Nobody Said It was Going to Be Easy

Maybe last night's win, kept people from massively jumping off the bandwagon that has been the Rockies 2009, but that 9th inning was one that kept the antacid producers in business. Nothing like testing the nerves a little bit before finally putting the Giants away at AT&T Park for the first time since the 2nd game there this season on May 2nd.

It's a win that shows the difference between a 1.5 game lead and a 3.5 game lead. If they had one more win in San Francisco, they'd have a 5.5 game lead. But more importantly, it brought one more pitcher to the forefront in the form of Jorge De La Rosa who masterfully subdued the Giants for 8 innings in what he calls the biggest game of his career.

Now I'm not one who believes this was an all or nothing series as some in the media have put added importance on it. But regardless of the outcome the Rockies would have come out of the series at least one loss ahead of the Giants, and the Giants are hitting the road for 6 games including Los Angeles before the follow the Rockies into Arizona.

Every game is important. This weekend may be the last chance for the Rockies to have a chance to catch the Dodgers, and they need the Giants to win to do it. The Rockies need to bear down and win as many of the next 12 games as they can in order to make the last weekend meaningful for the NL West Crown. And since the Dodgers can win the west just by tieing the Rockies, that means the Rockies must win 3 more games than the Dodgers over the next two weeks to cut the lead to 2 or less.

But the consolation prize in challenging the Dodgers is that they could wrap up the Wild Card with any combination of 13 wins and Giants Losses out of 25 chances or 12 out of 25 Chances, should the Marlins move past the Giants.

We are down to the last 15 games of the Season, and 2 years ago we saw what could happen in a mere 15 games. Not a time to get complacent, but a time to focus even more and propel themselves into the playoffs.

ROCK-VEMBER?: The National League Playoffs will start on Wednesday, October 7 with the 5 game Divisional Playoffs. Both Divisional Series in the National League will be played on Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday, and end Tuesday, October 13 if necessary. Games 1, 2 and 5 will be hosted by the higher ranked team, and Games 3 and 4 will be held in the other city. All games will be on TBS. The Rockies likely will play St. Louis or Philadelphia in this Series and would not play the Dodgers because they are in the same division and can't face each other.

The National League Championship Series also on TBS will start Thursday, October 15th at the Higher remaining seed (Wild Card is seeded 4th regardless of Record). The Series continues Friday, October 16th, before moving to the other city on Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday, October 18, 19, and 21, before returning for Games 6 and 7 on Friday and Saturday, the 23rd and 24th.

The World Series will extend into November for sure as the Al Team hosts games 1 and 2 on October 28 and 29, and Move to the NL October 31-November 2, and then finishes up if Necessary back in the AL on November 4 and 5. All World Series Games as well as the AL Championship Series will be on FOX.

LAST 20: Tuesday marked the first time since June 9th that the Rockies didn't have a winning record in their last 20 games, as they fell to 10-10 in the last 20 games. Wednesday's win put them back up to 11-9, and now have gone 92 games without having a losing record in their last 20. The Rockies are now 74-4-14 in their last 10 over the past 98 games, since a 1-36-9 start.