The Rockies Season In Review--The Road to the Playoffs

The Rockies Clinched a postseason berth in the playoffs on Thursday afternoon in their final regular season game at Coors Field this year. Although the final result was fairly easy winning 9-2--their most lopsided win since a 13-5 trouncing of Arizona on September 6--the road to the playoffs was anything but easy.

The season started out okay, with the Rockies splitting their first 8 games, before getting swept by the Dodgers in LA the second weekend of the season. They then lost 2 out of 3 in their 2nd trip to Phoenix before losing two more to LA at home and digging a 5-11 hole, and the deathwatch began for Clint Hurdle. By mid-may the Rockies were 13-20 before beginning entering a stretch of schedule that would find them on the road for 30 out of the next 45 games with consecutive road trips of 10, 11 and 9 games forming a club sandwich around a 6 and 9 game home stand.

On the first road trip, they promptly lost 4 of their first 6 games taking them to 15-22 before winning 3 of the final 4 games evening the road trip at 5-5. Upon coming home on Memorial Day the Rockies hit rock bottom by giving up 7 runs in one inning to the Dodgers, before clawing back to a 7-6 deficit, before giving up 8 runs in another inning in the same game losing 16-6. After two more losses to the Dodgers and the team 10 games under .500 at 18-28, Dan O'Dowd had seen enough, and decided to fire Clint Hurdle and replace him with Bench Coach Jim Tracy. The move looked like it would have an effect as the Rockies beat the Padres in the next two games, but lost the Sunday finale.

The team then set out on the 11 game road trip which started in Houston, and promptly lost the next 3 games, and mired the Rockies at 20-32. This fan was just hoping they would somehow make their way back to .500 before season's end, or at least avoid the Nationals who were only 4.5 games behind them for worst team in the majors. There they sat 15.5 games behind the Dodgers, and 9.5 games behind the Wild Card Leaders the St. Louis Cardinals.

So at this point the Rockies still had 26 games left in the ridculous 30 road games in 45 game stretch and the Rockies had managed to go only 8-11. What happened next is incomprehensible in light of the Rockies history long road woes. The Rockies salvage the 4th game in Houston by crushing the Astros 10-3, and head to St. Louis for another 4-game set. The Rockies not only sweep the Cardinals, they outscore them 33-9. Heading to Milwaukee next and the Rockies sweep the Brewers in 2 1-run games and a 2-run game, and head back to Colorado with an 8 game winning streak and a head of steam, heading into inter-league play and a 28-32 record.

The home stand begins with their third series sweep in a row, taking the Mariners and matching their longest ever winning streak at 11 set in September, 2007. The streak ends however as the Tampa Bay Rays pound Jorge De La Rosa in the first 3 innings and win 12-4. It turns out to be a temporary setback however as the Rockies win the six and move to a 37-33 reoord. The Rockies lose the next two in Anaheim, sweep the A's in Oakland, and come back to LA and lose two out of 3 to the Dodgers, which ends the 45 game death stretch at 41-37. All told, there record was 28-17. The good news at this point is that the Rockies now have 16 of their next 20 at home, and 49 home games left in the season vs. 35 Road Games. It's now a favorable schedule as it requires the Rockies to win one game for every home game to get to 90 wins, and a possible playoff berth.

But the Rockies continue their mini-slide losing two of three to the D-Backs. Then the Rockies sweep Washington and win the first of 4 games with Atlanta before losing the next two. On Sunday, July 12, the Rockies were facing going into the All-Star Break on a 3-game losing streak as the Braves jumped out to a 7-3 lead by the 5th inning. The Rockies then make a late inning comeback which would become nearly a trademark during the 2nd half of the season. In the 7th the Rockies score 3 runs capped by a Seth Smith 2-run Home Run. In the 8th Ryan Spilborghs hits a Double with two on, scoring Ian Stewart, while Chris Iannetta gets thrown out at home. Finally in the 9th inning, Brad Hawpe hits a 2 out double to score Smith with the winning run to send the Rockies into the break at 47-41. Since June 3rd the Rockies had gone 27-9. They were still 9 games behind the Dodgers but now in 3rd place in the West but only 2 games behind the Giants who were the wild card leaders.

After the break the Rockies continued to roll by taking 3 out of 4 in Petco Park, scoring 21 runs in their 3 wins. On July 20th, they came home to beat Arizona again, and for the first time led the Wild Card race by .5 games over the Giants. By that Friday with the Giants coming into Coors Field, the Rockies were 1 game up, before taking 2 out of 3 against the Giants to go 2 up. The Rockies finished the 20 game stretch at 54-44 going 13-7 to continue moving up. The Rockies were about to embark on two swings to the east coast where 17 of the next 24 would be on the road.

First stop was New York, where the Rockies bullpen uncharacteristically blew a lead in the 8th inning of the first game when Fernando Tatis hit a pinch hit grand slam off Franklin Morales after Juan Rincon issued 3 walks (the last one intentional). The Rockies then were shut out in the next two games, before salvaging the final game. The Rockies would also win the next 4 in a row, sweeping Cincinnati and taking the opener in Philadelphia, before dropping the final two games. The Rockies came home and took 5 of 7 games against the Cubs and Pirates, before heading to the East Coast for the final time in the Regular Season. After dropping the first two in Miami to the Marlins, the Rockies won the last game in Florida and swept the Nationals. Now the Rockies were 68-53, 48-21 since June 3rd.

