When Alex Williams starts his shift as a senior Denver park ranger, he rarely knows where the day will lead.

“I just, earlier this morning, found what looks like a whole apartment that was just dumped on the South Platte,” he said Monday as he drove through downtown Denver. “There’s an organ. There’s a couch.”

His usual patrol route for the Denver Department of Parks and Recreation takes him along segments of the South Platte River and Cherry Creek trails. He collects dumped trash, reports electric scooters he finds submerged in the water, and offers garbage bags and socks to people living in encampments before directing them elsewhere.

Denver’s park system is made up of about 20,000 acres of parkland, including more than 250 urban parks and over 80 miles of trails in the city. In such a large system, Williams and about 65 other rangers have amassed anecdotes about strange — and even risky — encounters in their assigned districts throughout the city and county.

And then there are the oddities they find in the waterways.

The list of anomalies removed from Cherry Creek alone include a wheelbarrow and a hairless guinea pig — a pet that escaped its owners on the trail, said Parks and Recreation spokesperson Stephanie Figueroa. The guinea pig was found alive.

Last week, Williams, 36, helped extract a moped from the creek.

“It’s pretty common to see something like that,” he said.

Sometimes, an abandoned vehicle turns out to have been stolen, Williams said. Rangers look up its license plate or vehicle identification number to confirm. Other times, it’s been ravaged for parts, and the remains are left in a local park.

When rangers find Lime and Lyft electric scooters in Cherry Creek — a frequent occurrence — they report the locations through a phone app that alerts company technicians to collect them.

Homeowners and contractors also have a habit of dumping construction materials in these public spaces.

“With waste fees and landfills being what they are, it’s just enticing to dump it wherever it seems convenient,” Williams said. “Often, that’s a secluded part of the trails district or another park.”

At the start of July, he was finishing his final week of medication — a cautionary measure after he was poked by a needle. It was hidden in a blanket that he came in contact with during a hazardous materials cleanup in the undergrowth along the Cherry Creek Trail.

“The risks of the job,” he sighed.

On Monday morning, Williams sat behind the wheel of his park ranger car, its lights flashing. In the back seat, park ranger manager Jodie Marozas, 41, was ready for anything they might encounter — with a baton, a can of pepper spray, a flashlight and a radio on her belt, along with naloxone in her bag (to reverse opioid overdoses) and a pocket knife in her cargo pants.

As Williams merged onto the tight path at a junction of the South Platte River and the Cherry Creek trails, he greeted cyclists through his open window. There, he’s a familiar face. Several passersby stopped to chat.

He quickly spotted a violation in Confluence Park: a man throwing a ball to his off-leash dog in the water. Williams recognized him as a repeat offender.

Rangers enforce dozens of park-specific statutes, including rules regulating off-leash dogs, dumping, fireworks, fires and more. They follow a progressive compliance model, leading with education before taking further steps: a written warning, then citations, with fines that can increase.

Williams and Marozas approached the dog owner, who immediately began arguing and cursing. Saying he was a lawyer from Maine, he continued tossing the ball to his dog as Marozas tried to write him a citation. Finally, he put his pet on a leash, yelling as he stormed away.

“Usually, people that are breaking park rules aren’t very happy seeing us,” Marozas said. “In those situations, yeah — that is kind of the reaction we get.”

She emphasized the importance of de-escalation tactics because aggressive interactions aren’t uncommon for rangers. They learn Krav Maga, a self-defense-oriented martial art, with eight hours of training required annually.

Recently, a person chucked a scooter at a ranger, which caused a shoulder injury, Williams said.

“We get yelled at. We get called the meanest things you can imagine,” he added.

During the summer, parkgoers wade into the water at Confluence Park — though, “technically, you’re not allowed to swim in any of the waterways,” Williams said. “I’ll always tell the folks here that the water quality is not particularly good.”

For years, city officials have warned residents about potential exposure to contaminants and other risks, including E. coli, in the river.

In Williams’ opinion, the ideal ranger needs to be outgoing. On a daily basis, he interacts with people from all walks of life, including those experiencing homelessness.

On the Cherry Creek Trail, rangers ask people camping underneath the bridges to relocate because they’re in areas considered closed, in part for safety.

Periodically, rangers have to alert people in encampments about the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers’ scheduled flushes of the Cherry Creek Reservoir, which can potentially leave them stranded, or worse, when the trail floods.

During his patrol, Williams approached a man sitting in a chair under an overpass, his backpack and rolling suitcase at his side.

Next to him, a sign read: “No overnight camping.”

After Williams informed the man that it’s a closed area, he offered him a bottle of water.

“Is it Fiji?” the man responded, before gathering his belongings.

Several spots on the waterways are considered “problem areas,” or places with high numbers of violations, such as Creekfront Park near Larimer Square.

