Oral History: The night the Sandblaster was born

It’s fitting in a really weird way and on so many levels. That is Nolan Arenado’s new nickname which was given to him in the middle of Monday night’s critical Rockies-Diamondbacks.

Arenado is now dubbed ‘Sandblaster’ due to #RockiesTwitter and it’s strange but beautiful.

Here’s how it all started:

CONTEXT: The Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks are battling each other for home field in the National League Wild Card race. The Rockies, down five games starting a four game series in the desert, needed to stay hot after a four-game sweep in Los Angeles. The Diamondbacks have gone cold the past week but sent Zack Greinke to the hill and have played very well against the Rockies this season.

GAME 9:39 p.m.: A combined effort of Kyle Freeland and Tyler Anderson got the Rockies into the sixth inning down 2-1. DJ LeMahieu doubled and moved up to third with two outs. This led Greinke to a 1-0 count against Arenado. Arenado drilled a high fastball into the outfield and tied the game at two.

TWITTER 9:40 p.m.:

https://twitter.com/purpledinocast/status/907448813308272640

TWITTER 9:43 p.m.:

https://twitter.com/purpledinocast/status/907449481376956417

BING: Arenado translates to Sandblasting

GOOGLE:

Wow google confirms pic.twitter.com/NzQIJofLbM

— Purple Row (@PurpleRow) September 12, 2017

WIKIPEDIA: “Abrasive blasting is the operation of forcibly propelling a stream of abrasive material against a surface under high pressure to smooth a rough surface, roughen a smooth surface, shape a surface, or remove surface contaminants.”

GAME 9:44 p.m.: The Sandblaster makes an unbelievable defensive play in the desert, as he normally does everywhere.

Nolan Arenado holy shit pic.twitter.com/DjkEby3YC0

— Jake Shapiro, but festive 🎁 (@Shapalicious) September 12, 2017

TWITTER: 9:45 p.m.:

When you see a new player nickname being born in real time https://t.co/uy9S2uWZMw

— bird hating account (@atf13atf) September 12, 2017

TWITTER: 9:59 p.m.:

https://twitter.com/purpledinocast/status/907453559670755329

TWITTER: 10:20 p.m.:

Nolan Arenado pic.twitter.com/JY0hq98hws

— Jake Shapiro, but festive 🎁 (@Shapalicious) September 12, 2017

GAME 10:24 p.m.: In the eighth, LeMahieu tripled with two outs and then Carlos Gonzalez walked on four pitches.

TWITTER 10:25 p.m.:

Pitching around CarGo to get to the Sandblaster. Smart move.

— Rox Pile (@RoxPileFS) September 12, 2017

GAME 10:26 p.m.: With a 2-1 count Jake Barrett left a slider over the plate and Arenado hit a three-run homer which ended up being the game winner.

KOA call of Nolan Arenado's game winning three-run home run pic.twitter.com/3o4L0Vya2J

— Jake Shapiro, but festive 🎁 (@Shapalicious) September 12, 2017

TWITTER: 10:27-38 p.m.:

THE MOTHER EFFIN SANDBLASTER

— Dan Lucero (@danluceroshow) September 12, 2017

https://twitter.com/JackHeyer/status/907462262553579520

When your life is ruined by The Sandblaster pic.twitter.com/UukI6FxnhY

— Tyler Q in Utah (@TylerQinUtah) September 12, 2017

GAME REVIEW: The Rockies won 5-4 and it was Arenado’s 2-for-4, four RBI performance that powered the Rockies to a fifth straight huge win.

The reality is, because of the context and how important this game was, Arenado’s effect on it—with some dubbing it the Nolan Arenado game—and lucky timing with a bad translation, Nolan Arenado became the Sandblaster on Monday.

IT BECOMES OFFICIAL ON TUESDAY:

Sandblaster https://t.co/GWybJwCPcB

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) September 12, 2017

In less than 14 hours Arenado earned a nickname better than anyone he had previously and the team is recognizing it. This is a perfect example of how fans can impact their team and its players.