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Home opener on a Friday afternoon? Under sunny skies? What could be better?

Well, maybe a few runs that would have kept roughly half the regular season record crowd of 49,233 from leaving at this point.

Here we are in the bottom of the ninth, Rockies down 8-1 after amassing as many errors (two) as hits.

The homeboys have the heart of the order up.

The Coors Field press box was officially christened for 2008 in the fifth inning of the home opener when a foul ball screamed through the open box and left a, well, baseball-sized hole in the drywall behind the second row of seats.

No media member laid a hand on the scorcher. That's why the people in the field have gloves and we have laptops.

UPDATE:
Todd Helton homered to right in the seventh but the rally stopped there. Matt Holliday followed with a called third strike, his third strikeout of the game, lowering his average to .077.

Willie Taveras' double was the only Rockies hit in the first five innings.

Isn't this club supposed to hit?

For sure it's the first week of the season, but the scoreboard batting averages of the Rockies starters are anemic: .167, .214, .285, .083 (ouch, Matt Holliday), .333 (Garrett Atkins), .167, .222, .143.

An hour before last year's season/home opener, the Rockies distributed a release in the press box announcing two-year contract extensions for manager Clint Hurdle and general manager Dan O'Dowd.

Reaction ran heavily against the decision.

Today, the Rockies opened at home as the defending National League champions.

Funny how time flies.

Media pays $10 for:

Prime rib sandwich served on a hoagie. Selection of deli sandwiches. Salad bar. Asparagus. Steak fries. Hebrew National hot dogs. Popcorn. Table of fruit, cookies, M&Ms, Skittles, peanuts. Soft drinks and juices.

The strategy for going home with a baseball is simple:

Be at the ballpark when the gates open, head directly to the left field stands while batting practice is underway.

Right field is OK but there are a lot more right handed hitters, so you don't have to be a college professor to do the math.

Who knew a baseball team had a wardrobe department?

Jessica Hankins, Jessica Edwards and Shawna Edwards were among the all-night stalwarts who lined up for Rockpile tickets.

Brian Jewson and Mark Davies are getting to be veterans at this. They learned how to pace themselves

"We slept last night. Last year we didn't and were too wiiped out to watch the game," said Jewson, who came down with Davies from Breckenridge for the sixth consecuritve year to be near the front of the line for Rockpile tickets that went on sale a couple of hours before gametime.

"It was cold. I was wrapped up like a mummy," said Jewson.

Benjamin Faber worked on his game at the batting cage

Sights, sounds and tastes on the way to the ballpark for the home opener.:

The best urban theater in Denver is provided on the 16th Street shuttle buses.

A guy in a bandana tells a companion he was dating this girl but it turned out she was married. They reached their stop before it could be determined if this was an enhancement or an impediment to the relationship.

Forty years ago toay, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated as he stood on a hotel balcony in Memphis.

Presidential candidates and civil rights leaders will be part of a memorial march in Memphis today.

On the 40th anniversary of his assassination, King is to be honored as a champion of peace in the city where he died.

"Here was a man who understood nonviolence at a depth that I had never known before," said C.T. Vivian, a former King associate.

Now here's a bumper sticker we never thought we'd see... on sale now at www.cafepress.com

By M.E. Sprengelmeyer
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS

WASHINGTON -- Add another reluctant supporter to the list backing Republican presidential contender Sen. John McCain: Colorado's Rep. Tom Tancredo.

Tancredo, who once told a national television audience he was "sick and tired" of having to choose between the lesser of two evils, said Thursday he'll go ahead and back his longtime immigration-reform foe, McCain, because he thinks either of the Democratic alternatives would be worse.

"Sometimes I say to myself, 'Can I really do this?'" Tancredo said of supporting McCain. "And then you listen to Obama or Hillary and say, 'Yeah, I have to.'"

Tancredo, a hard-line opponent of illegal immigration, launched his long-shot presidential bid, in part, because he said he wanted to stop the Republican nomination from going to McCain, chief backer of a proposed guest-worker plan that Tancredo equated to "amnesty" for people who entered the country illegally.

They had a few verbal skirmishes on the campaign trail. And at a televised debate from Michigan in October, when McCain was still trying to get his comeback off the ground, Tancredo was asked if he would pledge to support the eventual GOP nominee no matter who it was.

"You know, I've said I don't know how many times, that I am absolutely tired and sick and tired of being forced to go to the polls and say I'm going to make this choice between the lesser of two evils. I really don't intend to do that again," he said, according to a Wall Street Journal transcript. "I am hoping, of course, that whoever we nominate will be the principled flag carrier for the Republican Party. But if that is not the case, no, then I will not support them."

Given that statement, the Rocky Mountain News this week asked Tancredo if he might back a possible Libertarian Party entrant, former Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia, whose voting record on immigration issues is similar to Tancredo's.

Despite Barr's immigration stands, Tancredo said he could not support him because of his foreign policy stands, including "a blind spot on radical Islam." He added that he believes Barr's candidacy is a serious threat to Republican chances in November, because it could siphon off conservative voters who are skeptical of McCain.

Tancredo said he's not endorsing McCain, just "supporting" his general election candidacy.

And what's the difference? "The distinction is that one implies a little more enthusiasm," Tancredo said.

If nothing else, he said McCain has acknowledged getting the message from voters that they want the U.S. borders secured and existing laws enforced before anyone considers more comprehensive immigration reform.

McCain still has an uphill climb to get another Republican presidential rival on his side. At that October debate, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas also said he would not necessarily work for the party's nominee, "not unless they're willing to end the war and bring our troops home…"

That brought an unequivocal retort from McCain: "You don't want me then, pal."