Sunday in the Park with Hacks

Went to Sunday's game to witness a series win over the Cardinals, something Colangelo's 2001 team did when it really counted. Neither did my dry, lukewarm veggie burrito measure up to the delicious Garcia's wraps offered throughout that earlier, halcyon era. Colangelo's carrots were invariably tender, cooked all the way through, his rice and beans moist and piping hot. In a word, savory.

Like bygone days, we actually had a good time though. Very fun, back and forth ballgame. Thirty five thousand fans, including a nearly full middle deck, thanks in part to the D*Votion packages' $20 club seats. It's why I was there, anyway, and not watching on TV - and why I'll be there at least twice more in September, win or lose. The young lady at Will Call was particularly helpful, motioning me over to her vacant window, thoroughly reviewing my ten ticket order, stub by stub, and clearly instructing us how to pick up our free red t-shirts, in the event we ever considered such foolishness. Later, a Club Level ticket taker playfully grabbed at our tray of food. Why, in the 8th inning, in the thinned out picnic seats beyond the left field bleachers, no usher tried to kick us out or ask to see our tickets while we nursed our ice creams?  Huh? Am I at Chase Field?  Is winning baseball responsible for this 180' attitude adjustment? Or, after three years, has someone on Kendrick's Dream Team finally started to train these people, a la Colangelo?

Like many teams, the Diamondbacks run a Sunday promo where a little kid takes over the PA for an inning and announces the home team's hitters. Sunday's "kid" looked about fourteen and his style and name evoked thoughts and parallels with the team. He started off so shyly one could barely hear the name of the first batter, wife beating suspect, Alberto Callaspo. He gained strength, slightly elongating the surname of Eric Byyyyrnes and topped that with a crisp, confident "To-Nee Clark"! The Dbacks started the season rather like a shy youngster, not truly bad but not real comfortable being good either. With the help of veterans like Byrnes and Hudson and Webb and Davis, they've elongated their window of relevance - and down the homestretch, they are playing crisply with confidence.

The kid's name btw, was Alfonso Ferrari, which evoked no parallel with the team whatever.  They remind me more of my first car - a 1973 AMC Ambassador. Off brand. Inexpensive. Friends didnt give it much thought, unless they needed a ride somewhere. Nothing fancy on the outside, but it started up every day and had surprising power with the V-8.

Sat five passengers comfortably, provided three of them were girls. (That has nothing whatever to do with the Diamondbacks either, but I just thought I'd mention it.) The point is, the name on the hood ornament doesnt matter as much as what the car actually does, what it accomplishes - especially when there arent many other quality cars on the road. This Diamondbacks vehicle, the lowly BoMelmobile, is well on its way from point A to point B and only an act of God or an improbable acceleration by two lesser wildcard hot rods can stop it from reaching its destination.

The sweep against the Cards was impressive because, despite all their injuries and losses, the Cardinals are a veteran team fighting for the wildcard themselves, not some late season pushover. Those were the type of close games that veteran teams find a way to win in September more often than not - and Tony LaRussa couldnt get one. Not with his new ace, or with anybody else. The games were close, the last agonizingly so, but still not as close as assumed.  The home Diamondbacks didnt require their ninth inning "ups" the entire series.

While Justin Upton got most of the pub for his game tying two run smack after God Bless America, the game saver might've been Chris Young's fine 2nd inning grab of Russell Branyan's scorcher in deep straightaway center, easily doubling up veteran So Taguchi from first. It's easy to call it a baserunning blunder, but from our vantage point in the second deck beyond third base, we had a superb view of the ball's trajectory and Young's route back to it, and can appreciate Taguchi's confusion. Young's range back is outstanding (he could play a little shallower) and the fact he was waiting for that missile on the track is kinda ridiculous to us. Oh yeah, he also hit a two run homer to open up the day's scoring, his twenty ninth of the year.

Reynolds let a ball skip under his mitt, but he's still impressive in person - light year's ahead of Chad Tracy. Comes in on balls very well, gets the ball out of his mitt quickly, nice footwork. Makes it look easy. Salazar and Upton are contributing, Jackson's hitting better. With a five game winning streak in September, you just get a feeling these kids are gonna do it.

Nobody remarked about my retro Dbacks purple hat but I definitely got a few stares. The park was obviously quite red, between the Cardinals and Sedona Astro threads, but I was pleased to see plenty of purple too - first, two little old ladies walking to the park along Jefferson. Then all sorts of people within the stadium, more than you see on TV. Two moms in bright purple parked themselves on our direct right with their small children. Most heartening, really, was the sight of two guys decked out in retro purples on the kisscam with their respective girlfriends/wives. It seems the powers that be arent quite so edgy about manipulating perception as before. Maybe they feel they've won that battle - or that they've won the battle but may be losing a greater war with the overbearing manipulation. Hard to tell, but we welcome this apparent sliver of glasnost from The Red Party.