On the first night of autumn, the Rockies barely survived a cold, hard winter and the Padres.
It was not a fall classic at the ballpark, but the hot summer and the season of Rox content continued in the wet, weird, wild first game of the final (regular-season) stand.
After all the swinging in the rain Tuesday, and a four-run ninth by the Padres, the Rockies went from a blowout to a near-blown game.
The Rockies’ 11-10 victory over San Diego, combined with the Giants’ defeat in Phoenix, reduced the magic number vs. San Francisco and Atlanta to seven.
And a magical date could be 1 0/11/09.
If all goes accordingly, and the Rockies reach the postseason as a wild-card team, they would play the fourth game of the National League division series against the Cardinals or the Phillies in Denver on Sunday, Oct. 11, at a time to be determined.
The Rox won’t be the only game in town, though.
The Broncos play the Patriots at 2:15 p.m.
If that’s not enough sports for you, how about the Nuggets playing an exhibition on TV at 10 p.m. against the Pacers . . . from China?
And Elitch Gardens will be open that day.
The Avalanche will be off (but on a seven-game — seven games? — trip) then, and World Wrestling Entertainment hasn’t book a show here for Oct. 11 . . . yet. A bunch of Republicans will be speaking at the arena on Oct. 13. Is the Democratic National Convention over?
The Rockies can prevent that Oct. 11 collision of worlds by finishing first in the division — which can happen mathematically — or third in the division, which sensibly can’t happen.
Or they can sweep the first playoff series, as they did in 2007, and not have to play on the 11th.
When I arrived in Denver 35 years ago, I was wishing for more big-time sports events. I should have been more careful.
Just imagine if the Rox beat the Cards or the Phils to win the NLDS and the Broncos upset the Pats and have a 5-0 record.
Of course, it must be mentioned, lamentably, that in 2007, the Rockies and the Broncos had somewhat of a similar situation scheduled. The Rox were supposed to play the Red Sox in Game 5 of the World Series on Oct. 29 at exactly the same time as the Broncos were playing the Packers a couple of miles away on “Monday Night Football.”
However, nothing worked out right. The Rockies lost the Series in Game 4 on Sunday, and the Broncos lost to Brett Favre on the first play of overtime.
Maybe the results won’t be as ugly this time, and maybe the Rockies haven’t messed up what they’ve lovingly termed “the postseason ticket opportunity,” although it’s still possible, based on their policy, that the ballpark will have too many Cardinals’ or Phillies’ fanatics’ fannies in the seats.
Select your arsenic — St. Louis or Philadelphia.
Who do you want — Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright, Albert Pujols and, ye gads, Matt Holliday, or Cole Hamels and Cliff Lee, Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins?
The Cardinals have the one- two punch on the mound and at the plate, but the Rockies did really start the whole turnaround thing with the early June, four-game sweep in St. Louis (outscoring the Cardinals 33-9). However, that was before the Cards acquired the Holliday fellow.
But that Carlos Gonzalez/ Huston Street story vs. Holliday would be very intriguing. It was not intriguing when Gonzalez tweaked a hamstring and had to depart on Tuesday night. But Street came back to pitch briefly.
Philly? Been there, done that. But the Phillies did win the World Series last season, and you always want to knock off the Cheesesteakheads. They have all those left-handed starters, however, and the Rockies feast on right-handers.
There is the slight matter of clinching the wild card first.
The Rox don’t want any part of having to go to Dodger Stadium to win two games, or even one. Some might recall that the Rockies are 1-5 in L.A. and 3-12 overall. (You also might want to hope that the team the Rockies wouldn’t meet in the opening playoff series would beat the Dodgers.)
That final regular-season series also could be critical to the Dodgers if they haven’t assured themselves already of the best record in the league, because of the home-field extra game, and the Cardinals might be considering their own playoff home-field advantage when they come here.
So, Rockies loyalists, as they did when the Giants were in Los Angeles, will have to root, root, root for the Dodgers this week, so the Dodgers won’t care in the final three games against the Rox.
In the remaining eight home games the Rockies just need to sweep, or dust off, these Padres, the Cardinals and the Brewers (who helped the Rockies immensely down the stretch against the Padres two seasons ago), while the Giants sink some more against the Diamondbacks, the disgusting Cubs and the friendly Padres.
The Rockies are only seven away.
Wish that the magic number in Denver on Oct. 11 will be closer to 70 degrees than the 40 on Sept. 22.
Woody Paige: 303-954-1095 or wpaige@denverpost.com
