KRIEGER: It was still magic while it lasted

By Dave Krieger, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published October 29, 2007 at midnight

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Naturally, it came down to the end. Naturally, the kid Rocks still had the slimmest of chances as the last of the sand slipped through the hourglass.

They were the kings of procrastination. They waited until the last possible moment to inject themselves into the pennant race. Wasn’t it possible they would do the same in the World Series?

Yes, it was the fearsome, Irish jig-dancing, gas-throwing Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon on the mound. But hadn’t it been the Dodgers’ indomitable Takashi Saito when Todd Helton hit that two-out, two-strike satellite into the night?

Hadn’t it been the Padres’ great Trevor Hoffman when they overcame a two-run deficit in the bottom of the 13th?

Wasn’t anything possible? Wasn’t everything possible?

That was the magic of these Rockies, and also the promise.

When little Jamey Carroll lifted a drive to left in the bottom of the ninth, the 50,041 in attendance held their breath. Could it be? Was it possible?

Well, no. It couldn’t. It wasn’t. The magic carpet ride is over.

But, man, what a ride.

Give credit to the Red Sox, who dominated the World Series and clearly earned their second championship in four years. The Rockies faithful ceded the ball yard to Red Sox Nation when it was over, and for all their celebrating, they couldn’t resist a profane chant aimed at the Yankees, too.

For the Rocks, it ended on as beautiful a night for baseball as Colorado has ever seen.

Not just because of the weather, which was perfect. Not just because of the full house.

No, it was mostly because Colorado, for the first time, was the center of the baseball universe, even if many of our guests from the East were never exactly in love with the idea.

We must conclude, if we trust our senses, that this thing was real, all reason and logic to the contrary. Even as the kid Rocks’ postseason run extended for nearly a full month, it often felt more like a dream sequence. Everything about the World Series was familiar except the whimsical invention of the Rocks being in it.

"The run that they went on, we beat a very good team," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "I hope nobody forgets that."

When Garrett Atkins rifled a two-run homer into the left field grandstand in the bottom of the eighth, cutting the deficit to one, he gave the faithful a last thrill to remember.

Still, the bottom line on the Series was not complicated. The Rocks didn’t hit (.218) and didn’t pitch (7.68).

Finally, the Rocks stopped rolling.

It could have been the eight-day layoff, a product of the inane extension of the playoff schedule, as if it were basketball they were playing instead of baseball.

Baseball is played every day. The hucksters and car salesman who run the sport don’t care. Shame.

It could have been that the Rocks simply couldn’t stay hot for more than a month. Twenty-one out of 22 is pretty good. Maybe they need to be a little closer in mid-September so they can afford to get hot later, as the Red Sox did.

And maybe it was simply that a dream sequence is not meant to last so long. Everybody wakes up sometime.

In any case, recriminations for the weak Series performance should be tempered by the miracle of there being a Series performance to critique. The Rocks in the World Series? It still has the sound of pure fancy.

Earlier in the postseason, I asked Rocks CEO Charlie Monfort whether he had any I-told- you-so’s for his many vociferous critics.

"The biggest shot I would take is that people say we don’t want to win," he said. "We want to win. We want to win. And I will tell you what, after seeing what we can do this year, watch out for us, because this team is going to be stronger and stronger and stronger.

"This team will be held together, and we’ll add pieces and add pieces. The Colorado Rockies, now that we know that we can win, now that we’ve got young guys ...

"Bagwell and Biggio, I always admired those guys and how they’d teach the younger guys how to go about your business to play baseball," Monfort said, referring to the longtime Astros killer B’s, Jeff and Craig.

"We’ve got that in this whole room. We’ve got a bevy of them — Tulowitzki, Helton and all those guys.

So all our young guys are going to come up through the system and learn how you go about playing baseball and how you go about your business. Look out. We’re going to be good for a long time."

But can they keep them together? Can they afford it?

"Yes," Monfort said. "The crowds have shown up, revenue’s up, yeah, we’ll keep ’em together. What you saw, you’re going to see for a long period of time."

We can only hope so. Few of us will soon forget the ride of ’07. A love affair was rekindled by the finest, longest summer of baseball in Colorado history.

kriegerd@RockyMountain News.com

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