Denver's Ballpark General Improvement District hires new leader from Chicago Cubs' Wrigleyville

The Ballpark General Improvement District surrounding Coors Field in Denver began its ambassador program three months ago after businesses and residents chose to tax themselves to fund the GID. Its role is to help make the area safer and cleaner for residents and visitors. Now, the district has a new leader with a new vision.
The search for its first executive director was national, but in a sea of more than 350 applicants it was a Ballpark neighborhood resident who got the job. Kate McKenna's first day was Wednesday but is already looking at ways to expand their efforts. Mckenna also lives in the area and has already seen an enormous change over the last three months.
"The amount of what I call linger longer; people, positive loitering, the cleanliness, the friendliness, has just been tenfold," said McKenna.
Kate McKenna
CBS
McKenna moved to the area from Chicago a year ago and was excited about the opportunity to lead the improvement efforts as the first executive director.
"Strategically, we're looking for clean, green, and safe as our main initiatives. And I would say that my role is going to be pivotal in being the administration behind that, making sure that the promises are met, that the accountability is there, and that we maintain focus while bringing the community together. Really a liaison of sorts."
She previously worked with the improvement district surrounding Wrigley Field, where the Chicago Cubs play, and will lean on their success as inspiration. Her hope is that more people will be drawn to the area year-round by supporting the neighborhood's culture and business.
CBS
"We do have that sort of heart and culture here, beyond just the MLB team. I think being able to replicate some of their successes by making sure that we're advocating and patronizing the small businesses before and after and during the games, if you earn a ticket holder, is really what's going to keep us in that forward momentum."
The area could get a more colorful makeover in the future.
"My personal desire is to paint everything," she said. "It's a very accessible and very positive change for any neighborhood. Even if it's just project-by-project basis, you're going to see a lot of new and exciting things in the area."

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Diamondbacks 5, Rockies 3: ‘A' Bullpen Sighting!

Game Summary This was an odd night in the Rocky Mountains. The runs were flowing generously all around in the first third of the game, in other words, perfectly normal. Then, the faucet was somehow turned off and never really came back on again. Advertisement The Diamondbacks offense got started against Carson Palmquist, the young Rockies starter who has been overmatched so far this year, by loading the bases with no one out in the first. The Snakes would only get one run out of that. Then in the second, they manufactured a second run when Tawa, who stole second base, came home on a ground rule double by Ketel Marte. The third inning? A third run was scored, of course, this time via home run number 301 for Geno. After that inning, the steady strikes of the offense dried up save for a Domo dinger in fifth which accounted for the winning runs of the ballgame. The Snakes were able to get runners on, sure, but they just couldn't get a big knock to give the team some breathing room for when the bullpen would inevitably have to come in and trade outs for hopefully as few runs as possible. On the pitching side, Merrill started the game off just as wobbly as his counterpart, matching him 3-3 in runs allowed after the first 3 innings. Merrill was able to right the ship, though, and had his pitch count at 86 when it came time for him to step back out on the mound in the 7th inning. The GDT spidey-senses were tingling with his return to the mound in the 7th, and not without reason. Coming into tonight, Merrill has logged 3.1 innings pitched in 7th innings this year and he owns a 13.50 ERA in them! This 7th inning appeared to be going the same direction as those others when he let the first two Rockies reach and he was pulled in favor of Ryan Thompson. With that bit of news, I was more than prepared to be writing an obituary for tonight's recap, with time of death clocking in around the bottom of the 7th. I was pleasantly surprised then when Ryan Thompson recorded this first out with a stupendous pickoff move to second base! Now with only 2 outs to get and no runner in scoring position, Thompson set to work retiring the only 2 batters he needed to face to get out of the 7th inning and preserve our 2-run lead (and lower Merrill's 7th inning ERA, to boot). Jalen Beeks only needed 7 pitches for his 3 outs in the 8th and Shelby Miller struck out the side in absolutely dominant fashion after the first hitter reached second on an infield single and throwing error by Ildemaro Vargas. Coors Field doesn't seem to be the place you'd expect to go for your bullpen to turn things around, but this is now two straight nights of excellent relief pitching at the hitter's haven in Denver. Hopefully, this is the start of a trend! Thanks again to Dano for being willing to swap recap nights with me! Win Probability and Box Score Courtesy FanGraphs Outside the Box Score Geraldo Perdomo followed up Ketel's missile-like leadoff double with a rogue bunt that luckily resulted in no outs. He popped the bunt straight up, but by some miracle it landed just outside the glove webbing of the charging pitcher and stopped dead in the grass like an approach shot at the US Open. Better to be lucky than good in this case, Domo! The Snakes first inning at bat left a bit to be desired. They did score a run, but after the first three hitters reached base, loading the bases for Mr. 300, I was expecting a bit more than a single run in that inning. Sac Fly, shallow fly out and ground out to third got the Rockies out of the inning with minimal damage. Merrill Kelly only let the first two Colorado batters reach in the first before retiring the next 3 in a row, besting his Colorado counterpart, but Kelly's 2 hurt twice as bad Colorado's opening 3, as both runners came home to score on a bomb to the left field seats. Merrill needed 23 pitches to retire the side. Tim Tawa had a big stolen base in the second inning that led to him scoring the tying run. With 1 out, he easily stole second. After Aramis Garcia struck out, Ketel launched another missile to the warning track, this time in left center instead of straight away center, and it one-hopped the wall for a ground rule double. If Tawa hadn't stole second, he would have been stuck at third. Merrill came out for the bottom of the third with a 3-2 lead and that lead vanished on a trio of batted balls that touched infielder's gloves. First, a bunt to the third base side by the Rockies 9-hole hitter resulted in a runner on base after Merrill got to the ball in good shape but dropped it during the transfer. Then, Kelly gave up a rocket lined up the middle that Ketel deflected on it's way to center field, giving the runner the opportunity to advance all the way to third. With runners on the corners, Kelley got a groundball double play, but the runner from third was able to score and tie the game. Big and not-so-fast Michael Toglia stole second easily off our new backstop, Aramis Garcia, for the Rockies second stolen base of the night with one out in the fourth. He then moved to third on a weak ground out to second, and the only thing that kept him from scoring was a sparkling play at third by Ildemaro Vargas where he charged in to the grass on a slow bouncer and rifled a strike to first while still hunched over and running. Superb play! 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Everyone in the GDT, and probably everyone in the Diamondbacks dugout, was prepared for at least 1 run to score that inning, and very likely thought it would be worse than that. Thompson has lowered the bar for expectations with his blowups earlier this year, but this game should serve as a reminder that over the past month, he's posted a 0.90 ERA and a 1.77 FIP, both top marks in the bullpen over that span. He's had some ill-timed inherited runner's score, but he's also posted a strand rate of 82% in the past month, also the top mark in the bullpen during that time. Comment of the Game Another solid night in the GDT with a total of 292 comments at time of publishing. Plenty of Sedona red to choose from, but this one from The-Icon encapsulates the feelings of the entire fanbase, I'm sure: Coming Up The Diamondbacks face the Rockies in the final game of this mile-high series tomorrow at 12:10pm Arizona time. 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