Colorado Rockies

Home Openers

1993-present

Here is the history of the outcome of the Rockies’ Home Openers:

1993: Rog, Duv and Don enjoyed pre-game breakfast at the University Park Cafe near DU; the Rockies pounded on the Expos, 11-4, Eric Young leading off with a homer.
1994: Rog, Duv and Don enjoyed pre-game breakfast at the University Park Cafe near DU; the Phillies, fresh from their WS encounter with the Blue Jays, won, 12-6, as 70-degree sunny skies gave way to snow flurries in the 7th inning.
1995: Jim Cover, Rog, Duv and Don enjoy pre-game lunch at Splinters on Blake Street, half a block from Coors Field; Rog and Don in tuxedoes, the Rockies beat the Mets, 11-9, in 14 innings in the first opener at Coors Field on the Dante Bichette homer, having come from behind in their last at bat for the third time (in 9th, 13th and 14th innings) and overcoming Brett Butler’s fine defense.
1996: the Cubs won, 9-6, as Scott Servais broke a 6-6 tie with a 3-run homer in the 7th.
1997: Michael, Mel, Rog and Don enjoy pre-game breakfast at Delectable Egg on Market Street; Hud’s first year; the Rockies beat the Reds and Deion Sanders, 13-2, still the most runs scored by the Rockies in a Home Opener.
1998: Duv, Hud, Mel and Don enjoy pre-game meal at El Taco De Mexico; the Cardinals won, 12-11, as the Rockies couldn’t quite rally from a 9-1 deficit, hurting themselves when Castilla got doubled off first on a Perez drive to Lankford in center where Helton was incorrectly ruled as having not crossed the plate before the throw got to first; Rog takes Hud and Don to the Buckhorn Exchange for dinner after the game; this remains the most combined runs scored in a Rockies Home Opener.
1999: pre-game meal at El Taco De Mexico; the Padres won, 8-5, in 11 innings on the Jim Leyritz blast.
2000: pre-game meal at El Taco De Mexico; the Rockies overcame Junior’s 400th career homer (on his Dad’s birthday), beating the Reds, 7-5.
2001: pre-game meal at El Taco De Mexico; the Rockies beat the Cardinals, 8-0, in Hampton’s Rockies’ debut as well as Albert Pujols’ MLB debut.
2002: pre-game meal at El Taco De Mexico; Poppels’ first year, Craig Biggio hit for the cycle, the Astros beat Denny Neagle 8-4 and Zach got Jimy Williams’ autograph.
2003: pre-game meal at El Taco De Mexico; the Rockies beat the Diamondbacks, 2-1, as Shawn Chacon pitched as good a game as you’ll see at Coors. Chacon, didn’t allow a baserunner until Chad Moeller reached on a wind-blown double with one out in the sixth inning. Chacon gave up one other hit, a solo homer to Steve Finley in the seventh. He left after the innning, striking out eight without a walk.
2004: pre-game meal at El Taco De Mexico; Klune’s first year, the Rockies came from down 3-0 and 4-3 to beat the Diamondbacks, 7-4.
2005: pre-game meal at El Taco De Mexico; the Rockies scored four off Trevor Hoffman after two were out in the 9th, culminated by a walk-off homer by Clint Barmes, to beat the Padres, 12-10.
2006: pre-game meal at El Taco De Mexico; not a walk-off homer, but another dramatic, last-at bat win as Matt Holliday dashed home on a fielder’s choice grounder by Brad Hawpe to give the Rockies a 3-2 win over the Diamondbacks in 11 innings.
2007: pre-game meal at El Taco De Mexico; the Diamondbacks scored three in the 8th, overcoming a 6-5 deficit to win 8-6; the key play was a shallow fly ball by pinch-hitter Tony Clark to Matt Holliday in left with no out and runners on 1st and 3rd; Holliday’s one-hop lob rolled away from catcher Chris Iannetta, allowing Alberto Callapso to go to 2nd, Stephen Drew to be walked intentionally and LaTroy Hawkins to face Eric Byrnes; Joe Klune rejoins after a one-year absence and Mel Heatherly rejoins the fold in a big way after seven-year (or so) hiatus.
2008: pre-game meal at El Taco De Mexico; the Diamondbacks’ Micah Owings struck out a career best nine batters as the Rockies managed only two hits losing 8-1; strong turnout including rookies Virginia Hudson, Herb Brockman and Rog’s co-worker Kellen Cutsforth.
2009: pre-game meal at El Taco De Mexico; Jason Marquis pitched seven solid innings and Garrett Atkins hit a two-run homer to highlight a five-run third inning as the Rockies downed the World Series Champion Phillies and NLCS and WS MVP Cole Hamels 10-3 while inducing 2008 NL MVP Runner-up Ryan Howard to hit into three DPs; another strong turnout including rookies Cousin Kathy Thorpe and Nephew Matthew “Jowl” Dudley.
2010: pre-game meal at El Taco De Mexico; Jorge De La Rosa allowed just one hit in seven scoreless innings, Clint Barmes hit a three-run homer and Ian Stewart knocked in a pair of runs as the Rockies downed the Padres 7-0, raising their record to 11-7 in Home Openers; another strong turnout including rookies Margie Dudley and Kellen’s Father, Allen Cutsforth, up from Rocky Ford; Mary’s Red Sox win streak is by the boards, but she’s 2-0 for the Rockies — both shutouts — having seen them defeat the Rangers 3-0 on 6/25/2006.