The next stretch was good and bad, 17 of their next 20 were at home, but the first 10 were against the Giants and Dodgers. They were also now 2 games ahead of the Giants and 3.5 games behind the Dodgers.

The Rockies lost the opener of the four game series to the Giants as Tulowitzki came down with the flu before the game, and Aaron Cook had to leave the game because of arm soreness. On Saturday night, the Rockies overcame a 6-1 early deficit to win game two rather easily 14-11. Sunday's game in sweltering heat went to the Rockies and then came the finale on Monday, August 24th, probably the most exciting game of the season and one that was reminiscent of the tiebreaker game in 2007.

The Giants manufactured a first inning run, and Barry Zito walked in a run for the Rockies in the 5th. The score remained 1-1 until the top of the 14th, although there were several situations in the late innings that could have produced the game winner for either team. Adam Eaton gives up 3 runs on 2 triples and a walk as the Giants lead 4-1. The Rockies immediately get 3 of their first four hitters on before Adam Eaton is forced to bat because the Rockies have no more hitters to spare. To complicate matters, Carlos Gonzalez had cut himself with a steak knife two days before and Dexter Fowler hit a foul ball off his knee before being issued a walk to lead off the inning, and can barely run. Adam Eaton is given the take sign for the entire at-bat by Jim Tracy figuring he'd take a strike out over a potential double play without getting Ryan Spilborghs up to bat. Eaton is given a 5 pitch walk to drive in the 2nd run and bring up Spilborghs with still one out. Spilborghs drives the the second pitch to right center, which was certainly going to tie up the game, but the ball continued to sail into the Rockies bullpen for a walk-off grand slam.

The Rockies win the next game also in extra innings against the Dodgers, closing to within two games of the West Leaders and taking a 4 game lead on the Wild Card, but then have their longest losing streak since Jim Tracy took over losing the next 5. When the dust settled on August 30th, the Rockies found themselves tied for the wild card, and back to a 6 game deficit against the Dodgers.

When September dawned, the Rockies came home and got busy, winning 9 of 10 ont their homestand, and winning the first game of their final long road trip. Once more they closed to two games of the Dodgers, and had stretched their Wild Card lead to 5.5 games over the Giants and 8.5 over the Braves, who would eventually become their closest competitor for the Wild Card.

But the Rockies would drop the next 4 including 2 more to the Giants, before Jorge De La Rosa pitched his masterpiece against Matt Cain, throwing 8 shutout innings, before the Rockies had to hold on 4-3 to salvage one game in the final 6 at AT&T Park. The Rockies left San Francisco 3.5 up on the Giants, but 5 games in back of the Dodgers. After a final stop in Phoenix, taking 2 of those 3 the Rockies returned home looking to capture their 3rd postseason berth and 2nd in 3 years.

The Padres slowed them down a little bit, taking 2 of the 3, before the Rockies took 2 of 3 against the Cardinals, culminating with a spectacular play by Clint Barmes to finish off the Sunday game. But the Braves were charging hard, the Dodgers were looking for one more win to capture the West, and the Rockies looked like they were pressing a little bit.

And there was one week to go.

While the Rockies were off on Monday, the Braves won their 7th in a row to close within 2 games of the Rockies at 86-70 and opened a season ending homestand against Florida and woeful Washington. It would turn out turn out to be the Braves' last win of the season. Meanwhile the Dodgers lost their final game in Pittsburgh, and 3rd out of 4 games in the series, and headed to San Diego.

On Tuesday, while the Marlins beat the Braves, the Rockies blew a 3 run lead in the 9th to the Brewers, only to win it dramatically in the 11th on Chris Iannetta's pinch hit home run. Magic number was down to 3. Meanwhile the Dodgers lost again to San Diego.

On Wednesday, the Rockies pounded the Brewers 10-6 while the Braves lost again to the Marlins, and the Dodgers incredibly lost for the 4th time in a row avoiding capturing the NL West Crown on the road. The Rockies clinched a tie for the Wild Card, but now had a chance to win the NL West by winning the final 4 games--3 against the Dodgers. No more scoreboard watching needed.

The Rockies took care of business on Thursday at home easily beating the Brewers 9-2 to capture the West, then went into Los Angeles and won the first game of the series on Friday night and were incredibly one game behind the Dodgers, the Closest they had been to first place since the first week of the season.

But it was not to be. The Rockies were in a pitchers duel, when Jorge De La Rosa had to leave in the 4th inning because of a groin pull, and Jose Contreras pitched a couple of nice innings. But the Rockies imploded in the 7th inning giving up one more 5 run inning and losing the game 5-0. They finished the season Sunday with a 5-3 loss, mostly with 2nd stringers on both sides, and players who would not be going to the postseason.

The Rockies finished the season 92-70 a franchise record; only 3 games behind the Dodgers in the West, and the 3rd best record in the National League, one game behind the Phillies, and one game ahead of the Cardinals. But they won the wild card position by 4 games over the Giants, 5 over the Marlins and 6 over the Braves.

They also captured their 2nd postseason berth in 3 years, had their first winning road record and finished 72-38 after being 12 games under 500 on June 3rd.