This year’s version of the Arizona Diamondbacks is very hard to classify. There are times that they look like a powerful force to be reckoned with while there are other times that you feel as though you are watching a menagerie of Triple-A players pressed to service at the Major League level. That should be expected considering the amount of youth that makes up the majority of the roster. As the calendar turned to September the Diamondbacks became the subject of more and more conversations in the media and amongst fans. Everyone was curious what would happen when this young team woke up and realized that they were actually in play-off contention. Historical wisdom suggested that the young players would begin to tense up trying to do more than they were capable of doing. This almost always has an adverse affect on game outcome and so the popular prediction was that the Diamondbacks would falter down the stretch and miss the play-offs. Even if this occurred everyone agreed that the 2007 season would be classified as a success that could be built upon to make a serious run at the 2008 post season. Unfortunately all of these experts forgot to tell this to the Diamondbacks players. They were still under the assumption that they were the team to beat. So while everyone else expected the losses in September to dramatically increase; the Diamondbacks went about their business ending the month with a record of 15-11. This record represented the second most wins by the team in a month falling one less than the team recorded in April, May, and August. Establishing a winning record for September also ensures that the Diamondbacks would not have a month where their winning percentage would be below .500 for the season. Arizona won 5 series during September while losing 3. They were not swept during the last month of the season. September was a microcosm of the season filled with ups and downs. The team won 6 consecutive games and their longest losing streak was 3 games. The end result of this magical month was that for the first time since 2002 the Arizona Diamondbacks were returning to the post season as the 2007 National League Western Divisional Champions. This was indeed a September to Remember.

In that brief amount of time the young Diamondbacks hitters took things into their own hands and spotted Brandon Webb to a lead that they continued to build upon as the night rolled on. In typical fashion this Diamondbacks team lived up to their mantra “anybody, anytime”. Tonight the team rode the bats of Mark Reynolds, Conor Jackson, and the suddenly hot Stephen Drew. These three players accounted for two-thirds of the Diamondbacks hits and scored 75 percent of the runs. That was enough breathing room for Brandon Webb who went 7 innings allowing only 2 runs. Very few of those 7 innings were easy. He seemed to battle every time out. Although he bent against the powerful force of the Rockies hitters; he never did break. Brandon Lyon threw a masterful inning allowing only 1 hit. The Diamondbacks were poised to win this game with their closer Jose Valverde coming in for the ninth inning. In typical Valverde fashion he struck out the first batter he faced then walked two batters putting the tying run on base and the winning run in the batter’s box. He struck out the next two batters to record his 47th save of the season which increases his franchise best mark to equal his jersey number.

As the game ended, another game some 3000 miles away was also just finishing. The Florida Marlins defeated Oliver Perez and the New York Mets. In what has to be the most ironic twist to the 2007 season, the winning pitcher for the Florida Marlins was Byung-Hyun Kim. The pitcher who was so unceremoniously tossed by the Arizona Diamondbacks just a few short weeks ago. The Mets loss guaranteed the Diamondbacks a play-off berth. The out of town scoreboard at Coors Field showed the New York game still in progress but the Diamondbacks were told they were in the play-offs for the first time in 5 years. Pandemonium erupted on the field as players jumped around and hugged each other celebrating the news. The fans in Denver were not privy to the fact that the New York game was over and perceived that the Diamondbacks celebration was for eliminating the Rockies from NL West contention. The fans were rightfully unhappy at the perceived lack of respect for the Rockies and booed from the stands. It was not until news finally came of the Mets loss that the fans understood. I can completely relate. No one wants to see the opposition celebrate on your home turf. It leaves you with a feeling of helplessness. You’re happy that they won; you just don’t want to see that joy demonstrated while you are dealing with a devastating loss.

Today the sun rose and seems to be glowing especially bright. Everything seems to be right in the world. While last night was a great accomplishment, the work is not done yet. The Diamondbacks still need another win in the next two games to try and solidify their stake to the National League Western Division title. They can’t assume that San Diego is going to lose any of their games against the Milwaukee Brewers so they have to take care of business.

