After winning 13 of 14 games just to get into a one game playoff (in which they pounded one of the top three NL pitchers - Jake Peavy), they have won seven more in a row so far (the 1-game playoff, 3 in the NL Divisional Series against the Phillies, and the first 3 in the NL Championship Series vs the Diamondbacks). In total that is 20 of 21 games. This is the Colorado Rockies of major league baseball!! It's not the UCLA Bruins' basketball team in their heyday; it's not Roger Federer at Wimbledon; hell it's not even the Notre Dame football team (wait strike that last one, when were they last a championship contender).
This type of streak doesn't happen in baseball very often, and doing it under the pressure of late/post season makes it even more impressive. Furthermore of the 21 games, how many were against clubs with losing records? ONE!!! It was the first game of the streak against the Florida Marlins. The rest have been against LA, ARZ, SD, and PHI.
So how did they do it? Well obviously it has been with their big name pitchers. Here are their post-season starters: the ace of the staff Jeff Francis (4.22 ERA and 47-34 career record), Ubaldo Jimenez (4.28 ERA and 16 career regualr season starts with 4 wins), Josh Fogg (4.94 ERA and 60-60 career record), and tonight's starter Franklin Morales (3.43 ERA in 8 career regular season starts with 3 wins). How's that for a murderers row? Just sends chills up your spine.
Colorado does have a very potent offense despite the fact the average fan wouldn't recognize half the lineup. Here is their usual order: Willy Taveras, Kaz Matsui, Matt Holiday, Todd Helton, Garrett Atkins, Brad Hawpe, Troy Tulowitzki, and Yorvit Torrealba. The team average was .280 during the season. In addition, these boys can handle the leather. They only had 68 errors during the regular season. This was easily the best in the majors, and their fielding percentage was (if I remember right) 1st or 2nd in major league history.
As for myself, I've been rooting for them since the playoffs started for a few reasons: they aren't the Yankees (aka the team salary isn't in the strathosphere, and their fans don't believe that it is their God-given right to win the championship each and every year), they aren't the Red Sox (aka the team salary isn't in the mezosphere), they aren't the Phillies (Philadelphia fans are among the most obnoxious and fickle in pro sports, if you don't know why you haven't followed sports in the past couple decades), they aren't the Cubs (next year will be 100 years since their last World Series, and while I feel for Cubs fans, a full century without a title is so funny/futile I can't root for them yet), and they aren't the other 3 teams who made the playoffs Arizona, Cleveland, and Anahiem (these teams don't spark one ounce of interest for me).
They do things the right way. They aren't flashy or loud. They play team ball. Oh yeah, and they are pretty confident right now. I hope they win it all, and I hope they do it without a loss in the playoffs. This would make a remarkable story for sports. With a 3-0 lead in the NL Series, a World Series appearance is likely, and while I like their chances against either the Sox or the Indians, a sweep would be extremely unlikely. But then again, the Colorado Rockies are only 1 game away from their first World Series appearance!! How likely was that a month ago?
1 comment:
Almost bet your brother at 50:1 about three weeks ago on the Rox winning the WSOB but couldn't get the deal done.
The big thing is for most of that streak they have been able to completely depend on three pitchers - starter, Fuentes, and Corpas - to give them 8 excellent innings every time out. Hard to lose when you have great hitting, exceptional D, and 8 excellent innings every time out.
The variance can't be underestimated, either. In time the variance will catch up with them but hopefully that won't be till 2008 (when they will enter the season as MLB favorite)
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