There's Always Something New In Baseball

Last night THC (along with the THC Daughter and friend), attended his first Opening Day - the Colorado Rockies playing the home town Arizona Diamondbacks, at sold-out Chase Field in Phoenix. A beautiful evening for baseball - 91 degrees at game time but, like they say, it was a dry heat.

It was the Diamondbacks debut for free-agent pitcher Zach Greinke, who signed for a record $34 million a year during the off-season.  Zach did fine for two innings before getting hammered for six runs in the third and another in the fourth before exiting the game.  The seven earned runs he surrendered stands in contrast to the 41 he gave up in 32 starts during the entire 2015 season.  The Rockies won 10-5 in what turned out to be the longest 9-inning game in Diamondback history - 4:11.  It was a bit like watching every Red Sox-Yankees game a few years ago.
                                                                                                                                           
We also saw something that has never happened in major league history - a rookie making his debut on Opening Day and hitting two homers.  Trevor Story, the 23 year old shortstop for the Rockies, hit both off Greinke, the first to right-center and the second a 428-foot blast to left, the longest of the day in any game yesterday.  Last year, Trevor played at AAA in New Britain and Albuquerque, showing some power (70 extra base hits) and speed (10 triples and 22 stolen bases in 25 attempts).

BELOW:
Chase Field
Greinke throwing first pitch