The Arizona/Colorado Trip (photo-heavy) ← FREE KRAUT!

The Arizona/Colorado Trip (photo-heavy) 11

Before I get into this, I’ll give you a direct link to the MLB games I’ve attended this season, found here. There are nine of them, and that’s where it will probably stay as I don’t have any plans at this point to go back up to Seattle for the final series of the season.

Additional bonus content: two games from Hillsboro last month, including Portland Mavericks Night, found here.

On August 10, I made the somewhat impulsive decision to go to Phoenix and Denver to see some baseball games in two ballparks I had not been to before. This is a trip I’d wanted to make in June of 2012 but it did not come to pass. Remember, that was the time the A’s were swept in Arizona, then got a sweep of their own in Colorado as they began their climb from a 26-35 record to go 68-33 the rest of the way, and I think we all know what happened those final 9 games of the season.

Anyway, with the A’s going to Phoenix again, even though it’s a lost season I figured I’d look into getting a flight. Since Denver’s not too far away, I checked to see if they’d be home before or after the weekend and as it happened the Diamondbacks went there after the series with the A’s. I spent some points for a free flight to Phoenix, benefited from a $70 one-way promo from Phoenix to Denver, and got a decent flight back to Portland. All non-stops, and the flights themselves only cost me about $250 total. I made up for a bit of that with car rentals and hotels, but I wanted the convenience and I felt like treating myself to a step up from the usual Motel 6 sort of thing. The restaurant at the Doubletree near the Phoenix airport was nice, because there wasn’t much else around unless I drove a couple miles.

Phoenix was hot, as high as 111° on the Saturday, but having the roof closed and about 78° inside thanks to all that AC was very nice. It doesn’t take much to see why a roofed stadium was a requirement there.

Coming into the game, the A’s were 5-15 in all the times I’d seen them on the road. That’s 0-6 in Seattle, 0-2 in St. Louis, 1-2 in Chicago (Cubs), 1-2 in San Diego, 1-2 in Kansas City, and 2-1 in Minnesota.

AUGUST 28: Diamondbacks 6, A’s 4

I bought a cheap seat for this one because my plan was to wander the entirety of Chase Field in advance of sitting in a club level seat the next night, then a few rows behind the 3B dugout for the final game of the series (which set me back about $115, very expensive). I went to pretty much every corner of this place, and I can tell you with certainty that if you’re up in the last rows of the upper deck, you are far away from the action.

The A’s got off to a good start here with the 2-0 lead, but thanks in large part to Stephen Vogt suddenly having trouble catching the ball, the D-Backs got back into it and then Paul Goldschmidt hit a 470-foot bomb to the left of dead center, hitting off the border beneath the scoreboard. Of course, Brett Lawrie outdid that with a 476-foot destruction of a baseball just to the right of the sports restaurant in deep LF, but Brad Ziegler did his thing and that was that.

I spent about an inning chatting with Rhamesis Muncada (during Goldschimdt’s homer, in fact), otherwise known as Marine Layer of New Ballpark. Whether you like him or not – and many A’s fans do not because of whatever biases he has – I’ve appreciated his dedication to presenting as much info as possible about the whole stadium situation over the past decade. And yes, that does take dedication to stick with if you think about how many different twists and turns this whole saga has had. He spends more time reading and writing about what’s going on than the vast majority of the fans out there, and I at least appreciate that. We had a good conversation and it was nice to talk to him in person as we shared a little bit about ourselves with each other.

Some visuals from this game. Almost no action shots this time, since I was focused more on stadium angles and views. These are smaller versions, but the 1200×800 originals are of course available through the link(s) above.

From what I understand, this area was set up outside the main entrance along the 3B side for the All-Star Game they hosted. Shade of any kind is valuable there, to state the obvious.

When you’re in there, you definitely get a feel for how large the place is with the roof and all that.

This will give you an idea of how far Lawrie’s homer went. It hit off the second set of steps there at the edge of the sports grill, then bounced back down to the field. That’s about 24 or so rows back of the outfield wall, plus whatever height it took to reach that far. Crazy to see two 470+ homers in a span of a couple innings. If Goldschmidt’s homer had been to the same area, it would have also made it up there – and he actually hit one 482 feet to left-center two days before this.

Something I do at every place I go to – a photo from the highest point behind the plate. Actually, this one is maybe a dozen or so rows below that. I did go all the way to the top and the supports for that side of the roof cut off part of the area above the scoreboard. This version looked better.

It takes a lot of this stuff running through Chase Field to get it down to just under 80° but there are still a few spots in the outer reaches of the upper deck it doesn’t quite touch. This also gives an idea of the rows and pitch of the upper deck. I’ve read that it’s actually closer to the field than it is at many places, but they make up for it by it being ridiculously deep.