I hope the team comes out hungry today and tries to put away the Rockies in this game. That would help their chances for a division crown and would also ensure that the Diamondbacks do not have a losing record while wearing their gray jerseys. Their record in the road uniforms stands at 25-26 with one game remaining in gray. They are 15-13 on the road wearing Sedona Red so even if they happen to lose tomorrow they still have a winning record in Sedona Red. That may not seem important but any little bit of luck we can gather going into the play-offs is going to be necessary to reach the end goal, a World Series championship.

I am not sure anyone could have anticipated the importance these last three games would have when these teams met April 2 – 4. At the all-star break if someone would have asked me what I would expect during the final road trip to Colorado I probably would have said that I expected Bob Melvin to be playing several of his youngsters at various locations to see what resources he had for 2008 and where the Diamondbacks front office may need to look to bolster the team into contention next season. I probably would have expressed confidence that the team would ultimately prevail in their youth movement and lament that we were perhaps a starting pitcher (or two depending on injuries) away from contending. Likewise I would have said the Rockies were in a similar situation where they would be in evaluation mode trying to identify what pieces worked and perhaps showcasing some players that might be available via trade during the off-season. I would have briefly considered that these two teams could meet in 2008 or 2009 with one of them challenging for the wild card before discounting that it is too hard to estimate what might take place one or two years in the future. Ah, how wrong I would have been.

The Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies series that begins at Coors Field in Denver will attempt to condense a 162 game season into a brief 3 game series with the winner taking all. That is not to say that I am discounting the San Diego Padres. They tend to figure prominently into this drama as well. They are in Milwaukee and therefore are “out of sight, out of mind” for this discussion. Everyone in attendance at Coors Field or watching on television will of course have one eye on the out-of-town scoreboard to see how that game progresses but most of their attention will be in Denver. This is because this series has a definite impact on the NL West standings and ultimately on the NL play-offs. Breaking this series down it is really quite simple. If the Diamondbacks win one game in the next three the Rockies are eliminated from contention for the NL West Division crown and the Diamondbacks will have at the least a tie to win the division. If the Diamondbacks can somehow win 2 games in Denver they will be assured a play-off spot no matter what any other team does.

The Colorado Rockies enter the series as the hottest team in baseball. They have won 11 straight games and find themselves 2 games out of first place and 1 game out of the wild card race. If the Rockies can somehow sweep the Diamondbacks they will leapfrog over the Diamondbacks and depending on the outcome of the San Diego and Milwaukee series they could find themselves the National League West champions. It is conceivable that the Diamondbacks who enter this series with the best record in the National League could leave town not making the play-offs.

The game tonight features each team’s ace. The Arizona Diamondbacks send out Brandon Webb who is seeking a career high 18th win. The Rockies are countering with Jeff Francis who likewise is trying to earn his 18th win of the season. Each team is confident going into this game feeling their pitcher is the most dominant and gives their team an advantage. On April 2 the Diamondbacks felt confident with the newly crowned Cy Young award winner Brandon Webb on the mound to face Aaron Cook. Neither of those starting pitchers figured into the decision as the Diamondbacks took advantage of LaTroy Hawkins and the Rockies bullpen to squeak out an 8-6 victory to start the season. Hopefully the outcome will be the same and the Sedona Red gang will come out victorious. April 2, 2007 was the biggest crowd in Coors Field history with 48,169 people in attendance. I somehow think that mark is going to be broken over these next 3 games. Hopefully there will be a few of them cheering and celebrating a Diamondbacks victory.

Their version consisted of bearded men guzzling rum on the open sea singing “yoho yoho a Pirate’s live for me”. They brandished swords and began sentences with “Arg” and referred to teammates as “maties”. These Pirates had no chance against a vastly superior armada even within their own division. On paper these Pirates looked no more seaworthy than those five tourists who accompanied the Skipper and Gilligan on their three hour tour. So why is it after the first two acts of this peg-legged drama were the bad guys winning while our heroes languished to try and figure out this new story plot? The problem was the Diamondbacks had not subscribed to this new book. They were still working from the old one which now seemed to be outdated. What they needed was their own Pirate who could swing from the crow’s nest high atop the mast and save his shipmates from having to walk the plank. The question was, where do you find a Pirate like that on short notice?

That question lingered in the air as the Arizona Diamondbacks arrived at the ballpark this morning. The set designers for this production had thoroughly gone through every detail. Even the weather collaborated to set the mood. The clouds swirled in the sky thrown to and fro by the winds that blew favorably for the Pirate ships. To quote the immortal George Costanza

The sea was angry that day my friends, like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli.

