In peace, there is silence. In a wild-card race, there is noise. A scoreboard wasn’t necessary on a windy Wednesday to grasp what occurred at Coors Field. All you had to do was listen: Thwack!
It was the distinct vibration of a baseball meeting a bat.
It might as well have been followed by bones crushing and hearts breaking in Atlanta. The Rockies brought the noise and the Brewers to their knees, their 10-6 beatdown leaving them within a single victory or an Atlanta loss of clinching a playoff berth.
As hard as it is to believe, Colorado, a team that sat 91/2 games behind in the wild-card race on June 3, could celebrate tomorrow on Blake Street in the season’s final home game. That became possible when the Braves lost to the Marlins again, reducing the Rockies’ magic number to one.
The Rockies have been inconsistent of late, spreading apprehension like a virus. But typical of this team, when it has counted most, Colorado has played its best.
“It’s always somebody new coming up big,” first base coach Glenallen Hill said before the game. “We have a lot of confidence.”
And just how puffed-out will their chests be if the Rockies hit anything like they did in the playoffs? As it stands, they would open on the road Wednesday against the Phillies, who clinched the National League East and own a two-game cushion over the Cardinals for the league’s best record.
Citizen’s Bank Park is where ERAs go to die. And the Rockies have shown they are capable of doing damage anywhere. The sound and fury began early against the Brewers, the Rockies scoring five runs in the first three innings of Milwaukee starter Jeff Suppan. Carlos Gonzalez tripled to lead off the game, a crack so distinctive that it set the tone for the evening.
Todd Helton homered in the third, a two-run shot into the right-field seats in the scoreboard. It was his first home run in 70 at-bats, dating to Sept. 1 against the Mets. He celebrated with a pumped fist as he reached first base.
Gonzalez, shaking off a twisted left ankle earlier in the game, homered in the sixth, his 13th of the season. Troy Tulowitzki added his team-high 31st homer in the seventh, leaving Jason Hammel in position for his 10th victory. All five Rockies starters reached double figures in wins for the first time in franchise history.
