One game playoff Monday

[Newman]

Wow!

We'll be facing Peavy, the Cy Young this year.

89 wins this season.

Was nuthin easy about this win.

What a year! 11 game winning streak and we still aren't sure to make the playoffs and now we have to beat Peavy to do it! Baseball, ain't it great?!

[Newman]

5:30pm start.

Will it be Fogg or Franklin Morales for us.

Yes, let's thank the Brewers, just playing for pride, and knocking off the Pads twice this weekend. Thank you Milwaukee.

[Dante Bichette]

This is awesome. Congrats to the Rocks, no matter what happens tomorrow.

[Dante Bichette]

I think Fog will be the guy. I doubt we throw a rookie on three days rest.

[BigRapidsJackass]

Already got my tix ... wouldn't miss it for the world.

Peavy vs. Fogg.

Peavy has been dominant, but of course we just beat him on the road a week ago. Why? Because the Padres have a joke of an offense.

So anything can happen. Particularly at Coors Field.

Fantastic atmosphere today. Almost as fun as the game on the field was the scoreboard watching.

-- coming through the turnstiles into Coors the ticket scanner guy tells everyone it's 3-0 Padres

-- first big cheer of the day comes when the Brew Crew puts a run on the scoreboard

-- I go out to get food and beer ... guy standing in line next to me almost makes me spill my beer when he yells "4 to 3 Brewers."

-- All of a sudden the scoreboard numbers start flipping: 6-3, 9-4, finally 11-4

-- we finally squeak out a run ... guy behind me leaves, only to come back an inning later saying that the line for the tiebreaker game tickets is already around the block

-- Meanwhile, the D'backs catch us and we all start to realize that the hard part of this will be winning our own game ... thankfully Atkins and Hawpe come through, and just as thankfully the D'backs decide not to use their better relievers until the 8th

-- a win, and everyone stays in their seats to soak it up

Amazing.

[BigRapidsJackass]

Q. So we made it to a 1-game tiebreaker. Do we stand a chance against Peavy?

A. Peavy has faced the Rockies twice this year. Both times he's dominated. But over his career? He's made 12 starts against the Rockies. I count 6 excellent ones (including the 2 this year), 3 mediocre starts, and 3 downright lousy starts. He's human. I'd say there's a 50% chance he dominates again, but even when he dominates (as in last time against us) the Padres have to score runs. They're a definite favorite, but this is baseball, not the NFL or NBA which nearly always plays to form.

Q. Can Fogg keep us in the game?

A. Against the Padres this year: 1 good start (the last one; not really "good pitching" -- 3 BB/2 K -- but good results over only 5 IP), 1 bad, 1 mediocre this year. Over his career against the Padres (including this year): 3 good starts, 3 mediocre, 3 crappy.

I think everyone but Jimenez is available to bail out Josh.

Just saw Hawpe being interviewed by phone. He says "get to Peavy early." And that's right. See this:

The Baseball Analysts

Lots of data points, but it all adds up to this: his pattern is to establish the fastball early, and to move to his deadlier "out" pitches in greater proportion later. Pretty typical of a power pitcher starter. If you're a fastball hitter, look to jump on him early in the count and early in the game.

[Xitdax8]

I too was at the game today, and the atmosphere was truly electric. I thought last night and Friday night was good, but today was just amazing.

From start to end, I don't think I've ever seen a game like this. Actually, I haven't. Sitting in the right field seats, I couldn't see the scoreboard except on the UV screens, which were for some reason displaying ads for most of the game. So I was instead relying on the stadium cheerin it up and the people around me to find out how the Brew Crew was doing. When the game became final and Pads lost, the crowd just exploded.

I loved the ending, other than getting that scare there in the ninth, it was great seeing Helton hopping around excited off his butt. And then seeing all the players and managers, including Hurdle, walking around the whole field, giving hats and accessories to fans. An amazing game that I will remember forever.

Got club level seats for tomorrow's tiebreaker.

[BigRapidsJackass]

I just took a look at a couple of the Padres blogs, and I can't help but notice:

1. Virtually no criticism of Bud Black starting Tomko today instead of Peavy on 3 days rest.

2. Quite a bit of "looking past the Rockies" to how their NLDS rotation would be set.

Bad form, guys.

