Rockies Radio Blog

By Mike Rice
Host of Newsradio 850 KOA's "Rockies Dugout"

My oh my, what a ride it has been for the Rockies. Seventeen wins in the last 18 games and just like that, the Rockies are in the National League Championship Series. Unbelievable, but so very real.

I won't try to analyze it; I'm just going to enjoy the ride. Many of the players aren't sure why the team has caught fire as it has. They have talent, they believe they can win and they like playing ball together. That works for me.

Monday's win over the Padres to secure the NL Wild Card was the most exciting game I have ever seen in person. It had just about everything: Good hitting at times, good pitching at times, drama galore and even controversy. For the Rockies to score three runs in the bottom of the 13th inning off of Padres closer Trevor Hoffman was the stuff of fairy tales. Coors Field has become Never Never-Before Land.

After the Rockies clinched the NLDS over the Phillies, Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said that his team's run is turning into one of the great sports stories of 2007. Is it ever.

Thankfully, the script isn't finished. Brothers Grimm just might have another addition to their collection of classics.

How far do you think the Rockies will go? Feel free to leave your thoughts using the link below.

Thanks for reading,
Mike

This is what you call a run. A lot of people left the Rockies for dead after they lost 2 of 3 to Florida. Then, after sweeping the Dodgers, a lot of people said they’d never win on the road.

After watching the Rockies in 14 previous seasons, I can tell you this group is special. They haven’t buckled. They may fall short, but they’ve never quit and they’ve never stopped believing in themselves. There’s talent, but there are intangibles too and that’s what is driving this team.

A lot of that has to do with the core group being together for awhile. Most of these guys came up through the system. They learned how to win together as a team. That nucleus has great respect for one another to the point that nobody cares who is the star. “As long as we win” could be this team’s motto. Everybody on the club knows he has a chance to be the hero on any given night.

When you’ve got that type of faith in your teammates, you’ve got a special group. And once you’ve got 25 guys on board, special things can happen. Make no mistake. You can’t say it will automatically happen again next year. It might, but this is 2007 and there’s no guarantee it will be the same ever again.

But it sure is fun while it’s happening!

Jeff Kingery

The math is pretty simple. Win and you’re in. That’s what faces the Rockies with two weeks to go.

The tough part is, the Rockies will need help to win the wildcard. They’ve got seven left with L.A. and that’s the only team they can pass going head to head. A sweep of the remaining three with San Diego won’t get them in unless somebody else knocks the Padres off as well.

And the Rockies have to fear Philadelphia. No games left with the Phillies and they’ve caught fire, sweeping a weekend series from the Mets after splitting with the Rockies.

The Rockies are playing for today, no question. They’ve learned that emergency starters Ubaldo Jimenez and Franklin Morales plus Manny Corpas in the closer role are for real. How much help those two starters can give in the final two weeks will be a big key in determining how long the Rockies can stay in the hunt.

Corpas has been lights out, so the chances to win are greatly enhanced with strong starts and a good bridge to the 9th.

Jeff Kingery

By Mike Rice
Host of Newsradio 850 KOA's "Rockies Dugout"

Somehow, the Rockies are hanging in there.

After tonight’s (Tuesday’s) game, the Rockies have 19 games remaining…and it’s still fun to check the standings every morning. That is what baseball fans live for.

The Rockies are doing it the old fashioned way, with hard work and teamwork. They have three of their five season opening starters out. Their starting centerfielder/leadoff man is hurt. Their starting second baseman is also ailing. Yet, there the Rockies are, knocking on the door of the wild card lead.

Even more, these guys BELIEVE they can get to the post-season. They continue to battle, continue to bounce back from tough losses and continue to—more often than not—win.

The Rockies are far from a perfect team. They have given away more than their fair share of games. But after tonight, they’ll be two-and-a-half or three-and-a-half games behind the Padres in the race for the NL wild card.

For the most part, the Rockies are winning with the players they developed. Check out the members of the starting line-up that came up through their system: Matt Holliday, Todd Helton, Garrett Atkins, Brad Hawpe, and Troy Tulowitzki.

