World Series Game 4 - Denver, Colorado
The Sox came in and clobbered the Rocks over the head with all of those brooms that were lying around at Coors Field. Two blowouts. Two one run games. In both of the one run games, game tying home run balls fell short late in the game.
So, this just wasn’t our year? Heck naw! This was a fantastic year and I’m sure that everyone feels it down to our bones. Amazing.
As Clint Hurdle said: there are no excuses in Rockies Nation and no crying.
I’m currently in the tattoo artist’s office getting an 18 inch rendition of Matt Holliday’s chin slide on my back. My brother is painting his van with a Dragonslayer triptych. My parents are re-landscaping their back yard to look like the center field rock pile diorama to Coors. Rockies fans are holding their heads high for the first time in a long time.
In other words, the Rockies are back!!!!
In Denver, the Crips wear the Colorado Rockies hat, in combination with their trademark blue bandana, to identify themselves around town. So the Bloods are now really having a tough time deciding who to shoot and have given up. It’s about time. Thanks everyone for chipping in.
So three cheers for a fantastic season! Yorvit: I never knew I loved ya so much. Matt Holliday: Wow. Clutch. Superman. Todd Helton: thanks for staying. Thanks for playing. Thanks for bringing back the mountain man goatee. Ubaldo: you WILL win the Cy Young one year. You WILL win 20 games. You are star! Troy Tulo: great year, bad World Series, but you’ve become a leader and will become a superstar shortstop. Fogg and Francis – keep fighting. Manny Corpas: the Rocks have a world class closer!
This team is stacked. This team has made it to the mountaintop and they are young. I can’t wait till spring training. I can’t wait till opening day. I can’t wait to watch these guys grow. They have the skills and the confidence and the will.
Great year! Thanks everybody.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Sunday, October 28, 2007
The Glass Is 7/25th Full
World Series Game 3 – Denver, Colorado
We here at Colorado Rockies Nation refuse to get depressed by the fact that that we got jumped again last night by the Sox. Outscored 25 to 7 over three games. Seven run fifth inning Game 1. Six run third inning in Game 3. Take away both of those blowup innings…and we’d still probably be down 0-3.
What’s happening? The Rocks are hitting .222 in this Boston series. You’ll remember that they also hit .222 in the Arizona series and somehow came up with 18 runs over four games and swept the D-Backs. Doesn’t seem the layoff did anything at all to their batting average. But Rox team ERA in this series is 9.00 versus 1.89 in the NLCS. Sox pitchers are tossing a 2.33 ERA in the Series and batters are hitting .354. What does all of this gobbledygook mean? We are being out pitched and out hit. No ship, Sherlock.
I have an idea. Let’s stress the positive.
The World Series came to Denver for the first time ever! It’s an amazing achievement that none of us will ever forget.
The crowd seemed to be having a grand time, especially after Holliday’s three run jack.
Dragonslayer is a good nickname. Almost slain by a flying javelin in the third inning, he recovered to…umm…give up 6 runs, including 2 to the opposing pitcher. But the airbrushed Dragonslayer vans in Denver still look cool.
The State of Colorado can expect $1 billion dollars of additional tourist revenue as Dice-K’s performance was beamed into every household in Japan for a 10 am Tokyo time start. Sweeping views of the mountains in the telecast are sure to attract throngs of Japanese tourists over the coming years. Welcome them, bow to them, pose for their pictures.
The Buffs beat Texas Tech, somehow overcoming 400 trillion yards of passing from the opposing quarterback.
The Broncos are on Monday night. National broadcast in HD for the second week in a row.
The Rocks have a great young team, with 16 home grown players. Should be fun to watch for years to come.
Pi is 3.1-ish.
We can’t complain (much) about being beaten Boston’s high salary team. Rocks were undone again by Ellsbury and Pedroia who are farm kids essentially playing for free. Free Tacoby Ellsbury had four hits including three doubles. Could he be MVP of the series?
So get ready for Game 4! Scream your butts off and get us back into this thing!
Go Rockies!
We here at Colorado Rockies Nation refuse to get depressed by the fact that that we got jumped again last night by the Sox. Outscored 25 to 7 over three games. Seven run fifth inning Game 1. Six run third inning in Game 3. Take away both of those blowup innings…and we’d still probably be down 0-3.
What’s happening? The Rocks are hitting .222 in this Boston series. You’ll remember that they also hit .222 in the Arizona series and somehow came up with 18 runs over four games and swept the D-Backs. Doesn’t seem the layoff did anything at all to their batting average. But Rox team ERA in this series is 9.00 versus 1.89 in the NLCS. Sox pitchers are tossing a 2.33 ERA in the Series and batters are hitting .354. What does all of this gobbledygook mean? We are being out pitched and out hit. No ship, Sherlock.
I have an idea. Let’s stress the positive.
The World Series came to Denver for the first time ever! It’s an amazing achievement that none of us will ever forget.
The crowd seemed to be having a grand time, especially after Holliday’s three run jack.
Dragonslayer is a good nickname. Almost slain by a flying javelin in the third inning, he recovered to…umm…give up 6 runs, including 2 to the opposing pitcher. But the airbrushed Dragonslayer vans in Denver still look cool.
The State of Colorado can expect $1 billion dollars of additional tourist revenue as Dice-K’s performance was beamed into every household in Japan for a 10 am Tokyo time start. Sweeping views of the mountains in the telecast are sure to attract throngs of Japanese tourists over the coming years. Welcome them, bow to them, pose for their pictures.
The Buffs beat Texas Tech, somehow overcoming 400 trillion yards of passing from the opposing quarterback.
The Broncos are on Monday night. National broadcast in HD for the second week in a row.
The Rocks have a great young team, with 16 home grown players. Should be fun to watch for years to come.
Pi is 3.1-ish.
We can’t complain (much) about being beaten Boston’s high salary team. Rocks were undone again by Ellsbury and Pedroia who are farm kids essentially playing for free. Free Tacoby Ellsbury had four hits including three doubles. Could he be MVP of the series?
So get ready for Game 4! Scream your butts off and get us back into this thing!
Go Rockies!
Friday, October 26, 2007
Shhh. The Bats Are Sleeping.
World Series Game 2
The Rockies are headed home without the split. Ubaldo did his darndest. He gave up 5 walks and almost sawed JD Drew’s foot off. But he stared down the Sox potent line-up and worked through it like a pro. He’s gonna be a huge star when he can learn to throw first pitch strikes. He gave up only 2 runs in 4 2/3 inning, which after Game 1 is a godsend.
But the bats. The sleeping bats. I guess Schilling pitched well. But he didn’t look unhittable. Brandon Webb had more zip, pop and dive and the Rocks beat him. Willy Tavarez used speed to reel in the first run in the first inning, but the Rocks just couldn’t put anything together. Holliday was finding infield gaps, Helton hit a 410 foot drive that was reeled in for an out. But Schilling wouldn't allow a prolonged rally. The team still looks a bit rusty and wide eyed.
The good news is Jacoby Ellsbury gave the world a free taco. The bad news is Conventional Wisdom dictates that one should stay as far away as humanly possible from Taco Bells on the day they are giving out free tacos. That’s a good way to get your arm chewed off. Or worse.
Down 0-2 headed home. This is nothing a crazy Rocky Mountain crowd can’t solve. And we will. The DRAGONSLAYER will ride to the rescue.
Go Rockies!!!