But since you brought it up ...

... if we do manage to make it past tomorrow, you gotta love the Phillies series.

Game 1 at Philly: Cole Hamels vs. Jeff Francis
Game 2 at Philly: probably a Kyle (Lohse or Kendrick) vs. Morales
Game 3 at Coors: Moyer vs. Ubaldo
Game 4 at Coors: probably the other Kyle vs. Fogg

Hamels has been superb, but do any of the other guys scare anyone?

I thought a little expression of confidence in our chances tomorrow couldn't hurt. I mean it couldn't? I mean, I think this was a good idea?

[Newman]

All 3 expert analysts on Baseball Tonight, espn, picked the Rox to win tomorrow. Steve Phillips, John Kruk, and EY.

It was fun watching Helton jumping up and down at the end of the game.

I wish it was a 1pm day game. Who wants to wait until 5:30pm. Enjoyed taking a walk and listening to the game on radio. You really concentrate that way. Can you say enough about Ubaldo? And why didn't Hurdle take him out earlier and bring in Herges, then Fuentes, then Corpas. That's what I would have done.

A one game playoff. Does it get any better than this? It's the journey, and what a journey it's been this year.

[BigRapidsJackass]

Newman, once again ... if I were a betting man (and I'm not unless I'm actually in Nevada thanks to some ridiculous laws) ...

I'd say the Padres are clear favorites tomorrow. Not by a huge margin. Kind of a 60-40 thing. But everyone knows that trying to predict the results of a single game is a fool's enterprise. That's what makes it fun.

Oh, and I think I'd prefer a 6:30 start ... I'm gonna have to sneak out of work early tomorrow.

[hiaspire]

Originally Posted by Newman

Baseball, ain't it great?!

It is Newman. It has been a magical season, and not just for this franchise but possibly one of the best in baseball history. We are seeing some amazing events unfold these days.

The Rockies are taking many positive steps toward winning this fanbase back over this stretch. They are the talk of the town. We are seeing excitement unlike they ever have, and I know things were amazing for nearly the first decade of this franchise but it is a new kind of excitement they are generating again now from fans like Newman who for years have preferred to blast than praise them most of the time in frustration -- baseball fans craving some meaningful baseball to put their hearts into, furious that they've been without it but now throwing themselves into it.

This, by the way, is what I've been saying is possible EVEN with owners or managers you hate and smaller budgets. Why it ISN'T hopeless here, and why the bottom line doesn't have to determine our results. We've seen teams overcome odds and challenges before, and hopefully we're placing ourselves into those same categories of teams I've referenced for years that we could aspire to become. We could even SURPASS some of those examples depending upon how far our young talent takes us.

Now I'll certainly admit that I myself don't always trust our baseball judgement without question -- nor should anyone automatically, and still believe the front office didn't do these players any favors when they were in desperate need -- but I've always believed that the off-the-field obstacles people focused on could be overcome on the field by the players.

While the game will fascinate the town for at least one more day, we can't really ever escape the factors off the field with this team for too long. If you hate the owners with a passion and can't see much beyond that for Rockies baseball subjects, then once this season is officially done you may not like the positive impacts this will have for the franchise. Season tickets will start to go back up again. There will be a renewed sense that the organization was on the right track despite their heavy criticism, and actual evidence to support that with the team's improvements. Win or lose in this play-in and playoffs, the Rockies will likely be viewed much more positively as a national story and have new legions of supporters everywhere.

We've seen the organization in situations like this before where revenues were on the rise and the same with team victories and expectations. They've historically invested in those opportunities. I think you will see more investment next off-season, especially in keeping some of the momentum already established for signing some of their own. However, I doubt it will be enough to avoid the same off-the-field criticisms next year, but at least hopefully there will also be a sense that we AREN'T SIMPLY CONFINED by the dollars spent. That teams can pull together to accomplish something more than their collective paychecks. Tulo and company may make the league minimum, but that doesn't measure their actual contributions.