Here’s a pretty steep angle looking down on the infield.

Another idea of how the structure for the roof hangs over the upper deck, and how far back the rows go.

They have an organist! It’s Bobby Freeman, and the number is for 88 piano keys.

Another angle from way, way back there.

Pat Venditte and Paul Goldschmidt (not the home run pitch).

What it looks like with the roof and panels open, in advance of fireworks night. I imagine this is a pretty nice view when the weather’s cooler and you get a good sunset.

Had to be back up top for the fireworks.

One more. Lacking a monopod with me (I don’t think they allowed them in anyway), I just used part of a cup holder and the concrete from a walkway to keep the camera stable for a variety of shutter speeds and apertures.

AUGUST 29: A’s 3, Diamondbacks 2

Stephen Vogt’s redemption night, as he accounted for all of the A’s runs thanks to his early homer and late bloop single. This was the game I went over near the A’s bullpen in RF to sit with Will MacNeil for an inning and ended up on TV briefly. I’ve known him since we talked at a few Ports games I covered, and of course he’s always on TV at A’s home games.

This was also the game where I had a problem no photographer wants to deal with while out of town or in any way to begin with. Somewhere along the way, the lens I brought with me (an 18-140mm one that runs about $500 on its own; I got it as part of a bundle and saved) started to catch and lock up on me in full auto mode. I could take a shot, then the camera would stop responding until I turned it off and “reset” the lens by detaching and reattaching it, but this was a repetitive issue. Oddly, it did not occur when I was in manual mode, but I noticed that while part of the image would be in focus, it was frequently off in noticeable ways. I ended up not using a lot of photos because of this, but I compensated by taking more under different settings to come away with something I could still use even if it wasn’t perfect. I think it’s a focus motor malfunctioning in the lens – it repeated when I got back home and put it on another body – but it shouldn’t cost too much to have it repaired.

Some of what I saw from this game follows.

I parked in a different garage just so I could get some better exterior shots of Chase Field, and since this was one of those super-hot days I didn’t really want to be in the sun very long.

This was the club level (“Diamond Level”) game, and there were about ten of these pieces of artwork in the hallways, all of a similar style.

This part of the area is pretty wide open. This level provides access to their suites and the 200-level seats.

These go back a ways and there’s one roughly to either side of where the press level lines up. I like them.

One of the dining areas down the 3B side.

Aaron Brooks. I probably could have cropped some of these more closely and been fine, but since the closed roof affects camera settings I went with a high ISO just to get some shots around 1/640 or 1/800 of a second, compared to frequently shooting stuff during sunny days outside at 1/4000 or even 1/8000. I’ll take a little more digital noise so I can avoid shots with too much motion blur. These aren’t meant to be professional work, so it doesn’t have to be flawless.

How it looked from my seat.

I did move around a little before going over to RF. Around here is when the lens started to act up.

That pool.

Here’s Will doing his thing to support Stephen Vogt. Apparently the next day a D-Backs fan tried to report him to security for cheering too much for the A’s.

Vogt’s go-ahead single.

AUGUST 30: A’s 7, Diamondbacks 4 (11 innings)

Look, not only did Pat Venditte get his first MLB win, he also got to bat. And, I got to see it from the first row behind the home dugout. Originally I was about a dozen rows back, and that wasn’t bad, but once extra innings came about I moved up since a lot of people cleared out. This did come at the expense of Brad Ziegler having a bad game against the A’s, but nothing’s perfect.

The seats closest to the dugouts and behind the plate get access to a club area beneath the seating, and they have a small area presumably at each end (I only checked out the one on my side) and a bit of a larger restaurant area beneath the seats behind the plate. I guess the players also go through the tunnels to get to the locker rooms and fans start lining up there well before the game is over.

This was going to be my “get more action shots” game, so I’m not going to go overboard with the pics here but you can take a look at more via the link if you like.

I almost missed this because I didn’t check out the rotunda before, but after reading about it before going to the last game I snapped a few pics of the historical stuff they have in here.

Amusing.

Jesse Chavez trying to bat. Okay, he did get a hit later on.

Jake Lamb.

I like places where the ribbon board actually runs behind the plate with info like this visible.

A Coco Crisp scoring sequence over three parts.

Dooooooooooooooooo.

Brad Ziegler doing his thing, just not as well as he’d been lately.

Eric Sogard during a few minutes in the sun. I’d have put up a few more in the gallery from this part of the game, but the focus wasn’t cooperating quite right for most of them.

Pat Venditte!

Feels different from the field instead of the top row.

Pat Venditte!

Pat Venditte!

By winning the series, the A’s improved to 7-16 when I see them on the road.

