I remember earlier this week hanging up my lost poster blog entry. Well, I didn’t know what was going on with my Rockies. However, something happened… I’d like to thank whoever brought the team back. Some might lead it to Jason Giambi and Todd Helton, who had their own pep talk with the players. But whatever it was, there is a start of a good thing.
After July 28th’s game against Pittsburgh, the Rockies had dropped 8 games in a row, and were now 9 games out in the division. But then… as many Rox fans lost hope, a miracle happened. The Rockies, under Ubaldo Jiminez turned it around. Remember Ubaldo’s last appearance was a bomb that reflected the Rockies in general since the all-star break. And he did give up the first run. But then the Rockies fought back with 1 run in the 1st, and 4 in the 2nd. Ubaldo was in true form, and got his 16th win. The Rockies treated us to tacos for the first time in a while.
Sure, that was a needed win to snap a dangerous losing streak. But could it be sustained? After kissing the Pirates goodbye, the Chicago Cubs strutted through town. A classic team to many pre-1993 baseball fans. And Jeff Francis and the Rockies were ready for the challenge. Needless to say that Jeff was in spectacular form. And through 7 innings, the Rockies were leading 5-2. And then came the 8th inning. The Rockies had runners on first and 3rd and 2 out. What happened after that went crazy. 11 consecutive hits, 12 runs. Melvin Mora pinch hit twice and got hits. 18 batters were sent to the plate in the entire inning, and the bases were loaded before Ian Stewart finally got the 3rd fly out. Many of these set Rockies club records, if not setting MLB records. I think Lou Piniella was ready to go retire then and there. The Rockies won 17-2 and now had a 2 game winning streak.
If you thought that was a fluke, well tonight’s game was also just as bizarre. The end of non-waiver trade deadline came and went with the Rockies standing pat. Would this be a good move? It indeed was. Jason Hammel was the starting pitcher, and through 7 innings, he held the Cubs to 2 runs and threw 76 pitches. Incredible. The real star was Carlos Gonzales, who happened to start with a single and a triple. His 3rd at bat was a double. The 4th at-bat was a sacrifice fly and a RBI. But he was not done here. The score was 5-2 at this point. Unfortunately, Hammel left the game after 7.1 innings and would end up with a no-decision, thanks to a 3-run home run by Derrick Lee. That was all the damage done by the Cubs. But this allowed CarGo to get another at bat at the bottom of the 9th. The first pitch was a walk-off home run. This also completed his cycle, as the Rockies win 6-5.
Having a 3-game winning streak is definitely a good sign. In fact, having some wild surprises is also good. This, in combination with the Padres losses brings the Rockies to 7 games back. As history would show, whenever the Rockies have an 11-game winning streak, the Rockies make the playoffs. This is a great start. But more games will certainly help. And all at the same time, when the team relaxes and performs like it knows how to naturally, there is still hope. This is all I want: perform well. 
The road to playoffs is always rocky, but it’s still passable.