Phillies 5, Rockies 4

I don't have a Bucket List.

We're not big baseball fans; it's a slow game that lends itself to daydreaming. I tend to miss most of the exciting plays. Jim prefers sports like soccer, basketball, and hockey.

But the Colorado Rockies made the playoffs, tickets were affordable, and we didn't have to take a day off work to go to the game. (There are benefits to unemployment, we told ourselves.) Neither of us had ever been to a playoff game in any sport. It seemed like the kind of thing one would do if one had a Bucket List.

Which is how we found ourselves at Coors Field yesterday sitting in the upper deck over right field. The Rockies made a dramatic comeback in the eighth inning, but still managed to lose the game when the Phillies came back from the brink in the top of the ninth with two outs and two strikes on the scoreboard.

The fans were equally entertaining. The weather during Sunday night's game had been in the 20s. Although yesterday's weather was warmer and the game started earlier (4 p.m. vs. 8 p.m.), many people showed up at Coors Field looking like they were headed for a camping trip in the high country or a day on the ski slopes. Jim didn't want me to wear my ski pants, but I did have on ski socks, my high-tech ski turtleneck, a hoodie, a ski jacket, a scarf, gloves, and a polar fleece headband. I also brought a fleece blanket. For the record, I didn't need the jacket or gloves during the first half of the game, but by the time darkness fell and the wind picked up, I was feeling snug and smug.

If only I'd a taken a "real" hat that could be turned inside out as a "rally cap," a tradition that I'd never seen until that awful moment in the top of the ninth. The Rockies' relief pitchers needed all the help they could get.

More pictures from Game 4 of the Division Playoffs:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Katharine.Gillette/RockiesPhilliesDivisionPlayoffs