From here it was on to Denver. I wish their airport was closer to downtown, but it’s usually about half an hour to get between the two places. The only part that was worse was the car rental was much higher compared to Phoenix, but I didn’t want to have to rely on transit when time was a little limited in some cases. I stayed within about two miles of Coors Field, and there was a lot more nearby (a few blocks from the state capitol building) that added to the convenience.

For various reasons, I didn’t actually stay all the way through any of the games I went to in Denver, and I even skipped the second game of the doubleheader on the 1st. On the first night, I was feeling pretty tired and I “missed” Ziggy’s second bad game in a row. For the first game of the doubleheader, the time in the sun left me a little weary and I wanted to get back to the room and rest, then I just felt like staying in for the night so I walked a few blocks to try some bourbon chicken from a literal hole in the wall type of place I’d passed earlier (no indoor seating, just a couple tables outside), and it was good. The night before flying back home, I left early and unfortunately missed the homers by Carlos Gonzalez because I wanted to get some extra sleep before waking up early to get to the airport with enough time to spare. I like being there close to two hours before the flight just so I can kick back and relax instead of feeling rushed.

AUGUST 31: Rockies 5, Diamondbacks 4

I had a free ticket from a friend in the upper deck, so like the first game in Phoenix this was my “wander everywhere” time. I did repeat a bit of it the next day to get some daytime shots, though. It was just, like, a game, you know?

This is what it looks like just across the street from the main entrance. A couple blocks or so down the street to the right (continuing into the distance along Blake Street, not a hard right at the corner of the shot) gets you to Union Station and Pepsi Center is just about half a dozen blocks away in the same direction.

Here’s another idea of how close Coors Field is to Denver’s downtown. What Minneapolis did with Target Field is very similar, but the Metrodome already used to be downtown as well. Pittsburgh’s had their places just across the river from downtown for a while, too.

Some thunderstorms blew through the area before the game but there was no delayed start and this was one of their lowest paid attendances of the season (around 20k). I guess that’s no surprise when two teams under .500 are facing each other. Wait until you see the next day, though. A few wider shots here, including the Rooftop area they created with some recent renovations. It seems to have been a smart decision, as it’s become a popular area, but it also seems to be populated by lots of dudebros. I’ve seen some photos of great sunsets from the upper deck along the 1B side, but there was nothing quite so spectacular on this trip.

I like the purple row (5,280 feet up). It’s unique in a way no other ballpark can claim having.

The Denver skyline, as seen from the top of the Rockpile, ain’t bad.


SEPTEMBER 1: Diamondbacks 6, Rockies 4 (Game 1)

This was in the upper 80s, and that’s not too bad but in the higher altitude I think it was felt a little more. I did feel glad to just relax later on, but before that I made sure to get some good exterior shots of Coors Field and you can get a decent appreciation for the brickwork and old-style feel for it.

This is the view down Blake Street. Right across from the ballpark is an apartment complex (probably very expensive) and a storage facility. On one hand, living a few feet from a stadium is kind of cool. On the other, I don’t know if I’d want to have that much noise just outside my front door. And, again, very expensive.

Okay, I had to look it up. It’s called Broadstone Blake Street, it opened this year, and their rents are between $1,840-$1,870 for 1-bedroom places that are no larger than 767 square feet. For what it is, yes – that’s pretty pricey but not as expensive as the other apartment complex on the opposite side of the block that was built a few years ago. Larger units, some up to $3,000 a month. Now you know.

How it looks across from the main entrance to Coors Field.

Big, puffy clouds against a blue sky make for a nice backdrop.

This is, by far, my favorite batter’s eye area in the league. I love how it runs up against the visitor’s bullpen as well, and for those on the field you really don’t see anything except the ivy and the trees. I should have gone down to the front of the bleachers for another angle at some point, but there’s no reason I can’t go back there someday.

Just don’t bounce too many pitches in the dirt.

Yohan Flande and Ender Inciarte get to 1B at the same time. Call on the field was out, but it was overturned on replay review.

Charlie Blackmon at the plate.

Patrick Corbin takes care of Nolan Arenado.

Yohan Flande, owner of a great name.

View from my seat (okay, I moved a section closer to the plate). Got this one for $50 through StubHub.

Coors Field, and you can see what I mean about how empty it was. Even for a makeup game after an earlier weather-related postponement, this is reeeeeeeeeallllllllyyyy empty. It was like a batting practice crowd and I took this one halfway through the game.

What it looks like from the back of the bleachers.

SEPTEMBER 2: Rockies 9, Diamondbacks 4

Prior to the game, I chatted with Katie Sanchez, whom some of you may remember when she used to sit in the LF bleachers at A’s games before moving to Colorado. We ate at the Breckenridge Brewery restaurant diagonally across from one of the entrances to Coors Field, and it was a good way to kill about three hours before she went to pick up another friend at the airport and I went into the ballpark. Lots of good A’s-related memories came up while we watched them lose to the Angels on one of the TVs.