The Rockies are headed home without the split. Ubaldo did his darndest. He gave up 5 walks and almost sawed JD Drew’s foot off. But he stared down the Sox potent line-up and worked through it like a pro. He’s gonna be a huge star when he can learn to throw first pitch strikes. He gave up only 2 runs in 4 2/3 inning, which after Game 1 is a godsend.
But the bats. The sleeping bats. I guess Schilling pitched well. But he didn’t look unhittable. Brandon Webb had more zip, pop and dive and the Rocks beat him. Willy Tavarez used speed to reel in the first run in the first inning, but the Rocks just couldn’t put anything together. Holliday was finding infield gaps, Helton hit a 410 foot drive that was reeled in for an out. But Schilling wouldn't allow a prolonged rally. The team still looks a bit rusty and wide eyed.
The good news is Jacoby Ellsbury gave the world a free taco. The bad news is Conventional Wisdom dictates that one should stay as far away as humanly possible from Taco Bells on the day they are giving out free tacos. That’s a good way to get your arm chewed off. Or worse.
Down 0-2 headed home. This is nothing a crazy Rocky Mountain crowd can’t solve. And we will. The DRAGONSLAYER will ride to the rescue.
Go Rockies!!!
Comment from Dan - Natick, MA
To all those Rockie fans out there: I was 10 years old when my all time favorite Dwight Evans made the amazing over the shoulder catch on Joe Morgan in the late innings of game 6 versus the Big Red Machine in 1975. Few remember the 9th inning pinch hit 3 run homer by Bernie Carbo that followed to tie the game an send it into extras. But everyone remembers what Fisk did next.
I prefer drama and intense at bats with duals from the mound to the batters box and key matchups with pinch hitters and relief specialists.
I write this in hopes that one of the greatest playoff teams in the history of the game - YOUR COLORADO ROCKIES - come to play tonight as all you in Rockie Nation know they can. A 2007 world series in the ranks of the 1975 world series in terms of drama would only be fitting for these two great teams.
Dan DoughertyNatick, MA
"Nothing will ever compare to a one hop rope from deep right field to home plate in Fenway by Dwight Evans."(Except maybe a Dave Parker assist in an All Star game sometime in the 80's!)Long Live Dewey #24
I prefer drama and intense at bats with duals from the mound to the batters box and key matchups with pinch hitters and relief specialists.
I write this in hopes that one of the greatest playoff teams in the history of the game - YOUR COLORADO ROCKIES - come to play tonight as all you in Rockie Nation know they can. A 2007 world series in the ranks of the 1975 world series in terms of drama would only be fitting for these two great teams.
Dan DoughertyNatick, MA
"Nothing will ever compare to a one hop rope from deep right field to home plate in Fenway by Dwight Evans."(Except maybe a Dave Parker assist in an All Star game sometime in the 80's!)Long Live Dewey #24
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Clank.
World Series Game 1
The Rocks threw up a huge brick last night. Boston Massacre. Rainy day, dream away, disaster. I was hoping for the CYO league 10 run rule to put us to bed. The boys came out as rusty as a nail on the floor of Old Ironsides. The 8 day layoff turned into spring training all over again. The Sox started where they finished. They outscored Cleveland in the last three games of the ALCS 30-5. In come the Rocks and the Sox started blasting World Series extra base hits, scoring and embarrassment records all over the yard.
Beckett strikes out the side in the first, Pedroia follows in the bottom with a ball into the monster seats. Jeff Francis looked liked he'd been beamed in from the Little League World Series. The fifth inning was particularly painful, with Ryan Speier walking three straight batters with the bases loaded.
I felt like the whole world was watching and saying: “Yep: the Rockies. Expansion Team. National League. Thin air flash in a pan. Toldya.” I was channeling George Constanza: “Wait wait, you don’t understand! Shrinkage!!!” We haven’t seen a live ball in more than a week! A terrible flight! Bad sushi! LOCUSTS!!
Isn’t there some damn curse somewhere in Boston baseball that can slow this down? It’s 13-1.
They gave up 8 doubles. At least they didn’t give a free taco to everybody in everywhere.
But we can think about it like we lost 3-2 on a 9th inning blooper. We’re down 1-0 in a seven game series. Wake up and get going. Let’s get the split and take it home.
Bring it Ubaldo. Take down the old man tonight.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Red Sox Primer
The histories of these two World Series teams couldn’t be more different. The Rockies won their first franchise playoff Game twenty days ago; the Red Sox won their first World Series in 1903. But one of the benefits of having a team like the Rockies that has only been around for 14 years is that you don’t end up torturing generations of fans like the Red Sox have done for the last century.
Household names like Cy Young, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski and Roger Clemens have worn their red and white uniforms. But their history is also one of great frustration that is only now beginning to be exorcised. Here’s a quick primer:
Curse of the Bambino - After winning five World Series titles from 1903 to 1918, the Red Sox winning ways were halted by owner Harry Frazee who sold the great Babe Ruth – who helped pitch, bat and bartend the Sox to four of these titles – to the Yankees so he could finance his Broadway bomb No-No Nanette. Over the next 14 years, Babe and the Yanks would go to World Series seven times and win four of ‘em. The Red Sox would never win the World Series again, at least according to all of those poor fans that didn’t live to see 2004.
Splendid Splinter - Ted Williams, who suffered from the terrible nickname, The Splendid Splinter, was one of the greatest hitters of all time. His 1941 batting average of .406 is still the highest season batting average ever recorded. He won the triple crown and even took time out to bomb bad guys in WWII and the Korean War. He never won World Series, though he came close in 1946 versus the underdog Cardinals but Johnny Pesky got the ball stuck in his glove on a relay throw and allowed Enos Slaughter (I shall call him…Enos) to score from first to let in the go ahead run.
Yaz and Pudge – the 60s and 70s were a really rough time to be a Red Sox fan. Carl Yastrzemski won the triple crown in 1967 and led the Impossible Dream team to the World Series where they lost to Bob Gibson’s Cardinals. The 1975 team made it to the World Series again with Carlton “Pudge” Fisk forever stamping sports highlight reels by urging his 12th inning Game 6 walk off homer to stay fair. But they went on to lose a heartbreaking Game 7. In 1978, the Yanks came back from 14.5 games back to tie the Sox and force a one game playoff in which Bucky “F****ng” Dent hit a 3 run blast at Fenway that broke New Englanders hearts again.
Buckner – The young phenom Roger Clemens got his taste of the Curse of the Bambino in 1986, leaving with the lead in a Game 6 that would have given the Sox their first World Championship since 1918. But the Mets made an amazin’ late comeback capped by Mookie Wilson’s roller through Bill Buckner’s legs. Ouch. They went on to lose a heartbreaking Game 7, again.
Grady Little / Aaron Boone – in the 2003 ALCS versus their arch-enemy the New York Yankees, the Sox made it to a critical Game 7 in the Bronx. I was there. The great Pedro Martinez pitched his heart out, only to be left in “one batter too long” by manager Grady Little. Jorge Posada hit a game tying blooper that led to extra innings where Aaron Boone slapped Tim Wakefield’s knuckler over the wall for a walk off win. More pain. To add insult to injury, visiting Red Sox fans were ordered to leave the subway cars after the game to make way for triumphant Yankees fans leaving the stadium.
