DENVER -- For nearly three weeks, every single thing the Colorado Rockies had touched turned to gold.
For nearly three weeks, slick shortstop Troy Tulowitzki vacuumed up more messes than Hoover, slugger Matt Holliday raked as if every day was one big field of autumn leaves, Todd Helton was the example of steady and the rest of the Rockies rallied around in ways that bordered on the absurd.
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| Matt Holliday and the Rockies are still standing after they pick themselves off the deck in the 13th inning. (AP) |
Somehow -- and the betting here is that most of the Rockies still couldn't even begin to explain how -- they overcame a two-run deficit against ace closer Trevor Hoffman to dump San Diego 9-8 in a 13-inning thriller, light-hitting Jamey Carroll's sacrifice fly boosting the Rockies to their 14th victory in their past 15 games.
It took 4 hours and 40 minutes, practically the entire September rosters of both clubs, a few dozen momentum changes, mood swings alternating from euphoria to heartbreak and most of Holliday's chin, which was scraped and bloody when he dove across the plate -- did he even touch the plate? -- just ahead of right fielder Brian Giles' desperation throw.
It took blood, guts, patience, resiliency and maybe even, at times, a sense of humor for the Rockies to join Philadelphia, Arizona and the Chicago Cubs in the National League playoffs, which begins Wednesday.
Now, if the postseason can match that, bring it on.
Colorado, last one in.
"Incredible," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said, voice hoarse, eyes filled with emotion. "One of the greatest feelings in sport. We've still got unfinished business, but for us to finish the way we did, the road we traveled, to come back from that big a distance in Game 163 and to finish it that way ... "
"This is why we in uniform, the people in the front office, the fans, love baseball," heartbroken Padres manager Bud Black said. "It's because of games like this."
As an opening act to the playoffs, this one-game play-in was like showing up early for the homecoming dance and discovering that U2 was opening for the jamoke high school band. Maybe the Red Sox, the Yankees, the Angels, the Cubs, somebody will provide that many thrills on one amusement park night, but the odds are against it.
Colorado absolutely hammered likely NL Cy Young winner Jake Peavy. And before belting a game-tying triple against Hoffman in the 13th, NL MVP candidate Holliday not only had a rough night at the plate -- three strikeouts -- he also misplayed a ball in the eighth that allowed the Padres to tie the game at 6-6.
There was a dramatic Joe Thatcher-Brad Hawpe rematch after Hawpe, Colorado's slugging outfielder, belted a 14th-inning, opposite-field, game-winning home run against Thatcher on Sept. 21 in San Diego during the Rockies' wild streak to finish the season. This time? Thatcher, with that Frisbee delivery of his, fanned Hawpe in the 11th.
