DENVER—Well, it was fun while it lasted.
The Colorado Rockies captured the hearts and minds of the city during their 11-game winning streak in the final month of the season. But that streak came to a close with Friday night’s 4-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Their postseason plans were dealt a serious blow. They’ll have to beat Arizona twice and San Diego will have to lose two at Milwaukee. With the NL West title still up for grabs between the Diamondbacks and Padres, the Rockies and their fans can’t expect those teams to let up this weekend.
The Rockies delayed talk of Broncos football with their tremendous run that saw them just one game behind the Padres for a wild card berth when Friday night’s game began.
Still, this is the closest the Rockies have come to tasting playoff glory since their first and only appearance in the playoffs in 1995.
And the city noticed.
“It’s much different now than in ’95,” fan Scot Minshall said. “Back then, it was more about just going to the game. Coors Field was the place to be. It’s much sweeter this time, because it’s been 10 years of, at times, really bad baseball. For us, it’s definitely sweeter the second time around.”
Minshall, general manager of Jackson’s, a sports bar a few steps from the Coors Field entrance behind home plate, said the Rockies’ end-of-season streak has been good for business.
“I’m thrilled the bandwagon is pulling up to my front door,” Minshall said. “But I completely understand where Denver fans are coming from. The fans haven’t had much to cheer about in several years, so I get it.”
Even the Broncos caught Rockies fever—wide receivers Brandon Marshall and Domenik Hixon sported new Rockies caps in the locker room Friday.
The Rockies have made the postseason just once, in 1995, when Dante Bichette, Andres Galarraga, Larry Walker and Vinny Castilla were hitting homers out of Coors Field. Kevin Ritz was the only pitcher who won more than 10 games that year and the team was last in the league in ERA.
This year, however, the Rockies are getting contributions from everyone. Matt Holliday is an MVP candidate. The pitching, which has seen a number of starters sidelined with injuries, has been injected with life thanks to rookies Ubaldo Jimenez and Franklin Morales. And Rockies icon Todd Helton has had yet another productive season.
A sellout crowd showed up at Coors Field to root for the Rockies on Friday night. It was the third-largest crowd of the season. But the postgame fireworks were preceded by a dud—a 4-2 loss to the Diamondbacks that ended the longest winning streak in franchise history and the longest in the majors this year.
“It was awesome. It really was,” starting pitcher Jeff Francis said. “To have everybody here, it had that playoff feel to it. It’s pretty special. They were probably more into the game than I’ve seen them all year. It’s just a shame we came out on the wrong end of it.”
The Rockies’ 87 wins are already a franchise high and, even if they don’t sneak into the playoffs, they’ve given Colorado fans something to look forward to over the winter.
Even the Rockies’ players know that Denver is Broncos’ country. They don’t mind the bandwagon jumpers. They’re just happy to give the fans another team to root for in the fall.
“Have you ever jumped on a bandwagon before? So have I,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “That’s why they got ’em, so you can jump on them from time to time. It’s a great sports town. It will be a great baseball town again.”