Why not us? – in 2004 the Sox met the Yanks again and battled from 0-3 series deficit in the ALCS to force a deciding Game 7, again in Yankee Stadium. Curt Schilling, whose bloody sock entered baseball lore in Game 6 (had there been a secret ritual of spilled blood that reversed the curse?), had t-shirts printed that asked the question “Why not us?” Did they really need to lose Game 7s forever? Johnny “now known as Judas” Damon hit a grand slam in the second inning and led the Sox to a Game 7 rout. The Sox rolled over the Cardinals in the World Series and handed New Englanders a reason to believe for the first time in 86 years. Damon bolted for Yankees cash the following year.
2007 – The Sox are now a big payroll team with big names. Game One starter Josh Beckett, who beat the Yanks in the 2003 World Series for the Marlins, has been unstoppable in the playoffs this year. Curt Schilling, who has two World Series rings, has been up and down, but showed his playoff magic in Game 6 on Saturday night by beating Cleveland. The expensive addition of Japanese star gyroballer Dice-K Matsuzaka has been mostly positive for the Sox. On the hitting side, future hall of famer Manny Ramirez is having one of his best playoffs ever. Big Papi is going strong and Mike Lowell has been an RBI machine all season. JD Drew’s Little Brother’s Big Brother, JD Drew awoke from his season long slumber to hit a grand slam in Game 6 against Cleveland to extend the Sox’ season. But the Sox are in the World Series also largely due to the small names. Rookie farmhands Dustin Pedroia (5 RBIs in ALCS game 7) and Jacoby Ellsbury supply big sparks. Jonathan Papelbon and Hideki Okajima give solid bullpen support. Kevin Youkilis can wear pitchers out and hit for power.
Pundits are picking the Sox, despite the Rocks’ improbable 21 for 22 run. But this is mostly due to the perceived superiority of the battle tested American League. From what we’ve seen of the Rockies in the last few weeks, I’m not sure they’d lose if even if you dug up and fielded Bambino, Splinter, Yaz and the rest; the Rockies are that hot. But it’ll be fun to see, especially Saturday night when the big show comes to Denver for the first time ever. Fans will get to see slow moving Manny Ramirez try to cover the cavernous Coors left field and David Ortiz standing at first with a glove.
Go Rockies!!
Household names like Cy Young, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski and Roger Clemens have worn their red and white uniforms. But their history is also one of great frustration that is only now beginning to be exorcised. Here’s a quick primer:
Curse of the Bambino - After winning five World Series titles from 1903 to 1918, the Red Sox winning ways were halted by owner Harry Frazee who sold the great Babe Ruth – who helped pitch, bat and bartend the Sox to four of these titles – to the Yankees so he could finance his Broadway bomb No-No Nanette. Over the next 14 years, Babe and the Yanks would go to World Series seven times and win four of ‘em. The Red Sox would never win the World Series again, at least according to all of those poor fans that didn’t live to see 2004.
Splendid Splinter - Ted Williams, who suffered from the terrible nickname, The Splendid Splinter, was one of the greatest hitters of all time. His 1941 batting average of .406 is still the highest season batting average ever recorded. He won the triple crown and even took time out to bomb bad guys in WWII and the Korean War. He never won World Series, though he came close in 1946 versus the underdog Cardinals but Johnny Pesky got the ball stuck in his glove on a relay throw and allowed Enos Slaughter (I shall call him…Enos) to score from first to let in the go ahead run.
Yaz and Pudge – the 60s and 70s were a really rough time to be a Red Sox fan. Carl Yastrzemski won the triple crown in 1967 and led the Impossible Dream team to the World Series where they lost to Bob Gibson’s Cardinals. The 1975 team made it to the World Series again with Carlton “Pudge” Fisk forever stamping sports highlight reels by urging his 12th inning Game 6 walk off homer to stay fair. But they went on to lose a heartbreaking Game 7. In 1978, the Yanks came back from 14.5 games back to tie the Sox and force a one game playoff in which Bucky “F****ng” Dent hit a 3 run blast at Fenway that broke New Englanders hearts again.
Buckner – The young phenom Roger Clemens got his taste of the Curse of the Bambino in 1986, leaving with the lead in a Game 6 that would have given the Sox their first World Championship since 1918. But the Mets made an amazin’ late comeback capped by Mookie Wilson’s roller through Bill Buckner’s legs. Ouch. They went on to lose a heartbreaking Game 7, again.
Grady Little / Aaron Boone – in the 2003 ALCS versus their arch-enemy the New York Yankees, the Sox made it to a critical Game 7 in the Bronx. I was there. The great Pedro Martinez pitched his heart out, only to be left in “one batter too long” by manager Grady Little. Jorge Posada hit a game tying blooper that led to extra innings where Aaron Boone slapped Tim Wakefield’s knuckler over the wall for a walk off win. More pain. To add insult to injury, visiting Red Sox fans were ordered to leave the subway cars after the game to make way for triumphant Yankees fans leaving the stadium.
Why not us? – in 2004 the Sox met the Yanks again and battled from 0-3 series deficit in the ALCS to force a deciding Game 7, again in Yankee Stadium. Curt Schilling, whose bloody sock entered baseball lore in Game 6 (had there been a secret ritual of spilled blood that reversed the curse?), had t-shirts printed that asked the question “Why not us?” Did they really need to lose Game 7s forever? Johnny “now known as Judas” Damon hit a grand slam in the second inning and led the Sox to a Game 7 rout. The Sox rolled over the Cardinals in the World Series and handed New Englanders a reason to believe for the first time in 86 years. Damon bolted for Yankees cash the following year.
2007 – The Sox are now a big payroll team with big names. Game One starter Josh Beckett, who beat the Yanks in the 2003 World Series for the Marlins, has been unstoppable in the playoffs this year. Curt Schilling, who has two World Series rings, has been up and down, but showed his playoff magic in Game 6 on Saturday night by beating Cleveland. The expensive addition of Japanese star gyroballer Dice-K Matsuzaka has been mostly positive for the Sox. On the hitting side, future hall of famer Manny Ramirez is having one of his best playoffs ever. Big Papi is going strong and Mike Lowell has been an RBI machine all season. JD Drew’s Little Brother’s Big Brother, JD Drew awoke from his season long slumber to hit a grand slam in Game 6 against Cleveland to extend the Sox’ season. But the Sox are in the World Series also largely due to the small names. Rookie farmhands Dustin Pedroia (5 RBIs in ALCS game 7) and Jacoby Ellsbury supply big sparks. Jonathan Papelbon and Hideki Okajima give solid bullpen support. Kevin Youkilis can wear pitchers out and hit for power.
Pundits are picking the Sox, despite the Rocks’ improbable 21 for 22 run. But this is mostly due to the perceived superiority of the battle tested American League. From what we’ve seen of the Rockies in the last few weeks, I’m not sure they’d lose if even if you dug up and fielded Bambino, Splinter, Yaz and the rest; the Rockies are that hot. But it’ll be fun to see, especially Saturday night when the big show comes to Denver for the first time ever. Fans will get to see slow moving Manny Ramirez try to cover the cavernous Coors left field and David Ortiz standing at first with a glove.
Go Rockies!!
Friday, October 19, 2007
Sitting on our hands. Trademarking Rocktober, Dude
Since we at Rockies Nation have nothing to do for the 8 day layoff before the World Series (and Matt Holliday did NOT invite me up to his Montana hunting cabin), we are stuck with observing the boiling pot that is Denver fandom, and of course watching the American League Championship Series (Go Sox!).