Half a dozen men slept on benches or listened to music throughout the park. Marozas approached a person who was holding a glass pipe to warn him about two violations: public marijuana use and glass. But for the most part, the pair of rangers conducted welfare checks.

“When we’re talking to the unhoused community, it’s not because we’re harassing them. It’s typically because we’re giving them resources,” Williams said. Along with water, his team passes out socks. Rangers give out beanies and hand warmers during the winter.

To Denverites who use local parks and trails, Marozas reminds them: “Take pride in the space that you use.”

And also, she says, laughing: “There isn’t a dog poop fairy.”

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Jake Cave has been a sparkplug for the Rockies this season, running down flyballs in the outfield, taking extra bases and pumping up his teammates.

Thursday night, Cave provided the fireworks.

His solo homer to dead center in the sixth inning lifted Colorado to a 4-3 win over Milwaukee in front of an Independence Day crowd of 48,705 at Coors Field.

Cave’s first homer of the season came on a 1-0 fastball by Brewers starter Tobias Myers. The dinger, which traveled 430 feet, was Cave’s first since Aug. 20 of last season when he played for the Phillies. It snapped a streak of 208 at-bats without a homer.

When he got to the dugout, Cave was treated with the silent treatment, a tradition usually reserved for rookies who hit their first career homer. Third baseman Ryan McMahon was the instigator.

“That’s awesome,” said Cave, who entered Thursday with the fourth-longest active homerless at-bat streak in the majors. “I’ve done it to guys before, too. I was so pumped up I didn’t know what was happening at first as I came down the stairs.

“Then I realized they were doing the silent treatment. It was cool. It was fun.”

Manager Bud Black was thrilled for Cave, someone who plays with the kind of passion that Black loves.

“He’s playing a great all-around game over the last couple of months,” Black said. “He knows how to play. He brings great energy every day, in the dugout and in the clubhouse. He’s gritty.

“He’s capable of (hitting a homer) and I’ll go out there and say that there’s some more coming.”

Colorado right-hander Cal Quantrill battled, as he always does. He gave himself a C grade for his outing.

“I see my job as giving my team a chance to win every fifth day,” Quantrill said. “Sometimes it’s easy, sometimes it’s hard. Tonight it was exceptionally hard. I really didn’t have very good stuff. But the way I look at it, if it’s a ‘C’ game and the team gets a win, it’s hard not to be excited about that.”

Quantrill departed after five innings with Colorado holding a 3-2 lead. He gave up five hits, struck out two and walked four. The four free passes stung him, and he failed to get a quality start for just the third time in his last 12 starts.

But the bottom line was that the right-hander set the Rockies up for victory, and he has a 3.03 ERA in those 12 starts, dating back to May 3.

The Rockies held their breath in the third inning when Quantrill walked gingerly off the field. He fielded William Contreras’ swinging bunt in front of the mound and fired a strike to first to nip Contreras for the inning’s final out. But Quantrill fell during his throw and came up limping slightly. He said he “slightly tweaked” his hamstring.

Quantrill was not sharp in the fourth when he walked three batters to load the bases and paid the price when Andruw Monasterio blooped a two-run single to right, cutting Colorado’s lead to 3-2. Quantrill said the hamstring was not to blame for the three walks.

“I was just trying to be too fine,” he said.

The Brewers tied the game in the sixth off reliever Anthony Molina. Jackson Chourio scorched an RBI double to center, scoring Rhys Hoskins, who drew a one-out walk.

Timely hits gave the Rockies an early 3-0 lead. Charlie Blackmon led off the first with a single, advanced to second on Ezequiel Tovar’s sacrifice bunt and scored on Ryan McMahon’s opposite-field double to left.

In the second, Blackmon’s two-run, pop-up, hustle double to shallow right scored Michael Toglia and Sam Hilliard.

Colorado’s much-maligned, rickety bullpen finally delivered in the clutch. Right-hander Tyler Kinley pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings and lefty Jalen Beeks pitched  1 1/3 scoreless innings for his seventh save.

Beek’s biggest out was striking out pinch-hitter Garrett Mitchell looking at a 96 mph fastball for the final out of the eighth inning with two men on base. Beeks set the Brewers down in order in the ninth, getting All-Star Christian Yelich to chop out to first for the final out.

Friday’s pitching matchup

Royals LHP Cole Ragans (5-6, 3.33 ERA) at Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland (0-3, 7.94)

6:10 p.m. Friday, Coors Field

TV: Rockies.TV (streaming); Comcast/Xfinity (channel 1262); DirecTV (683); Spectrum (130, 445, 305, 435 or 445, depending on region).

