Hail, Rockies grounds crew!
If Monfort hustled like his staff, Denver could be great baseball town again
If Dick Monfort hustled as hard as the guys with the shovels and leaf blowers did Thursday night at Coors Field, the Rockies might be looking down at Arizona instead of the other way ‘round.
“Yeah, we were on The Rooftop ( bar) and we were like, ‘ There’s no way they’re playing this thing,’” Jordan Francies told me from the cheap seats up in Section 402 while the Rox grounds crew somehow made Coors Field playable for Colorado-dodgers late Thursday after the mother of all hail storms had blitzed Lodo just a few hours earlier.
“There was this giant pile of hail in right field. ( We were like), ‘ There’s no way’. We saw some grounds crew guy running through the outfield, and it was just splashing.”
Francies and his old college roomie Fernando Careaga watched the grounds guys grind for hours with empathy. And more than a little sympathy.
See, a few years back, the pair were outfielders at Pacific University, a Div. III program in Forest Grove, Ore. College baseball players, especially young ones, double as a program’s grounds crew. When Jordan and Fernando saw a field that looked like it was Dipping Dots Demolition Night, they got flashbacks. And cold shivers.
“We were laughing,” Scott Francies, Jordan’s dead, recalled gleefully as he sat to their right. “Because their whole college experience (was), they’d get a text from their coach at 8 a.m. saying, ‘OK, tarp duty.’ Because it’s Oregon, it rains non-stop.”
Doesn’t hail, though.
Not like this, anyway.
At 7:15 p.m., the two skippers took a walk out to right-center with the umpiring crew to survey the footing. Jordan and Fernando watched from up high, wondering what was coming next.
“And we’re like, how many times do you see that?” Careaga said. “You know, they’re like, ‘ Yeah, I got a dinner reservation (tonight).’ “
The roomies didn’t reunite Thursday to talk about the weather, mind you. Jordan’s a local who was raised a Rockies fan — despite savoring titles by the Nuggets (2022-23), Avs (2021-22) and Broncos (2015-16), his favorite postseason ever remains the
Rocktober of ’ 07 — while Fernando grew up in the desert southwest bleeding L. A. blue.
A Dodgers fan (Careaga) was even the best man at the wedding of Rockies supporter (Jordan). What the hail?
“(The trash) is pretty one-sided,” Jordan sighed.
The real All-stars at Coors on Thursday were the pluggers on the grounds crew, throwing their backs out to get one of the National League’s worst mismatches, on paper, back on track.
The hail burped, then poured, sending white pellets streaming into both dugouts below and even the open press box above. Once the chaos subsided, Rox catcher Elias Diaz made hail angels near the tarp puddle at home plate, later chucking hail like snowballs at the Dodgers’ David Peralta.
With an hour 50 minutes to a scheduled 6:40 first pitch, the steps from the Rockies’ clubhouse to the home dugout were buried 18 inches deep nickel- sized stones. Two guys with shovels scooped like there was no tomorrow, while another staffer got on the walkie-talkie to ask for hoses, stat.
Shovels. Brushes. Water pressure. Leaf blowers. Melt, then sweep. Sweep, then melt.
“They did pretty good,” Careaga said of the Rox’s grounds crew.
Darn straight.
“I think that’s what the Monforts do, is look for ways to get people in seats, not win games,” Scott mused.
“I don’t care if we have a bunch of no-names out there that play their ( butts) off. I’d rather have that all day long. I think that’s why we fell in love with the Blake Street Bombers. We might lose, but it’s going to be 14-10 and you’re going to have a great time and you’re going to connect with some of those guys.”
The elephant never leaves the room, does it? Not for rain, hail, or shine.
“You get people in the stands here,” Careaga said, nodding at the crowd that stuck it out, many of them clad in blue.
“In Arizona, they’re ( leading) the NL West, but they struggle so hard to get people to come to the games there.” ( The Rockies) could be losing, bottom of the pit, not even close to getting in the playoffs, you (fans) still pack the stadium. That’s got to say something about the fans.”
Sure does. Just wish it said more to the guys who sign the checks for the heroes with the shovels, the grinders who make darn sure Monfort’s show goes on.