The Rockies filed applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on October 4 asking for exclusive trademark rights to the "Rocktober" name so they can brand it on stuffed animals, Christmas stockings, baby booties, T-shirts, bobble-head dolls and the like.
We here at Rockies Nation respectfully disagree with this move for a few reasons. One: it’ll never happen. I’m no trademark lawyer, but in my view the odds of the Rockies being able to exclusively trademark the word “Rocktober” are about as good as Jessica Simpson trademarking the work “Ummm”. But stranger things have happened. Two: As a bit of a rock ‘n roll fan, I’ve been using the word Rocktober in my fall vernacular for over 20 years now. I remember saying to my brother a couple decades ago: “Hey dude: I’ve got tickets to Metallica with Guns ‘n Roses next month at Mile High Stadium!” He said: “Dude: really? When is it?” And I said: “Rocktober 2nd, dude! Ha Ha! Yes!!” And that was even before the Colorado Rockies were even formed. I wouldn’t want future generations in Denver to go through the confusion of trying to figure out exactly what they mean by Rocktober. If one brother says to another in 2011: “Hey cracker: I have tickets to see the Big Stick Swingers on Rocktober 2nd!”
If the Rockies controlled the word Rocktober, the other brother might show up at Coors Field, instead of the Pepsi Center and much consternation would follow.
The Rockies filed applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on October 4 asking for exclusive trademark rights to the "Rocktober" name so they can brand it on stuffed animals, Christmas stockings, baby booties, T-shirts, bobble-head dolls and the like.
We here at Rockies Nation respectfully disagree with this move for a few reasons. One: it’ll never happen. I’m no trademark lawyer, but in my view the odds of the Rockies being able to exclusively trademark the word “Rocktober” are about as good as Jessica Simpson trademarking the work “Ummm”. But stranger things have happened. Two: As a bit of a rock ‘n roll fan, I’ve been using the word Rocktober in my fall vernacular for over 20 years now. I remember saying to my brother a couple decades ago: “Hey dude: I’ve got tickets to Metallica with Guns ‘n Roses next month at Mile High Stadium!” He said: “Dude: really? When is it?” And I said: “Rocktober 2nd, dude! Ha Ha! Yes!!” And that was even before the Colorado Rockies were even formed. I wouldn’t want future generations in Denver to go through the confusion of trying to figure out exactly what they mean by Rocktober. If one brother says to another in 2011: “Hey cracker: I have tickets to see the Big Stick Swingers on Rocktober 2nd!”
If the Rockies controlled the word Rocktober, the other brother might show up at Coors Field, instead of the Pepsi Center and much consternation would follow.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
National League Champions!
ROCKIES NATION - NLCS GAME 4
The sad thing about the Colorado Rockies used to be that they were a bunch of good guys, played in a cool stadium in a town of great sports fans but they could never make it to the World Series because they couldn't build a team that could win in both the thin air of Colorado and on the road against sea level teams. Welp, that's a bunch of baloney. These guys could win on the moon if you dropped em there.
Is it the humidor? Is it Clint? Is it Panamanian voodoo? Who cares? We just won the Pennant!
Most Rockies fans didn't need to dig too long to find their brooms for last night's game. Many were still in the back seat of the car where they left them last week.
As Jeter said about Arod's spectactular output this April where it looked like he was on pace for 300 RBI and 100 homers: "It just isn't that easy". So true. It's actually pretty hard to have back to back sweeps in the playoffs, especially without home field advantage. But these guys are performing a high wire act the likes not seen in baseball for decades, if ever.
For the first few innings last night, it seemed like the Rocks were taking a breather from heroics and may finally drop one. Heck, they'd won 9 in a row and 20 of their last 21. You could forgive them if they took a break. That breather lasted only 3.5 innings.
MVP Matt Holliday capped a huge fourth inning where the Rocks capitalized on clutch hitting and more D-Backs mistakes (yes guys: the Rockies did outplay you). He crushed a 430 foot three run jack off Micah Owens into the nostalgic rock pile diorama. Hurdle had earlier pulled his hard throwing rookie lefty Franklin Morales for a pinch hitter. Seth Smith (the new Chris Drury?) stepped up and spun a two run double that looked like a John McEnroe trick shot. D-backs handed out baserunners on an error by the the first basemen and Kazuo "not-Hideki" Matsui continued the run parade. I liked the part where the pitcher almost knocked himself out belly-flopping for a grounder. That was funny. Then came Matt and his rockpile rocket.
Now the boys have eight days off until they meet their American League opponent. Looks like Holliday can use that hunting cabin he rented in Montana after all. He deserves it.
I want each and every one of you to go buy a Rockies 2007 National League Champions pennant and take down the Modigliani, Rothko or Pollack that hangs in the place of honor in your house. String up the pennant and leave it there until opening day.
The Rockies are champions! Bring on the World Series! Wow.
(Mike Shanahan: this does not get you off the hook.)
The sad thing about the Colorado Rockies used to be that they were a bunch of good guys, played in a cool stadium in a town of great sports fans but they could never make it to the World Series because they couldn't build a team that could win in both the thin air of Colorado and on the road against sea level teams. Welp, that's a bunch of baloney. These guys could win on the moon if you dropped em there.
Is it the humidor? Is it Clint? Is it Panamanian voodoo? Who cares? We just won the Pennant!
Most Rockies fans didn't need to dig too long to find their brooms for last night's game. Many were still in the back seat of the car where they left them last week.
As Jeter said about Arod's spectactular output this April where it looked like he was on pace for 300 RBI and 100 homers: "It just isn't that easy". So true. It's actually pretty hard to have back to back sweeps in the playoffs, especially without home field advantage. But these guys are performing a high wire act the likes not seen in baseball for decades, if ever.
For the first few innings last night, it seemed like the Rocks were taking a breather from heroics and may finally drop one. Heck, they'd won 9 in a row and 20 of their last 21. You could forgive them if they took a break. That breather lasted only 3.5 innings.
MVP Matt Holliday capped a huge fourth inning where the Rocks capitalized on clutch hitting and more D-Backs mistakes (yes guys: the Rockies did outplay you). He crushed a 430 foot three run jack off Micah Owens into the nostalgic rock pile diorama. Hurdle had earlier pulled his hard throwing rookie lefty Franklin Morales for a pinch hitter. Seth Smith (the new Chris Drury?) stepped up and spun a two run double that looked like a John McEnroe trick shot. D-backs handed out baserunners on an error by the the first basemen and Kazuo "not-Hideki" Matsui continued the run parade. I liked the part where the pitcher almost knocked himself out belly-flopping for a grounder. That was funny. Then came Matt and his rockpile rocket.
Now the boys have eight days off until they meet their American League opponent. Looks like Holliday can use that hunting cabin he rented in Montana after all. He deserves it.
I want each and every one of you to go buy a Rockies 2007 National League Champions pennant and take down the Modigliani, Rothko or Pollack that hangs in the place of honor in your house. String up the pennant and leave it there until opening day.
The Rockies are champions! Bring on the World Series! Wow.
(Mike Shanahan: this does not get you off the hook.)
Sunday, October 14, 2007
The Dragonslayer Van. My New Baby Yorvit. Playing for the Pennant!
ROCKIES NATION!! NLCS Game 3.
I used to think that the Big Hurt was the best nickname in baseball. But now it has to be Josh Fogg’s new nom de pitch: the Dragonslayer. Someone in Aurora is airbrushing a picture of him on the side of their van (shirtless, muscles rippling, flowing mane of hair, thrusting a sword into a many headed beast). Please send me a pic. Thanks.
