably won't even feel real when I'm watching it. And second, it was great because I was there.

For proof, please consult the first picture ever on Hole Punch Sports:

Okay, that doesn't prove anything, other than that the Motorla Razr is the world's best camera at any price. But I was there, and it was great. Just a series of ever-escalating moments.

The first was seeing Coors Field for the first time last night. I've been there before, but man, did it look great with the lights on and with the playoff rush. Just the perfect glow. The buzz getting into the building was electric. I've only been to one other playoff game in any sport, when the Broncos beat the Jaguars on the way to their first Super Bowl victory, and before the game, this was at least that exciting. Mile High was louder, of course, but the atmosphere was identical. There was a slight damper when I overhead a guy say, "Where were all these people for the Phillies?"

Right inside they were handing white towels out to everyone. (My friend David, an often anonymous commenter here, pointed out that someone was selling these towels for $3 outside the stadium before Game 3, even though they were free inside then, too.) My first response was, "White towels-how creative!" But hey, I was waving it like an idiot most of the night.

The next stop was the Coors Field Dugout Store. I go every time I'm at the game, but I'm usually too cheap to buy anything. I wanted a hat and a black T-shirt. The hat was no problem. The shirt, on the other hand, was. There were racks and racks of NLCS merchandise-talk about a short shelf life-but only one half-decent T-shirt, which I didn't buy. Its $30 price tag didn't deter me nearly as much as the fact that it said "Rocktober" on it. I don't know about that. David picked up a $22 baseball, which showed remarkable foresight.

Walking around to our seats behind left field, we passed near the Rockpile. Directly under the Rockpile was TBS' pre-game show, featuring Ernie Johnson, Frank Thomas, and absolute baseball icon Cal Ripken, Jr. We're screaming like crazy. At one point the camera pans up and at least some part of me may have been on basic cable across the country. (Now that's a feeling.)

And then the game started. It felt like a slow start, too, but only the first two innings were scoreless. Left field was the perfect spot, because we got to scream "M-V-P" right at Matt Holliday. (My friend's also a Yankees fan, and I had to thank him for not changing the chant to "New-Yan-kee! New-Yan-kee!") Even better, we were right next to D-backs outfielder Eric Byrnes, who wasn't allowed to forget how sharply he inhales. If you didn't hear, Byrnes had said the Rockies were lucky to be up 2-0 earlier, and that the Diamondbacks had plenty of confidence. It wasn't really that offensive of a quote, and frankly I liked his crack about division rivals facing each other 9,000 times a season, but it made him the perfect target. I couldn't help but wonder if he wasn't loving it on some level.

Anyway, Arizona scored a run in the third to take the lead. I was probably more worried at that point than I've been the entire playoffs, which I guess tells you how easy this run has been. The thing is, closeout games are huge, and you never want to let one get away.

In the fourth, though, manager Clint Hurdle made the memorable call to pinch-hit, and rookie Seth Smith knocked in the tying and go-ahead runs with his two-out single. Willy Tavares reached on an error, and then Kaz Matsui, who sounds a lot like Hazmat suit, sent Smith home. Two men on. Up next was Holliday, who only led the league this year in average and RBI. He just crushed the ball to deep center. It just floated and floated...man he hit it hard...I've got someone's hands on my shoulders, the whole crowd's bouncing up and down and AHHHHHHHHHH!! Home run! Whoooooooooo! Three runs in. Fifty thousand people high-fiving. And 452 feet of pure joy. The Rockies took a 6-1 lead and looked primed for the World Series.

(That fifty thousand's no joke-I didn't see a single Arizona fan yesterday.)

In the next few innings we finally got up-me to trade our greatest president for a Sprite, and David to try and get Cal Ripken's autograph on his baseball, which wasn't going to be easy.

But we both succeeded. Later I had to point out that if Ripken had taken a pair of sick days in 1990, my friend wouldn't even have wanted the autograph. He just shrugged. I'm not really a huge Ripken fan, but I have to admit that's a pretty sweet souvenir.

After the sixth, everyone starts to look around, saying to each other but to no one in particular: nine more outs. It immediately strikes me that the tension is just awful and that nine outs can be a really long time. And it is. In the eighth, set-up man Brian Fuentes gives up a three-run homer to cut the lead to 6-4. Manny Corpas comes in and just shuts them down for the last out of the eighth and for the ninth. David tells me that Corpas is going to give up a hit to whoever was at bat and that Byrnes could make the last out. That's exactly what happened. And then the place exploded.

The advantage of being right in front of the scoreboard is hearing, with crystal clarity, the fireworks going off. And there were tons. Honestly, they didn't look that great compared to a Fourth show or anything, but the sound was deafening. The crowd had something to do with that, too. It was Mile High-loud at that point.

We stuck around for baseball's version of the Lamar Hunt Trophy presentation. The interviews were nice, though Holliday couldn't have been less charismatic. (Hopefully he'll hate New York when he visits?) Hurdle was getting a little choked up, but it was loud enough out there to spare him any embarrassment-not that he should have any shame.

On the way to the exit, we see a crowd of maybe eight guys running by, two of them in Rockies hats. I didn't see, but David said they were Jeff Francis, Troy Tulowitzki, and scrambling security personnel. And I guess they got some beer on their victory lap. Man, what a great game. We pour out to the streets chanting something, just overwhelmed by the moment. The Rockies just made the World Series! It was a little surprising not to see any World Series stuff for sale, but we couldn't complain. It was just too beautiful.