AJC > Sports > Braves > Blog > Archives > 2007 > October > 27
Saturday, October 27, 2007
World Series gets a mile high
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s not the cozy confines of Boston’s self-proclaimed “America’s Most Beloved Ballpark,” but Coors Field is a pretty special place to watch a ballgame, too. And it’s not cramped like Fenway Park.
Of course, any place is a good place to see a World Series game, which the good folks of Colorado are going to finally get to do tonight, when the Fall Classic gets high — about 5,200 feet, the elevation of Denver.
And just for the record, the highest previous altitude for a World Series game was 1,117 feet at Phoenix in 2001. This fact brought to you by (imagine your company name here, then give us a call and maybe we can work something out).
I remember covering the 1997 World Series when I was a Marlins beat writer, and even that huge football stadium in Miami had great atmosphere when nearly 80,000 people were packed in there to watch the World Series.
(And speaking of contrasts, Boston-Denver is nothing compared to Cleveland-Florida in that series, when we went from snow during batting practice before Game 3 in Cleveland, to temps in the 80s with high humidity in Miami).
Anyway, it’s beautiful here today in Colorado, though the temperature’s supposed to drop quickly. It was 50 and sunny this afternoon, which in Colorado qualifies as balmy (I saw plenty of locals wearing shorts on the 16th Street Mall downtown).
The Rockies are down 0-2 in the Series, but the atmosphere outside the ballpark was festive and upbeat this afternoon - maybe these folks believe their team can overcome that deficit to win, or maybe they’re just having a great time.
If you’ve never been out here, the streets around Coors Field in LoDo (Lower Downtown) are just lined with cool bars and restaurants, and the people are friendly. I’d recommend a visit to Denver during baseball season for any seamhead, especially now that the Rockies are good and should be for the next few seasons, with all the homegrown young talent they’ve got on their roster.
“Out in the city, everywhere you go, people are on fire,” manager Clint Hurdle said this afternoon, when someone asked about how the response from Denver during the Rockies’ “Miracle on Blake Street” run to the World series.
By on fire, he meant pumped up, thrilled, caught up in this ride.
But if they don’t win tonight, that ride might end abruptly Sunday. If the Rockies go down three-games-to-none, this thing’s not even going to go to a fifth game Monday in Denver, much less go back to Boston for six or seven.
Speaking of tomorrow, I’m still scratching my head a bit over Hurdle’s decision to start Aaron Cook, who hasn’t pitched in a major league game since Aug. 10 because of a strained side. Nothing like pitching in a game for the first time in 10 weeks and having it be against this Boston lineup. Yikes.
His name is Paul Brown, and he’s an idiot. OK, maybe he’s not an idiot. Maybe he’s just a passionate fan taking the extra step to show his allegiance to his team. That’s something we all can appreciate.
However … this is a bit much. More than a bit much.
Brown, a 31-year-old dude from Denver, has a tattoo of Coors Field. But it’s not just a little tat on his shoulder or calf or whatever. Paul Brown this week got an exterior depiction of Coors Field tattooed across his entire back.
This according to a story in today’s Rocky Mountain News. I was so impressed, or horrified, that I spent part of my Saturday morning trying to find Paul Brown’s phone number so I could call him and do a story. Seriously.
But as you can imagine, there are plenty of Paul Browns in most metro areas, Denver included. And I wasn’t even sure if this Paul Brown’s number was one of those listed.
Plus, I was hungry and really wanted to go get some huevos rancheros for breakfast, which I did. So we’re going to have to go with a mental imagery of Paul Brown’s massive Coors Field tattoo on his back, since the story wasn’t accompanied by a picture (can’t believe they didn’t get a picture, since they did talk to the guy).
He told the newspaper, “I love the place. I’ll still be going to Coors Field when I’m in my 60s and 70s. I take my kids now; I’ll be taking my grandkids then. So I’ll never regret this.”
Let’s hope not, Paul. Let’s hope not.
By the way, it cost $500 and took about six hours for the tattoo artist at Freaky’s Tattoo and Body Piercing to do the work.
The story in the Rocky Mountain News did have a couple other pictures of guys getting Rockies-themed tattoos, including one groovy-looking fella getting a purple-and-black design with a Rockies logo inside a bleached-skull Grateful Dead symbol.
Hey, like we said, it is the highest-ever World Series.
Marcus released again: You’ve all read that Marcus Giles was released by the Padres yesterday, I’m assuming. That’s twice in about 10 months that the former Braves second baseman has been dropped from a roster.
When the Braves failed to tender him a contract last winter because they didn’t want to pay anywhere near the $5 million-or-more salary he would have commanded in his final year of arbitration, the Padres signed him to a free-agent contract with a $3.25 million salary in 2007 and a $4 million option for 2008 with a $500,000 buyout.
They went with the buyout, pulling the plug on the Giles brothers reunion after one season. They’re from suburban San Diego (El Cajon) and the Giles boys had always wanted to play on the same team, but this feel-good story didn’t work out, simply because Marcus Giles is a shell of the player he once was.
He’s only 29, but this season he hit .229 with four homers, 39 RBIs and a .304 OBP, losing first his leadoff job, then his starting second-base job.
It’s been a steady slide for Giles, who went from being one of, if not the, best-hitting second basemen in baseball in 2003 to being released by the Braves and the Padres.
Giles was terrific in 2003, when he hit .316 with 49 doubles, 21 homers, a .390 OBP and a .526 slugging percentage, for a stunning .916 OPS. He had still-solid OPS totals of .821 in 2004 and .826 in 2005, but in 2006 for the Braves he hit .262 with 11 homers and a .728 OBP in his first season as a leadoff man.
For whatever reason, the Padres decided to use him at leadoff again this season, even though Giles made it pretty clear throughout the 2006 season that he didn’t like hitting leadoff and never felt comfortable there.
He started out strong for the Padres, hitting .327 with a .376 OBP in April. But soon after, the bottom fell out.
From May 7 until the end of the season, he hit .191 with 16 extra-base hits and a .276 OBP in 304 at-bats (88 games).
Since Sept. 5, 2005, Giles has hit .244 with 55 doubles and 20 homers in 1,056 at-bats. Think about those numbers — in 2003 alone, he hit .316 with 49 doubles and 21 homers in 551 at-bats.
Unless he’s able to have a bounce-back season for someone, there are going to be suspicions about Giles, fair or unfair, simply because his performance declined after the arrival of steroid testing in baseball, then declined further after the subsequent ban on amphetamines, or “greenies.”
For his sake, I hope he rejuvenate shis career with some team. Giles was a hard-working, hard-nosed player, a little man who played a very big role for some strong Braves teams.
With Glenn Hubbard’s assistance, he transformed himself from a stone-handed minor-leaguer into a solid defensive player and an NL All-Star.
It’d be a shame if it’s over this soon, if he’s done before 30, if his career becomes little more than a footnote in Braves history, clouded by suspicions. It really would.
“YOU WILD COLORADO” by Johnny Cash
Oh you wild raging river like my woman’s lips you lure me
Pied piper of the desert roll on to the sea
You’re the same at noon or midnight and I follow where you go
But you’re planning no returning you wild Colorado
If I had no love of life I’d become part of your flow
But I fear the place you’d take me you wild Colorado
Oh you wild raging river from the fountains of the mountains
You ripple down the valleys growing wide and swift and deep
With what power you cut your canyons how long ago
You’re as wayward as my woman you wild Colorado
If I had no love of life I’d become part of your flow
But I fear the place you’d take me you wild Colorado
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