Let’s face it. The weather was crap tonight. My parents left the game in the 5th inning. Each one blamed the other for wanting to leave. I was sitting all too comfortably in my Brooklyn living room watching on HD (falling rain in slow-mo is really cool). So I had my wife pour icewater down the back of my shirt every inning or so to get the proper feel.
My wife, who is a Boston raised Red Sox fan, has been mostly amused at the Rockies recent run. She considers the season to be practically over since the Sox are still playing and the Yanks have imploded. But after watching a few of the games in recent days, she has begun to become impressed. And tonight, we’ve finally agreed on a name for our new baby that will be born in less than a month: Yorvit.
Big jacks from Matt and Yorvit. Great day for Josh Fogg. Spectacular defense: 3 more double plays! Barely missed a triple play!!! Tulowitzki did a ballerina pirouette at one point during a DP. Are you kidding??? This is going beyond unbelievable.
20 for 21. Swish. Swish. Swish. Tomorrow the Rockies have the chance to win something that no one can ever take away. The National League pennant awaits. Now I have to go get some sleep. Tomorrow’s game starts at 10pm ET.
I used to think that the Big Hurt was the best nickname in baseball. But now it has to be Josh Fogg’s new nom de pitch: the Dragonslayer. Someone in Aurora is airbrushing a picture of him on the side of their van (shirtless, muscles rippling, flowing mane of hair, thrusting a sword into a many headed beast). Please send me a pic. Thanks.
Let’s face it. The weather was crap tonight. My parents left the game in the 5th inning. Each one blamed the other for wanting to leave. I was sitting all too comfortably in my Brooklyn living room watching on HD (falling rain in slow-mo is really cool). So I had my wife pour icewater down the back of my shirt every inning or so to get the proper feel.
My wife, who is a Boston raised Red Sox fan, has been mostly amused at the Rockies recent run. She considers the season to be practically over since the Sox are still playing and the Yanks have imploded. But after watching a few of the games in recent days, she has begun to become impressed. And tonight, we’ve finally agreed on a name for our new baby that will be born in less than a month: Yorvit.
Big jacks from Matt and Yorvit. Great day for Josh Fogg. Spectacular defense: 3 more double plays! Barely missed a triple play!!! Tulowitzki did a ballerina pirouette at one point during a DP. Are you kidding??? This is going beyond unbelievable.
20 for 21. Swish. Swish. Swish. Tomorrow the Rockies have the chance to win something that no one can ever take away. The National League pennant awaits. Now I have to go get some sleep. Tomorrow’s game starts at 10pm ET.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Ubaldo Again. Manny's Trick. The Team That Never Loses.
ROCKIES NATION - NLCS Game 2
Playoffs wins are critical. Playoff road wins are special. Playoff road wins when you are up 1-0 in the NLCS and your closer blows the save are amazing. Headed home with a 2-0 lead, needing 2 games to go to the World Series? Sure. All in a days work.
Hats off to the Rocks for hanging in and winning another cliffhanger. We here at RockiesNation-Brooklyn chapter are admittedly a bit bleary eyed as Game 2 ended after 2am ET this morning. Thank you TBS.
Ubaldo was good, but not as sharp as his prior outing. He held the D's to one run in a solid 5 innings and that's all you can ask for from a guy who had trouble getting first pitch strikes. He's gonna be a star.
The Rockies are up 2-0 in this series despite hitting a mere .222 in the 2 games with way too many strikeouts. But they are winning based on guts, timely hits and great defense. Wait till the bats awake in Denver and watch em pull away.
Manny Corpas pulled the rare blow-the-save-get-the-win maneuver. I loved that Clint left him in to pitch the 10th after he blew the 9th. Great confidence builder and he proved to be lights out.
It's also helpful that the D-Backs are making those small mistakes here and there to help us along. Fielding errors and baserunning gaffes make the job slightly easier. It's like playing the Raiders: hang around long enough and they'll usually hand the game to you. Thanks, fellas. And nice try on the uniform switch. Did you really think taking away our black unis for the first time in 20 games would make a difference? It almost did, but the move smacks of desperation regardless.
The New York Times printed an article today entitled "Rockies Are Winning Everything But Respect". Author Ben Shpigel must be a Yankees fan. It's a good article in which he gives the Rox the nickname The Team That Never Loses and compares them to the 1960 Yankees (Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle and Clint Hurdle's idol Whitey Ford). That's one way to make a splash. But he does give the impression of how-dare-they-play-good-baseball-out-West. Bring it.
Since Rockies Nation was inspired in part by the massive Red Sox Nation that dominates the East Coast with its Yankees rivalry, I figure I must report on their progress as well. The Sox smoked the Tribe last night, hitting around C.C. Sabathia and looking dominant. Get ready. This could be fun.
Playoffs wins are critical. Playoff road wins are special. Playoff road wins when you are up 1-0 in the NLCS and your closer blows the save are amazing. Headed home with a 2-0 lead, needing 2 games to go to the World Series? Sure. All in a days work.
Hats off to the Rocks for hanging in and winning another cliffhanger. We here at RockiesNation-Brooklyn chapter are admittedly a bit bleary eyed as Game 2 ended after 2am ET this morning. Thank you TBS.
Ubaldo was good, but not as sharp as his prior outing. He held the D's to one run in a solid 5 innings and that's all you can ask for from a guy who had trouble getting first pitch strikes. He's gonna be a star.
The Rockies are up 2-0 in this series despite hitting a mere .222 in the 2 games with way too many strikeouts. But they are winning based on guts, timely hits and great defense. Wait till the bats awake in Denver and watch em pull away.
Manny Corpas pulled the rare blow-the-save-get-the-win maneuver. I loved that Clint left him in to pitch the 10th after he blew the 9th. Great confidence builder and he proved to be lights out.
It's also helpful that the D-Backs are making those small mistakes here and there to help us along. Fielding errors and baserunning gaffes make the job slightly easier. It's like playing the Raiders: hang around long enough and they'll usually hand the game to you. Thanks, fellas. And nice try on the uniform switch. Did you really think taking away our black unis for the first time in 20 games would make a difference? It almost did, but the move smacks of desperation regardless.
The New York Times printed an article today entitled "Rockies Are Winning Everything But Respect". Author Ben Shpigel must be a Yankees fan. It's a good article in which he gives the Rox the nickname The Team That Never Loses and compares them to the 1960 Yankees (Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle and Clint Hurdle's idol Whitey Ford). That's one way to make a splash. But he does give the impression of how-dare-they-play-good-baseball-out-West. Bring it.
Since Rockies Nation was inspired in part by the massive Red Sox Nation that dominates the East Coast with its Yankees rivalry, I figure I must report on their progress as well. The Sox smoked the Tribe last night, hitting around C.C. Sabathia and looking dominant. Get ready. This could be fun.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Swish! Yo-yo man. Big Haw-pe does it again. Watch out for the flying flip flops!
ROCKIES NATION! NLCS GAME ONE.
Picture yourself in your backyard shooting hoops. Nobody’s watching. You fire up a 20 footer and swish. Then another one. Swish. A third: swish. Ok, now think of making 18 of 19 of these 20 footers. That would be a spectacular run, no? Now think instead of shooting backyard jumpers you are a pro baseball team at the end of the season that is playing other pro teams that really really need to beat you in order to survive. And still there you go. Swish. Swish. Swish.
