MVN - Most Valuable Network

Pujols shows Rockies how it’s done

Let me start off by saying that tonight’s game blew up my grandiose plan.  I was going to compare the play of the Cardinals and the Rockies in the first two games (and one play in particular) of this series as a microcosm of their seasons thus far, but now that the Rox so rudely went and made a daring eighth inning comeback tonight, the idea  just backfired in my face.  But you know what?  I’m going to roll with it anyway…it may be a bit late, but hear me out.

I don’t know if there’s one play that could more aptly summarize both the Rockies’ season and the Cardinals’ season than the one that occured on Monday night with one out in the top of the ninth inning.   Albert Pujols, who was standing on second after a double, breaks for third base as Brian Fuentes delivers to Rick Ankiel in a 5-5 tie game.  Ankiel hits a little dribbler toward second base, upon which Jonathan Herrera pounces and fires the ball to first for the second out.  Seems pretty standard, right?  Well, Mr. Pujols decided not to cooperate and kept on chugging right around third base and scored the winning run as Herrera threw to first, with Jonathan not even considering the thought that Albert might just keep on trucking.

But then again, after the way that things have gone for these two teams thus far this season, how can you be surprised?  The Cardinals are playing an awful lot like the Rockies did toward the end of the 2007 season.  They are getting stingy pitching, timely hitting from both the usual and unusual suspects, and decent relief pitching.  Not surprisingly, that’s left them with a stellar record and first place in the National League Central division.  The Cards are playing with the swagger and attitude of a contending team; of course, whether they actually are or not remains to be seen but don’t try to argue that point with them.  They believe they are for real, and when guys like Pujols and Ankiel (I hope you saw his outfield assists on Tuesday night…unbelievable) keep making tremendous plays, don’t expect the winning to stop anytime soon.

And now, for the ugly side of the coin.  When watching this 2008 Rockies squad, I’m sure most fans are being reminded of pre-2007 Rockies teams that seemed to play well enough to win yet constantly found ways to lose.  The Pujols play was just another example of something that just never would have happened to the Rox last season when the team was on a roll.  But when you’re losing and just can’t seem to string together a full game, those are the type of plays that jump up and bite you and ultimately cost you wins.

But who knows?  Perhaps after Chris Iannetta’s huge hit tonight (amen to Tom’s call for more PT for Iannetta, by the way), maybe this will be a turning point for the Rockies.  With the starting rotation is in shambles, however, I wouldn’t bank on it.  Still, I can’t help but imagine how beautiful this symmetry would be (as noted by Tom in his post yesterday):

May 7th, 2007 - Jeff Francis goes 7 innings, gives up two earned runs in a no decision, and the Rockies escape with a 3-2 win over the Cardinals.  They proceed to win 15 of Francis’ next 18 starts.

May 7th, 2008 - Jeff Francis goes 5 innings, gives up three earned runs in a no decision, and the Rockies escape with a 4-3 win over the Cardinals.  They proceed to win…well, we’ll just have to wait and see.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 at 11:09 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.