While We Wait for the Rockies to Play in the World Series, Part One

I've never really had a problem with Manny Ramirez. A great hitter, especially in the clutch, makes him fun to watch unless you're rooting for the opposing team.

Until this year. His almost annual demands to leave Boston and then eventually say that he wanted to stay have grown old, but that drama was usually over by the time the season started. This post season he seems to have taken the "Manny Show" to an entirely new level, standing at home plate with arms held high, watching each of his home runs with self-admiration before beginning his SLOW jog around the bases. His home run Tuesday offered support what some people have believed all along: Manny is all about Manny. With his team trailing by five runs, he connected on a solo home run to decrease the deficit to four runs. Most players would run around the bases, high-five their teammates and get back in the dugout. Not Manny, he stood there admiring his work, raising his arms as if he'd just won the game, or at least given his team the lead, and then celebrated on his return to home plate. Even a friend of mine who is a life-long Red Sox fan told me he's tired of it, his comment being: "you've been there before, act like it." As if this wasn't enough, when Manny was asked about Game 5 of the ALCS and the fact that Boston is on the brink of elimination, his response was:

It doesn't happen, so who cares? There's always next year. It's not like it's the end of the world.

He's right, it wouldn't be the end of the world, but that's not the attitude you want from one of your key players on the eve of what could be your last game of the season. The bottom line: I don't really care for Manny Ramirez right now. He seems to be more about himself than the Boston Red Sox.

The Colorado Rockies? Now they're a different story. It's difficult for me to recall a more humble group of guys as part of a professional sports team. Now, I don't know any of the Rockies players personally, so all I have to go by is what I see and hear on TV, but what I see is an authentic attitude of humility along with as much care and respect for a teammate as one's self, from 1 to 25. It's true there is no "I" in "team", and this team takes that saying from the bulletin board and puts it on the field. An example of this is Matt Holliday. While being presented the NLCS MVP award on Monday night, he almost seemed embarrassed. Some might say it was because he didn't think he deserved it. They're partially right, he didn't deserve it. No one did, because the Rockies' sweep of the Diamondbacks for the NL pennant wasn't due to one, or two, players making the largest impact and determining the outcome. It was the ultimate definition of a team effort. With Holliday, he didn't act that way because he didn't think he deserved it. He acted that way because, even if he had been the impact player and dominated the series, he knows it's about the team and not himself. Holliday doesn't appear to be comfortable with all the attention, taking some away from his teammates whom he believes deserve it just as much as he does. I liked what Bernie Lincicome wrote on Wednesday about this team:

You like hard work? Never giving up? Faith and conviction? Friendship? Loyalty? Pulling together? Second chances? Third chances? Even dumb luck? They're all there.

The whole "club religion" thing keeps coming up and getting blown even more out of proportion, causing some folks to not like them. But honestly, this team gives you so many reasons to like them and cheer them on, the least of which is that they play some pretty decent baseball.

Jayson Stark believes that a Colorado/Cleveland World Series would be good for baseball, regardless of the TV ratings.

Sports Illustrated has an article about Matsui's time in NY. He certainly encountered some difficult times there and is now enjoying the rewards of his perseverance. Torrealba thinks the layoff will be good for the team and give him some needed rest.

Even Major League Baseball has joined the "Team of Destiny" discussion.

Until next time, Go Rockies!

Back Where We Started

The rockies were unable to sweep the Phillies to extend their winning streak heading into the All-Star break. Nonetheless, the rockies go into the break with a .500 record, which is where we started the season, making this the second year in a row they've gone into the break with a .500 record or better. The rockies as a franchise have never accomplished that before. Unfortunately, that says more about rockies teams in years past than it does about this year's team. Despite the loss the rockies head into the break on a relatively high note, rebounding nicely from the road trip that sucked all the wind out of their sails just one week ago. They find themselves 5.5 games behind San Diego, easily within striking distance if they don't experience the second-half blues that have traditionally plagued this franchise. Oddly, the most memorable part of this game wasn't even the game itself, but the efforts of the grounds crew, as well as others, to get the tarp on the infield as the skies suddenly opened up. It was certainly strange to see the umpires actually kneeling on the tarp to keep it in place as the wind and rain came in a fury. Even stranger was Adam Eaton, the Phillies' starting pitcher and still in the game, working on the tarp. In all, about 12-15 Phillies players were either lying on the tarp to keep it down or getting sandbags. Jeff Huson said he'd never seen anything like it in his playing days.

In Saturday's game, Jimmy Rollins led off the game with a home run for the 12th time in his career. The most in a MLB career is 81, held by the colorful and oh-so-humble Ricky Henderson. That home run was also Rollins' 100th of his career. His first home run was against the rockies also, May 2, 2001 off of Brian Bohanon.

I was switching between watching the rox and the All-Star Futures game. I managed to be watching the futures game at the right time to see Franklin Morales strike out Ian Stewart. The future seems bright. The RMN has an article about the game this morning.

Both the RMN and DP had good articles about Matt Holliday over the weekend, talking about his relative anonimoty outside of Colorado and his quiet nature. From the DP article: "...he walked to a nearby restaurant through a couple thousand people and nobody recognized him. 'And it didn't bother me one bit,' Holliday said." He doesn't seem like the type to thrive in a NY or LA environment.

The website has undergone a redesign, making it what I believe is a little more user-friendly. Check it out.

Until next time, go rockies!