Amid 90+ degree October heat, angry fans and a pesky D-Backs team, your Rockies donned their “act like you’ve been here before” faces and fired up another beautiful swish.
Brandon Webb pitched as advertized. He looked unhittable at first. His crazy yo-yo sinker pitch came at Rockies batters from all angles, always diving toward the ground as they swung their bats. But somehow they eventually made contact with rubber flexo-swings more suited to racquetball and ended up with enough bloops and dribblers to win the game.
Our Jeff Francis was a cool cucumber too. It was a night where he gave up a lot of hits and a few scorching line drives right to his outfielders. But a gutsy performance by him and his defense (three critical double plays) kept the game in line.
Ahh, the Arizona “fans”…They didn’t even fill the place. Apparently many had something better to do. Maybe they decided to stay home in their air conditioned ranch houses to water their fake lawns. PLEASE tell me they were blacked out of the TV broadcast. The ones that showed up erupted in a curiously wild ruckus to protest a double play caused by an egregious take out slide that helped shut down a potential rally. Clint had to pull his squad off the field to avoid being hit by the shower of dentures, flip flops and sunscreen bottles.
And still we kept rolling. Here’s to the Rockies bullpen! Somehow we’ve created a stable of former closers turned set-up men turned closers that could prove to be the difference in this series. Herges and Affeldt were solid. Brian Fuentes somehow transforms a shot put stance into a 95 mile-per-hour fastball. And all you need to know about Manny Corpas is that his name is Panamanian for “you’re a dead man”.
Here’s something that’s never happened before: The Rockies are up one game to nil in the National League Championships Series. Let’s keep shooting the jumpers!
Next up: Ubaldo!
Picture yourself in your backyard shooting hoops. Nobody’s watching. You fire up a 20 footer and swish. Then another one. Swish. A third: swish. Ok, now think of making 18 of 19 of these 20 footers. That would be a spectacular run, no? Now think instead of shooting backyard jumpers you are a pro baseball team at the end of the season that is playing other pro teams that really really need to beat you in order to survive. And still there you go. Swish. Swish. Swish.
Amid 90+ degree October heat, angry fans and a pesky D-Backs team, your Rockies donned their “act like you’ve been here before” faces and fired up another beautiful swish.
Brandon Webb pitched as advertized. He looked unhittable at first. His crazy yo-yo sinker pitch came at Rockies batters from all angles, always diving toward the ground as they swung their bats. But somehow they eventually made contact with rubber flexo-swings more suited to racquetball and ended up with enough bloops and dribblers to win the game.
Our Jeff Francis was a cool cucumber too. It was a night where he gave up a lot of hits and a few scorching line drives right to his outfielders. But a gutsy performance by him and his defense (three critical double plays) kept the game in line.
Ahh, the Arizona “fans”…They didn’t even fill the place. Apparently many had something better to do. Maybe they decided to stay home in their air conditioned ranch houses to water their fake lawns. PLEASE tell me they were blacked out of the TV broadcast. The ones that showed up erupted in a curiously wild ruckus to protest a double play caused by an egregious take out slide that helped shut down a potential rally. Clint had to pull his squad off the field to avoid being hit by the shower of dentures, flip flops and sunscreen bottles.
And still we kept rolling. Here’s to the Rockies bullpen! Somehow we’ve created a stable of former closers turned set-up men turned closers that could prove to be the difference in this series. Herges and Affeldt were solid. Brian Fuentes somehow transforms a shot put stance into a 95 mile-per-hour fastball. And all you need to know about Manny Corpas is that his name is Panamanian for “you’re a dead man”.
Here’s something that’s never happened before: The Rockies are up one game to nil in the National League Championships Series. Let’s keep shooting the jumpers!
Next up: Ubaldo!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
D-Backs "Scouting Report"
ROCKIES NATION!!!
As we prepare for the National League Championship Series, we here at ROCKIES NATION have decided to provide a scouting report on the Arizona Diamondbacks. It will come as no surprise that we haven't spent a ton of time tracking the D-Backs, but here goes:
Strange D-Back fact #1: in 2007 they scored 20 fewer runs than were scored on them by opposing teams and still won 90 games and the Division. By contrast, the Rockies outscored their opponents by 102 runs (Yankees blew away their foes by 191 runs!). I guess this means they win a lot of low scoring games and get their asses kicked about once a week. Let’s hope the Rockies treat them to more of the latter in the coming days.
Pitcher Brandon Webb has 18 wins and an ERA of 3.01. That means that when he pitches, they typically don't get their asses kicked. He somehow won the Cy Young last year with 16 wins which I guess is good in the National League. Watch out for him as he was able to set a record this year with over 42 scoreless innings in a row. Unfortunately for him they made him accomplish that feat over the course of a few games or else that would have been really sweet. Since the D-Backs only have a 3.5 man rotation, Webb could pitch games 1, 4 and 7.
The two people that scare me most on the Arizona Diamondbacks are Randy the Big Unit Johnson and Bob Wickman. They are fierce competitors with scary pitches and make up $15 million of the team’s $57 million salary. Now for the good news: both of them are out for the season. Whew! So on to the rest of the team. I really feel that you have to worry about a squad that makes $42 million (vs Yankees $200 million) and ended up with the best record in the National League. While this is indicative of a very good team of young players playing well together, it goes against the current credo in baseball that you have to buy wins like the Yankees, Red Sox and Mets. This means that good teams beat great players. The league may have to step in.
My favorite player on the D-Backs has to be Livan Hernandez. After he pitched the Florida Marlins to the World Series in 1997 (he was MVP), a reporter asked what it was like to come all of the way from Cuba to this great stage. Wasn’t his family proud of him? He said that he thought they might be happy but everyone knew that he wasn’t even the best pitcher in his family! His brother was. George Steinbrenner immediately dispatched a team of commandos in a speedboat to kidnap that brother and sign him to a contract. Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez went on to help pitch the Yankees to World Series victories in 1998, 1999 and 2000.
Another guy that could prove to be a factor is JD Drew’s Little Brother. JD Drew’s Little Brother really looks like a younger version of JD Drew and his swing is identical. JD Drew’s Little Brother hit for .238 with 12 dongs and 60 RBI while making $1.5 million. JD Drew’s Little Brother’s big brother, JD Drew, hit for .270 with 11 home runs and 64 RBI and made $14 million with the Boston Red Sox. I wonder what they say to each other when they are out for beers.
Lead off man Chris Young makes the league minimum ($380k), hit 32 home runs, 68 RBI and had 27 stolen bases. He’s very dangerous. Eric Byrnes is another big bat but he’s a journeyman who is known to be an atrocious baserunner. He should go back to the A’s where his hairdo is better suited.
Man for man, on paper it doesn’t seem to me that these guys stand a chance against the white hot Rockies. They lost their starting ace (Randy Johnson), their second basemen (Orlando Hudson), their third basemen (Chad Tracy) but somehow still went on to win their division with a wild late run. They are here, they are hungry, they are mostly underpaid and they’ve played well as a team which I guess means a lot in sports sometimes.
As we prepare for the National League Championship Series, we here at ROCKIES NATION have decided to provide a scouting report on the Arizona Diamondbacks. It will come as no surprise that we haven't spent a ton of time tracking the D-Backs, but here goes:
Strange D-Back fact #1: in 2007 they scored 20 fewer runs than were scored on them by opposing teams and still won 90 games and the Division. By contrast, the Rockies outscored their opponents by 102 runs (Yankees blew away their foes by 191 runs!). I guess this means they win a lot of low scoring games and get their asses kicked about once a week. Let’s hope the Rockies treat them to more of the latter in the coming days.
