ROCKIN' CROWD SEES ROCKIES ROLL EXPOS 11-4

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, April 10, 1993                   TAG: 9304100181
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DENVER                                LENGTH: Medium
ROCKIN' CROWD SEES ROCKIES ROLL EXPOS 11-4
Even Bryn Smith, a veteran of 12 previous major-league seasons, never had seen anything quite like it.
Relaxing before the Colorado Rockies' historic home opener Friday by snoozing while listening to rock group Rush in the training room, Smith awakened, grabbed his hat and glove and walked out into a sea of 80,227 fans.
"I was in total awe at what was out there," Smith said of the ovation- oriented crowd, which set a National League regular-season record for attendance.
Then Smith and his teammates gave something back, refusing to play down to expansion standards by beating Montreal 11-4 for the Rockies' first-ever victory.
Eric Young and Charlie Hayes christened long ball-friendly Mile High Stadium with first-inning homers to spark the win, and Smith shut out the Expos on six hits through seven innings before giving way to reliever Willie Blair.
The Rockies carried an 11-0 lead into the ninth, when Montreal ruined the shutout on Tim Spehr's sacrifice fly and Mike Lansing's three-run homer.
"When you pitch well and you hit well, all of those other things take care of themselves," Rockies manager Don Baylor said. "It's something we lacked in our first two games."
With temporary bleachers expanding Mile High Stadium's 76,000-seat capacity, the crowd was a record for a big-league home opener. It eclipsed the previous mark of 78,672 set April 18, 1958, by the Los Angeles Dodgers against San Francisco in the Dodgers' West Coast debut at the Coliseum after leaving Brooklyn.
The Colorado crowd also was the largest ever for a game during the regular season; Cleveland drew 84,587 against the Yankees on Sept. 12, 1954, but that was a doubleheader.
Keywords:
BASEBALL

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB