Who turned on the heat?

ESTES PARK, Colo. – So I’m sitting at the tables closest to the door in Kind Coffee – my favorite coffee shop ever – with a view of the burbling Big Thompson River and the bundled up locals traipsing up Elkhorn Avenue for the October sidewalk sale with all sorts of thoughts running wild: “Is the baseball season really over?”

“Man, I can’t believe I made that drive from Denver at 1 a.m.”

“This coffee is so #$&*@% good!”

“I can’t believe I’m in Estes Park in October and it’s 35 degrees… it’s 90 degrees in Lancaster and Philly.”

“It’s hard to believe that Colorado is on the same planet as Philadelphia.”

“Hey! Look... elk!

“That guy is wearing a funny hat. I wonder where he got it?”

You get the idea. It goes on and on and on like this – sometimes for days.

Anyway, if I had to guess, I’d say that I slept for seven hours since waking up on Saturday morning to go to the airport in Philadelphia. That part stinks because sleep is vital. If one gets the proper amount of sleep (and a little bit extra just for fun), there is no need to inject silliness like HGH into one’s bloodstream.

Be that as it may, I’ve been infused with a steady stream of coffee since arriving out here at noon (local time) on Saturday. From the airport I went to the ballpark and watched the Phillies’ season come to an end. When that ended and I turned the ignition on my car at 1:01 a.m., I drove to Estes Park.

On the way to Estes, I saw exactly four cars on the final 36 miles of the drive after exiting I-25. I was convinced an elk or coyote was going to jump out of the thick, inky blackness of the night and into the path of my car.

Instead it was just cold and windy.

Get this: when I left Philadelphia it was 90 degrees and foggy, but when I woke up on Sunday morning it was 35 degrees and windy with a few snow flurries dancing about. By 1 p.m. it was 55 degrees with a gentle breeze and the sunniest and bluest skies anyone will ever see.

ANYWAY, one of my goals in Estes Park was to spend the morning at Kind Coffee, which is where I started writing this, as well as Sunday’s (or Monday’s… I lost track) reprisal of the Phillies’ season. Check it out by clicking here.

Another goal was to see if there were more elk meandering about town than during the summertime.

Here’s how it worked out:

As far as the coffee joint went, I made it to Kind Coffee three times in less than 16 hours of which four were spent sleeping. As mentioned above, I started writing this post from the table nearest the door with a full view of the Big Thompson River flowing within spitting distance. To the table to my right sat a bearded, 27-year old seasonal employee of the National Park Service, who was discussing his existential crisis with an attentive and patient young lady. I know all of this because I heard the conversation as if I had snapped on the TV and was just listening to it as background noise. As I tap-tap-tapped away, waxing on about Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins and Jamie Moyer, the young man described how he was ready to retire and was sick of seasonal jobs, though he was not at all interested in working in an office where he might have to sit in a cubicle all day under set, rigid hours.

He also didn’t want to have to spend the rest of his life working only to retire and find out that he didn’t make enough money or invest properly.

Join the club, buddy. And save as much of your fire watching money as possible now – sell that top-of-the-line iMac on eBay… better yet, stay away from anything that has a small letter in front of a capital letter. That type of [stuff] is expensive. Better yet, start buying Folgers at the Safeway up the hill. Buying that Kind Coffee every day adds up.

Trust me.

Famous last words, huh?

As far as the elk meandering about goes, I thought there would be more, though there were a bunch just chillaxing near the Lake Estes trail as well as a big ol’ buck and his brood hanging out behind the Stanley Hotel.

Oh yeah, I also bought a weird hat that no one else likes. In fact, my sister doesn't even like it and she's a bit odd (eccentric?).

To shorten this up a bit, the trip was too short. All of it. Time in Colorado is always much too short, and the Phillies’ run in the playoffs was almost criminally short. I realized this as I drove past Coors Field on Sunday night and saw that it was all dark. I said out loud: “Hey, this would be about the time the first pitch would be thrown.”