Radio: 850 AM/94.1 FM

Freeland has pitched brilliantly in his two starts since coming off the injured list, posting a 1.42 ERA despite not getting a victory. In his last start against the White Sox, the lefty notched his 751st career strikeout, surpassing Pedro Astacio for the fifth most in franchise history. He also tied Jeff Francis for the third-most starts in franchise history (185). In seven career starts vs. Milwaukee, Freeland is 4-2 with a 2.36 ERA.

Ragan is coming off a rough outing vs. Cleveland in which he was charged with the loss when he allowed five runs on six hits over 4 2/3 innings. Entering Thursday’s play, he ranked second in the American League with 126 strikeouts. His 215 strikeouts are the most by a Royals pitcher through 30 starts to begin a stint with the franchise. Ragans has made one career appearance against the Rockies, tossing two scoreless innings in relief on May 20, 2023, at Globe Life Field as a member of the Rangers’ bullpen.

Pitching probables

Saturday: Royals RHP Seth Lugo (11-2, 2.17) at Rockies LHP Austin Gomber (1-5, 4.72), 7:10 p.m.

Sunday: Royals RHP Brady Singer (4-5, 3.05) at Rockies RHP Ryan Feltner (1-7, 5.60), 1:10 p.m.

— Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post

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Denver Broncos Pro Bowl cornerback Patrick Surtain II has admitted this offseason that he plans on making improvements over last year’s performance. There’s little doubt that Surtain appears to be the Broncos’ most talented player, so expecting the 24-year-old to keep getting better is a solid bet.

NFL.com’s Eric Edholm went around the league to pick each team’s 2024 MVP, and Surtain was unsurprisingly pegged to be a new and improved version of himself in 2024.

“Though I admit that this race is wide open, I arrived at Surtain pretty quickly. It was never going to be one of the quarterbacks for me, not until I’ve seen more from Jarrett Stidham or Bo Nix. Receiver Courtland Sutton could be that guy, especially with Jerry Jeudy having been traded to Cleveland, but Sutton apparently remains at loggerheads with the team over his contract, and his production will be dependent on how the QBs perform.

“Surtain isn’t even coming off his best year, to be honest; in 2023, he committed more penalties (six) than he had in his first two seasons combined. He also allowed more receptions than he did in either Years 1 or 2, according to Pro Football Focus. But I believe he has the best chance to be Denver’s MVP in 2024, given the makeup of the offense and the fact that he’s the Broncos’ top defender right now, at least on paper. Surtain was a more reliable tackler last season than he’d been previously, and he’s tasked with containing WR1s on a weekly basis. If he can make a few more plays on the ball, earning this honor wouldn’t be a stretch at all,” Edholm wrote.

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Surtain has never been short on confidence, but the 70-point humiliation the Broncos defense took squarely on the chin in Miami last season was hard to look past. Year 1 under defensive coordinator Vance Joseph in Denver had its ups and downs, which fully tested Surtain’s mental fortitude.

Entering Year 2 in the system, Surtain has the familiarity with Joseph’s defense and what he’s trying to achieve. Surtain has sounded a lot more enthusiastic about the simplistic and attacking defensive scheme the Broncos are going to run under Joseph moving forward.

“It’s great. Vance, obviously, he’s set a great example for us, just believing in us with his playcalls, but also he’s simplifying it even more, so we can play faster, feel comfortable, and that’s the main thing you want in a defense,” Surtain said via Andrew Mason back in June. “We’ve got the utmost belief in Vance, and I know Vance has the utmost belief in us. It goes hand in hand.”

Truth be told, head coach Sean Payton would probably much prefer that Denver’s MVP ultimately ends up being first-round quarterback Bo Nix, rather than anyone on defense. Making any sweeping predictions that Nix will even be the full-time starter would be premature. Training camp will answer a great deal of questions on that front.

It’s generally accepted that Sutton will be the Broncos’ No.1 receiver. NFL.com has a theory that Sutton’s stubborn contractual issues might take him off his stride, but that’s probably being overplayed.

Sutton’s diligent approach to his craft won’t stop him from preparing to the best of his abilities, and that will include a private get-together between Denver’s quarterbacks and receivers for a throwing session or two prior to training camp. The challenge any receiver faces of bonding with a rookie quarterback during the season or with a career backup like Stidham could curtail Sutton’s chances of becoming the Broncos’ MVP.

The decreasing likelihood that Sutton, Nix, or another offensive player will become a dominant force, makes Surtain the heavy favorite for team MVP honors. Furthermore, Surtain will do it the hard way, simply on account of drawing the toughest one-on-one assignments on a weekly basis.

Factor in a looming lucrative contract extension for Surtain, and the Broncos and their star defender have every reason to be massively motivated for this season. All told, that makes Surtain the horse to back in the Broncos’ MVP battle — until someone else throws a wrench in the works.

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