the Rockies win! Colorado going to the World Series
ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT
NL champion Colorado, on 21-1 roll, dashes toward first Series
By Troy E. RenckThe Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 10/16/2007 04:49:18 AM MDT
It's impossible to stretch the truth. Hyperbole doesn't fit.
The Rockies, a team that was too young in April, too hurt in August and too far behind in September, are going to the World Series. Colorado flogged the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-4 on Monday night in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series, bullying into baseball's final act.
There's no need for TiVo. Or historical perspective. Let's just call this what it is: the greatest run ever for a team racing into the World Series. The Rockies are 21-1 since Sept. 15. They erased a four-game deficit in the wild-card standings. They ruined the Dodgers' season, threw Ragu on the Padres' painting and spoiled TV ratings by erasing the Phillies in the division series.
Not since the 1976 Cincinnati Reds had a team won its first seven playoff games. Big Red Machine, we present Up with Purple. Or perhaps Back in Black, the uniform of choice as the Rockies won their 10th consecutive game behind Matt Holliday's three-run home run and Manny Corpas' cold-hearted, four-out save.
The embarrassment of empty seats and the stench of six straight losing seasons were replaced by a Polaroid 15 seasons in developing. The flashbulbs provided evidence of the moment's significance. Denver has a new sports chapter to place among the Broncos' Super Bowls and the Avalanche's Stanley Cups. The Rockies are going to the World Series, facing either the Cleveland Indians or Boston Red Sox, starting next Wednesday on the road.
"You grow up and you watch those teams on the podium and guys talk about that experience - to be part of it is unbelievable," Rockies third baseman Garrett Atkins said. "It's a dream come true and something I will never forget."
The final out - an Eric Byrnes groundout to shortstop Troy Tulowitzki - triggered an avalanche of noise and joy, the Rockies bench emptying as the crowd erupted. Tulowitzki followed his throw across the diamond and jumped into first baseman Todd Helton's arms. Holliday ran deliriously from left field, stopping and throwing his glove into the air as pitcher Josh Fogg practically tackled him.
"I'm very thankful to be a part of this," Holliday said. "To just see the fans react and be a part of this is tremendous."
For historians, the Rockies advanced to the World Series at 11:38 p.m., though LoDo relied on fireworks, not watches, to singe the memory into a city's psyche.
Players piled onto the pitcher's mound, screaming, laughing, pulling on National League Champion T-shirts. The third champagne party in two weeks commenced in the dugout, spilling and draining into a clubhouse that has never been anything but empty this time of year.
What made this different is that it came with accompanying drama. It wasn't the trap door that everybody thought might appear - who loses one game in a month? - but the Rockies came within arm's destiny of reality in the eighth inning.
Colorado led 6-1, marching confidently toward its first National League pennant with footprints on the Diamondbacks' chest. Holliday, shaking free of his slump, blasted a 452-foot home run to dead center field off Micah Owings. It was the punctuation to another two-out rally - "That's where they have really excelled in this series," lamented Arizona general manager Josh Byrnes - that found pinch-hitter Seth Smith at the epicenter. Smith's two-run double cruelly landed at the
The five-run cushion had deflated to two, siphoning fear into a suddenly nervous crowd. Chris Snyder blasted a three-run home run off setup man Brian Fuentes and when Justin Upton tripled, it was left to Corpas to extend the expiration date on this miracle finish.
All he had to do was silence Tony Clark, a known Rockies killer, who has socks older than some of the Rockies' players. Corpas teetered, reaching a full count. Then, in a pitch that is symbolic of a team that has grown up before a state's eyes, the 24-year-old delivered a 77-mph slider that couldn't have broken more if it were a Frisbee.
This is Corpas at his best, impossible to unnerve.
"When we put him in as our closer in June, we thought he could do it, but we weren't sure," pitching coach Bob Apodaca said. "He has no fear of anything."
The ninth seemed simple by comparison, if you ignore the waving white towels, the Rockies' chants and a stadium that was stretched to its breaking point.
Byrnes tried a headfirst slide, but was never close, a moment capturing a series when the Rockies outscored Arizona 18-8.
"It hurts," Diamondbacks' manager Bob Melvin said.
No one in the crowd wanted to leave, and who could blame them? When the state woke up this morning, it shared the same question: Did this really happen? Did the Rockies really sweep their way into the World Series?
"I'm experiencing emotions I didn't even know I had," Helton said. "We are living the dream. Just can't explain it."
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