I’m going to dig into the off-season this afternoon, where I’ll attempt to offer what we could expect from the club this winter. Stay tuned for that. In the meantime, here’s what I was writing for this site when Jeff Baker singled off J.C. Romero with two outs in the eighth inning on Saturday night at Coors:

Game 3 of the NLDS has really heated up and, yes, we mean that metaphorically. Heading into the eighth, the Rockies have turned it over to funky lefty Brian Fuentes, who whiffed Jimmy Rollins, got Chase Utley to fly out harmlessly to left, and then struck out Pat Burrell to end the inning.

To punctuate the feat, Fuentes gave a strong fist pump with his left hand and a little leg kick.

But Burrell nearly had Fuentes hanging his head. His long, loud foul ball started its flight looking like it was going to land in the seats for a homer, but instead turned out just to be strike two.

The Rockies sent the meat of their order up against Tom Gordon in the eighth. Gordon started his second inning against Matt Holliday, Todd Helton and Garrett Atkins up.

I’m betting that J.C. Romero will face Helton…

And here comes Charlie with his lineup card to pull off a double-switch. Romeo to face Helton, Jayson Werth to left to replace Burrell. I imagine Charlie will use Brett Myers to face the righty Garrett Atkins even if Romero doesn’t retire Helton.

Uh… oops.

That's a wrap

It just got a little crazy and I have to get to work, so check back tomorrow where I'll deal out the full postscript on the most interesting season I've ever seen. Until then...

And then there was offense... kind of

It should be noted that there is a full Philadelphia media throng here in Denver tonight. All of the newspapers are represented in sizable numbers, including six writers from the Inquirer and a bunch from the Daily News. And get this: The Daily News doesn’t even print an edition tomorrow and the rest of the papers are already past deadline.

Ah, but they all have web site… that’s right guys – embrace the technology.

All of a sudden the offense shows up!

With one out in the seventh Shane Victorino knifed one through the wind and into the seats atop the high, out-of-town scoreboard in right field. Just like that and the Phillies have some offense.

They might even have a little spark.

Victorino knew it was gone as soon as he hit it. He reacted with a few short fist pumps as he dashed down the first-base line and was prodding on his teammates throughout the inning. Perhaps Victorino and his home run got the Phillies going? After all, Carlos Ruiz followed it up with a single to chase rookie pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez in favor of veteran Matt Herges.

After Greg Dobbs pinch hit for Abe Nunez and grounded out, Charlie Manuel pulled back Jamie Moyer for pinch hitter Tadahito Iguchi with two outs and a runner on second. We all know that things tend to happen whenever Iguchi steps onto the field.

This time, though, all that happened was an inning-ending pop out.

Moyer's line: 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 2 K - 88 pitches/56 strikes

Here comes the Phillies’ bullpen. Buckle up.

Coming up empty

My favorite pen finally ran out of ink. The Rockies drew first blood in the fifth when Pat Burrell misplayed a single – or maybe even a FO-7 – into a two-out, RBI triple for Kaz Matsui.

That cinches it: Kaz Matsui is officially the Phillie Killer.

In 2007, Matsui went 3-for-9 with a homer against the Phillies, which is up from a 4-for-23 in 2006 and 6-for-33 in 2005. But in 2004 when he was with the Mets, Matsui had 22 hits against the Phillies, including a bunch of really strong games at the Bank. In one series in June of that season, Matsui picked up nine hits before adding eight more in the return matchup at Shea.

Most telling is that of Matsui’s 35 career hits against the Phillies, 10 are for extra bases.

During the Phillies’ half of the fifth they finally got a base runner when Carlos Ruiz walked. But he was quickly erased when Abe Nunez grounded into an inning-ending double play.

The Phillies kicked up another bit of a fuss in the sixth by putting two on with one out (and letting Moyer lead off the inning), but Pat Burrell popped out to left and Ryan Howard grounded out.

Man… the Phillies had two on and one out with Burrell and Howard coming up and got nothing. Such a bad time for that to happen…

As it stands now, the Phillies have nine outs remaining in the season.

