Ready to Rock(ies) in Colorado

It’s a week into September. The Cardinals have a 4.5-game lead in the NL Central, and the magic number is 16 (as of Sunday night).

I’m heading to Coors Field for my eighth of 30 ballparks on a mission to increase that lead and decrease that magic number in a Tuesday-night duel with the Colorado Rockies.

It’s been a three-season eternity since the Cardinals last made the playoffs, and I miss my baseball-centric Octobers. After a season of hairpin turns, dizzying drops and equally dizzying ascents, here we are with 19 games left.

But even this coaster enthusiast would prefer a drama-free push in the final three weeks. And that final three-week push begins Tuesday night in Denver, when the Redbirds take on the Rockies in the first of a three-game set.

Rockies History Lesson

What do I know about Rockies history and Coors Field? Not much. Expansion team, Matt Holliday, Todd Helton, altitude-induced home runs galore. That’s about it without researching. (Oh yeah, and Larry Walker.)

The Rockies played their first season in 1993, making Coors Field the first venue I’ve visited that houses a team younger than me. They played in the original Mile High Stadium for two seasons before moving to Coors in 1995.

Coors Field is over 5,000 feet above sea level and has a humidor to store baseballs in an attempt to offset the effects of altitude.

The Rockies have made the playoffs in five seasons (1995, 2007, 2009, 2017, 2018), most recently beating the Cubs in the wild card game last year before losing to the Brewers in the NLDS. (So yeah, they’re kind of a hero.)

The Rockies only World Series appearance came in 2007, when they were swept by the Red Sox. (Sound familiar?)

Notable Cardinals Connections

Former Cardinals Holliday and Walker each spent much of their stellar careers in Colorado, and the Cardinals acquired the late Darryl Kile from the Rockies in November 1999.

Current Cardinals outfielder Dexter Fowler started his career in Colorado, playing five seasons there after being called up in September 2008.

Game Preview
Cardinals vs. Rockies
Coors Field
Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019
6:40 p.m. MT
Probable starting pitchers: STL Michael Wacha (RHP) vs. COL Chi Chi Gonzalez (RHP)

The Cardinals are 81-62 and 7-3 in their last 10 going into the series. The Rockies are 60-84 and 1-9 in their last 10. They’re currently last in the NL West.

Personal Game Notes
– The Cardinals are 5-2 when I attend games specifically for Ballparking It.
– This is my second Tuesday game, the other resulting in a win over the White Sox for Ballpark No. 4.
– This marks my first game at an NL West opponent’s stadium in the Ballparking It era.
– This ballpark is home to the youngest organization (the first younger than me) that I’ve seen the Cardinals face in the Ballparking It era.
– This is my first game as a 31-year-old.

#SpookySummer Continues

On my last trip, I tagged on two hotels famous for being tied to spooky on-screen tales – the Timberline Lodge (as seen as the Overlook Hotel in Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of “The Shining”) and Salish Lodge (as seen as the Great Northern Hotel in “Twin Peaks”).

This time around, I’ll be taking a night tour of The Stanley Hotel, which helped inspire Stephen King’s “The Shining” … because well, all work and no play makes Nicole a dull girl.

(Spoiler alert, that line isn’t in the book, but it’s still pretty relevant.)