LOS ANGELES — Ahead of Monday’s National League West tiebreaker against the Dodgers, a pair of Rockies players who propelled Colorado into October have earned recognition.
David Dahl was named the National League’s player of the week, while German Marquez was named the pitcher of the month.
Dahl hit .333 with six home runs and 15 RBIs last week, including a streak of five consecutive games with a home run, while Marquez was 3-1 in five starts in September with a 2.14 ERA and 48 strikeouts and just five walks.
Marquez said late Sunday night, following the Rockies’ pummeling of the Nationals to force Monday’s tiebreaker, that he felt ready for the pressure of a winner-take-all divisional title game. His teammates, including fellow ace Kyle Freeland, feel the same way about the 23-year-old.
“His confidence is high right now and he knows what he needs to get done.” Freeland said. “And he knows that he doesn’t need to do anything more than be himself out there (Monday).”
And Dahl, his focus on his Monday start, knows that last week might as well be ancient history in Rocktober terms as he looks to continue his late-season surge while hitting third and playing left field at Dodger Stadium.
“Itap cool to be honored like that, because it was a good week and I’m just trying to help the team win,” Dahl said before the game. “But I’ve to kind of forgot about that coming into this week, because last week doesn’t count.”
Rockies ready for Game 163
On the 10th anniversary of the Rockies’ original Game 163 — the dramatic win over San Diego in a wild card play-in game en route to their World Series run in 2007 — Matt “I Touched The Plate” Holliday feels the Rockies are prepared to handle Monday’s emotional intensity.
“The fact that we’ve been playing meaningful games for a while now will help,” Holliday said. “Itap good that itap a quick turnaround and we haven’t had time to process too much of whatap going on. We’re just going to go out there and play ball.”
Charlie Blackmon echoed those sentiments, noting last year’s wild card loss in Arizona is going to play dividends.
“Having had that experience, we’ll be able to build on it,” Blackmon said. “We know what itap going to be like, physically and emotionally, playing beyond the regular season.”
Wild card contingency plan
While the Rockies have not yet announced who would pitch Tuesday’s wild card game in Chicago or Milwaukee should Colorado lose on Monday, the likely bet is seeing Kyle Freeland throw on three days rest.
Freeland threw 96 pitches over six innings in the win over Washington on Friday that clinched the club a postseason berth, and manager Bud Black noted “you could speculate that Kyle’s going to pitch” should it come to that.
The southpaw finished the 2018 regular season as the Rockies’ all-time single-season leader in ERA (2.85) and home ERA (2.40).