All quiet in the fourth

Every time I’ve seen the Phillies play a game at Coors Field, Pat Burrell homered. This afternoon he was launching some bombs during batting practice, which leads me to believe that he would probably enjoy playing in Denver more often.

I’m not saying anything, I’m just saying…

According to this site, the gusts are 39 mph here at Coors. That also seems to be the speed of the breeze generated from the swings and misses from the Phillies’ hitters against fireballer, Ubaldo Jimenez. Here in the fourth, the young right-hander has retired 10 in a row.

In the bottom half of the fourth, Moyer notched his first clean inning since the first. Interestingly, even though Moyer is pitching very deliberately, the game is moving along at a nice clip. If it hadn’t been for the lights going out, this game might be over.

Old man Moyer

This afternoon when I got to the park (something like 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time), I noticed Jamie Moyer sitting by himself next to the backstop, quietly taking in the pre-game scene. The Rockies had just started to take the field to stretch and loosen up before batting practice, and some of the folks from the TBS and ESPN were milling about and setting up their camera angles or whatever it is they do. Ever since Game 2 ended in defeat for the Phillies, I have been paying close attention to Jamie Moyer. In fact, I have been trying to parse his comments about how he wants to “have fun” and explaining how much “fun” it is to be in the playoffs. Anyone who asks gets told that Moyer is having fun and that the others on his team should understand that these games are fun.

It’s why you play the season, Moyer says.

Yet through it all I can’t find any deeper meaning. I even asked a few of the scribes who know the team better than me and they agreed that there isn’t more beyond what the 44-year old lefty is saying. Take his words at face value, I was told.

Or, look at them as a means to get some of the guys on his team – namely some of the pitchers and Chase Utley – to loosen up.

Perhaps Moyer’s tactic will work.

As it stands now, the last seven Phillies’ hitters have gone down in order. Moyer, meanwhile, is taking his time and being very methodical in his tactics. If a runner is on base he has been making throws to first even though there isn’t a threat of a steal, or he looks in at catcher Carlos Ruiz for a long time before coming to a set motion.

Yesterday, Clint Hurdle warned his team that Moyer would challenge their discipline at the plate. So far there haven’t been any surprises.

Wha' happened

What the… Hey, who turned out the lights?

Just as Shane Victorino was digging in to lead off the second, all of the power went out in the ballpark. I don’t know if it’s related to the windy conditions, or if it’s in the neighborhood as well. All I know is that my cell phone won’t connect with my number back in Lancaster.

Weird, wild stuff.

OK…

I’m told it was a computer glitch and not related to the weather or whatever else. Either way, the delay lasted 14 minutes and it’s getting windier and colder. What a weird day. When I left the house this morning there was pea soup fog with reports of record-breaking temperatures and nasty humidity. Then I get here and it’s a perfect, sun-soaked day with humidity at 9 percent.

If the locusts show up, I’m gone.

Have I mentioned that it’s windy here?

Back in the baseball game, wily veteran Jamie Moyer is throwing strikes. He also threw one that Garrett Atkins normally would have smashed up to the concession stand where the sell the Rocky Mountain Oysters, but the gale-force winds knocked the blast down so that Pat Burrell could make an easy catch on the warning track.

Moyer loaded the bases on a pair of weak singles and a walk before getting out of the jam on a close play at first on a grounder hit by pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez.

Oh, but it’s getting odder. I just had to move all of my stuff off of the table in front of me so that a man could walk on top of the rows here in the press box to close the windows.

Apparently, it’s cold and windy out there. I don’t know any more because the windows are closed.

John's town

These fans are so polite. As the Rockies were introduced, they all waved their little rally towels, but they all stopped cheering and yelling when the P.A. announcer spoke. When he stopped saying what he had to say, the fans cheered. So attentive.

However, when Jimmy Rollins stepped to the plate, they booed. I guess it’s the same reason why Matt Holliday was booed in Philadelphia. There was a wicked cheer when Rollins whiffed, too.

