11-year-old takes a stand

Cap, purple shirt worn as message to grandparents

Kevin Vaughan, Rocky Mountain News

Published October 11, 2007 at midnight

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PHOENIX - The brim on Patrick Barder's brand-new Colorado Rockies hat was as flat as an Arizona highway, and his shirt purple as a Rocky Mountain evening.

So Wednesday evening, when the 11-year-old stepped off Frontier Airlines Flight 859 in Phoenix - the land of Arizona Diamondbacks red - he stood out.

"I've been a Rockies fan ever since my dad got me interested in baseball since I was 4," Patrick explained.

He plays the game constantly. He loves the feel of the bat in his hands, loves to sprint around the bases. "I just love it," he said. "It's awesome."

The hat was a souvenir from his trip Saturday night to the third, and final, game of the National League Division Series, and he sat near the left-field foul pole as the Rockies dispatched the Philadelphia Phillies.

The shirt - actually an Ed Reed Baltimore Ravens jersey - was his way of tweaking his grandparents, who live in Arizona's Sun City West and root for the Diamondbacks.

"He couldn't find his Todd Helton jersey," his mother, Lydia Barder, said.

Patrick, a sixth-grader at Coronado Elementary in Littleton, and his mother had planned this trip back in July, a chance for him to visit his grandparents and the Grand Canyon.

And then the Rockies went on their incredible tear, ending up with a date in Arizona beginning tonight at Chase Field.

So when his grandparents, Malcolm and Rose-Marie Fraser, called a few days ago to tease him, he decided to exact a little revenge. "They've been hounding us," Patrick explained. "They called and said, 'We can't wait to play you.' "

Hence the hat, and the purple jersey - even if it was from the wrong team and the wrong sport.

He expected to open full-scale negotiations today in an effort to talk his grandparents into delaying the Grand Canyon visit a day so they could all go to tonight's game. And if he's successful, he'll be rooting for the Rockies.

But, truth be told, there's a chink in his purple armor.

David Ortiz, the designated hitter for the Boston Red Sox, is his favorite player.

So, how does he figure what is going to unfold the next few weeks?

"My prediction is that the Red Sox will play the Rockies in the World Series," Patrick said.

And if that happens, for whom will young Patrick root?

"That's the question," he said.

"Mom and Dad will be rooting for the Rockies," Lydia interjected.

"And I will be watching in the garage," Patrick added.

Rockies upset plans

There was a time when you could buy a Colorado Rockies jersey or a Colorado Rockies cap at Just Sports inside the Scottsdale, Ariz., Fashion Mall.

But that time passed several months ago, when store management decided the merchandise would sell better at a sister Just Sports in Colorado. And so everything was shipped off.

And then?

"And then they have to go and make the playoffs, and all the stuff's stuck up there," said store manager Brandon Molina.

He could only think about it and cringe Wednesday, the day before the Rockies and the Arizona Diamondbacks open the National League Championship Series.

And cringe he did every time a Rockies fan came into the store looking for gear.

Molina estimated that 10 percent of the fans asking for baseball garb Wednesday were Rockies fans.

Late in the day, a new shipment brought him all he'll be able to sell to Colorado fans - two separate T-shirts, one red, one white, featuring the logos for the series and each of the teams.

Tamales and beer bets

It's a playoff series, and that means one thing: Politicians will be lining up to place "bets" on the outcome.

Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver, and Rep. Ed Pastor, D-Phoenix, were among the first to announce a wager Wednesday.

And each is putting up the same thing - tamales and beer.

If the Rockies win, Pastor will offer up tamales from Phoenix's El Portal Restaurant and 8th Street Ale from Arizona's Four Peaks brewery. If the Diamondbacks win, DeGette will pay off the bet with Denver's La Casita tamales and Great Divide beer.

Cap confusion

Seen during an afternoon walk of Scottsdale Fashion Mall, eight shoppers wearing baseball hats - two for the San Francisco Giants, and one each for the St. Louis Cardinals, Atlanta Braves, Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks.

Horoscopes for today's starting pitchers

• Jeff Francis, Rockies:

Born Jan. 8, 1981

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

Salesmanship can be one of your more effective assets. You have the ability to approach your customers without making them feel as if they are being pressured.

• Brandon Webb, Diamondbacks: Born May 9, 1979

Taurus (April 20-May 20)

It's not enough to be a pragmatic visionary. What you envision must be put into practice if you are to be judged as successful. Your expectations can be reached if you follow what you see.Source: Astrograph By Bernice Bede Osol

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