If there is ever a player that has All Star qualities and makes every game like he is putting on a show, it is Carlos Gonzalez. He is the biggest light of encouragement for the Rockies, and the fans got to hear it when he was on his own radio show on 102.3 ESPN. In the midst of several rumors about the possibility of trading him to a bigger market, Carlos gave the fans the most gratifying words when he said, “I want to be a Rockie for life.” These are the words any organization and fans want to hear from their biggest star.
He is humble about his talent, but is confident in what type of player he is. He is good, and he knows it. He is also not afraid to address the way he plays in the same honest manner he always does. CarGo simply stated, “Nobody is perfect,” he hears the criticism about his fielding, but he does not let it affect him as a player. However, he knows there is always room for improvement. “When I play, I try to be more calm and relaxed and sometimes it looks like I’m not trying that hard, but I really am”, Gonzalez said.
This season is different for CarGo, he knows that if he wants to remain healthy and wants to play as many games as possibly he needs to be careful in the outfield. He still plays with the same amount of heart, but he is not risking another meeting with the outfield walls.
CarGo’s personality had fans smiling and laughing during his radio show. With his honest answers, he made sure not to give a dull moment with his stories from his little league days and what ballparks he likes. Before his days as a left fielder at Coors Field, CarGo says that he did not want to play in left field. “I used to throw my glove on the ground, sit down, and cry because nobody would hit it to me and I wanted to be involved.”
Things have definitely changed for the gold glove outfielder. When Gonzalez was asked about the stadium he likes to play the most (Coors Field, of course) and least, his answer was both hilarious and telling. “I hate playing in San Francisco,” Gonzalez said. “It’s so cold everyday, fans are mean. I mean, I think they have computers in the outfield and they Google your mom’s name,” which made the fan audience gathered near the ESPN makeshift studio erupt in laughter. In contrast with Giants fans, Gonzalez says he loves to be surrounded by the Rockies faithful. His candid response sounded more than a simple PR lip service. “We want to give them a good game, we do this all for them,” Gonzalez said. Gonzalez shared how the difference the fans at Coors Field make for the team and their energy, and praises them at every chance he gets.
CarGo is currently at 11th place on the All-Star Game voting for NL outfielders, and there’s little time left for fans to make a difference. He has already spoken with an amazing performance during the season’s first half. It’s time for baseball fans (not just those in the Colorado area) to reciprocate.
Brittany is a guest RWO writer, prolific tweeter (@brgutierrez5) as well as CarGo’s personal crusader in getting him an All Star Start.
Let’s bring our full force for the last few hours of voting. It is EXTREMELY easy to vote multiple times. While it wont move him into third place from 11th, it could influence the players to vote him in.
Besides the ASG voting another way to be heard is through the Home Run Derby Fan Poll! While we can’t actually choose who participates, if we get enough write-in votes for CarGo it might influence Kemp to choose him. Then again, Kemp should have no doubts that having CarGo on his team will be almost a sure lock for the NL…
- HOME RUN DERBY FAN POLL (need to write his name in)
Brittany, thanks again for your excellent write-up…
I encourage everyone to do the following:
1. Vote for CarGo 100′s of times for the ASG (info above)
2. Vote for CarGo 100′s of times for the Home Run Derby (info above)
3. Keep Egossage and others in Colorado Springs in your thoughts and prayers (this is just a few miles from his house: http://tinyurl.com/78dtg7e)
you nailed it Brittany! Year in and year out I think the Rockies could do SO much more to encourage fans to vote. It really is simple to sit during a game and vote between innings. You can get 20-30 at a time without missing any action (good or bad).
I have to think Cargo will be a managers choice but embarassing if our fans to think enough to pack the votes.
Go Rox
Couldn’t agree more…i’ve been to stadiums that gave free tickets if you voted a certain number of times while at a game, others give away suites in contests and it really seems like the Rockies aren’t pushing the best player in baseball voting at all…
The thing is, you can easily vote several hundred times online – you are locked into 25 times an email address, but most people either have several or can make several…once you choose who you want to vote for the other 24 times are just typing the security number and clicking vote…extremely easy!
the rockies are giving free ticket if you fill 25 ballots while in the game behind section 117 so there u go
perfect Kikin, haven’t had a chance to get to a game during the “all star push”, so I’m glad they are doing that…i do know they aren’t pushing it on their site like others are (the link on the rockies official site just goes to the ballot – other teams go to a “contest page” type of page like this: http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/mil/fan_forum/allstarvote.jsp)
want more good news?..DOD season ticket call today
Rockies left-handed starter Jorge De La Rosa will be shut down until September at the very least, and the possibility exists that he will not pitch at all for the club this season.
O’Dowd said third base prospect Nolan Arenado will most-likely finish the current season with Double-A Tulsa rather than be promoted to the big-league club.
Nolan Arenado’s maturity level has not yet reached his talent level,” O’Dowd said. “He will probably finish the season at Double-A, unless there are injuries or other circumstances.”
• O’Dowd defended the Rockies’ new starting-pitching formula, which puts starters on a 75-pitch limit.
O’Dowd said it’s incorrect to call it a four-man rotation; rather, he described it as a paired-pitching system using seven starters.
go us
Wow…so is he calling out Arenado for maturity issues already? Is the best prospect in the organization being run out of town before he ever makes a start? Nothing like starting the smear campaign early to explain any future trades.
I completely agree with you Prog. Is the guy telling potty jokes in the clubhouse or what? What a slap.
Steve, I saw the “breaking news” on Jorge. I think the broadcast crew has been calling it a 7 man rotation for a couple of games now. I guess we now know where they got that from :>)
Here is my SHOCKER for the day. The Giants could actually be in 1st place in the NL West in about 3 hrs.
talk about kicking us when we are down…sheezus
It’s happening. Timmy is hanging in there. 3-0 Giants.
didn’t we all expect this on opening day.Let’s me think-what’s their strenght–oh yeah:starting freaking pitching!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
50 votes and counting from me.
In all honesty there are a LOT of good outfielders in the NL. They make the AL outfielders look like a bunch of little leaguers.
This kind of reminds me of that old argument that every team should not automatically get one representative. Something about how the teams in the cellar should not have much influence on home field advantage in the WS. I never liked that argument and I like it even less now.