The Diamondbacks had planned on sending Captain Webb out to right the ship but with the squalls bounding over the deck it was time for the Diamondbacks to bring out their own Pirate in waiting. Sea Man First Class Micah Owings took the helm during perhaps the Diamondbacks darkest hour. Their ship was nearing the coral reef and seemed to be out of control. Thunder and lightning surrounded the ship and the rains pelted down upon the deck like a Caribbean hurricane. Whispers and murmurings floated through the breeze. I could have sworn I heard “dead men tell no tales”. Maybe it was “get your hot dogs here”, I’m not really sure.

Micah Owings facing the fiercest seas of his career with his shipmates desperately trying to hold on rose to the task. He grasped the wheel and spun it violently. The rudder turned and the ship lurched forward. He barked commands and directed those around him. His shipmates beckoned to his every command. Stephen Drew was the first to heed Owings call firing a shot across the bow of the Pirate ship giving the Diamondbacks a lead. Tony Clark followed later in the game firing another shot across the bow. All of the Diamondbacks sailors got into the battle in one form or another whether it was offensive strikes or defensive gems. Jeff Salazar gunned down a Pirate attempting to take second and Carlos Quentin nailed a pirate brave enough to try and steal a run by throwing him out at home. Everyone seemed to be involved in the action but no one was as involved as Micah Owings. He kept the Pittsburgh Pirates at bay denying every challenge they came with for six innings he kept the Pirates at a safe distance never allowing them to board the Diamondbacks ship. That alone would have been enough but Micah wanted to swing a sword himself in battle; and swing he did. Micah hit three doubles and drove in three runs by himself to add to the Arizona lead.

As the winds began to calm and the smoke from the battle dissipated, the Diamondbacks were the ones left standing. Sea Man First Class Micah Owings may very well have earned himself a promotion based on his battle scars from today. At the very least he probably deserves a new wooden leg and a parrot for his shoulder. And as for Pittsburgh, they are left to prepare for a long off-season banished to the Caribbean to search for long lost buried treasure.

Since it was obvious I wasn’t going to go back to sleep I decided to get up and get ready for the day. Trina was less than appreciative when I turned on the bedroom light. I guess I just assumed that she would be as excited as I was and therefore she would be awake too. I guessed wrong. After catching a pillow upside the head I turned the light off. Showering and getting dressed in the dark can’t be that hard. I bet all spies have to do that at some point during a mission. I briefly considered wearing a black turtleneck today and maybe putting on some camo face paint but realized that it would be bright daylight in a few hours and temperatures are expected to reach near 100 degrees. If I dressed that way by noon I would look like a melted birthday candle. If I approached the mailman looking like that it could result in a restraining order and I just couldn’t take that chance since he would be carrying something more important than national security secrets. He would have my play-off and World Series tickets. After getting dressed I crept downstairs careful not to awaken the little agents in the house. I went outside and down to the mailbox to see if the mailman had arrived yet. The box was as empty as the Giants minor league system. I tilted my watch towards the street light; 4:15 AM and the mail still wasn’t here. I briefly thought about driving over to the post office but decided they probably wouldn’t answer the door when I knocked. I went back to the house to wait. I sat there in the dark living room intently listening for the sound of the mail truck. About every 15 minutes I would get up and make my way to the front window. About every 16 minutes I would smack my leg on the corner of the end table and mutter under my breath and threaten the table that if it happened again I was going to the 24 hour Wal-Mart and buying a chain saw. About every 17 minutes I would look out the window and see nothing but darkness. About every 17 ½ minutes I would raise the shades on the window and grumble that I should have remembered that Trina had insisted that we have shades on the windows. By six-thirty in the morning it had already been a long day and my tickets still had not arrived. Soon the family began to awaken from hibernation and make their way downstairs. The girls upon seeing me sitting in the chair holding my throbbing leg with a look of loathing towards the end table quickly went into the kitchen and out of sight. Dakota came bounding down the stairs and stopped dead in his tracks. He yelled to his mother who was still upstairs, “Mom, dad has on those spy clothes again and he’s torn down the drapes again!” If I didn’t think I would miss the mailman I would have started a Nerf war against that boy. As it was I would not be leaving that chair until either the mailman arrived to be interrogated as to why mail cannot be delivered at 4:00 AM on ticket days or it is time for me to go to work. I briefly considered calling the office to see if Play-off Ticket Delivery Day was a holiday but if Opening Day and All-Star Game Day were not holidays, this probably wasn’t either. I considered taking the subject up with the diversity council. This work environment obviously does not take my religious beliefs seriously. Yeah I can already tell this is going to be a very long day. It’s going to be even longer if those tickets don’t arrive.