Pitcher Brandon Webb has 18 wins and an ERA of 3.01. That means that when he pitches, they typically don't get their asses kicked. He somehow won the Cy Young last year with 16 wins which I guess is good in the National League. Watch out for him as he was able to set a record this year with over 42 scoreless innings in a row. Unfortunately for him they made him accomplish that feat over the course of a few games or else that would have been really sweet. Since the D-Backs only have a 3.5 man rotation, Webb could pitch games 1, 4 and 7.
The two people that scare me most on the Arizona Diamondbacks are Randy the Big Unit Johnson and Bob Wickman. They are fierce competitors with scary pitches and make up $15 million of the team’s $57 million salary. Now for the good news: both of them are out for the season. Whew! So on to the rest of the team. I really feel that you have to worry about a squad that makes $42 million (vs Yankees $200 million) and ended up with the best record in the National League. While this is indicative of a very good team of young players playing well together, it goes against the current credo in baseball that you have to buy wins like the Yankees, Red Sox and Mets. This means that good teams beat great players. The league may have to step in.
My favorite player on the D-Backs has to be Livan Hernandez. After he pitched the Florida Marlins to the World Series in 1997 (he was MVP), a reporter asked what it was like to come all of the way from Cuba to this great stage. Wasn’t his family proud of him? He said that he thought they might be happy but everyone knew that he wasn’t even the best pitcher in his family! His brother was. George Steinbrenner immediately dispatched a team of commandos in a speedboat to kidnap that brother and sign him to a contract. Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez went on to help pitch the Yankees to World Series victories in 1998, 1999 and 2000.
Another guy that could prove to be a factor is JD Drew’s Little Brother. JD Drew’s Little Brother really looks like a younger version of JD Drew and his swing is identical. JD Drew’s Little Brother hit for .238 with 12 dongs and 60 RBI while making $1.5 million. JD Drew’s Little Brother’s big brother, JD Drew, hit for .270 with 11 home runs and 64 RBI and made $14 million with the Boston Red Sox. I wonder what they say to each other when they are out for beers.
Lead off man Chris Young makes the league minimum ($380k), hit 32 home runs, 68 RBI and had 27 stolen bases. He’s very dangerous. Eric Byrnes is another big bat but he’s a journeyman who is known to be an atrocious baserunner. He should go back to the A’s where his hairdo is better suited.
Man for man, on paper it doesn’t seem to me that these guys stand a chance against the white hot Rockies. They lost their starting ace (Randy Johnson), their second basemen (Orlando Hudson), their third basemen (Chad Tracy) but somehow still went on to win their division with a wild late run. They are here, they are hungry, they are mostly underpaid and they’ve played well as a team which I guess means a lot in sports sometimes.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Brooms out. Ubaldo Fan Club. Clint's Cigars.
GREETINGS FROM ROCKIES NATION
The brooms were out across the Front Range last night, pulled from the same closets and garages that held the long sequestered Rockies gear exhibited by the fans at Coors Field. The new local heroes engaged in a battle of wills against the wind, the lights, the temperature and, oh yeah: the Phillies.
Pitchers duels happen at Coors Field about as often as Travis Henry is mistaken for a fine upstanding family man. But there it was. Jamie Moyer – the man who a few years ago was so bad on my fantasy baseball team that I had to check regularly to see if he was injured because his stats never seemed to register. How could a guy make 10 starts in a row and not have a single win or strike out? He did. And Ubaldo Jimenez! Wow. I love this guy. Give him a bit of control and build a team around him. His fastball zips to 97. His curve flips up, freezes the batter, and clicks right into the center of the strike zone. He also has some crazy junk pitch that makes every hitter roll a perfectly placed ball right to Kaz Matsui at second.
Ubaldo Jimenez works fast. Really fast. Zoom. Pop. Catcher tosses it back. Zoom. Pop. No walking around or brow massaging or cup grabbing. Zoom. Pop. Zoom. Pop. Moyer doesn’t screw around either. After twenty years he knows what works and when he’s on. The game, which started at 9:37pm on the East Coast, was threatening to be over by 10:20 if these guys kept on the pace they started the game. TBS, worried about not getting in all of the advertising they’d booked, ordered an immediate stadium blackout to slow these guys down. It worked.
With a strong wind blowing in and he night rapidly cooling, it seemed that not even Barry Bonds on steroids could even hit a ball out of this park (I know, I know). It was perfectly clear to everyone we were going to remained deadlocked until some obscure pinch hitter snuck one through the defense to put us ahead. Meet Jeff Baker. I guess when you are in the National League, you sometimes have to put random .222 hitters in and bet your franchise on them. That worked too.
TV viewers even got a view of the secret underground humidor with all of the sopping baseballs at Coors. I was happy to see the box of Cohibas on the bottom shelf with the note: to Clint from Fidel, Buena Suerte! They also got a full night of Don Orsillo. Since I married into the Red Sox Nation, I know Don as the regular play-by-play announcer for the Sox on NESN. I was hoping for the Rockies right fielder to hit a game winner so Don could scream out his regular go-to: “Can you believe it? Big Haw-pe does it again!”
A final note before we move on to the Diamondbacks. This is a big damn deal! Holy crap! The Rockies are playing for a shot at the World Series. In a league like baseball where the odds are stacked against low salary teams like the Rockies, this is an incredible feat (note the D-Backs salary is even lower than the Rocks’). So when you are prepping for the coming seven game series, think of all of the National League fans out there that started the season thinking , hoping and praying their squad had a chance. Cubs fans, Cardinals fans, Padres fans, Dodgers fans, Mets fans (ignore the Phillies fans on this one). These are very serious baseball people. Many don’t have football, hockey or basketball in their hearts. Only baseball. Think of them, tip your cap and promise to make them proud. Go Rockies!!!
The brooms were out across the Front Range last night, pulled from the same closets and garages that held the long sequestered Rockies gear exhibited by the fans at Coors Field. The new local heroes engaged in a battle of wills against the wind, the lights, the temperature and, oh yeah: the Phillies.
Pitchers duels happen at Coors Field about as often as Travis Henry is mistaken for a fine upstanding family man. But there it was. Jamie Moyer – the man who a few years ago was so bad on my fantasy baseball team that I had to check regularly to see if he was injured because his stats never seemed to register. How could a guy make 10 starts in a row and not have a single win or strike out? He did. And Ubaldo Jimenez! Wow. I love this guy. Give him a bit of control and build a team around him. His fastball zips to 97. His curve flips up, freezes the batter, and clicks right into the center of the strike zone. He also has some crazy junk pitch that makes every hitter roll a perfectly placed ball right to Kaz Matsui at second.
Ubaldo Jimenez works fast. Really fast. Zoom. Pop. Catcher tosses it back. Zoom. Pop. No walking around or brow massaging or cup grabbing. Zoom. Pop. Zoom. Pop. Moyer doesn’t screw around either. After twenty years he knows what works and when he’s on. The game, which started at 9:37pm on the East Coast, was threatening to be over by 10:20 if these guys kept on the pace they started the game. TBS, worried about not getting in all of the advertising they’d booked, ordered an immediate stadium blackout to slow these guys down. It worked.
