4 Days in Rocktober
October 14, 2009
It's been two days since the Philadelphia Phillies knocked off the Colorado Rockies in the 2009 NLDS. But the lonely, frozen, "Rocktober" banner still hands across Blake St. and 21st St, like a dejected Christmas tree still sitting in the sales lot on December 26.

Fans in Denver were expecting another long post-season run, similar to 2007. But it was not to be, as "Rocktober 2009" ended up resembling "Rock-cember 2009". An unprecedented cold front moved into Denver for the Rockies' two NLDS home games, leading to what was officially THE COLDEST FREAKING MLB GAME EVER PLAYED on October 11th. The temperature at first pitch was 36 degrees, but by the time the game ended after midnight, it had sunk to roughly 18 degrees. Yes, that's 18 degrees fahrenheit.... in October.

I've been to Broncos home games in December and January, yet I was never as cold as I was during Game 3 of the NLDS. The game was won in the late innings when the Phillies Ryan Howard hit a sacrifice fly off of Huston Street, plating Jimmy Rollins for the final run of a 5-4 win. However, the somewhat unheralded Carlos Ruiz, the Phillies catcher, went 2 for 3 with 2 RBIs. Thus, it's only appropriate that Ruiz can lay claim to the moniker of "Mr. December".

I'm also blaming a good portion of my cold pain and loss of circulation in lower extremites in Game 3 towards Rafael Betancourt. I've known some fungus that works quicker than slow ass sonuvabitch. If Ruiz is "Mr. December", then Betancourt is "Mr. Hurry-The-Fuck-Up-and-Pitch So I Can Get Out of Here Before My Ball-Sack Freezes to the Seat".

So while "Rocktober 2009" might be seen as a flop, the team still has a lot to be proud of. In June I foolishly predicted that Jim Tracy would have no effect on the team. But it was Tracy's presence that sent the team on a 21-7 run that jumped them back into contention and secured their grip on the National League Wildcard. Unlike the previous Rockies Wildcard teams of 1995 and 2007, this team didn't wait until the final out of the season, as clinched their spot with three games left. When they clinched their spot on October 1, following a 3 game sweep of the Brewers at Coors Field, they made it look easy. While the lip-service goal is to win the World Series every year, a more realistic goal is to make your team like the Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals or Angels-- perennial playoff contenders every season. With a postseason appearance in 2 out of the last 3 years, they're on the right path.

Overall, the 2009 team proved that the 2007 team wasn't a fluke. With essentially the same core of players, they spent most of the season over .500 and the final two months in first place for the Wildcard. Even though fans at Coors Field still like to do the wave and chant "Go Rockies" when their team is in the field, baseball has finally arrived in Denver.

Just hope it's above freezing for all future Rocktobers.

Return of Hammerhands As I've noted here over the years, Matt "Hammerhands" Holliday has cost his teams a few runs with his shoddy defense, but never in the blatantly painful fashion as in Game 3 of the Dodgers/Cardinals NLDS. Holliday flubbed what would've been the final out, when he tried to catch a flyball with his groin. It allowed the Dodgers to stay alive and, two batters later, they won the game and ended the Cardinals' season.

Starting pitcher Adam Wainwright tried to stick up for Holliday with the following statement:

QUOTE:
“That ball got lost in 50,000 white towels shaking in front of Matt’s face,” Wainwright said. “It doesn’t really seem fair that an opposing team should be able to allow their fans to shake white towels when there’s a white baseball flying through the air. How about Dodger Blue towels?”
END QUOTE

Yeah..."in front of Matt's face"...or as we humans say: "about 200 feet away". If the towels were such a damn problem, why was it that they only became an issue when the ball was hit to Holliday? If this was something like a fan whipping Holliday with a towel, or Holliday getting beaned with or tripping over a towel, then I could understand. Besides, most Dodger fan believed that the fly ball was the final out, so it's not like an entire frenzy of towels was present.

But let's put black "fielder's eye" tarps all around the stadium when precious Matt Holliday comes to town. The poor bastard still hasn't figured out how to use that enigmatic leather glove thingie that sits on the end of his hand.

Whattabout the Buccos?
To the surprise of...absolutely nobody... the Pittsburgh Pirates finished their 17th consecutive losing season. Even more discouraging, they needed a late surge to avoid 100 losses.

Andrew McCutchen arrived and instantly became the team's first bonafide superstar since... gasp...Barry Bonds (for those who arrvied late to baseball, I should specify: the 1988-1992 Barry Bonds, pre-steroids). It may seem premature, but the guy is that good. He essentially took over in centerfield for Nate McLouth and actually improved the position. No small feat, considering McLouth won a Gold Glove in 2008, went to the All-Star Game and was the best offensive weapon in the Buccos dugout. McCutchen put together a legitimate Rookie of the Year campaign and will most likely be the Pirates' 2010 All-Star representative. Heck, he's already my new Most Favoritest Player in the Universe. The guy's got a great future in MLB.

Of course, note that I said "MLB", not specifically "Pittsburgh". It'd be great to see McCutchen stick around, but with the way things deteriorate in Pittsburgh every summer, he could very well be playing in New York, St. Louis or any other MLB-town-not-named-Pittsburgh, in five years.

Seeing Eye Singles
...||... It's been a few years, but dumb ass Rockies fans still like to yell "Hot Toddy!" when Todd Helton comes up. Damn, is that stupid.

...||... Thought it was a little wacky that Jason Giambi STILL comes to the plate with "Theme from nWo Wolfpac" playing.

...||... In New York City, the home of Marvel Comics and mob activity, it's entirely possibly that the real Alex Rodriguez was either replaced by an LMD or abducted by goombahs; and the "A-Rod" currently producing in the playoffs is an imposter.

...||... For those following along at home, I've updated my "Ballpark Dumps" list, under the "postseason" section. I just to take a dump during a NLCS or ALCS to complete every boy's dream of taking a crap in all three rounds of the MLB playoffs (or four rounds if you count tiebreakers or "play-in" games).

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