This note’s for the National League MVP. No, not you, Jimmy Rollins.
Todd Helton on the Rockies’ postseason chances: “Who knows? We’ve got to go in and battle another hot team, so we’ll see. We’ve been put through an awful lot. I mean, it’s in our hands now. We’ve got to go out and see what we can do. We’re going to enjoy it, too, while we do it.”…
Helton, when asked Monday night if life could get any better than being in a playoff clubhouse: “I’d like to be a little drier, but other than that…” Monday night was high times, not dry ones for Helton. Unofficially, he was doused more than any other Rockies player….
Amazing. Even in the clubhouse, Troy Tulowitzki displays veteran moves. To wit: He was wearing sunglasses to avoid getting champagne in his eyes….
How much champagne? Rox director of clubhouse operations Keith Schulz tells me there were 11 cases of the stuff. Maybe one reached the players’ lips….
Whatever you do, don’t call the Rockies’ playoff berth a fluke. They’re at least the hottest team in the National League and might be the best. So how far will they go? “We’ll see,” said Garrett Atkins, “but I think we’re definitely playing the best baseball right now. We just have to keep going for another couple of weeks. We won 14 out of 15. We win 14 of these next 15, I think we’ll be in pretty good shape.”…
From the archives: Nov. 17, 1992, New York City. The Rockies, looking for a bullpen stopper, selected Darren Holmes with the fifth pick in the expansion draft. Three picks later, the Marlins selected some guy named Trevor Hoffman….
Matt Holliday vs. Rollins in the playoffs would end a lot of barstool arguments, but, for the record, it isn’t going to impact the MVP balloting. The votes have to be turned in before the postseason starts….
In case you haven’t heard all of Holliday’s numbers, try this one on for size: The Rox are 28-5 when he homers. Oh, and 1-0 when he cuts his chin while scoring the biggest run in franchise history….
“No doubt, no doubt,” said Helton, when asked if he felt that Holliday’s 13th-inning heroics had clinched the MVP award. “And Tulowitzki hopefully has the rookie of the year wrapped up.”…
So, will Tulo win the ROY? If they hand it to Brewers third baseman Ryan Braun, don’t be surprised if he drops it. Dude had 26 errors in 112 games. That’s Roberto “Hands of Stone” Duran country….
The Rockies’ most unsung hero? That would be Matt Herges, who leaped off the scrap heap to stabilize the bullpen in the final two months. He went into Monday having allowed a .201 batting average, just ahead of Brian Fuentes‘ .202. And it only went down after Herges allowed one hit in three innings….
Atkins went 2-for-3 to finish the season at .301. Only reason I mention it is because he was hitting .234 on June 13….
Talk about pressing the right button. He needed to get somebody on base as the go-ahead run in the sixth inning, so Clint Hurdle turned to your basic .625 hitter. And sure enough, Seth Smith produced, lining a triple off the center-field wall for his fifth pinch-hit in eight at-bats. Not that Smith’s timing was perfect. He celebrated his 25th birthday Sunday….
Monday’s game was big, really big. How big? It might have been bigger than the smirk on Marty Schottenheimer‘s face….
Count syndicated talk-show host Jim Rome among those who have adopted the Rox. Rome led off his Monday show with a few comments on Hurdle’s Heroes: “It feels like fate, it feels like destiny, it feels cosmic. It’s hard not to like their chances … a lot.”…
The Padres had to settle for third place in a five-team division after going 163 games and four extra innings? Doesn’t seem right. The Rockies, for the record, had finished last or next-to-last in the NL West every year since 1997. And then Holliday emerged into a superstar and Tulowitzki arrived and changed the culture in the clubhouse….
At least the Rox didn’t get hurt Monday by an average, ordinary ballplayer. Adrian Gonzalez putting up 30 bombs and 100 ribbies while playing half of his games at Petco Park ought to get him on some MVP ballots….
Da Rox have won 39 of their past 54 at the LoDo Theater of the Absurd, the best record in The Show during that span….
Oh, and in case you didn’t hear, the Broncos lost by 18 at Indy on Sunday, but the sun still came up Monday morning.
Jim Armstrong: 954-1269 or jmarmstrong@denverpost.com
