Rockies New Math
The Rockies’ numbers don’t add up.
The sum of the parts, however, is equal to a second postseason trip in three years.
The Rockies went into their regular-season home finale on Thursday afternoon against the Brewers needing one more victory of their own — or one more loss for Atlanta — to claim the third postseason appearance in franchise history.
Known as a franchise that consistently produces eye-popping individual seasons, the Rockies only have a handful of players who even rank in the NL top 10 in any statistic.
Todd Helton is fourth in hitting (.322) and third in on-base percentage (.413). Rookie Dexter Fowler ranks fifth in stolen bases with 27, and is tied for fifth in triples with teammate Troy Tulowitzki at nine.
That’s it.
The Rockies equaled their franchise record of 90 wins in a season with four games to play — the one against Milwaukee and then a three-game series at Los Angeles against the Dodgers this weekend — and already have a franchise-record 40 wins on the road.
There are, however, no individual records in jeopardy. The only stat where the 2009 Rockies have even broken into the franchise single-season top 10 is triples. Tulowitzki and Fowler are tied for seventh.
“What makes this team so special,” said Helton, “is that there are so many parts, so many guys who really have been keys to what has happened here. There’s no guy who has had to carry the load. This team has been about consistency.”
It’s a team that stumbled early. Clint Hurdle was fired as manager after an 18-28 start, and then, after losing four of their first six games under the guidance of Jim Tracy, the Rockies regrouped. They won 70 of their next 106 games. They rallied from the second-worst record in the NL after the games of June 3 to matching St. Louis for the third best-record in the NL on Thursday morning.
And they haven’t even given up on the longest of long shots — an NL West title. No team has ever overcome a bigger deficit than the 14½ games that the Yankees fell behind the Boston Red Sox back in 1978. The Rockies, however, were looking at a 15½ game deficit to the NL West-leading Dodgers on June 3.
Realistic? No. But, if the Rockies beat Milwaukee on Thursday, they would head to Los Angeles just two games back of the Dodgers, and if they were to sweep that regular season-ending three game series at Dodger Stadium, the Rockies would have the first division title in franchise history. A word of warning, however. The Rockies have lost 12 of 15 games against the Dodgers this season, five of six at Dodger Stadium.
But who’s counting?
Not the Rockies.
They have been too busy winning.
“This is what you play for,” said Helton. “When you go to spring training you talk about playing in October. You don’t talk about winning a battle title or leading the league in home runs. You talk about helping your team get into the postseason. That’s not a one-man show.”
It certainly hasn’t been for the Rockies.
“This is what you play for. When you go to spring training you talk about playing in October. You don’t talk about winning a battle title or leading the league in home runs. You talk about helping your team get into the postseason. That’s not a one-man show.”
— Todd Helton
For the first time in franchise history — and the first time in the big leagues since 2005 — they have five starting pitchers with at least 10 wins. But then, they also have five starting pitchers who combined to start 151 of the first 158 games.
They have eight players with 10 or more home runs — led by Tulowitzki with 32 — and have a shot at two more joining the group. Garrett Atkins went into Thursday with nine and Ryan Spilborghs had eight.
They won’t have a player drive in 100 runs, but they have five players with 70 or more.
Oh, closer Huston Street has put together a dominant season, converting 34 of 36 opportunities, but when he was sidelined the first three weeks of September, Franklin Morales stepped in and converted the seven opportunities he was given.
“The success of a closer is a reflection of what the rest of the team has done,” said Street. “It means everybody else has done the job of putting us in a position to win.”
One thing that a lot of people are forgetting about the 3-12 record the rockies have against the dodgers this season is the timing of those games. 8 of those 12 losses came before Tracy took over as manager. In the next series the Dodgers took two of three but the combined score of that series was rockies 5 Dodgers 5. They lost by two in extra innings and then a one to nothing game. The next two losses at home were either close (2-3) or on a day that the Rockies were forced into pitching Josh Fogg due to injury and the Dodgers were throwing their ace.
I like the Rockies chances going into these three games and if this year tells us anything about this series it tells us that the games will be close. Either way the Rockies are going to the playoffs. It sure would be nice to have an extra couple of games at home though!
Hey Tracy, can you give me an insight on how the advanced scouting works for the playoffs? Like now for example, are the Rox scouting Stl, Philly, and LA all at the chance we might play them in a week or two? How many scouts does a team typically have scouting other teams in situations like this? We always here about the Yankees payroll with players, but do they have like 15 advanced scouts out right now and lower payroll teams have 3? Any insight on the scouting going on right now would be greatly appreciated! Thanx!!
GO ROX!!!
I remember when training camp broke and someone on the radio was interviewing GM Dan O’Dowd about how the team would deal with the loss of Matt Holliday. O’ Dowd said the team would have to have a balanced attack to be successful. Five players with at least 70 RBI’s and 8 players with at least 10 home runs is about as balanced as you can get. Nice job team!
Reminds me of the of the 1990 WSC Reds team, where I grew outside Cincy at the time and was my favorite team. They also had no major league (or NL league) leaders in offensive. They just did it the same way the Rockies have done this year. Great pitching, both starting and relieving, solid defense and timely hitting. The only difference is they weren’t as good as the Rockies from coming from behind, but they didn’t have to be because they usually already had the lead going into the 6th or 7th inning and had the Nasty Boys (Charlton, Meyers and Dibble) who had crazy stuff and no team could rally off of them.
It amazing that if things broke right for the Rockies, Philly and St. Louis floundered this weekend and they sweep LA, they could go from being the a wild card team to being #1 seed by Sunday evening with home field advantage up to the World Series. Long shot I know, but still fun to think about.
Now here’s my confession to Father Ringolsby:
I pretty much denounced the Rockies and quit being a Rockies fan the day they traded Matt Holliday away and admit I was sorely wrong and beg forgiveness…;-) Street and Car-Go have been a great addition. Still wish the Rockies had somehow got Holliday back at the tradeline. Losing Holliday felt like watching Eric Davis get traded to the Dodgers in 1991 all over again. It cut me deep to watch my favorite players on other teams.
Tracy:
What do you hear from out-of-town writers about how the Rockies are viewed in LA, Philly & St. Louis? Any indications of trepidation about facing our guys? Despite the season record, those teams seem to be flat, and the Rox are hot right now.