Rockies Survive Bottled Rain Delay, Win Game 1 of NLCS

Part of: Desert Pepper

Bottled water is not exactly abundant in Arizona. It's a very precious resource. A finite product in a desert city. You know that "8 glasses a day" sermon? Follow that medical credo, especially in Phoenix, says the man who damn near gets heat stroke every time he goes out there. Don't, for whatever reason, under any circumstances throw your water bottle away.

Because sometimes it also makes you look like an ass.

In the 7th inning of the Colorado Rockies' 5-1 win over Arizona, the Diamondbacks' base runner Justin Upton was attempting to break up a double play on Augie Ojeda's grounder to short. Upton's slide was effective, but the post-slide arm tackle on Kaz Matsui was frowned upon. The baseball equivalent of "half the distance to the goal" is "the batter is also out." And here I thought you could never assume a double play.

Now that the fanboy line is out of my system, I can saliently claim it was a good call.

But D'backs fans, in a combination of disagreement and frustration that their team was down 5-1 (with ace Brandon Webb pitching), chucked water bottles and souvenir cups into the field of play. As the grounds crew cleaned up the debris thrown onto the field, not once did a groundskeeper find a message hidden behind the label containing a rational argument for why second base umpire Larry Vanover made a bad call. It was getting so bad that manager Clint Hurdle summoned his Rockies defense back into the dugout until the P.A. equivalent of "don't make me turn this car around!" was relayed and absorbed into the stands.

Maybe it's only fair that the umpires award the Rockies all the bottles that have "under the cap" codes and prizes.

Continued on the next page Page 1 — Page 2

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Article Author: Matthew T. Sussman

Sussman is the sports editor of BC Magazine and the executive editor of Technorati. He also writes for Deadspin and Toledo Free Press. He and Tuffy can be heard hosting the Treehouse Fort, Sundays at 12 noon ET. Plus, he Twitters. …

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  • 1 - The Haze

    Oct 12, 2007 at 8:23 am

    Note#1 - Was Chip Caray that transparent?....Ya think????
    Note#2 - Be nice to the Rays - It's the Yanks we hate!
    Note#3 - I love this game!!!!!!

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