The Rockies will come out big winners with this surprise story, but in the end I'm hopeful that it also changes the framework of Rockies discussion. Not just here, but everywhere for years it hasn't really been about the players, but instead complaints about everything else. I don't think people will be able to say this team CAN'T do anything anymore with these owners and manager, and that's a good thing for moving the focus toward the players on the field and what they can or cannot do when the ball is in play.

[hiaspire]

Originally Posted by BigRapidsJackass

1. Virtually no criticism of Bud Black starting Tomko today instead of Peavy on 3 days rest.

Peavy and his padre fans were extremely confident in his ability to shut down the D-Backs on 3-days rest last time. If Francis did the same thing for us and got shelled, would we be wishing for him to do it again shortly after? Maybe some would, but understandable if most wouldn't I'd think. 3-days rest historically is a bad idea anyway. You get some exceptions certainly, but last time Peavy did that I heard an interview about the history there and didn't paint a pretty picture overall. Baseball's a team sport where you can't always rely upon one guy always so heavily.

There was always going to be a tomorrow for the Padres, so they didn't necessarily have to sacrifice everything before they had to when it is do-or-die.

I don't fear Peavy tomorrow. He's a great pitcher, but hasn't especially been a very good big game pitcher. He has a 12+ ERA in 2 playoff starts, and has disappointed at some other key times like the last time he tried to go on short rest for his team.

Objectively, you'd certainly pick Peavy over Josh Fogg if you could. There certainly is a chance that Peavy does to us what Brandon Webb did to nearly end our season just days ago. There is always that chance with a brilliant pitcher.

But I've been liking Fogg on the mound in critical games this year. He seems to give this team veteran stability and confidence there. Francis has been our best guy, but even Dan O'Dowd himself challenged Francis on not coming through always at key times when he could have put himself at a higher level when all of baseball was watching. Our rookies have certainly come up big at times, including today, but I'd also feel more comfortable with Fogg than one of them tomorrow.

Who is going to win tomorrow? One game series in baseball are certainly not something to make a living predicting. Probably whichever team gets that one big inning to change the momentum of the day. We've got the better bats to make that happen, and they've got the better arms to prevent that.

Despite losing on Friday night with all that energy, I like the Rockies chances at home with a full house. The Rockies seem to be a team that plays pretty well in those environments (like Opening Day heroics) with the crowds going crazy. It certainly will be tomorrow. It'll be a historic moment for the franchise and going a long way toward turning things around again for Rockies fans either way, but I've been more optimistic about their chances this year and will remain that way tomorrow as well. Let's go Rockies!

[Roxpert]

Damn the Mets!!!

No, I am not a New York Mets fan. The reason I say this is that the Rockies would have been in MUCH better shape today had the Mets won yesterday. That would have created the "4-way tie" scenario. Instead of us playing against Peavy and the Padres tonight, the Mets would have had a playoff game against the Phillies to determine the NL East champ. The loser of tonight's game would have gone to San Diego to play the Padres tomorrow, with Peavy starting against them. Then, WE would have faced the winner of that game on the road.

We not only would have dodged the bullet of facing Peavy, the two days off would have given much-needed rest to Corpas and Fuentes, the former of which seems to be running on fumes right now. Why Hurdle had to give Corpas and Fuentes "work" in the 11-1 game Saturday night is beyond me. They both are going to be getting PLENTY of work should we be so fortunate as to win tonight, during the playoffs.

The other benefit of a Mets victory yesterday would have been our ability to use Jeff Francis in the tiebreaker game, instead of Fogg. It would have meant our chances of reaching the NLDS are much improved, though our pitching wouldn't be set up ideally for the NLDS. Maybe what happened will work out after all.......if we win tonight, we will have Francis for Game #1 of the NLDS.

Still, I would have preferred it if the Mets won yesterday.

[HoyaRoxFan]

Originally Posted by BigRapidsJackass

Oh, and I think I'd prefer a 6:30 start ... I'm gonna have to sneak out of work early tomorrow.

Hush, those of us out east don't like to wait that long, and appreciate that the Rockies finally have a game on national TV.

[indianadrew]

Originally Posted by HoyaRoxFan

Hush, those of us out east don't like to wait that long, and appreciate that the Rockies finally have a game on national TV.

ditto to that hoya