With all of my practice in dealing with intense pressure and with large doses of adrenaline you would think that baseball would be a substantial letdown. In the last two weeks I have found my life getting into the same focus zone that occurred in my other activities. The push the Arizona Diamondbacks are making towards the post season has really got me on edge. Each game brings that edge closer and closer. The decision making becomes magnified and scrutinized to determine the right choice of action. I am analyzing every scenario playing each in my mind over and over to decide whether I chose the correct line to guide me through this section. My mind is constantly in motion as I evaluate and re-evaluate the actions from the past run; always looking for an advantage. It’s crazy considering I have no real function in this post season run. I am just a spectator standing at the sidelines watching the events unfold in front of my eyes. Why should I get butterflies before a critical at-bat or get worked up with pitch counts elevate too quickly early in the game. I’m not the one facing a 96 mile per hour fastball nor do I have to worry whether my arm is strong enough to gun down that runner trying to take an extra base on a ball hit to the outfield. Still I find myself engulfed in the game trying to determine whether the Diamondbacks will make the post season.

Tonight night was a prime example. I had the Diamondbacks game on television with my laptop tuned to the out of town scoreboard where I could monitor each pitch of the Mets vs. Nations game, the Braves vs. Phillies game, the Dodgers vs. Rockies game, and the Giants vs. Padres game. Things started out pretty well. The Mets were getting throttled by the Nationals and the Braves were making life miserable for Philadelphia. The Diamondbacks made a monster come back against the Pirates erasing a 4 run deficit. Everything seemed to be perfect; then in an instant that knot in my stomach tripled in size. The Mets began scoring at will and had the tying run in scoring position. The Phillies got within 2 runs of the Braves and momentum seemed to be swinging. Brandon Lyon of the Diamondbacks committed a balk moving the runner to third then gave up a single to give the Pirates the lead. Meanwhile on the west coast the Giants squander a 4-run lead and the Padres score 4 runs after being within 2 strikes of losing the game coming from behind. The once swaggering Los Angeles Dodgers basically rolled over like a whipped puppy against the Colorado Rockies. Before the evening was over the Diamondbacks lead in the National League West began to evaporate by 33 percent. I had to get away from the television and the Internet; things were just getting way to bizarre. I looked up and noticed that it was nearly a full moon. About the only thing left to make this night complete would be to have a werewolf wearing a Boston Red Sox hat to jump out from behind a bush and rip my arms out of their sockets. It was at that moment that I remembered the first rule of scuba diving, “1. Don’t forget to breathe.”

The home stand began with a three game series against National League Western Division rival San Francisco Giants. This should have been the Diamondbacks fans last chance to see Barry Bonds in a Giants uniform and give him the type of ovation that he deserves. Instead the fans did not get this opportunity as Bonds did not play due to a sprained toe. Attendance to these three games was markedly above the season average for Chase Field. Whether this was a result of people thinking they would see Barry Bonds in action or that fans are finally starting to realize how great the Diamondbacks are playing is unknown. The point was that fans were in the stands and quite vocal in their support of the home team. It sometimes amazes me to see the difference in the fan base from when the season began to where it is now. For much of the first month it felt as though there were cardboard cut-outs representing fans seated in the stadium. They cheered when prodded by the JumboTron and seemed more interested in the wave than the action on the field. That is changing. Now the fans are vocal in both their support and their displeasure with the team’s performance. They are cheering at the right times and making it difficult for opposing team fans to be heard. If this trend continues it will pay dividends if the Diamondbacks reach the post season. They are still cheering the wave so there is work remaining to be done but this is at least a start. The series didn’t start well when Tony Pena struggled and the Diamondbacks lost game one in heartbreaking fashion. This young Diamondbacks team showed their strength by bouncing back from this tough loss winning the next two games and the series. This marked the first time in 3 years that the Diamondbacks took a season series from the Giants.