With a strong wind blowing in and he night rapidly cooling, it seemed that not even Barry Bonds on steroids could even hit a ball out of this park (I know, I know). It was perfectly clear to everyone we were going to remained deadlocked until some obscure pinch hitter snuck one through the defense to put us ahead. Meet Jeff Baker. I guess when you are in the National League, you sometimes have to put random .222 hitters in and bet your franchise on them. That worked too.
TV viewers even got a view of the secret underground humidor with all of the sopping baseballs at Coors. I was happy to see the box of Cohibas on the bottom shelf with the note: to Clint from Fidel, Buena Suerte! They also got a full night of Don Orsillo. Since I married into the Red Sox Nation, I know Don as the regular play-by-play announcer for the Sox on NESN. I was hoping for the Rockies right fielder to hit a game winner so Don could scream out his regular go-to: “Can you believe it? Big Haw-pe does it again!”
A final note before we move on to the Diamondbacks. This is a big damn deal! Holy crap! The Rockies are playing for a shot at the World Series. In a league like baseball where the odds are stacked against low salary teams like the Rockies, this is an incredible feat (note the D-Backs salary is even lower than the Rocks’). So when you are prepping for the coming seven game series, think of all of the National League fans out there that started the season thinking , hoping and praying their squad had a chance. Cubs fans, Cardinals fans, Padres fans, Dodgers fans, Mets fans (ignore the Phillies fans on this one). These are very serious baseball people. Many don’t have football, hockey or basketball in their hearts. Only baseball. Think of them, tip your cap and promise to make them proud. Go Rockies!!!
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Where's Dante Bichette?
GREETINGS FROM COLORADO ROCKIES NATION!!
I’m sending this missive to the vast and growing fan base of the Lodo Destroyers, the Purple Pulverizers, the High Altitude Swingers…your COLORADO ROCKIES. We are all following this amazing and improbable ride with the sweat dripping fervor that we all remember from the days of Elway’s “Drive”. Of course, we all must admit that we had written off our beloved Rockies long ago. And I don’t mean in June, but rather more like 1996. Nevertheless, they are here working their guts off for us and in the last few days have provided some of the most exciting sports moments in the history of Colorado.
Now for a bit of full disclosure. I haven’t followed the Colorado Rockies this year. Or last year. Or frankly any year that didn’t have Andres (“el gato grande”) Galarraga lumbering in the infield. Up until Monday night, I had never even heard of Troy Tolowitzki. Or Yorvit Torrealba. Or Manny Corpas. Or Josh Fogg. (Who makes up these names?) Of course I knew all about Todd Helton and had a vague knowledge about somebody called Holliday making a run for the batting title. And, since I live in New York, I watched the Mets chew up and spit out Kaz Matsui.
The Monday tiebreaker game in Denver will go down as a watershed moment in the history of the franchise. Everyone loves a one game playoff on national TV. Even Yankees fans (gasp!) were watching. Coors Field showed itself to be one of the nation’s premier ball parks. The national audience saw the lush lines of the precisely mowed outfield, the typical western scene diorama sitting over the Center Field wall that we all remember from our younger gold panning days and the boisterous crowd cheering on their gladiators as if it were a fight to the death. (The Broncos have trained their fans well.)
Monday night the Colorado Rockies earned the respect of all of baseball and the American baseball fan. They proved that great baseball can be played in Colorado, despite the thin air, wide open gaps in the outfield and humidor drenched baseballs. Do we really care that Holliday still hasn’t touched home plate? Hell no! The Rocks knocked around this year’s Cy Young winner-to-be Jake Peavy and took the all time save leader Trevor Hoffman for an extra inning three run spill ride. The boys played their hearts out with skipper Clint Hurdle emptying the bench like a little league coach on the last game of the year. They used 10 pitchers! They had pinch hitters come up for their 8th at bat of the year hit triples off Jake Peavey!! (Seth Smith ended the 2007 campaign batting a respectable .625.) And their big horses stepped up: Todd Helton had a smooth homer; Holliday overcame untimely strikeouts and an outfield brain freeze to blast a critical triple and ride his chin to everlasting glory!! Someday I will party with Clint Hurdle, I promise you that.
Now it’s on to Philadelphia with fans that know the true feeling of heartbreak (Phillies are the losing-est franchise of any sport) and heartless sports columnists. I shudder to think of the nasty things they are saying about the baseball team that currently has them down one games to nil. Hold on boys!! Root your hearts out for your new favorite sports franchise. Find those old black and purple hats stashed in basements, under beds and in trunks of cars and put em on. Go Rockies!
I’m sending this missive to the vast and growing fan base of the Lodo Destroyers, the Purple Pulverizers, the High Altitude Swingers…your COLORADO ROCKIES. We are all following this amazing and improbable ride with the sweat dripping fervor that we all remember from the days of Elway’s “Drive”. Of course, we all must admit that we had written off our beloved Rockies long ago. And I don’t mean in June, but rather more like 1996. Nevertheless, they are here working their guts off for us and in the last few days have provided some of the most exciting sports moments in the history of Colorado.
Now for a bit of full disclosure. I haven’t followed the Colorado Rockies this year. Or last year. Or frankly any year that didn’t have Andres (“el gato grande”) Galarraga lumbering in the infield. Up until Monday night, I had never even heard of Troy Tolowitzki. Or Yorvit Torrealba. Or Manny Corpas. Or Josh Fogg. (Who makes up these names?) Of course I knew all about Todd Helton and had a vague knowledge about somebody called Holliday making a run for the batting title. And, since I live in New York, I watched the Mets chew up and spit out Kaz Matsui.
The Monday tiebreaker game in Denver will go down as a watershed moment in the history of the franchise. Everyone loves a one game playoff on national TV. Even Yankees fans (gasp!) were watching. Coors Field showed itself to be one of the nation’s premier ball parks. The national audience saw the lush lines of the precisely mowed outfield, the typical western scene diorama sitting over the Center Field wall that we all remember from our younger gold panning days and the boisterous crowd cheering on their gladiators as if it were a fight to the death. (The Broncos have trained their fans well.)
Monday night the Colorado Rockies earned the respect of all of baseball and the American baseball fan. They proved that great baseball can be played in Colorado, despite the thin air, wide open gaps in the outfield and humidor drenched baseballs. Do we really care that Holliday still hasn’t touched home plate? Hell no! The Rocks knocked around this year’s Cy Young winner-to-be Jake Peavy and took the all time save leader Trevor Hoffman for an extra inning three run spill ride. The boys played their hearts out with skipper Clint Hurdle emptying the bench like a little league coach on the last game of the year. They used 10 pitchers! They had pinch hitters come up for their 8th at bat of the year hit triples off Jake Peavey!! (Seth Smith ended the 2007 campaign batting a respectable .625.) And their big horses stepped up: Todd Helton had a smooth homer; Holliday overcame untimely strikeouts and an outfield brain freeze to blast a critical triple and ride his chin to everlasting glory!! Someday I will party with Clint Hurdle, I promise you that.
Now it’s on to Philadelphia with fans that know the true feeling of heartbreak (Phillies are the losing-est franchise of any sport) and heartless sports columnists. I shudder to think of the nasty things they are saying about the baseball team that currently has them down one games to nil. Hold on boys!! Root your hearts out for your new favorite sports franchise. Find those old black and purple hats stashed in basements, under beds and in trunks of cars and put em on. Go Rockies!
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