They went crazy with the cheers when John Elway appeared on the video screen to implore everyone to root for the Rockies. Denver is all about the Broncos – actually, Colorado is all about the Broncos. Take the way Philadelphians feel about the Eagles and multiply it by the highest number you know and then you will begin to understand the way they feel about the Broncos.

Knowing this, it makes sense that John Elway runs the place. The old quarterback is Denver royalty and I’m pretty sure that everyone in the state buys their cars from one of his 9,857 car dealerships in the area.

Anyway, the fans are polite and loud. They like to cheer for their team and not really against the opposition.

I missed the first two hitters of the bottom of the first because I went into the press lounge to get a drink and a bag full of a really tasty snack mix. Plus, Jamie Moyer got the first two guys out really fast.

It seems as if the wind is now blowing in very hard. It’s starting to get chilly... er, cold.

The Dude abides

Since it’s the opening playoff game in Colorado, the players are being (re)introduced before the game. Jimmy Rollins started a nice little trend by going all the way to the very end of the line and shaking the hand of all of his teammates. Charlie Manuel just ambled out to home plate. Anyway, it’s a very beautiful night here at Coors. The temperature and the conditions couldn’t be better. Nevertheless, I suggest they play fast so, a.) We can get out of here earlier because it’s already been a long day and I’m sure you folks can’t wait to read our stories, and b.) It’s going to get cold and windy.

If there is a Game 4, it most likely will played in quite cold conditions. Like maybe the mid-30s. But enough weather talk from me… that’s Dennis Deitch’s bag. All I know is that the weather is beautiful and the press box is nice and low and I have a great vantage point askew of home plate.

Meanwhile, the news from here is that Charlie Manuel revealed that the Phillies had contacted him regarding his future plans. As has been well publicized, Manuel’s contract runs out at the end of the season and there appears to be interest in bringing him back. General manager Pat Gillick wasn't around to comment, though he is here in Denver.

Anyway, most of the wiling away time before the game was spent discussing the comedic genius of Norm McDonald and the greatest film ever produced…

The Big Lebowski.

These are important matters.

Also, it should be noted that there were no members of the Philadelphia press corps interested in trying the “Rocky Mountain Oysters” they sell at a few concession stands.

Can’t blame them.

Greetings from Blake Street

DENVER – Yay! I made it. Actually, I think I am the only person to be on the premises of both the Phillies and Rockies stadiums today. In order to pull off such a stunt, one has to get up early… I’m sleepy.

Nonetheless, we have a big ballgame tonight. Apparently the weather is going to take a wild turn as a front comes in, but I will report that the wind has been fairly fierce. There have been some gusts that could knock a big, strapping fella on his duff.

I can’t believe I used those terms in that sentence.

Anyway, well be coming at you live just like in the first two games, so get ready. In the meantime, here are the lineups:

Rockies 7 – Kaz Matsui, 2b 2 – Troy Tulowitzki, ss 5 – Matt Holliday, lf 17 – Todd Helton, 1b 27 – Garrett Atkins, 3b 11 – Brad Hawpe, rf 19 – Ryan Spilborghs, cf 8 – Yorvit Torrealba, c 38 – Ubaldo, Jimenez, p

As you can see, Clint Hurdle is sticking with the same lineup that he used in the first two games. Hey, if it ain’t broke…

Phillies 11 – Jimmy Rollins, ss 26 – Chase Utley, 2b 5 – Pat Burrell, lf 6 – Ryan Howard, 1b 33 – Aaron Rowand, cf 8 – Shane Victorino, cf 51 – Carlos Ruiz, c 3 – Abraham Nunez, 3b 50 – Jamie Moyer, p

With Moyer on the mound, Charlie Manuel is going with a more defensive lineup. Those nine guys remind me of something Moyer and I chatted about the other day – I told him that 50 percent of good pitching is good defense.

He said: “Ha! In my case it’s 99.9 percent.”

What a card!