Sunday, October 7th, 2007 by Adam Wagner
Looks Like I Picked the Right Team
When I made the choice of the Colorado Rockies as my team of the playoffs this year, I expected that they would have this easy of a time with the Phillies. As I wrote before, the Phillies’ short-lived involvement in the playoffs was based more on the Mets’ failures than the Phillies’ successes.
So far this post-season, however, the Rockies have had to survive one bitterly fought playoff game against another talented National League West team. Now they have a whole series against the Arizona Diamondbacks and their similar-to-the-Rockies way of doing things.
In the series against the Phillies, however, America learned a good amount about the Rockies, including:
- Pitcher Jeff Francis has developed into an ace in the last month. The Canadian-born southpaw threw six innings of Game 1, striking out eight and giving up two earned runs (both solo home runs), allowing the team to stay in the game against Philly ace Cole Hamels. The development of Francis as the “veteran” ace is integral to the Rockies’ success as Josh Fogg is obviously not an ace and Ubaldo Jimenez and Franklin Morales totally lack experience.
- Speaking of Jimenez and Morales, the two are a couple of the better pitching prospects in baseball and deserve to be treated as such. Jimenez’s 6.1 inning, five strikeout, one earned run performance combined was much more indicative of his talent than Morales’ three inning, three earned run embarrassment was of his. Both of these pitchers have extremely lively young arms that will have something to say before the series against the Diamondbacks is over.
- Kaz Matsui is still playing baseball. And well.
- Manny Corpas likes spilling water on himself. Hey, it’s better than Moises Alou’s patented urinating on his hands method, right?
- Clint Hurdle deserves whatever manager of the year honors can still be voted on. Just getting the Rockies to contend is excellent, but putting them in the NLCS? No one saw it coming.
- The Rockies have one of the most awesome clubhouses in baseball, which they showed by voting deceased first base coach Mike Coolbaugh’s wife a full playoff share. This act was a generous and kind one that would not be expected out of most clubhouses.
The Rockies are, plain and simple, the coolest surviving team in the playoffs and, with the young pitchers and the continued development of stud hitters Matt Holliday and Garrett Atkins, one of those “surprise teams” that just keeps reappearing year after year.
Go Rockies (for now)!
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