Having seen each other 18 times already this season, the Rockies and Diamondbacks are about as familiar as siblings.
Bitter, spiteful, estranged siblings.
For the first time in baseball history, two teams from the National League West Division will play in a championship series, beginning Thursday in Phoenix.
But while Colorado and Arizona know each other all too well – they also played four spring-training games – the rest of the country seems completely in the dark.
People still can’t seem to get over how Arizona made it this far. Why else would the D-backs continually be qualified in nearly every reference as “the team that allowed more runs this season than it scored”?
And Colorado, judging by the national attention, is that team that got lucky late.
Try feeding that “luck” line to the Phillies. And the Mets. And the Padres. Luck has nothing to do with it.
Game 7 of the NLCS is scheduled for Oct. 20. If the series gets that far.
Expect it to get that far.
In the 18 games between the Rox and D-backs this season, there were 18 different winning pitchers. And only Colorado’s LaTroy Hawkins and Arizona’s Brandon Webb lost more than one game.
The average score between the two teams this season was 5-4, with the Rockies winning 10 games. Five games were decided by one run or less, and 14 scores were within three runs or less.
Some television executives somewhere are freaking out over a Colorado-Arizona series. The teams play in smallish markets, both in the Southwest. Make no mistake, the suits were wishing for a Phillies-Cubs series.
Forget them.
This could be the most contested league championship series since the Red Sox beat the Yankees in 2004.
The Rockies are 45-40 all-time against the D-backs at Coors Field. The Rox are 31-53 in Arizona.
Matt Holliday led the Rockies with a .340 average and 137 RBIs this season. Orlando Hudson hit .294 and Eric Byrnes had 83 RBIs to lead the D-backs.
The redundant marquee could read “Rockies vs. Diamondbacks XIX: Another rematch.”
However it reads, the series should be memorable.
Rocktober, indeed.
TV GAME OF THE WEEK
Hawaii vs. San Jose State. College football fans outside of Hawaii will get their first good look this season at Heisman Trophy candidate Colt Brennan when the highly touted quarterback leads the Hawaii Warriors to San Jose State for a Friday game at 5 p.m. MDT. The game airs to a national television audience on ESPN.
Brennan, who has thrown for 1,631 yards through four games for a 407.8 yard-per-game average, originally signed with Colorado, but got into legal trouble in Boulder and transferred.
In the first week of the season, Brennan torched Northern Colorado for 416 yards passing and six touchdowns – all in the first half.
PUCKERS UNDERWAY
Time to play for real. College hockey is an amateur sport that requires each season to begin with a training camp that is mostly unsupervised. For teams that open the 2007-08 campaign this week, six days or less is all they get to prepare.
The University of Denver begins its quest for the Frozen Four on Friday against perennial power Maine. The Pioneers, who also host the Black Bears on Saturday, have had player-only practices for weeks, but coaches weren’t on the ice for more than one hour at a time, and two hours per week, until Saturday.
So if DU’s power-play or penalty- killing units look confused against Maine, don’t blame the Pioneers.
AVS ON BREAK
An early vacation. After playing Sunday against the San Jose Sharks, the Avalanche won’t play again until Friday, when it visits St. Louis. The four-day break is one of the longest of the season.
TENNIS, ANYONE?
It’s state championship time. The fall high school state tournament season gets in full swing Thursday with the start of the three-day boys’ tennis tournaments. Class 5A will be in Boulder and 4A is in Pueblo. State champions will be crowned in various sports over the next two months.
BOUNCING BALLS
Lots of unfinished business. The Nuggets, who broke plenty of hoops hearts in April, begin exhibition play Tuesday at the Pepsi Center against the Clippers and Friday in Boulder against Portland (minus Greg Oden). Denver opens the regular season Oct. 31 against visiting Seattle, hoping to erase the memory of a 2006-07 season that looked so promising before it crashed and burned to eventual NBA champion San Antonio.
The Nuggets’ cheerleaders, meanwhile, are already warmed up. They spent 12 days last month touring military bases in Europe as part of the Armed Forces Entertainment Tour.
Nuggets preseason schedule
Tues.: L.A. Clippers
Fri.: Portland (at Coors Event Center, Boulder)
Oct. 14: at Detroit
Oct. 16: vs. Milwaukee (in Green Bay, Wis.)
Oct. 17: vs. Detroit (in Grand Rapids, Mich.)
Oct. 23: Milwaukee
Oct. 25: at Phoenix
Oct. 26: at Portland
