Boy, Was I Mistaken

Over on his blog, Dilliwag is rejoicing that his beloved Chicago Cubs won the NL Central and are now playing for a shot at the World Series. You have to admire the man's loyalty. It takes a rare individual—part optimist, part cynic, and part masochist—to root for a team like the Cubs for almost three decades.

It's a little like being a fan of the Colorado Rockies.

Okay, the Rocks haven't had over a century's worth of losing to create that kind of desperation. It sure feels that way sometimes, though. In their fifteen years of existence, they've finished below .500 ten times and hadn't enjoyed a winning season since 1998. They'd finished fourth or fifth in their division (of five teams) every year since 1998 and own a lifetime won-lost record of 1104-1250 (.469).

This year started out looking like more of the same. On May 21st, the team was 18-27. Then they started winning. They hit the .500 mark on June 7th (30-30). By June 21st, they were four games over .500 at 38-34. Things were starting to look up—until they went on an eight-game losing streak.

In most years, that would have been the end of season, for all practical purposes. But this year's version of the Blake Street Bombers fought back again. They regained the .500 mark on July 6th (43-43). In the process, they became one of only three teams ever to sweep a series from two teams from New York (Yankees 6/19-6/21, Mets 7/2-7/4) in the same season. Nonetheless, in the very competitive NL West, they remained buried at 4th in the standings.

By the time September rolled around, it looked like the Rocks were on their way to their first winning season since 2000, but it also looked like they were going to miss the playoffs again. They were still behind Arizona, Los Angeles, and San Diego in the division standings. They'd need to overtake at least two of those three teams to gain only the second playoff invitation in their history. How could they do such a thing?

Well, going 20-8 in the month of September would certainly help. And that's precisely what they did. Their late-season drive included an 11-game winning streak—the longest in team history, and the longest in the NL this year—and wins in 13 of their last 14 games. And when the dust had settled, the Rockies were tied for second in the NL West with San Diego.

I'd been following the team with interest over the past couple of months, seeing each morning how they were doing. And I'll admit that I had begun to hope for great things—or at least, I'll admit to wanting to hope for great things. These were the Rockies, after all, and they've always seemed to have a knack for blowing it at the wrong time. So the cynic in me kept waiting for the collapse, the optimist in me delighted that it never came.

Last night was a one-game tiebreaker between the Rocks and the Padres, with Wild Card playoff invitation hanging in the balance. I arrived at work in my purple replica jersey and waited anxiously until 5:37 MDT for the game to start. My manager, who also happens to be a Cubs fan, was sympathetic to my plight and pulled up the MLB.com gamecast on one of the office computers. I checked the scores throughout the evening, rejoicing in the Rocks' early leads, cursing their pitching at giving up a grand slam in the third inning, and admiring their tenacity in fighting back to a 6-5 lead. The scoreboard watching continued at home, where, to my great dismay, San Diego scored in the eighth inning to tie it at 6-6. Manny Corpas pitched a tremendoud ninth inning, though, and the game headed into extra innings.

I checked to score almost obsessively between other things that I was doing (getting ready for tomorrow's week-long trip to Lexington, Kentucky, for example), lamenting the fact that the Rocks were getting plenty of runners on bas but couldn't bring them home. Then, in the top of the 13th, I saw that Sand Diego hit a two-run homer. And I knew it was over. Overcoming a two-run deficit in the 13th was too much to hope for. I left the game, joining Nancy (who had just arrived home) for a late dinner and an episode of Stargate SG-1. It had been a heck of a run, hadn't it?

So imagine my surprise and delight when I learned that the plucky, resourceful, never-say-die Rockies had scored three in the bottom of the 13th to win the tiebreaker 9-8.

Astonishment. Relief. Satisfaction. And joy.

Colorado starts a best-of-five playoff series with the Philadelphia Phillies tomorrow night in Philly. And win or lose, it's been one heck of a run.

On May 1st, I wrote the following:

So rookie shortstop Troy Tulowitzki of the Colorado Rockies had an unassisted triple play in a game against the Braves over the weekend. Click over to the page, watch the video clip and listen to the play by play. It's fun.

An unassisted triple play has only happened thirteen times in Major League Baseball history. And now Colorado is a part of that history.

It's sad, really. May 1st, and the best of the Rockies' season is already behind them. ::sigh::

I'm happy to admit that I was wrong.

Go Rockies!