After a rare off-day during a home stand the Diamondbacks opened up the final home series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. A week earlier everyone looked at this series as having huge play-off implications. That was before the Dodgers started a free fall deeper than the Grand Canyon. Instead this series became a tune-up for the Diamondbacks going into the final week of the season. Taking 2 of 3 games from the Dodgers has put a lot of pressure on the Padres, Rockies, and Phillies

Friday’s game featured a promotional giveaway where the team gave “Anybody, Anytime” T-shirts to all the fans. This is a slogan coined by infielder Tony Clark and refers to the fact that anybody on the Diamondbacks roster is capable of being a hero at anytime. The back of the shirts featured accomplishments of different players throughout the season. It was a great idea and it was fun looking at the various fans in the stands and recounting the events from the 2007 campaign. The “Fandemonium!” promotion was another big hit with the fans. And while it lacked some of the interesting prizes of the past like the small fishing boat from 1998; there were still some great prizes. It did seem kind of strange that one of the prizes was a 4-night stay at a resort in Hawaii but did not include airfare; overall there were a lot of cool things to be won. Starting on Friday night the Diamondbacks held their annual “Shirts off our D-backs” campaign where you could purchase scratcher tickets for a chance to win the jersey off the back of a Diamondbacks player or coach. The money went to charity so it is a win-win proposition. That being said, I don’t recall ever meeting anyone in the past 10 years who actually won one of these. I see people every year go down onto the field after the final game and be presented with a jersey but I have never actually seen or talked to anyone whose scratcher ticket won. I’m not saying it is rigged, I am confident that it is run fairly. I am just saying that I would have thought in 10 years I would have witnessed someone who had scratched off a winner.

I had not expected the Diamondbacks to make any changes to Chase Field with just 6 games remaining but again I stand corrected. At various places around the main concourse the Diamondbacks have installed projectors that show commercials and messages on the floor of the walkway. That is a cool idea and a lot of people stopped and watched them during the Giants series. That happened less during the Dodgers series which I attribute to the fact that the crowds were much larger for Los Angeles so there was not room enough to project the message onto the floor. I am curious to see how these projectors work out next season and what types of messages the Diamondbacks will use them for.

For the final home stand I attempted to try several concessionaires to see how things were going. I of course had to end the year the way I started with a Hungry Hill sausage. For anyone who has never been to Chase Field I cannot recommend these enough. I’ve yet to have a bad sandwich there. I am happy to report that Hungry Hill now has spicy mustard in packets. That is something that I have lamented most of the season so it is awesome to see spicy mustard return. I had an opportunity to try Taste of the Majors again. Their service continues to degrade in my opinion. The Taste of the Majors on the main concourse is by far the slowest concessionaire in the ballpark. One game during the season we went to get food after the Dodgers batting practice. There were 4 fans in front of us in line and by the time we received our food we had missed the National Anthem, the ceremonial first pitch, and half of the first inning. We were not alone in our frustration. Many fans left disgusted. Ribbies menu board still has their chicken tender meal listed for $8 even though it is $7 and rings up that way. This has become a running joke with me. Each game I go there and check the menu and ask the cashier what the price is. This is the only place in the ballpark where the chicken tender price is listed for $8. All I can figure is that they must have run out of the number 7.

The overall fan experience at the ballpark has increased this season. The employees regardless of the department seem more helpful and friendly than in years past. Perhaps I am just more aware of it because I am looking for things to write about during the Home Stand Address but I seriously think that customer service has gotten better than in years past. I would definitely classify this season as a success both on the field and in the stands and I am looking forward to seeing what changes lay ahead.

