Take Nothing For Granted

Sure, we still cannot find ways to win against Los Angeles, and yeah, we slipped back a notch this week (or another way to look at it is we've gained a half game since last Friday). And sure the Dodgers only play 9 more games against teams currently with winning records the rest of the season. Does that mean we should throw in the towel on the West Title?

I am reminded tonight that the answer is no. Baseball is a strange game, has many ups and downs and just when you count your chickens, a nightmare hatches.

Take the 2007 NY Mets--They held a 3.5 game lead with 14 games to play, 6 against 66-83 Washington, 7 against 65-84 Florida and a make-up game against 70-78 St. Louis. The Phillies meanwhile had 7 against Washington, 3 at St. Louis and 3 against 76-73 Atlanta. At the time it looked like the Mets were shoo-ins for the Playffs. But the Phillies managed to compile a 9-4 record while the Mets finished 5-9. The Phillies won the East Division by 1 game.

So tonight I look at the scoreboard and see St. Louis lost to Houston, the Mets beat Florida, and Arizona pound San Francisco, Cincinnati beat Milwaukee and Washington beat the Cubs--all on the road. Meanwhile Pittsburgh beat the Phillies late for the 2nd night in a row in Pittsburgh. Earlier this week the Padres took two in Atlanta before falling tonight.

So it's just a reminder that anything can happen, and the focus for the Rockies shouldn't change. Go out and win the next game, and let everything else take care of itself. Following the Giants series the Rockies play 13 games teams with losing records before they head to San Francisco again. The more games they win in that stretch will keep the pressure on the Dodgers to keep on winning, as well as the teams chasing them for the Wild Card race.