Down Swinging
Vic's Picks
10-28-2007
"We're so bad right now that for us back-to-back home runs means one today and another one tomorrow."
--Former Baseball Manager Earl Weaver
The Colorado Rockies made the playoffs this season.
The Colorado Rockies won a playoff series this season.
The Colorado Rockies won two playoff series this season and, by doing so, won the National League Pennant.
The Colorado Rockies went to the World Series this year. Let me write that one more time--this time, without shaking my head and laughing in disbelief, wondering if the Chinese food I just ate was laced with LSD:
The Colorado Rockies went to the World Series.
Wow.
Does anything that happened after that really matter?
First, a rant:
To be sure, the four games the Rox took part in during the 2007 Fall Classic left a lot to be desired. Rockies batters swung and miss more often than boxers on the take. Meanwhile, starting pitchers were slapped around so much, domestic violence charges may still be pending.
Then there's Clint Hurdle. With a team struggling so mightily with scoring runs, why on earth didn't we see more small ball--bunts--to move runners into scoring position?
By Game 4, the white Rockies towels boisterous fans were wildly waving resembled more of a sea of surrender flags than rallying cries.
I guess if there was one good thing to come out of the Rox getting swept, it's that TV viewers had to put up with the absolute least amount of Fox coverage. Good grief. If teenage kids were to invent a drinking game where they took tequila shots every time commentator Tim McCarver made an insightful observation, there would be a lot less underage drinking in this country.
I suppose the Rockies were doomed to begin with. I mean, think back to the ticket disaster. Next time, the organization may want to reconsider using Florida election officials to equitably distribute World Series tickets.
But I digress....
Every time I wanted to slam a shoe against my coffee table like I was Kruschev, I reminded myself that it's almost Halloween and the Colorado Rockies are still playing baseball. I reminded myself that the Rox used to be a national joke; that they usually finish in last place; that they, at the beginning of September, were chasing three teams in their division alone.
This was Rockies team you liked rooting for. And we did so, with fervor.
The Rox took the sting off yet another Cubs disappointment and a mediocre start to the Broncos season.
The Rockies got swept by the Red Sox--a team that is the new Evil Empire and was by far the better ballclub. But, what a hell of a ride.
Losing sucks. I am first and foremost a Cubs fan, after all.
But, a World Series game in Colorado?
Say it one more time: the Colorado Rockies played in the World Series.
Does anything that happened after that really matter?
