Kid Rocks on a roll few can remember

08.10.2007 06:00 Sport and Travel - Source: USA Today

It was a ruse.

Seconds after his seemingly thoughtful gesture, Francis and several teammates ambushed the franchise icon, spraying him with such a multi-pronged attack that Helton's bushy goatee ended up dripping bubbly.

"They were setting me up right there," Helton said. "I got soaked."

These are the Rockies, young, rambunctious and blissfully unaware of just how historically unlikely their astonishing run to the second round of the playoffs has been.

Saturday's 2-1 victory against the Philadelphia Phillies — Colorado's first home playoff win in its 15-year history — completed a three-game sweep of the National League Division Series and boosted the Rockies to 17-1 in their last 18 games.

That includes winning 14 of their last 15 regular-season games, a late stretch of success surpassed only by the 1960 New York Yankees (15-0) and 1965 Los Angeles Dodgers (15-1). Both those clubs lost their first postseason game in the World Series, so the Rockies' hot spell could be the greatest baseball has seen at this time of year.

This is a club that started the year 18-27, lost three starting pitchers to season-ending injuries between late July and early August and had not won as many as five in a row in the previous two seasons.

Perhaps during the four-day break until Thursday's opening of the NL Championship Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Rockies will ponder what much of baseball is wondering — how the heck are they doing it?

But for the most part they're simply merrily enjoying the ride.

"I hope we can keep it going," third baseman Garrett Atkins said. "We'll use the same formula, good pitching and timely hitting. We're feeling good as a team. Our confidence is as high as it's probably been all year."

The clincher against the Phillies, the NL East champions by winning 13 of their last 17, was a microcosm of a team that has jelled at the right time.

Rookie Ubaldo Jimenez pitched one-run ball over 61/3 innings, the bullpen didn't allow a baserunner in the last 22/3 — relievers gave up just one earned run in 112/3 innings in the NLDS — and the latest hero du jour emerged. In Game 1, it was Francis with six sharp innings as the starter. In Game 2, second baseman Kaz Matsui blasted his first grand slam and drove in five runs. Saturday, Jeff Baker stroked a pinch-hit single in the eighth to score the winning run.

"The common fabric is they're a group of men who have come together — they don't care who gets the credit," Colorado manager Clint Hurdle said. "They've got one goal and that's to win a ballgame."

Stretch run filled with cliffhangers

Late in the season, the Rockies were too busy trying to stave off elimination to ponder which magical moment had set off their astonishing run, or how they would react if it ended.

They won 11 in a row from Sept. 16 to Sept. 27, took two of the last three games in their final weekend and still had to defeat the San Diego Padres in a one-game playoff for the wild card last Monday. All the Rockies did in that elimination game was mount a three-run, 13th-inning comeback against career saves leader Trevor Hoffman.

By the time the Rockies arrived in Philadelphia for the NLDS, their first playoff appearance since 1995, the stakes were higher but the pressure had diminished. Colorado outscored the Phillies 16-8 and held the league's highest-scoring team to a .172 batting average.

"The last three weeks of the season, we were in must-win games, and here in the playoffs, if we drop one, there's still another day," rookie shortstop Troy Tulowitzki said.

Colorado general manager Dan O'Dowd, who rebuilt the team with homegrown prospects while enduring criticism for six consecutive losing seasons, notes every late-season upstart catches some breaks along the way.

For the Rockies those came in the form of the Milwaukee Brewers twice beating the Padres in the final weekend — once after Tony Gwynn Jr.'s RBI triple off Hoffman tied the game with two outs in the ninth, the other after an early 3-0 deficit.

Most of the time, though, the Rockies dictated their good fortunes.

Their offense, led by MVP hopeful Matt Holliday, led the league in batting, produced the NL's second-most runs and led in fielding. Rookies Jimenez and Franklin Morales arrived in July and August, respectively, to stabilize a rotation shaken by injuries to Aaron Cook (strained left side muscle), Rodrigo Lopez (torn flexor tendon in his right, pitching arm) and Jason Hirsh (broken right leg).

The bullpen took off after second-year reliever Manuel Corpas, who saved all three NLDS wins, became the closer in early July. Colorado's relievers combined for a 2.56 ERA over the season's final 15 games.

"Their bullpen in the series was absolutely fantastic," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "They shut down our left-handed hitters."

End to Helton's long wait was special

The Kid Rocks, as they're often referred to in Denver, have relied on Helton for quiet guidance during the lean years. The 11-year veteran was also the central figure in one of the season's key moments.

The Rockies trailed the Dodgers 8-7 with two outs in the nightcap of a doubleheader Sept. 18 when Helton cracked a two-run, game-ending homer off closer Takashi Saito. That was the third victory in what became a franchise-record 11 in a row.

"We were kind of banging around (the playoff race), getting in the neighborhood," Hurdle said of the Rockies, still 41/2 games out of the wild-card lead at the time. "That was kind of like some dust got thrown on us to say, 'Hey, you know what? This is special.' "

It certainly felt that way for Helton, who had gone 1,578 regular-season games before reaching the playoffs, the third-longest wait among active players.

His team had finished in the bottom two of the NL West every year of his career until this one.

"I've always said I wanted to win here, not only for myself but for the people that you see when you walk in the door every day for the last (11) years," said Helton, 34. "They deserve to win, too."

Now the question is how much longer the winning can continue.

The Rockies took the season series from the Diamondbacks 10-8. But Arizona, coming off a sweep of the Chicago Cubs in their NLDS, holds the home-field advantage and has a more experienced starting rotation. Reigning Cy Young Award winner Brandon Webb, the only pitcher to defeat Colorado since Sept. 16, will likely oppose Francis in the opener at Chase Field.

There are some clear similarities between the clubs, who tied for the NL lead in wins with 90 (the Rockies had one more loss, 73 total) and were generally considered a year from becoming serious contenders.

With their young, homegrown talent, the Diamondbacks and Rockies are leading the resurgence of a division that two years ago was mocked as the weakest in baseball, with the Padres winning it at 82-80.

The Rockies, aiming to become the fourth wild-card team to win the World Series in the last six years, think their high-stress, late-season push toughened them for a run deep into the playoffs. They like the sound of that word, "destiny," that is starting to get attached to their name.

"Whoever gets on a roll going into the playoffs, it seems like they begin to have some magical things happen to them," O'Dowd said.

Nobody has been on a bigger late roll than the Rockies.

Contributing: Vicki Michaelis

  Add comment

Name:
E-Mail:
Comment:
Enter code: