Coors Field in October

I caught last night's game at Coors Field and count myself lucky to have done so. The last month of baseball has been a rollercoaster ride seeing the Phillies climb to first after a miserable Mets outing on Friday only to have their bats stay home on Saturday while the Mets hung up 13 on Florida to tie things up. Headed into Sunday, things were knotted up in the East and I knew better than to watch the game (call me superstitious).

Brian and I had a 10:10 tee time at Indian Peaks and it was a beautiful day - somewhere in the low 70s. When we finished up and moved to the 19th hole for a quick brew (or two), I turned on my iPhone to get the news that Philly had won the NL East. Huge. The Rockies/D-Backs game was on in the clubhouse and the score was all even at 1s. San Diego had just lost big to the Mariners and opened the door up for the Rocks to play for the postseason. Before waiting for the Rockies to win, I pulled the trigger on 4 tix to the first home game of the NLDS. Philly had the wildcard and I really needed to erase my mental picture of Mitch Williams serving up the meatball in '93. After the Rockies won, I tried to get tickets to the tiebreaker but they weren't on sale online right away and by the time I tried again they were sold out. I even went to King Soopers to buy tickets but to no avail.

I've been to some big games before but there have only been a handful of tiebreakers to decide who gets into the playoffs and I needed to be at this game. Julie had the night off so I knew it would be a tough sell for me to go to the game (and spend an arm and a leg to do so). My buddy emailed me and told me he had a line on some cheap tix on Craig's list; I told him I'd be willing to spend $60, no more. I don't know what strings he pulled but he calls me and says he's got a line on tickets for 50 bucks. I half believe him but call it a 'Bueller' day anyway and pack up for DTown. We get the tickets and lo and behold, they are 28 rows behind home plate.

13 innings later and fireworks are going off over Coors Field. Spectacular.

This October is good for so many reasons but tops on my list: The Phillies are back in the playoffs for the first time in 14 years