Happy Rocktober: A dream day in Denver

Tracy Ringolsby, Rocky Mountain News

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Rockies-Diamondbacks box score

And so when the regular season came to an end Sunday afternoon at Coors Field, it didn't.

As the final out was recorded in the Rockies' 4-3 victory against the Arizona Diamondbacks, there was a burst of celebration among Rockies players, but only briefly.

For all the Rockies have done, the reality hit them quickly. They haven't accomplished anything yet.

They have put together a get-the-attention-of-the-masses run, winning 13 of their past 14 games in a stretch that began with a franchise-record 11-game winning streak. And they woke up today having shattered the franchise record for regular-season wins with 89.

The 162-game regular season has been stretched to 163 games, though, not that the Rockies are complaining.

A team that was nine games below .500 in mid-May today finds itself tied with San Diego at 89-73 for the National League wild card. Tonight, right-hander Josh Fogg and the Rockies will face 19-game winner Jake Peavy and the Padres at Coors Field in the 11th playoff in major league history to decide a postseason participant. The winner will fly to Philadelphia to begin the NL Division Series against the Phillies on Wednesday.

"This month of September has been like sending your kids out in the backyard to watch them play," manager Clint Hurdle said. "You get real proud of them, the way we battled, the challenges that we met. A lot of the barriers that have been in the way of this organization in the past have been knocked down. And we've got a big one in front of us."

On Sunday, Arizona rookie Yusmeiro Petit shut the Rockies out on four hits over five innings before the Diamondbacks bullpen went bust, thanks in part to Brad Hawpe's sudden domination of left-handed pitching. Displaced closer Brian Fuentes' clutch performance in the seventh added to the Rockies' good fortunes.

Hawpe had a run-scoring double off left-hander Doug Slaten to put the Rockies up 1-0 in the sixth, and he capped a three-run eighth with a two-run double off left-hander Bill Murphy that gave the Rockies a 4-1 lead. After rookie Ubaldo Jimenez pitched 6 1/3 brilliant innings - he gave up one hit and had 10 strikeouts - Fuen- tes got the call after Jorge Julio served up a tying single.

Fuentes responded to the one-out, two-on challenge of the seventh with strikeouts of Conor Jackson and Jeff Cirillo.

"He has been a prime-time guy for us, and he's never shown up bigger than he did (Sunday)," Hurdle said. "Two big punchouts in the seventh, and then to answer again in the eighth. It was just what we needed."

Well, a big part of what the Rockies needed, but not all of what they needed.

In addition to the key efforts that allowed them to beat Arizona, the Rockies needed help from outside. And they got that when Milwaukee knocked off San Diego 11-6, forcing the game today, the constant changing of the out-of-town scoreboard causing an uproar among the crowd announced at 46,375.

"I normally don't look at the scoreboard," Hurdle said. "I looked at the scoreboard 3,482 times, whenever the ball wasn't in play. It was sick."

And now the Rockies once again control their own future. If they win this game - and with Peavy starting, it won't be easy - they would head to Philadelphia, for the second postseason appearance in their 15-year history, the first since 1995.

If they lose tonight, they start the wait for next year.

"This is really exciting, but we have a big game (tonight) against a guy who is going to win the Cy Young Award this year," first baseman Todd Helton said. "For all we've done, we've still got to finish it. . . . We have to be confident. We have won 13 of our last 14, but we need to win 14 of 15 to get where we want to be."

Given the nature of this season - the Rockies spent the past eight weeks with three of their season-opening rotation members on the disabled list - it was fitting that Jimenez provided the tone with his dominating effort. After all, it was Jimenez whom the Rockies called up when injuries struck the rotation in mid-July. They ignored the foolish temptation to bring in a veteran of marginal talent instead.

Jimenez, who was knocked around in two of his three previous starts, struck out nine batters in the first four innings, had Arizona hitless for 5 1/3 innings and left after back-to-back one-out walks of Jeff Salazar and Miguel Montero in the seventh.

"His stuff was electric," Hurdle said. "He obviously had a growth spurt. It was a big day for us."

And it's a bigger night tonight.

ringolsbyt@RockyMountainNews.com