As the season unfolded, so did my ticket book. Before each game I would retrieve the booklet and carefully remove a ticket placing it in the pocket of my seat cushion before leaving for the game. For the first few games the level of excitement overcame everything. It was the beginning of a new season; one filled with a lot of hope. As the season wore on the tickets continued to be removed. There were special games like April 9 for the home opener against the Cincinnati Reds. There was the return of Randy Johnson on April 24 against the Padres. Dakota celebrated his birthday at the ballpark with his dad on April 27 as we watched the Diamondbacks beat the Giants. We could never forget May 8 when Eric Byrnes and Tony Clark launched monster home runs against the Phillies. I celebrated my 26th wedding anniversary with Trina while watching the Diamondbacks play the Devil Rays and Tiffany celebrated her birthday at Chase Field with a game against the Orioles. I shared games with my oldest daughter Ashley when she returned home to visit. Our family was in attendance for each of the bobble head games and has the nodding player figurines displayed prominently in our house (despite the objections by Trina). We have suffered in each defeat and rejoiced in each victory.

Today I reached for the ticket books as I have done for the past six months. I opened the cover to find one remaining ticket. It looked so lonely there all by itself. It represented one last dream. One last opportunity to potentially see history made. One last time to share the game I love with one of my children. It was with a mixture of feelings that I removed that last ticket. On one hand it represented the last home game of the season. The last time I would watch this team in person during the regular season. The last time until next April that I would see these players play in the regular season. On the other hand this ticket represented the joy of going to a baseball game. The joy of sharing my love of the game with the ones I love. The joy of watching the unknown become known. The joy of being a part of the last crowd at Chase Field for this regular season; adding my voice to thousands of others to cheer on this team that has given us the priceless memories from the 2007 season.

I slid the tickets into the pocket of my seat cushion and walked towards the door for the final time this season. It has been a magical time; one that I wish would never end. Hopefully there will be more baseball this season. Hopefully the hard work the team has given will be rewarded with a berth to the play-offs. If not I will be content with the memories I have gotten from the past 81 games.

I don’t mind. I have had the pleasure of watching 80 regular season games through today and another 2 Spring Training games at Chase Field and that is reward enough as far as I’m concerned. Still, having your seat number called and rushing to Guest Relations to pick up my prize would be a wonderful ending to a magical season. “Fandemonium!” this season lasts for 2 days encompassing the last two games against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Tonight’s game was also to include the final fireworks show of the season sponsored by Gila River Casino. The fireworks have become a favorite with my kids which have resulted in substantial arguments and disagreements between the kids on who will get to attend these games. Trina was getting quite tired of the bickering and took matters into her own hands. She had purchased groceries a few weeks past and with them came a coupon for two free tickets to the Arizona Diamondbacks. She used the coupon to get a couple of extra seats so that more of the kids could attend.

The combination of “Fandemonium!”, the Diamondbacks winning season, the play-off run, and the last series of the year made Saturday’s game very popular. Ticket selection choices were quite limited by the time we arrived at the ballpark. The kids’ seats ended up halfway up Section 301. I would have been frustrated sitting that high but Tiffany and Dakota really didn’t care. They were at the ballgame and were going to get to see fireworks so that is all that really mattered. Trina and I took our places in Section 132 in our seats after getting the kids settled into their upper deck home for the next 9 innings. I immediately went to work on my scorebook while Trina took first watch with binoculars making sure the kids weren’t getting into a lot of trouble (some trouble was expected since they were my kids but Trina has a trouble threshold that she measures the kids against). During the game Trina would provide me with updates such as, “Dakota has left the seats and appears to be heading towards Futures Field” or “Tiffany just got back to their seats with more food, how much cotton candy does that girl need?” I couldn’t tell whether I was attending a baseball game or if I was on a police stake-out. By the third inning I had begun to tune out my wife (if she is reading this then what I mean by that was that I was focusing my thoughts on how much I love her and I was making a mental list of all the things I should do for her to show that love). That tune-out did not last long as she suddenly jabbed me in the side and pointed frantically at the JumboTron. There in life-size full color was our daughter Tiffany waving as members of the Rally Backs handed her a prize to “Fandemonium!” Wait, what just happened? It seems that both Tiffany and Dakota were sitting in a lucky section that was chosen and each of them received a $50 gift card to Fry’s Food and Drug. Tiffany happened to be sitting in the seats while Dakota was off gathering up wiffle balls at Futures Field. Tiffany did have Dakota’s ticket with her and was able to get the second gift card for her absent brother. This is totally messed up! I have been coming to “Fandemonium!” for 10 years and yet my kids come to the game using free tickets that my wife got at a grocery store for buying Cheeze-It snack crackers and they win $100 worth of groceries. It wasn’t so much that I lost; the problem was that I would have to hear about losing for the rest of my life. Neither of those kids would ever let me hear the end of this. I can just see it now. They will be visiting me at the nursing home watching me try to navigate a spoon of apple sauce to my mouth and they’ll say, “Hey dad, do you remember that time we went to the Diamondbacks game and you and mom were sitting in the good seats and you made us sit in those seats where you had to bring your own oxygen and we won those grocery gift cards and you guys didn’t win anything? That was pretty funny wasn’t it?” Oh what a cruel fate I have to look forward to.