2011: pre-game meal at El Taco De Mexico; Ubaldo Jiminez lost a yard or two on his fast ball as Diamondbacks scored on an 11th inning wild pitch to win it 7-6, dropping the Rockies to 11-8 in Home Openers; 25 of us this year; Mary sees the Rockies lose for the first time after two wins.
2012: pre-game meal at El Taco De Mexico; Barry Zito gave up four hits and no walks in getting his first shutout in nine years and Pablo “Panda” Sandoval got a two-run homer in the 1st as the Giants beat the Rockies 7-0, dropping the Rockies to 11-9 in Home Openers; 25 in our group once again, including rookie Brittany Fosher who becomes Jowl’s wife in 2013.
2013: pre-game meal at El Taco De Mexico; Jeff Francis pitched a solid six innings and Wilin Rosario and Dexter Fowler had solo homers to lead the Rockies over the Padres 5-2 in Walt Weiss’s Coors’ managerial debut, lifting their record to 12-9 in Home Openers; 25 in our group again this year including a few Kravigs; Don was occupied with a Staples’ SWAT call to the extent his mobile phone batter would allow.
2014: pre-game meal at El Taco De Mexico; Charlie Blackmon equaled Andres Galarraga’s 1995 6-for-6, knocking in five runs, Carlos Gonzalez hit a two-run triple and a two-run homer off the facing of the third deck, and Juan Nicasio gave up one run and four hits in seven innings as the Rockies pounded the Diamondbacks 12-2, lifting them to 13-9 in Home Openers; 25 in our group again this year; Maura Dudley’s first Home Opener for any team; we did not have to endure a military fly-over this year, although Dick Monfort admitted to Don that he was not responsible.
2015: pre-game meal at El Taco De Mexico; the Rockies beat the Chicago Cubs 5-1 behind Troy Tulowitzki’s two-run double and Justin Morneau’s solo homer; the Rockies, off to their first 4-0 start since 1995, got a stellar performance from their bullpen in relief of a shaky Tyler Matzek to improve their Home Opener record to 14-9.
2016: pre-game meal at El Taco De Mexico; Trevor Story made his debut at Coors Field by hitting two home runs and becoming the first major leaguer to homer in each of his first four games; so much for raising the height of the fences at Coors Field; San Diego left the bases full in the second and third, stretching its major league record scoreless streak to start the season to 30 innings before erupting for six runs in the fourth and going on to win 13-6, the most runs scored by a Rockies opponent in their Home Opener; they had dropped their first three games at Petco Park to the Dodgers by a combined score of 25-0; the loss dropped the Rockies record to 14-10 in Home Openers.
2017: pre-game meal at El Taco De Mexico; 2011 Thomas Jefferson HS grad Kyle Freeland had his dream of taking the mound at Coors Field come true and made the most of it giving up four hits and two walks along with six strikeouts in six strong innings to lead the Rockies to a 2-1 win over the Dodgers, improving their record to 15-10 in Home Openers; Freeland became the first starting pitcher to make his big league debut in his team’s home opener in the state in which he was born since 1966 (Kansas City native Chuck Dobson of the Athletics); catcher Dustin Garneau homered off the left field foul pole to break the 1-1 tie in the 5th.
2018: pre-game meal at El Taco De Mexico; things went downhill from there; pretty sure this is the coldest baseball game I’ve attended — 27 degrees by the start; Rick Roblek finally took me up on my offer to join; long story short, I became severely dehydrated, and went by ambulance to nearby Denver Medical Center; after quickly recovering, I wanted to go back to Coors Field, where the game was delayed by an hour due to sleet and snow, but could have only done so AMA, so I had to spend the night; the Braves jumped on German Marquez with four runs in the 1st and went on to win 8-3, dropping the Rockies record in Home Openers to 15-12; Brandon McCarthy, who attended Cheyenne Mountain HS, pitched well enough to win and helped himself with a two-run double to make it 7-3 in the 5th.
2019: pre-game meal at El Taco De Mexico; Rick agreed to give it another go this year, and was rewarded with temperatures 40 degrees above last year; the Dodgers continued their torrid hitting with three more homers to win it 10-6, dropping the Rockies record to 15-12 in Home Openers; Kent Maeda pitched five innings for the win, and Tyler Anderson took the loss.
COVID-19 precluded the home opener in 2020, but Rog got some good coverage in the Denver Post, and they used one of Joe Lee’s 2019 photos.