MVN - Most Valuable Network

20-1. 3-0 NLCS lead. This just plain Rox.

Todd Helton pumped his fist after two inning-ending double play balls finished their tour around the infield in his glove in the second and third innings.

Josh Fogg skipped off the mound, schoolboy smirk on his face, after freezing Mark Reynolds with a cutter to end the sixth with the go-ahead Arizona run stranded on second.

Yorvit Torrealba raised his right arm in triumph, and left it there all the way through the most joyous and meaningful trip around the bases he’s ever taken after he blasted a Livan Hernandez fastball into the left-field seats to give the Rockies a 4-1 sixth-inning lead.

And when Garrett Atkins threw out Justin Upton at first to end Game Three, it was Helton again, the sagacious veteran leader of these improbable Rox, exulting with a quick left jab to the rain falling on Coors Field.

Baseball is an emotional game, especially at this time of the year. Every break, every mistake, every pitch and every play is magnified.

You’re never more than one pitch away from getting out of a jam, they say. Fogg learned that lesson tonight, staving off a Diamondbacks rally in the first inning when he gloved Eric Byrnes’ line drive and whirled to throw out Chris Young at first base. He used that trick again twice more in the next two innings. Aside from the one mistake he made, which Mark Reynolds crushed for a solo homer in the fourth inning, Fogg was splendid, living up to his “Dragon Slayer” moniker by becoming the first Rockies pitcher to beat Hernandez this season.

You’re never more than one swing of the bat from making something happen, they say. Torrealba had the biggest swing of the night, perhaps the playoffs, for the Rockies in the sixth inning. With two outs, Torrealba took advantage of a rare mistake by Hernandez, hitting it over Byrnes’ head and into the seats, sending a soaking-wet Coors Field crowd into jubilation unseen at 2001 Blake St. since… when, exactly? Since the first inning, when Matt Holliday homered to give the Rox a 1-0 lead? Since Game Three of the NLDS, when the Rox clinched a berth in this series? Since Rock-tober 1, the night of the wild card tiebreaker, when Matt Holliday slid? Since the game before that? Since 1995?

Sunday night topped them all, again, the way every moment these past four weeks has. Every hit is bigger, every run more important. Every fist pump carries more weight.

The Colorado Rockies are one win away from a National League pennant. Eric Byrnes can call it luck. Rockies fans can call it destiny. Baseball analysts can try to explain the Rockies 20-1 run and yet fail to come up with the right word for it. Personally, I’ll stick with absolutes. The Rox have a 3-0 lead on the Diamondbacks. They need one win for a pennant, five wins for a World Series championship. None of that seems out of the realm of possibility, despite the past 28 days seeming entirely beyond that realm.

In “Bull Durham”, Nuke LaLoosh said it best. “This is a very simple game,” LaLoosh said of baseball. “You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains.”

Sunday night, it rained, and the Rockies won. They could win in a squall, a tsunami, or a Level 5 tornado. They have thrown the ball, caught the ball, and hit the ball better than the Diamondbacks all series long. They have executed those fundamentals better than all but two teams in the history of baseball ever have over a 21 game stretch this late in the season.

One more win and the Rockies will be headed to the Promised Land. I’ve already got my ticket – section 327. I’ll be bundled up, ready to witness history.

You don’t have to explain the run these Rockies are on. It’s hard enough just to believe it. But believe you must. The World Series is within reach.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 14th, 2007 at 11:03 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.