Add this to the list of truths on the Rockies’ magical mystery tour from irrelevance to dominance over the past month: The clothes don’t make the team.
Entering Friday night’s game, the Rockies had won seven consecutive games in their black uniforms. Arizona, in something more than a coincidence, decided to don its black for Game 2, forcing Colorado into new garb. The Diamondbacks traditionally wear their black only for Saturday home games, during which they went 11-2.
Home team has the choice. The visiting team got the last laugh, literally, in a 3-2, 11-inning victory.
“We thought it was kind of funny when we heard they were going to be in black,” Rockies third baseman Garrett Atkins said.
Problem with changing the Rockies’ colors is they have good fortune in any uniform. Forcing them into their gray-and-purple pinstripes didn’t conjure nightmares.
“Maybe it was a dirty ploy to get us out of black. It didn’t matter to us,” Ryan Spilborghs said. “The last time we wore (gray), we won six straight games in San Diego and Los Angeles.”
It’s just another layer of a story that has historians digging for comparison. The Rockies are 19-1 in their past 20 games, the only modern-day replica being the 1970 Baltimore Orioles, who won the World Series on an 18-1 run to finish the season. And by the way, the Rockies are the first team to win its first five playoff games since the 1976 Cincinnati Reds, affectionately known as the Big Red Machine.
“Maybe someday we will be known as the Big Black and Gray Machine,” Spilborghs said.
Not hitting yet. Perhaps most remarkable about the Rockies’ series lead is that they have not gotten much pop from some big bats. Matt Holliday, Todd Helton and Troy Tulowitzki are a combined 4-for-25, with seven strikeouts.
“I don’t care if I go 0-fer the rest of the series if we advance to the next round,” Tulowitzki said Saturday.
Holliday provided a lift vs. the Phillies in the division series, hitting two home runs. His timing appears a tick off.
“You won’t see Matty ever have a game like he did Friday. He will be fine,” Atkins said.
Tulowitzki appears to be expanding his strike zone while becoming impatient. “Personally, I am not happy with my at-bats at all,” he said.
Introduction to art. Few things can rattle Josh Fogg, but even he was startled when he walked into the Rockies’ clubhouse Saturday. Hanging on his locker was a huge painting of Fogg standing above a defeated dragon – an ode to his one-time “Dragon Slayer” nickname. He since has opted for “Vulture” after picking up a playoff win in relief against the Phillies, but the painting, done by a fan, adds some permanence to “Slayer.”
“Where are you going to put that in your house? It has to be so people can see it right when they walk in,” said Helton with a laugh.