Like I said, I missed most of the big game Carlos Gonzalez had at the plate, as both his grand slam and 2-run homer in back-to-back innings came after I went back to the hotel to retire early for the night (or at least finish getting ready for the morning before it got to be midnight). This is why I usually don’t like to leave games early, and why I’m glad I stuck around for the Pat Venditte Show in Phoenix. Still, I had a good time checking out Coors Field and it’d be nice to go back there whenever the A’s make a return visit.

The Rockies have a number of different displays on their club level, including this one with jerseys from David Nied and Jon Gray. You can go through the linked gallery if you want to see what else they’ve got.

Part of their club level, which is somewhat generic but fine for what it is.

My front row seat, which cost me a few dollars more than the field level seat the day before.

Jon Gray on the hill. As of this writing, he’s started 7 games for Colorado and has yet to record a decision. He’s left with leads the bullpen lost in some cases, and he’s been bailed out by the offense in others. If that doesn’t sum up the Colorado Rockies, I don’t know what does. Of course, once he starts pitching deeper into games, that will change.

Carlos Gonzalez makes a great diving catch, though a run scored on a sacrifice fly. Photo is somewhat deceptive, as if I cropped it any closer than this you’d see how out of focus he actually ended up being.

The RF area, and if you look closer you can see spots around the top and edges where the lens malfunction makes it a little out of focus. Also hard to tell, but there are letters above each tunnel down to the concourse that spell out “COLORADO.”

Always fun to try to time pop-ups into the glove, as Chris Owings takes care of this one in front of Welington Castillo.

Over the years I’ve also tried to get stuff like a 3B diving for a ball. Once I had a great pair of shots of this at a game I covered in Sacramento, but unfortunately the focus was on where the fielder started from instead of where he ended up diving. So, the feet were in focus but the rest was not. I guess that would have been better with a wider aperture, but that wasn’t something I was thinking of at the time. In this case, Nolan Arenado has no chance on this fair ball.

Outside the first base entrance at night. Since the streets were blocked off for the game, I took my time with the camera against the ground and just retook this until I got one that was mostly straight. Minimal rotation during post-processing afterward, and here we are.

Outside one of the entrances at an intersection, they have a neon display that shows a runner sequentially sliding into a play at the plate, and it randomly results in “safe” or “out.”

Hope you enjoyed!

11 thoughts on “The Arizona/Colorado Trip (photo-heavy)

  1. doctorK Sep 13,2015 4:01 pm

    IMG_1366

  2. Future Ed Sep 13,2015 8:51 pm

    i love these.

    it occurs to me that I really don;t like the cub level at att because it feels like those concorces with the ceiling tiles. it is just another office building

    I have $5. No I don\'t.
  3. doctorK Sep 13,2015 9:29 pm

    Regarding the letters above the tunnels – we sat in the front row of the section between the ‘R’ and the ‘D’, and did not notice them.

    For historical reference, here are my pictures from my trip to Coors in 2008, including a crap-ton of shots from the San Francisco Zephyr. I made a post on ** back in the day, but deleted it after the Toonces nonsense.

    • James V. Sep 13,2015 9:40 pm || Up

      You can see them a bit better here. I don’t know if they’ve always been there or not, though. I found one photo of yours from behind home plate where it looks like they were there.

      So you took the train all the way there? That must have been fun. The longest I took Amtrak was last year from the Stockton area (after catching a bus from Elk Grove) to Los Angeles, then on to New Orleans. Flew back home.

      Taking the train can be great if you have the extra time.

      • doctorK Sep 13,2015 10:27 pm || Up

        When I was in grad school, I took the Zephyr three times from Iowa to Oakland and back (using the old 16th Street station which is now not only abandoned, but disconnected from the rail line). As a student, I could hack riding in coach. Today, it’s gotta be a sleeper. The trip was great, other than the smoky skies in the Sierra due to wildfires (sound familiar?). The train even ran ahead of schedule until we got into the Rockies, where I heard the Amtrak conductor say some rather uncomplimentary things about Union Pacific.

        • Glorious Mundy Sep 13,2015 10:45 pm || Up

          When I was little my whole family took the train to Seattle and Vancouver from that 16th Street station. I remember thinking it was the coolest place ever. Decades later, I decided to take the train across the country for some damn fool reason. I was so sad when I got to the station in Oakland and it wasn’t that old place.

          Oh, and we got delayed for hours and hours and hours and hours on the cross country trip, not only in the Rockies but also in Nebraska. I still loved it.

  4. elcroata Sep 14,2015 1:45 am

    Very nice, thanks for sharing.

    Because survival is insufficient
  5. FreeSeatUpgrade Sep 17,2015 10:36 am

    Terrific account, felt like I was there.

    "Kraut will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no kraut."

Leave a Reply