And now, sitting in front of the microphone to call his first World Series - Coors Field public address announcer RE-eed Saun-DERRRRS!

It's pretty good to be Reed Saunders these days. He's 26, and after toiling in the minor leagues for several years - calling games for Colorado State University and the Colorado Eagles hockey club - he was tapped to be the new in-stadium voice of the Colorado Rockies just before the 2007 season began.

And less than eight months later, he's working the World Series.

"Just to see it all unfold and to be a small part of it has been unbelievable," Saunders said during a break from his day job, where he sells ads on bus benches and billboards for CBS Outdoor.

Saunders started announcing games when he was a student at CSU. Then he became the in-arena voice of the Eagles, a minor league hockey team in Loveland.

And then along came his dream job.

When Saunders beat out two other finalists for the gig, he had a big mouth to fill - namely that of Alan Roach, the baritone-voiced announcer who had held the job at Coors Field since it opened in 1995. Roach, a fixture on 850 KOA, announces numerous other big-time sporting events but gave up the Rockies job to spend more time with his family.

First trick, finding his own voice

Job 1 for Saunders was to not be an Alan Roach impersonator.

"It was hard to be there and hear in my head how I was going to announce these batters and not hear Roach's voice," Saunders said. "He was the only one I had heard, like everyone else.

"He was the only one who had done Rockies games. So it was a matter of just trying to sound like myself and not having everyone saying, 'Oh, he's just trying to be like Roach was.' "

In those first weeks, he was a bundle of nerves. Then he settled down.

When he did, "I really felt comfortable that that job was my own."

But working a real job - and working Coors Field - isn't enough. Saunders remains the public address announcer for Eagles games.

When there's a conflict in the schedule, the Rockies win out.

"It makes for some long days, but it's all worth it," he said. "I really don't think of it as a job. It's a passion, and something I've done since college.

"And to be at this point at 26 years old - I never thought I'd be here. It's really amazing to be a part of everything that's going on."

Saunders is part of a bigger team that orchestrates everything the fan sees and hears that's not part of the game action - the scoreboard videos, the music, the advertisements, the player announcements.

"We have a great time putting on a great show up there," he said. "I was really glad to be welcomed in the way I was, for them to have had the same PA announcer through the whole history of the team."

A season of streaks - and magic

Through much of his first season, the action on the field was as up and down as a bouncer along the third-base line - struggles, winning streaks, losing streaks. And suddenly, in the past few weeks of the season, it all went right.

"Magic," he said of the past month, when the Rockies won an incredible 21 of 22 games and swept two playoff series.

"If I've learned one thing as a baseball fan this year, it's that it's a long race. You can't get too down on yourself for losing or too proud of yourself for winning."

For Saunders, though, the work is more than the chance of a lifetime. He's a baseball fan, and so, during the past month, there were times when every inning felt like the bottom of the ninth with two outs and the game on the line.

"We're like fans up there, living and dying on every pitch," he said. "These last few (games) have been a little nerve-wracking."

Monday night, Saunders found himself trying to hold it together as the Rockies closed in on the win that would send them to the team's first World Series.

"The last couple innings the other night, we were all a little close to hyperventilating, I think," he said. "We all wanted to get that game finished off."

Now he's enjoying the Rockies' eight-day break before Game 1 of the World Series begins Wednesday.

And after his whirlwind year in the bigs, what's next?

He plans to continue with all three of his jobs. Plus, he's engaged to be married next October. Her name is Laura Kietzmann, and she is working on her doctorate in kinesiology, the study of muscles and their movement, at Michigan State University.

"We picked a date that was between baseball and hockey," Saunders said.

A mouthful

Reed Saunders' main side job - announcing Rockies games at Coors Field - requires one skill above all else. The ability to say the names of players just right.

And during Saunders' rookie season as the Coors Field public address announcer, a few names have tripped him up:

• New York Mets second basemen Ruben Gotay became "Go-TIE" instead of "Go-TAY."

• Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Jonathan Meloan became "ME-loan" instead of "MUH-loan."

• Dodgers first basemen Nomar Garciaparra became "Go-see-a-PAR-a" instead of "Gar-see-a-PAR-a."

• And now, with the Rockies headed to the World Series, has he started his homework?

"I started to take notice," he said. "Not really study it, but pay attention to the Asdrubals of the world."

As in Cleveland Indians shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera. That's As-DREW-bull Ca-BRERRRRRA to Saunders.

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