By Nick Hensley
Fort Collins, Colo —As the weather shifts to fall, there are several things you can always count on during this time. Backyard barbecue’s, football, leaves showing hints of color, and the Colorado Rockies beginning to play great baseball.
On Wednesday the Rockies faced off against the San Diego Padres in a crucial divisional battle. The Rockies faced San Diego after losing two consecutive games to them earlier in the week. However, the Rockies boded well Wednesday afternoon romping the divisional rivals 9-6 in an afternoon slugfest. Jorge De La Rosa took the mound for the Rockies Monday and won his 8th start of the season. De La Rosa moved to 8-4 with the win on Monday, only giving up 6 hits and 1 walk. The win avoided a sweep by San Diego in their three game series.
The Rockies have won 11 of their last 13 games, 8 of which have come at home. The Rockies have been playing phenomenal baseball in the month of September going 11-4 this month. The Rockies are now only 2.5 games behind the lead in the National League west, only trailing the NL west leading Padres and the .5 game back Giants. The September surge has the Rockies still in contention to make playoffs.
The red-hot Rockies have been fueled by shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. Tulowitzki went 3-5 today with two home runs, which bumped his home runs to 23 on the year while boasting a .325 batting average. Tulowitzki is on an absolute tear this September. According to ESPN.com, Troy Tulowitzki is the “2nd player in MLB history with more than 10 HR and more than 25 RBI in any 14 games of September/October. He's currently at 11 HR, 27 RBI.”
Outfielder Carlos Gonzalez is also having an incredible year as well. Gonzalez finished Monday 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs propelling his NL leads in RBIs (106) and batting average (.341). Wednesday’s performance helped Gonzalez’s push for the Triple Crown this year. Both Tulowitzki and Gonzalez have put together a strong resume for National League MVP. Tulowitzki missed 33 games this season due to injury. Gonzalez has a very strong case for MVP this season being in the top 5 in batting average, home runs, and RBIs.
What seems like a surprising end of the year for the Rockies is nothing new for fans. “I’m pretty sure everyone here expected the Rockies to do this again this year,” says Grant Dorris a die-hard fan. Dorris also expressed, “This is nothing new for anyone that follows them. They play average during the middle of the season then all of a sudden decide that they’re going to make a run for the playoffs.”
Even though the Rockies are playing extremely well right now they still sit 2.5 games back with 16 games to play. It is projected for the Rockies to make the playoffs they have to win at least 10 of their last 16 matchups. This seems like a difficult task, but everyone refers to the magical 2007 season when the Rockies won their last 22 games to win the division and ultimately found themselves in the World Series.
“We just want another Rocktober. If we can make it to Rocktober I know we’ll have an awesome playoff run,” stated Dean Thurston a regular at the Rockies games. For those who don’t know, Rocktober is referred to as the playoffs for the Rockies because the games are played during October.
With the Rockies causing such excitement during this time of year, all spotlights in Colorado seem be pointed at the Rockies.
“With the Nuggets slowly falling apart, the Broncos tossing every star player out of town, and with college sports virtually absent in the state of Colorado, the Rockies give me something to get excited about,” exclaims Beau Coit whom is a student at Colorado State University, and attended Wednesday’s game . Coit also remarked, “It’s sad at the same time because I love all of the Colorado teams, but I saw in ESPN that the Colorado State football team was ranked in the bottom ten teams in the nation.”
The Rockies are going to need all the fan support they can get the next few weeks as they try to continue their winning ways on Friday against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Rockies boast one of the leagues worst records when playing on the road. But thankfully for Rockies fans, Jimenez and Kuroda are scheduled to take the mound on Friday. Jimenez has a record of 18-6 and is in the running for the Cy Young Award. Jimenez statistically gives the Rockies the best chance to win on Friday and continue their push for Rocktober.
Bridgette Coats whom just recently became a Rockies fan in 2007 says, “Let’s hope they keep doing what they’re doing. I know all of Colorado wants them to keep it up.”
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