I was planning on posting some photos of our trip to Hawaii today (I'll do that later this week) until last night's Rockies game against the San Diego Padres. What a game! I haven't been a baseball follower for very long -- I just started following the Rockies this season -- but that was the most incredible game I've ever watched. Mike has been following baseball most of his life, and he said it was the best game he's ever seen. True to the way they've played all season, the Rockies eeked out a win in the 13th inning, beating the Padres 9-8 to move on to the playoffs.
Mike was covering the game for Denver's KOA Radio from Coors Field, and I was watching it on TV at home. At the top of the eighth inning, Mike called me and said the Rockies were going to win. The game at that point was tied 6-6. Little did we know we'd still be watching more than an hour later, and the game would go into the 13th inning.
The pitching on both sides was amazing. It was excruciating to watch at times. You could tell the batters for both teams just wanted to hit one out of the ballpark and end the game. I literally prayed for the Rockies batters as they came up to bat. I had a fleeting thought that the game would end in the 13th inning -- I think I thought that because the Rockies prior to yesterday's game had won 13 out of their last 14 games. Every time Matt Holliday, Todd Helton or Brad Hawpe went up to the plate, the crowd went wild, expecting them to be the hero of the day. I had a sense, though, that it would be someone else. I don't know why, but I prayed it would be Jamey Carroll, a rather quiet, unassuming guy.
Sure enough, Carroll made the hit that led to the winning run. Matt Holliday was on third base, and he slid face-first into home plate. There's a dispute as to whether he actually touched home plate, but it doesn't matter now. The Rockies won, and today they are in Philadelphia preparing to meet the Phillies for the National League Division Series of the playoffs.
The best thing about the Rockies win last night is that it silenced the critics. The Rockies haven't been in the playoffs since 1995. They haven't been a very good team for a lot of years, and the critics here in Denver have had nothing but negativity to spew about the management of the team, from the owners on down. The management's strategy was to build a team from the ground up -- to build up young, minor-league players -- "homegrown talent," as they call it. The critics, from sports columnists to TV broadcasters to fans, said it would never work, that the Rockies needed to go out and buy some players before they'd ever be any good.
The Rockies may not do very well in the playoffs, although something tells me they have a few surprises up their sleeves yet, but no one can deny that this has been a special season for them. They have talented players. Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki is likely to be named Rookie of the Year. Matt Holliday has a chance to be named the National League's Most Valuable Player for the season. The Rockies bullpen can go up against the best pitchers in the league, as we saw last night. They also have determination to win. They rallied at the end of the season to win 13 of 14 games to even get to last night's game. By contrast, the Mets tanked at the end of the season and gave up their seven-game lead in National League East.
Last night's game had us all on the edge of our seats last night in Denver. For the first time I can ever think of, the Rockies are more important in this city than the Broncos. (On Sunday when both the Rockies and the Broncos were playing at the same time, most sports fans had their eyes on the Rockies game.)
We get to do this all again tomorrow night when the Rockies play the Phillies. I have a feeling it's going to be a wild ride.
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