As all loyal Rockies fans should know, the glory and magic that filled the Mile High City two autumns ago after the team’s unbelievable run to the World Series was extinguished with a dismal 2008 campaign filled with injury, inconsistency and apathy.
Many fans and pundits went so far as to say we’d have to wait another 12 years for the Rockies to play meaningful fall baseball again.
Oh, what a difference a year makes.
In a season that Steven Spielberg couldn’t have scripted better, the Colorado Rockies completed another astounding turnaround (granted, over a slightly larger time span than two years) and clinched their third playoff berth in franchise history – their second in three years.
Though they couldn’t quite catch up to the Los Angeles Dodgers and capture their first National League West division title, the NL Wild Card Rockies set a franchise record with 92 victories and put to rest any doubts that the team couldn’t repeat their amazing run from 2007.
Now that Rocktober ‘09, Rocktober Redux, Rocktober II (technically it’s III, I know, but that’s not important), or whatever you want to call it is here, Colorado is facing a familiar opponent in the National League Division Series.
The Philadelphia Phillies, a team the Rockies swept in the NLDS last time around, awaits them on Wednesday. This Phillies team is different considering they are the defending World Champions and fresh off their third consecutive National League East title.
However, the 2009 Colorado Rockies are different then their 2007 counterparts as well.
Gone is slugger Matt Holliday, traded to the Oakland Athletics in the offseason and now batting cleanup behind Albert Pujols in St. Louis; setup man Brain Fuentes, who is now the closer in Anaheim for the playoff-bound Los Angeles Angels; ace left-hander Jeff Francis, who has missed all of 2009 after surgery on his throwing shoulder; closer Manny Corpas, who struggled in 2008 and has missed most of ‘09 due to injury; and manager Clint Hurdle, fired after an 18-28 start this season.
Yet despite these departures, the young nucleus of the team remained intact. It was this core group of players that has carried the team to its current position.
They’ve improved over the last two seasons and it is their play, the great managing of skipper Jim Tracy, and balance in all aspects of the game that makes this Rox fan think they are even better than the pennant-winning team of two years ago.
The 2007 Rockies were based on hitting, hitting and more hitting. Yes, they did set a Major League record for the best fielding percentage as a team in league history (which absolutely no one in the media talked about, of course), but it was the high-powered offense that carried the team to new heights.
Holliday had an MVP-like season, hitting .340 with 36 home runs and 137 runs batted in. Troy Tulowitzki had a brilliant rookie campaign, and the team had five players with at least 90 RBIs (Brad Hawpe, Garrett Atkins and Holliday all had at least 111).
This year, Rockies fans have seen perhaps the most versatile Colorado team ever; a balanced club that has won games with pitching, defense, timely-hitting and a flair for the dramatic.
While Seth Smith is no Holliday, Smith has shown Rockies fans he is much more than a good pinch-hitter. He’s batted .293 with 15 home runs, including a torrid stretch at the beginning of September when he was named the NL Player of the Week.
Speaking of Holliday, the players the Rockies acquired for him panned out pretty well, too.
Outfielder Carlos Gonzalez has been one of the best offensive players in all of baseball since the All-Star break and closer Huston Street went 35-of-37 in save chances, providing stability at the back end of a bullpen that lost three of its key components from a year ago (Fuentes, Corpas and Taylor Buchholz).
Right fielder Brad Hawpe was an All-Star this season, and infielders Ian Stewart and Clint Barmes have provided power and great defense in their first season as full-time starters.
The starting rotation of Ubaldo Jimenez, Aaron Cook, Jason Marquis, Jorge De La Rosa and Jason Hammel was the only rotation in baseball this year to win at least 10 games.
Marquis was an All-Star, De La Rosa’s 16 wins since June 1 is the most in baseball and Jimenez has established himself as the ace of the staff. Jimenez belongs in the same echelon of young starters such as Tim Lincecum of San Francisco, Adam Wainwright of St. Louis and Cole Hamels of Philadelphia.
But the team leaders are undoubtedly Tulowitzki and veteran Todd Helton, who at 36 years-old is still the most consistent performer day-in and day-out.
Since the All-Star break, Tulo has been on fire as he has taken over the cleanup spot Holliday occupied during the original Rocktober run. Though he is three days away from turning 25 years-old, Tulowitzki is now a playoff veteran and he will be counted on to replicate his play from 2007.
The question remains, can Colorado come through again on the road for three playoff series?
I believe they can and that they will win the NL pennant for the second time in three years. But that isn’t just the Rockies fan optimism in me coming out. In fact, up until a few weeks ago, I would’ve bet money on the Phillies to repeat. However, the team’s play of late, bolstered by the additions of pitchers Jose Contreras and Rafael Betancourt and slugger Jason Giambi, along with their ability to win in every which way, has got me thinking the World Series will be coming back to Coors Field.
Think about it. They can beat you with the long ball (Tulowitzki has 32 homers, Stewart 25, Barmes and Hawpe 23) and win 10-9, especially in hitter’s parks such as Coors Field or Citizens Bank Park, which is where the Phillies play.
They can play small ball with guys such as Dexter Fowler, Gonzalez, Eric Young Jr., and combined with good pitching, win 2-1.
They can come from behind (does Ryan Spilborghs’ grand slam against the San Francisco Giants in August ring any bells?), and once they get the lead, with Betancourt and Street pitching the eighth and ninth innings, you can forget about it.
Rocktober ‘09 will definitely have a different feel to it and we probably won’t run through the NL playoffs unscathed like we did in 2007. But even if we get pushed to five and seven games every series, this team has all the right components to make it through the gauntlet.
If and when the Rox get to the World Series, the game changes all over again. It was the Boston Red Sox, not our beloved Rockies, who were the world champions in 2007, winning seven straight playoff games, sweeping us and erasing all the magic of the previous two months.
I think it will be the New York Yankees who will await us this time, and whether we have what it takes to beat that juggernaut is a topic for another day.
For right now, I’ll settle for fall baseball being played in Colorado again. You never know, it might be a while before we see it again.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer David Starcer at David.Starcer@colorado.edu.