Buried within the stack of bills that never seems to end and right under the last chance offer from the Publisher’s Clearinghouse giveaway was a post card. I don’t usually get post cards so this one immediately caught my eye. I like postcards; they give me a glimpse of faraway and exotic locations and lets you dream about what it would be like to be in that place instead of dealing with things at home. I’ve always wanted to get a stack of postcards that showed the view from Chase Field Section 132 Row 15. That is a lot more exotic and cool looking than anywhere else on the planet. I mean who wouldn’t rather be at a Diamondbacks game instead of lying on a beach in Hawaii? Hawaii doesn’t even have a baseball team, what fun would that be?

So while I was standing there daydreaming of sitting at the ballpark writing postcards to all of my friends from my seats at Chase Field, Trina came and took the mail from me leaving me with only the postcard. After a content sign I returned to reality and looked at the postcard I was holding. It was from the Arizona Diamondbacks. Wow, that was like déjà vu or something. I turned the card over fully expecting to see my handwriting with a brief note, “The game is great, wish you were here!” Instead I found printed instructions of what I should expect.

Early next week the Arizona Diamondbacks will begin distributing post season ticket packages to those fans who have purchased play-off tickets. Red flashing lights and a siren went off in my head which is about 180 degrees different from where my mind was just one minute ago. This news meant only one thing, our house is immediately going on play-off ticket alert. The United States military has something called DEFCON which stands for defense readiness condition. It is a ranking going from 5 to 1 and describes the readiness of the United States Armed Forces. DEFCON 5 represents normal peacetime military readiness. On the other end of the spectrum is DEFCON 1 which represents maximum readiness reserved for describing an imminent attack on the United States military and includes the authorization to use nuclear weapons for protection. At our house we have a similar protocol. I like to call it PLAYCON. It describes our readiness for the post season. PLAYCON 5 represents the normal condition where we are in the regular season and the team is playing adequately well. The season is still early enough that we haven’t really thought much about play-offs but we’re also not choking like the Tampa Bay Devil Rays either. PLAYCON 4 refers to normal circumstances with an increased level of intelligence. This usually occurs just before the trading deadline as teams attempt to make deals for a play-off run. Life is still pretty normal but there is a lot more checking of the stats from other players who could become Arizona Diamondbacks. PLAYCON 3 refers to an increase in play-off readiness that normally occurs after the trading deadline passes but before rosters expand in September. Every game seems to have a little bit more significance and the code word “magic number” begins to enter into everyday conversations. PLAYCON 2 is a state where post season inclusion is imminent. There is troop movement (in this case play-off rosters) is established and pitching rotation begins to adapt to set up proper match-ups for the first round of the play-offs. This level of readiness includes managing the logistics for obtaining tickets and developing alternative plans for any activity that could interfere with attending a play-off game (this has been known to include calls to far away relatives with certain dates that are off-limits for life events such as weddings or funerals). PLAYCON 1 refers to maximum readiness. This level of readiness has only occurred once in 2001 when the Arizona Diamondbacks reached the World Series against the New York Yankees. All non-baseball related conversations are placed in internment camps to be revisited after the World Series completed.

These levels of readiness are taken very seriously at our house and everyone immediately checks the PLAYCON status. I took the postcard and placed it on the refrigerator with a magnet. Dakota was the first to spot it and upon reading the card immediately declared the house to be at PLAYCON 2! There was a chill that swept through everyone. This was serious stuff. We have not been at this level since 2002. The girls began to whimper thinking back over what was expected back then. Dakota was excited. He has waited half his life to finally get to this point and he was not about to miss it. Somewhere in the distance I thought I heard a mail man crying. I don’t know what that means.