And here are other key contributors who see regular action: Ryan Spilborghs, Cory Sullivan and at times, Chris Iannetta and Jeff Baker.

How about young, talented pitchers? Aaron Cook, Jeff Francis, Ubaldo Jimenez, and Franklin Morales are not a bad start at all. And they were all brought up in the Rockies' system.

There are also other talented guys on the roster that the Rockies have acquired.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m enjoying this to the fullest. I’m inhaling the playoff chase as deeply as I can. Ahhhhhhh. Nothing like it.

I don’t know if the Rockies have a final hot streak in them or not. But I know this: It has been one whale of a summer. What a final three weeks we have in store.

I have a sneaking suspicion this won't be the last season that we enjoy competitive baseball into fall.

Ahhhhhhh. Nothing like it.

Citizens Bank Park is the new Coors Field. Hitters salivate at the prospect of batting there, and pitchers hope to survive.

The Phillies have the hitters to take advantage. Chase Utley leads the league in batting average and is second to Matt Holliday in doubles. Jimmy Rollins leads the league in runs, triples and total bases and already has a career high in homeruns. Reigning NL MVP Ryan Howard trails only Prince Fielder in homeruns and leads Holliday by a handful of RBIs.

Playing half their games at CBP has enabled the Phils to lead the league in average, runs, hits, doubles, walks and on-base percentage. The Rockies are second or third in the league in most of those categories so this four game series should be a slugfest.

The Rockies have stayed in the race because of their domination at Coors Field. The Phils are 41-30 at home heading into the Rockies’ series, and that mark has kept their playoff hopes alive.

If one team gets hot in this series, it can take a big step towards the wild card title. Expect two good hitting teams to score big. The Rockies will look to their starters to survive and then a superior bullpen to make leads hold up.

Jeff Kingery

I always come to the ballpark with great anticipation; I love my job and everything there is about covering Major League Baseball. Certainly, that enjoyment has gone to a higher level with the Rockies being a part of the September push to the playoffs. Their task is somewhat daunting because of the injuries to Aaron Cook, Jason Hirsh, and Rodrigo Lopez. Some strong offense and continued consistency from the bullpen, however, still give hope for a September to remember. Regardless of the outcome, it will be fun to go through the process.
With that in mind, it is not the time for judging the performance of Clint Hurdle as the manager, as some have suggested. I don't think there is anyone in baseball who would evaluate a leader's results when 60% of his starting rotation is disabled. There are plenty of areas where an evaluation of Clint's efforts can be made, but the Rockies' results in the final 23 games of this season should not be the principal barometer.
The Rockies have made positive steps in 2007 regardless of the outcome of these final three weeks. Expectations should rise in 2008 and rightfully so. The efforts to keep this core group of talent together and the team's performance in the upcoming season will provide a better way to determine what kind of leadership the Rockies have.

Jack Corrigan

There’s something to be said for consistency. The Rockies have had four straight winning months, which is a record for the franchise. With the exception of July when they went 15-9, they haven’t been dominating months. But May (15-13), June (14-13), July and August (15-14) have been WINNING months.

The last game in August was in some respects the Rockies’ season in one night. For 7 innings against Livan Hernadez they couldn’t do a thing. They had 9 hits and a walk and didn’t score. Down 3-0, but with Hernandez out of the game, they rallied in the 8th and 9th to tie and then beat the Diamondbacks with 4 unearned runs in the 10th. The Rockies bullpen retired all 10 men it faced and the offense finally clicked in.

What four winnings months tells me is that despite injuries and slumps, this team has found a way to get the job done more often than not. And what four straight months above .500 has done is give them a chance to play meaningful games in September.

There’s an old adage in baseball that says you don’t win pennants in April. That is probably true most of the time. We could also say, you can lose pennants in the first five months. Unless you have an unbelievable run as the Tigers did when they started 35-5 and cruised in 1984, you’d better be consistent if you want to be in contention in the last month.

That’s what the Rockies have done and now with less than 30 games to go, one hot streak can put them over the top. It’s what every team hopes to be able to say come September and for the first time in a long time it applies to the Rockies.

Jeff Kingery